[shibujp]

The 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix
The season draws to a close. Both the constructors and drivers championships have been decided. Toto Wolff has given this a miss. The fight for third place is on, though Leclerc has his work cut out having had a 10 place penalty handed out for using a new engine.



Source : Wikipedia

Circuit

• Held at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace more commonly known as InterLagos.
• Named after Brazilian driver Carlos Pace who died in a plane crash in 1977.
• First constructed in 1940.
• First Formula 1 race started in 1972.
• Safety concerns due to bumpy surfacing lead to Formula 1 keeping away from 1980 - 1990.
• Track was shortened and modified to address Formula 1 concerns
• Often witness to dramatic championship deciders being the end of the calendar though Mercedes domination means that for the this year and the last the championship has been decided in advance.
• The ciruit goes in an anti-clockwise direction.
• The hilly terrain influences the circuit as it has may inclines and ups and downs
• Typically a tough circuit for the race cars

Overlay showing the original track and the current. Source : Wikipedia

Timing (IST)
17 NOV Race 22:40 - 00:40

16 NOV Qualifying 23:30 - 00:30

16 NOV Practice 3 20:30 - 21:30

15 NOV Practice 2 23:30 - 01:00

15 NOV Practice 1 19:30 - 21:00

Circuit Characteristics

• High speed circuit with the top speed at 320 kmph.
• Lots of cambered corners meaning the corner drops away during braking that may cause a front wheel lock.
• Full throttle is 62 percent of the time.
• Longest straight is 650m which is the approach to turn 1.
• Gear changes - 42 per lap.
• ERS demands are high but not many places to recover the energy.
• Brake wear is low which only two out of the 6 braking zones being heavy.
• Just 15% of the lap is spent braking.
• Grip levels are high
• Turn one is a favorite overtaking point as entry speeds are high. The corner drops away at the apex making it easy for drivers to out brake themselves.

Source : Formula 1

Car Setup
Cars are setup with medium to high downforce.
Teams use Turn Three as a guage for downforce to maximise straight line speed on the suceeding straight.
Cars can be setup low and stiff as the bumpiness is not too bad after resurfacing in 2015.

Weather


Tyres


Source : Formula 1

Drive on,
Shibu

[sgiitk]

After a long time we are getting all sessions 'live' in TataSky. Looking forward to it.

[shibujp]

FP1 highlights

Albon fastest and Red Bull look keen.

[shibujp]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

After a long time we are getting all sessions 'live' in TataSky. Looking forward to it.

Since the championships are done, viewership may be less making it cheaper for them to air the race.

I remember Star Sports playing around with crucial races a couple of years back showing them only on Select HD. Migrated to Hotstar since then and things have been good. Greatest plus is that I can take the race with me.

Meanwhile Ferrari's look back on the pace in FP2.

FP2

Playing for pride at this stage of the game though. Leclerc's engine change may give them some useful race data on the 2020 engine heading into the winter break. 3rd place in the championship up for grabs though.

Drive on,
Shibu

[wrongturn]

Exceptional performance by Max Verstappen to take the pole.

Meanwhile it's not easy to forget what happened in 2018 where Max was phenomenal as well and was leading but then something unexpected happen which was kind of expected

Esteban Ocon: "Ocon it's James"

..and Ocon takes out the race leader Max while trying to unlap himself, gets a 10 second penalty also in the process. And Hamilton wins again

James to Ocon: Seat confirmed Ocon, welcome to Mercedes.

They built him a supremely comfortable seat on which he happily sat for an entire year.

https://youtu.be/o5pdLO9irzY

[ecenandu]

This what we wanted in F1. Top four drivers separated by less than .2 seconds. Next year is going to be interesting, as the car designs for the next year will just be an evolution of the current design.

[shibujp]

The first and second pole sitters are also contenders for the third championship point. This should spice things up at the start. Vettel has nothing to lose. LeClerc on the mediums can use strategy to score some useful points and bolster his challenge for the 3rd rung in the championship.

Ferrari though were slower than both Mercedes and Red Bull in the middle sector so their straight line speed is going to be crucial.

Originally Posted by ecenandu

This what we wanted in F1. Top four drivers separated by less than .2 seconds. Next year is going to be interesting, as the car designs for the next year will just be an evolution of the current design.

