[Kingshark]

@raymondu999
That scenario would be awesome if there were less than a 7 point gap between Alonso and Vettel, but because there’s a 13 point gap I’m afraid that even if the race is exciting, the long-term prospect of the championship wont be. But that’s just my opinion.

[raymondu999]

@Kingshark IMO it’s a consolation prize. The championship has an anticlimactic ending, but the race excitement (hopefully) makes up for it.

[Ben]

@crr917 if that scenario were to occur I believe Alonso would have won

[Kingshark]

@npf1
Good lord, I laughed out loud for about 10 minutes when I read that.

[crr917]

@benchuiii I thought the same at first but then i read it in the sporting regulations – if the race is cut short due to time limit, “the race is deemed to have finished when the leading car last crossed the Line before the signal was given”. So i thought the scenario was plausible. As far as I understand the lap started but not completed within the time does not count toward race. But now I wonder if “The Line” consists of safety car lines too which would make you right.

[raymondu999]

@benchuiii @crr917 dear God – a speculative thread discussing regulations. Lol.

For the purpose of discussion though – if a race ends by the time limit – you complete that lap when the time limit is set off. That lap becomes the last lap, and it counts as the race distance.

Look, for example, at Singapore 2012. At the 2 hour mark Vettel is somewhere in S2 (or possibly S3) of lap 59 – out of what is normally a 61 lap race. The race ended at the END of lap 59 – not at the BEGINNING of lap 59 (ie end of lap 58)

[crr917]

@raymondu999 This only makes things more F1-ish, as teams will have a reason to protest the final result. Post-event F1 action at it’s finest. Disparity between Singapore GP result and article 43.2 of sporting regulations.
Another “funny” scenario.
After all the prayers for rain, god/aliens/mastermind decides to comply. And it rains. And rains. And… Sao Paulo is flooded. Race cancelled.

[Frain stermin]

It won’t be an exciting race, it will be on of the most boring race of the year. It will be dry all weekend.
Vettel will have a liquid pressure problem and will have a DNF versus lap 36. Alonso will finish second. Hamilton will win the race Webber third.
Alonso wins his 3rd WDC

[Nick]

@crr917
Now that’d be unintentionally hilarious! I don’t think a lot of people would like the idea, but it’d be worth it just to see the FIA and FOM panic.

On a more serious note; what I dread is a Suzuka 1998 kind of showdown.

Alonso manages to outqualify Vettel by a small margin. Alonso is doing well, but there is no indication of Vettel having any alternator or leakage trouble. Right before the warm-up lap, it seems something is wrong with Vergne’s car. A second warm up lap occurs, but Alonso’s car has overheated and stalled, he has to start from the back of the grid.

He hastily moves up the grid, but as Karthikeyan takes out Pic in what will be HRT’s last race, Alonso picks up a puncture from the debris, already seated in P3. Vettel wins.

[raymondu999]

@crr917 It sounds odd – but there is no contest about it. Every time-shortened race has been run in the way I mentioned. 2008 Monaco, 2012 Singapore being the latest examples.

The end of race signal is not issued until the lead car crosses the line for the first time after 2 hours is up, it is not issued at 2 hours

[Michael McCarthy]

Ok, hears mine. It’s a bit rough but I haven’t had a good amount of time to work on it.

After a standard, no surprises qualification, the cars line up as follows:
1) Lewis Hamilton; 2) Sebastian Vettel;
3) Mark Webber; 4) Jenson Button
5) Fernando Alonso; 6) Kimi Raikkonen
7) Romain Grosjean; 8) Michael Schumacher
9) Nico Rosberg; 10) Felipe Massa
11) Pastor Maldonado; 12) Paul Di Resta
13) Nico Hulkenberg; 14) Kamui Kobayashi
15) Sergio Perez; 16) Bruno Senna
17) Daniel Ricciardo; 18) Jean-Eric Vergne
19) Heikki Kovalainen; 20) Vitaly Petrov
21) Timo Glock; 22) Charles Pic
23) Pedro de la Rosa; 24) Narain Karthikeyan

The lights go out and the cars are under way. Michael Schumacher has a great start, gaining three places, only to lose them on the first corner when Pastor Maldonado, who had an even better start, is unable to stop and plows into the back of him. Vettel & Hulkenberg are caught up in the melee Hulkenberg with a damaged front wing, and Vettel suffering a puncture and a damaged front wing.

Safety car is out and remains so for 5 laps while the clear-up takes places. This helps Vettel and Hulkenberg as it gives them time to re-join at the back of the train. On lap 6, the safety car goes in and the running order is as follows: Hamilton; Webber; Alonso; Button; Raikonnen; Massa; Grosjean; Rosberg; Di Resta; Perez

Little change takes place until Lap 27 of 71 as the first cars start coming in. The two stoppers are starting to head in.

