Brazilian grand prix preview
After his demise last time to that mystery first lap puncture, Sebastian Vettel will be out to put his only retirement of the season well behind him and should be fired up to set a new pole-positions-in-a-season record before romping off to his last hurrah for the year.
But Interlagos has a habit of throwing a spanner in the works – think last years qualifying with Nico Hulkenberg's shock pole, Hamilton beating Massa to the title on the last lap a few years ago and look at how many dark horses appear in the roll of honor below.
Which will hopefully make it that much more interesting – until you consider that Red Bull has pretty well dominated the last two years come to racing. Still, the dice is on for second – Alonso is well within striking distance of Button and Webber's ready to pick up all the pieces, while Hamilton still has a shot at third.
Further back, there's a dice for 7th between Mercedes mates Rosberg and Schumacher, while in the race for the also-rans it's all between Petrov and Sutil with Kobayashi, Alguersuari and di Resta within a shot of displacing the absent Heidfeld too. Strange that – Nick was enroute to that best-of-the-rest slot and his replacement has not yet scored. Perhaps he will at home.
Interlagos can play havoc with weather but the drama is always high, the fans intensely involved and the racing good with passing and dicing already a factor even without fake devices to cause it. It's a real racetrack – why not enjoy it just for that Sunday evening?
BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX STATISTICS & INFO
FIA Formula One World Championship
Round 19 – Interlagos 27 November 2011
71 Laps of 4.309km – 305.909km
Lap Record: Juan-Pablo Montoya – Williams 1:11.473 (2004)
Schedule
Friday 25 November
Practice 1 15:00-16:30
Practice 2 09:00-20:30
Saturday 26 November
Practice 3 16:00-17:00
Qualifying 19:00-20:00
Sunday 27 November
Race 19h00
Previous Winners
2002 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2003 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan
2004 Juan-Pablo Montoya Williams
2005 Juan-Pablo Montoya McLaren
2006 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2007 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
2008 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2009 Mark Webber Red Bull
2010 1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
2. Mark Webber Red Bull
3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren
5. Jenson Button McLaren
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes
7. Michael Schumacher Mercedes
8. Nico Hulkenberg Williams
9. Robert Kubica Renault
10. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber
Fastest Lap: Hamilton – 1:13.851
Pole Position: Hulkenberg – 1:14.470
2011 World Championship before Brazilian grand prix
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 374 1. Red Bull-Renault 607
2. Button 255 2. McLaren-Mercedes 482
3. Alonso 245 3. Ferrari 353
4. Webber 233 4. Mercedes 159
5. Hamilton 227 5. Renault 72
6. Massa 108 6. Force India-Mercedes 57
7. Rosberg 83 7. Sauber-Ferrari 42
8. Schumacher 76 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 41
9. Petrov 36 9. Williams-Cosworth 5
10. Sutil 34
11. Heidfeld 34
12. Kobayashi 28
13. Alguersuari 26
14. Di Resta 23
15. Buemi 15
16. Perez 14
17. Barrichello 4