The provisional pole that Verstappen set was just 8 millisecond faster than Vettel's thanks to a mistake Verstappen made in the middle sector.

It's an interesting point that you bring up about the competitiveness of the current day F1 cars. In a video that I watch recently there was a comparison between the Williams and the McLaren of the 1993 season. The two teams had the fastest and second fastest cars respectively. The gap between them is the gap that today covers the five fastest cars in 2019. Check out the graphic at 1:37 in the video below.

https://youtu.be/QNo4dBBKUD4?t=97

Drive on,
Shibu.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

This what we wanted in F1. Top four drivers separated by less than .2 seconds. Next year is going to be interesting, as the car designs for the next year will just be an evolution of the current design.

We can't read too much into the gaps. The lap around Interlagos is one of the shortest in the season. I am not sure if we have another track in the calendar where the lap time is as short as this. Gaps are bound to be smaller as a result.

EDIT: Austrian GP is the shortest lap

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

We can't read too much into the gaps. The lap around Interlagos is one of the shortest in the season. I am not sure if we have another track in the calendar where the lap time is as short as this. Gaps are bound to be smaller as a result.

EDIT: Austrian GP is the shortest lap

Okay, just check when was the last time we had three teams separated by .2 of a second in Brazilian GP qualifying.

This is how I calculated, the difference between pole-sitter and the third-fastest team.

2014 - 0.907 seconds.
2015 - 0.803 seconds.
2016 - 0.749 seconds.
2017 - 0.603 seconds.
2018 - 0.497 seconds.
2019 - 0.191 seconds.

Source

The gaps do tell a story, mate. See here, can't you see a trend. Three teams had a genuine shot for the pole position today, that's what we wanted and that's what I hinted in my previous post.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

Okay, just check when was the last time we had three teams separated by .2 of a second in Brazilian GP qualifying.

This is how I calculated, the difference between pole-sitter and the third-fastest team.

2014 - 0.907 seconds.
2015 - 0.803 seconds.
2016 - 0.749 seconds.
2017 - 0.603 seconds.
2018 - 0.497 seconds.
2019 - 0.191 seconds.

Source

The gaps do tell a story, mate. See here, can't you see a trend. Three teams had a genuine shot for the pole position today, that's what we wanted and that's what I hinted in my previous post.

Interesting. Of course it will be good to have three teams fighting at the front. Can Redbull do this consistently at every track next season? I doubt it but let's hope they do.

Talking about Redbull, now that Albon is confirmed for next season, I hope he doesn't end up like Kvyat or Gasly to get the boot mid season.

[speedmiester]

Honda engine 1-2, a great result for Honda.
Gasly is lucky to get the second place.
Max definitely drove a great race by overtaking Hamilton at the right time when he was on backfoot after the first pitstop.

And Ferrari, what the hell!!!!
If ever there needs to be case study on how to shoot your foot off, Ferrari's season is the best example.
It is Vettel's fault in the accident. Charles drove well to drive up from 14th place. Valuable points thrown away.
3rd Place in driver's championship also slips away from Ferrari now.

[SilentEngine]

Such a crazy end to the race! Bottas's engine giving up, Ferraris taking each other out and the Hamilton taking Albon out! What was going on there?!!!

[anb]

Perhaps the most thrilling race of the season. If Hamilton gets a penalty, McLaren will end up getting a podium finish after starting from the last place.

[tharian]

A Honda 1-2 on the birth anniversary of Soichiro Honda.
Good to see Honda engines performing and at par with the big guns and will make an interesting next season.

A good 'race' from the otherwise boring F1 parade.

[shibujp]

What a race!! And what a drive by Verstappen. The number of times he pulled off overtakes on Hamilton and the way he did it was just sheer driving talent. If there is someone who is a worthy successor to Senna, I'd say he is the one.

Vettel, Vettel....the poor chap might as well crawl under a rock and stay there. Today's incident was a sheer reflection of his forgettable season and Ferrari's too. They manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I think there should have been a message from Binotto asking them to keep it clean.

Heart breaking stuff for Albon. He did not put a wheel wrong today only to have all his hard work butted away by Hamilton. But leaving so much space on the inside was just too bad too. Like a red herring to a bull. I am sure Gasly gleefully snapped up the opportunity too to finish second.

Drive on,
Shibu.