By Lap 35, it’s clear to see the majority of the field are two stopping with three exceptions. Kobayashi, Kovalainen & Vettel. This could be a deciding factor later in the race as even the Caterham could have a part to play.

After lap 40, the running order is as follows: Hamilton(1); Kobayashi(0); Alonso(1); Webber(1); Button(1); Vettel(1); Raikonnen(1); Rosberg(1); Kovalainen (1); Perez (1)

Lap 42 and Kobayashi & Vettel both pit, coming back out in 8th and 9th respectively. Lap 43 and Kovalainen pits from 8th. This is the Caterham’s best effort of the year It’s amazing to see them so high up the order.

Lap 50 and there is only 20secs from 2nd to 8th. Vettel is flying as he makes his way up the field. Pushing past Button, his team mate lets him past only to lose the place to Button who sneaks through behind Vettel. Vettel is now on a charge and heading for Alonso. Button, having finally gotten past Webber is now flying as well, keeping Vettel honest in his charge through the field. The running order is:
Hamilton(1); Alonso(1); Vettel(2); Button(1); Webber(1); Kobayashi(1); Raikonnen(1); Rosberg(1); Massa (1); Kovalainen (1);

Lap 52 and Hamilton, with a 32sec lead over Alonso dives into the pits. Over the radio, he said his tyre’s are going off so they’ve brought him in early to make the most of the current lead. The pit stop takes a long time though and he exits right in front of Alonso. Defend, defend, defend.

Alonso clears Hamilton leaving him behind to defend against Vettel while his tyres are still getting up to pressure. Vettel tries a number of times but Hamilton’s tyres are back on again and he finally starts lighting up the sector times, pulling away from Vettel.

Lap 56 and there’s drama in the pits. Hulkenberg, running 11th gets an unsafe release against the HRT of Karthikeyan. The HRT, trying to avoid the collision hits the pit wall and is forced to retire. Hulkenberg is given a drive-through penalty.

Lap 60 and with everyone through the pits and Hulkenberg’s drive through taken, the top 10 running order is as follows: Hamilton; Kobayashi; Alonso; Vettel; Button; Webber; Raikonnen; Rosberg; Massa; Grosjean. It’s worth Noting Kovalainen is on his own on the track currently running 12th. If he keeps this up, Caterham will move above Marussia in the standings.

Lap 61 DISASTER!! For Nico Rosberg at least, this means action for the rest of us. His car’s had a hydraulics failure and spun off on track at turn 12. Safety car is out and you know what that means, we have possibly the tightest final 10 laps of a race this season.

Lap 64 Safety car in and it’s GO, GO, GO!!. Hamilton’s bunched everyone up beautifully and is leaving Kobayashi, Alonso and Vettel behind. Further down the field, Kovalainen tries to take the inside line on Perez into turn 2. A risky manoeuvre and Perez gets the place back on the other side.

Lap 65 Before the safety car, Kobayashi had a safe 10s buffer. After the safety car, his tyres are starting to fade and he can’t hold on to second place. Vettel is going for it and gets past at turn 12, Alonso following close behind. These two are seriously flying although Hamilton looks too far ahead to be caught.

Lap 66 Kovalainen, promoted to 11th after Rosberg went out, finally pushes past Perez but he’s showing signs his tyres are off. If he can stay in front for 5 laps, he’ll get Caterham’s first point. A truly amazing effort.

Lap 67 lots of action as passes are being attempted across the field. Just 1min sparates the entire field, what a way to finish the season.

Lap 68 Button is pushing Kobayashi in the fight for 4th. The two have been tussling for 3 laps now and finally button’s made it stick. Brilliant move around the outside of turn 14 to do it.

Lap 69 Kobayashi’s tyres are going off and Webber’s just been told. He’s 3s behind with 2 laps to go. Can Webber catch up to within a second and use DRS to get past?

Lap70 Vettel’s tyres are going off as well and he can’t hold Alonso behind him anymore. Alonso uses DRS and Ker’s to fly past Vettel. Button knows Vettel is flagging and is on a charge but may not catch him in time.

Lap 71 It’s the last lap of the race and what a last lap. Webber is all over the back of Kobayashi looking for 5th place. Vettel seems to be slowing a great deal and Button is right behind him now. Further back, the Caterham of Kovalainen is having issues itself as his tyres go off. Perez takes him on the finish straight. He’s back in 11th and hoping to stay there. He just needs to stop Di Resta 6s behind him from catching up and getting past.

