2014 Brazilian Grand Prix grid

2014 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Row 11. Nico Rosberg 1’10.023
Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton 1’10.056
Mercedes
Row 23. Felipe Massa 1’10.247
Williams
4. Valtteri Bottas 1’10.305
Williams
Row 35. Jenson Button 1’10.930
McLaren
6. Sebastian Vettel 1’10.938
Red Bull
Row 47. Kevin Magnussen 1’10.969
McLaren
8. Fernando Alonso 1’10.977
Ferrari
Row 59. Daniel Ricciardo 1’11.075
Red Bull
10. Kimi Raikkonen 1’11.099
Ferrari
Row 611. Esteban Gutierrez 1’11.591
Sauber
12. Nico Hulkenberg 1’11.976
Force India
Row 713. Adrian Sutil 1’12.099
Sauber
14. Romain Grosjean 1’12.037
Lotus
Row 815. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’12.040
Toro Rosso
16. Pastor Maldonado 1’12.233
Lotus
Row 917. Daniil Kvyat* No time
Toro Rosso
18. Sergio Perez* 1’12.076
Force India

*Seven-place penalty carried over from previous power unit penalty
*Seven-place penalty for causing a collision

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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26 comments on “2014 Brazilian Grand Prix grid”

  1. So close, but not quite underneath the 1:10s!

  2. Ugh, a 1:09.8 was so doable for either Lewis or Nico.

    They are almost as fast as they were in 2004. :O

    1. @kingshark Smooth and bump-less surface does help in 3 or 5 seconds.

      In the end yet again scruffy laps for all 4 contenders this weekend. Someone can explain to me why does Rosberg take such a wide line on the main straight? He almost went onto the grass several times.
      I don’t want to think that the Williams held back their 1.09’s but tomorrow with rain the grid can turn upside down.

      1. @peartree @kingshark @hunocsi

        I think the explanation lies with the ERS: engines are always down on power at São Paulo because it is 2,621 ft above sea level. Due to the air being ‘thinner’ at such an altitude, there is less air available to the engines and they are less efficient.

        On the other hand, the MGU-K of the ERS is just as efficient here as at other tracks.

        In summary: electric cars have the same performance on every track while gas powered cars are down on power at such an altitude. This car being much more ‘electric’ than the 2013 one, it performs relatively better.

        1. @paeschli That’s a misconception that even engineers fail to make. Turbos suffer greatly at higher altitudes, they spin faster, suffer more centrifugal strain and produce more friction and heat. Energy efficiency from the stand point of a turbo engine is a fine balance between harnessing the highest amount of air available whilst having the highest possible working temperature. The turbo’s compressor by spinning faster reduces the penalty of altitude, and that fact may come as a help if there are spooling or ERS problems, that said optimally overall energy efficiency is affected negatively by the higher working temperatures because of the imbalance it causes on the powertrain and also reliability problems, but you can avert some of the natural issues of altitude by making the according changes to all lubricants of the powertrain, and also electronic tuning especially to thee direct injection system. Yes, these engines drop less BHP in altitude comparing to normally aspirated but that may not matter if you can’t keep temperatures in check. Above all the reliability of the plethora of systems is a limiting factor.

      2. @peartree

        There’s a lot of things to consider in choosing a line through that curve that is the main ‘straight’. Obviously, on their money laps, they could’ve just chosen the shortest route and stick it all tight towards the left white line, but they didn’t do that as that’d have caused too much friction, slowing them down.

        Thus a longer line with less friction holds more advantage despite being longer. Rosberg might just thought that he’d go for extremely low steering input, to keep acceleration up to its most efficient level, with almost no turning whatsoever.

        At Interlagos, the peculiar, nice and extremely heavy banking plus descent of the last turn of the old 1940 ‘oval’ complicates things further. Crossing the track left to right across the descent will always give some extra speed (despite, once again, being a longer route), and also, staying ever more to the right on the ‘exit’ gives you more benefit from the banking levelling out with the surface of the straight as well. (You can actually see people passing others with way more speed on the outside on the backstretch at Charlotte and Texas in NASCAR, because those tracks have the banking levelling down the most agressively on the outside of the turn.)

        In a nutshell… Lol, jk, sorry if it became a tl;dr. :P

        1. @atticus-2 I’ve just watched the comparison between Lewis and Nico. I had the impression that Nico had lost 2 tenths there, but at the time I was looking at the split from the 1st q3 run rather than the quicker 2nd run that refresh the timing sheets after Lewis completed his lap. Anyway Nico lost time compared to Lewis on the last sector albeit very little anyhow both Mercedes were slower on the last sector than the Williams cars, that incidently both went on the inside of the straight.

          1. @peartree

            I see, thanks for the additional info. In that case, Rosberg might have just took the wrong decision.

          2. @atticus-2 I don’t know, I’m just saying that at the time I wrote the comment I was positive that it had been a poor decision, now I have no idea the margins are too slim to judge the only thing I’ve noticed is that most were on the inside, faster and slow drivers through s3.

    2. I think the temperatures went down a bit after Q1, probably that’s why they didn’t get under 1m10s.

  3. I know Hamilton is faster, but Nico has surprised me several times this season, especially in qualifying. What a session.

  4. Nico Rosberg has won his first 2014 trophy…..

    1. Question is, will it be his first and only trophy?…… I have a feeling it won’t be…

      1. First of many? Since Hamilton likely to left Merc by 2016 the team surely will focus on Rosberg…

        1. You know something the rest of the world doesn’t know about?

    2. @ruliemaulana Along with his 14 podium trophies!

  5. Fair play to Nico. Lewis is meant to be a beast in quali, and he is but Rosberg has held is own this season

    1. @frankjaeger

      Lewis is meant to be a beast in quali

      I think that Nico has put this myth to bed.

      1. Except it isn’t a myth, however much you’d like it to be :) I think rather Rosberg is also a beast in quali.

        2 beasts.

      2. Didn’t Lewis out qualify Nico last year? So Nico did it this year, that doesn’t really change anything.

        1. Being put level with Hamilton is quite a change, I think.

      3. @kingshark Well, Hamilton is still great/a beast at qualifying, that’s not a myth at all. It’s just that he can no longer be considered the absolute best. It’s worth noting that Hamilton came out on top in the qualifying battle last year, and this year has encountered a number of issues in qualifying out of his control, which Rosberg hasn’t. He still would have come out on top without those, though, but it no doubt would have been closer between the two.

      4. Not really. Remember Hungary and Germany qualy. Both ham could have got pole on

        1. could have… doesn’t mean he would get it.

    2. I think Hamilton really struggles with cold brakes, and one lap qualifying with these smaller brake discs this year is a factor. Rosberg has been immense this year though, congrats to him.

  6. In Qualifying, Rosberg has beaten Ham by 11 to 7.
    In 2012 quali, Rosberg beat old MSC by 12 to 8.

    I have always held Rosberg as a good qualifier since 2007.

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