[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by Andrew Benson, BBC

Interlagos is one of the great Formula 1 venues, a steaming cauldron of a race track, snaking around a natural amphitheater in the heart of one of the world's largest metropolises.

What Sao Paulo lacks in aesthetics, it makes up for in atmosphere; a buzzing, heaving city with a distinct edge, but a tangible love for its grand prix. Paulistas, as the locals are known, pack Interlagos on race day, chanting and shouting, cheering and jeering.

Space is at a premium, the main grandstand rammed up against the track wall on the pit straight, producing a crackling, sometimes intimidating, ambience. Into the mix is a circuit that seems almost incapable of producing bad races, helped by notoriously unpredictable weather.

It is truly one of a kind.

Newly laid surface


Rain is coming


Circuit Layout
It's one of the shorter circuits on the calendar, but crams a lot in. The mixture of fast and slow corners, draped across several elevation changes, make it an exacting technical challenge.

It's physically demanding, too, with the action run in an anti-clockwise direction and quick left-hand corners putting a strain on the left-hand side of the drivers' bodies.

The track is narrow in places, but there are several opportunities for overtaking, including into the first corner and at the Senna S. And the fans will have a great view of it all, with over 50% of the circuit visible from the 65,000 capacity grandstands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFi5sQZP4UY

Weather Forecast
Rain showers are a common occurrence in Sao Paolo at this time of year and many Brazilian Grands Prix have experienced sudden showers over the years. The forecast for the weekend is for wet weather all three days, especially Saturday. Temperatures around 20 degrees centigrade and an 80% chance of rain on Sunday.

Likely tyre performance
Pirelli changed the specifications from Medium and Hard to Soft and Meidum quite late on, after complaints from drivers, led by Williams’ Felipe Massa. The track has been completely resurfaced and this could have a significant effect on the outcome of the race. Teams knew the old surface well; worn and slippery as it was. Learning how the new surface interacts with the tyre is the key job for Friday practice. If that is rain affected but the race day is dry, then we will be in for a very interesting race with teams working in the dark on how the tyres will behave.

There are high energy loads through the high-speed corners and the energy going into the tyres is largely from the series of left-hand corners before the final straight. The tyres get plenty of rest on the two long straights. The limiting factor on this track is the rear tyre, with the stop-start traction events in the series of corners in the middle part of the lap and the last corner onto the uphill final straight.

Number and likely timing of pit stops
Revised pit lane entry


The revised pit lane entry, together with the new track surface mean that predictions are difficult, but two stops looks the most likely scenario with stops on Laps 20 and 45. However we saw in Austin that the soft was not the favoured race tyre.

Race Strategy Briefing



Courtesy: JAonF1, BBC Sport, F1Fanatic

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Rain is coming
Attachment 1306431

This is a great shot. Shows the preparation going into minimizing the effect of rain/standing water : Water channels built into the surface for effective drainage.

I dont recall seeing this anywhere else.

[sgiitk]

A really good circuit, with fantastic atmosphere. This is a race I always look forward to.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by Hatari

I dont recall seeing this anywhere else.

The start-finish straight at Spa has a similar design, in the location where the first 10-11 cars line up.

[aim120]

Once again ,no live telecast of qualifying and no HD telecast of the race.

[thetinywanderer]

Originally Posted by aim120

Once again ,no live telecast of qualifying and no HD telecast of the race.

I was wondering the same thing. Why is there no live telecast of the qualifying? There is a repeat at 530 tomorrow morning. This is just very sad.

[reignofchaos]

Err! I just watched the live telecast in HD on star sports hd2. Close fight between the mercs and williams cars. Nico is on pole.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by aim120

Once again ,no live telecast of qualifying and no HD telecast of the race.

Originally Posted by thetinywanderer

I was wondering the same thing. Why is there no live telecast of the qualifying? There is a repeat at 530 tomorrow morning. This is just very sad.

Looks like I chose the perfect weekend to travel, in retrospect. Should be back by the time of race tomorrow.

To those who watched the qualifying, any point watching a re-telecast of the same before the race? From the results, it doesn't look too interesting except for intra-team battles.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by zenren

Looks like I chose the perfect weekend to travel, in retrospect. Should be back by the time of race tomorrow.

To those who watched the qualifying, any point watching a re-telecast of the same before the race? From the results, it doesn't look too interesting except for intra-team battles.

Yes please.
Hamilton's to and fro with rosberg, quite good.
And the gaps, just killer.
You can get away with watching just Q3.

[Octane_Power]

Is the race on SS4 or is it on SS2? Yesterday at the time of qualifiers, football was being aired on SS4 and I saw F1 qualifiers in the SS2 programs list, but I don't get SS2 at my place.

So where is the race going to be aired today?

-Bhargav

[thetinywanderer]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

Is the race on SS4 or is it on SS2? Yesterday at the time of qualifiers, football was being aired on SS4 and I saw F1 qualifiers in the SS2 programs list, but I don't get SS2 at my place.

So where is the race going to be aired today?

-Bhargav

It will be aired on SS4 according to their schedule online.

[thetinywanderer]

Great race today! So many overtakes and lots of drama. The final race is gonna be even more interesting now. And typical Nelson piquet during the prize distribution lol

[deetjohn]

Close battle between the Mercs today. Hamilton will be ruing that spin. Apparently he had his brake bias kept too far to the rear. He braked for the corner and the car snapped. A great come back though! But Nico had more than enough to keep Lewis behind.

Massa' stops were all over the place, even the McLaren garage and still finished on podium somehow.

Can't wait for the last race. Just wish we didn't have the artificial points.

[ajmat]

It was a case of will he, won't he, it was all for Lewis to take but for the skid. He pushed to hard unecessarily.

All he needs to do is push hard for the qualifying for the grid and ensure a focussed consistent drive to crown it off.

[sgiitk]

An interesting race. I am glad to see Massa back to speed! He was missed.