It’s confirmed on the radio, Vettel as a gearbox problem and has lost all bu the first 2 gears. ?He’s crawling round the track. Alonso is a clear second now so he know’s he must finish 7th to win the championship.

He’s on the last corner in 4th place. With the speed he’s going, Fighting for position themselves, Kobayashi and Webber pass him off the end of the corner on either side. Raikonnen is close behind and Massa is a few seconds back from him. Kobayashi just survives to finish 4th.

300m from the line and Raikonnen goes past, Massa close on his tail. Vettel crosses the line but so does Massa and it’s impossible to tell who made it first. It’s going to a photo finish and it’ll decid the championship. What a finish to Vettel’s campaign.

It’s not over yet though. Here comes Kovalainen and Di Resta, heading for their own photo finish. It’s soo close and there are literally side by side as they cross the line.

Is this the first time in history there’s been two photo finishes in a single F1 race?

The stewards have their work cut-out. The winners ceremony is going ahead and there’s speculation abound on the championship title.

After 30mins, the Stewards come back with both results. Massa is 7th and Vettel 8th. They also mark Kovalainen 11th and Di Resta 12th. What a finish to the race.

The Brazilian Grand Prix has changed so much on the final day of the championship. Here’s the final positions:

Race Result: Lewis Hamilton; Fernando Alonso; Jenson Button; Kamui Kobayashi; Mark Webber; Kimi Raikkonen; Felipe Massa; Sebastian Vettel; Romain Grosjean; Sergio Perez; Heikki Kovalainen; Paul Di Resta; Bruno Senna; Jean-Eric Vergne; Nico Hulkenberg; Daniel Ricciardo; Timo Glock; Vitaly Petrov; Charles Pic; Pedro de la Rosa; Nico Rosberg; Pastor Maldonado; Michael Schumacher; Narain Karthikeyan

2012 Drivers Championship: Fernando Alonso; Sebastian Vettel; Lewis Hamilton; Kimi Raikkonen; Jenson Button; Mark Webber; Felipe Massa; Romain Grosjean; Nico Rosberg; Kamui Kobayashi; Sergio Perez; Nico Hulkenberg; Paul Di Resta; Pastor Maldonado; Michael Schumacher; Bruno Senna; Jean-Eric Vergne; Daniel Ricciardo; Heikki Kovalainen; Timo Glock; Vitaly Petrov; Charles Pic; Pedro de la Rosa; Narain Karthikeyan

2012 Team Championship: Red Bull-Renault; McLaren-Mercedes; Ferrari; Lotus-Renault; Sauber; Mercedes GP; Force India-Mercedes; Williams-Renault; Toro Rosso-Ferrari; Caterham-Renault; Marussia-Cosworth; HRT-Cosworth

Overall, with this result, there are 4 driver and 3 team changes in the championship:
Alonso moves above Vettel into 1st
Hamilton moves above Raikonnen into 3rd
Button moves above Webber into 5th
Kobayashi moves above Perez into 10th
McLaren moves above Ferrari into 2nd
Sauber moves above Mercedes into 5th
Caterham moves above Marussia into 10th

[Frain stermin]

@mccarthymr WOW

[Kingshark]

Someone on Autosport wrote a scenario which would be a nightmare for me.

– Alonso leading the race.
– Vettel retired.
– Torrential rain.
– Race cancelled.
– Only half the point awarded.

Therefore, Alonso would score 12.5 points, compared to the >13 he needs, and hence would finish exactly 0.5 points behind Vettel in the championship.

Just imagine the controversy and rage towards Charlie and the race stewards on all online F1 forums if that were to happen.

[Estesark]

@mccarthymr

Why would Webber pass Vettel on the last turn? And just so you know, Caterham would move above Marussia with a 12th-placed finish, as they have more 13th-placed finishes.

[Michael McCarthy]

@estesark

Not being funny sir but this is fiction after all. On that final bend coming onto the final straight, Vettel is stuck in second gear whereas Webber is in 6th, about to push 5th.

Do you really think team orders would mean that Webber is forced to slow down to about 75mph and suffer the same fate as Vettel. Especially in this scenario as, Webber needs to finish 4th to stay 4th in the Championship. Passing Vettel and Kobayashi would see him to 4th even though Button is 3rd.

With regards Kovalainen, I mentioned a number of times in my post that he has to reach 12th to move ahead of Marussia. Racing is racing though and positions mean money. In the scenario Kovalainen has the chance to get 11th and he’s not going to throw it away. He wants to finish higher than Timo’s 12th if he can.

Just my scenario though.

[Author]

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