Well that took a little longer than expected as the tropical climate produced some rainfall this afternoon, enough rainfall to force a mid-session delay one that was typically over cautious. So it is a little odd that in all of the changing conditions that we've seen in the past couple of hours we've ended up with an identical front row that we've seen on other occasions this season, in fact the grid doesn't look particularly too rearranged. Normally when we have a fluctuating session like that you can see cars well out of position which would set up the race for a plethora of excitement... remember those days.. Well not anymore unlike Australia where the session was characterised by people bouncing off the scenery folks were relatively well behaved and only one car ended up with damage in fact we didn't see to many drivers getting spectacularly sideways. What on earth has happened such that even challenging conditions such as those seem to be well within the stability of the current generation of race cars. To rub salt into those wounds we were even reminded about tyre conservation when the cars were over 20s off the actual dry pace... will those complaints ever end. Considering there is only one event left of the season, probably.
However if these conditions continue onto raceday, things could finally be entertaining because there has been a lack of that recently...
Qualifying
For the first part of the session the rain was predicted to intensify which forced a queue of cars to form at the end of the pit lane a queue which Marussia missed and thus forced themselves in - did seem a little impatient. And on top of that what would be the benefit of a Marussia leaving the garage ahead of a faster car - they tend to get penalties for not being as fast as the others in qualifying and thus being in the way. Hamilton was at the front of the queue ahead of Charles Pic and it was the Mercedes driver who took an initial top time - ahead of Vettel and the two Nicos. Traffic was becoming a problem for the Lotus team firstly Grosjean came upon Chilton in the technical phase of the middle sector to which Romain was not entirely pleased about. Kovalainen was having similar difficulties with the two Caterham team, first having to pass Van Der Garde and then Pic.
As predicted the rain started to intensify which became a problem for Vergne and Gutierrez who wew in the relegation zone as track grip decreased. It was at this time that we saw the Force India team host their own intra-team drifting competition - Di Resta's effort was a little slide around the turn 8 hairpin after putting a wheel on the painted lines. Sutil however was much more proficient, selecting the fast turn three to get sideways, destabilised by the infamous river that caused a lot of accidents in 2003. As times were getting progressively slower it was a major surprise to see Heikki find enough time to put his Lotus up into 5th place. This gave hope to the likes of Vergne and Maldonado, and Gutierrez just on the safe side of relegation. Of the three it was only Vergne who made and significant time and dumped Esteban out of qualifying along with Maldonado. It rarely seems like Pastor is giving it a go at the moment.
Off into Q2, and the forecast suggested that the rain was coming and thus the best times were only available at the start of the session - so we had another queue, again headed by the Mercedes team, and as a result it was the silver cars that set the inial pace. Ferrari went third and fourth with Alonso ahead of his outgoing team mate. But naturally it wasn't long before the two Red Bull cars found themselves at the front, and there is no points for guessing that it was indeed Vettel who was at the very front. Things were very close for making out of the relegation zone, both McLarens, Force Indias, Hulkenberg and Bottas were presently outside the top 10. But just like in Q1 the amount of time open for competition was curtailed by the presence of some more rain, preventing drivers from improving their times. Therefore certain competitors who would conventionally be highly praised in the wet were not able to show any pace.
To counter the worsening conditions several drivers opted for a new set of intermediate tyres to recover some of the grip. It worked really well for Grosjean in the Lotus who went fastest of all at the time. Contrasting fortunes at Lotus because it also coincided with Hulkenberg improving to progress into the top ten at the expense of Kovalainen. Alonso had moved into second place ahead of Vettel but the rain was considerably intensifying snuffing out any further improvements. Sergio Perez tried to find a little more pace, but ran wide onto the run-off on the exit of turn four and span the car back across the track into the wall damaging both the front and rear of the car.
As the rain got rather heavy, qualifying as an entity was delayed to allow the storm to pass over and to give the medical car plenty of time to have some laps negotiating the puddles and rivers that had formed across the track. In total we had forty-seven minutes of rain induced suspension before Q3 could get underway.
Eventually it was time for Q3 and breaking Mercedes' streak of leading the pit lane queue were all four Red Bull branded cars since they all made it into the top ten. While the top four cars in track positions continued onto their flying lap - Grosjean brought the car back in for intermediate tyres. This in itself demonstrates that the session could have started much sooner, maybe we've reached the point where even using the wet tyres signifies that there is too much water on the circuit. Which also defeats the very purpose of having those tyres delivered to the track. Anyway rant aside it was Vettel who set the initial top time again, followed home by Rosberg and Alonso - but after their banker lap this set of drivers also went back to the pits for some new intermediates, realising it wasn't quite wet enough for the actual wet tyres.
This fact was confirmed when Grosjean went a second faster than Vettel on the intermediate tyres to claim provisional pole from the German bloke.Webber in the second Red Bull found a tenth over Romain to steal the pole position - but Sebastian took pole by 1.1s over his team-mate. That pretty much ended any challenge for pole position and meant we'd end the season with all qualifying sessions being won by either a Red Bull or a Mercedes, and only four different drivers. Rosberg put his Mercedes onto the front row ahead of Fernando Alonso. Webber joins Fernando on the second row with Hamilton and Grosjean sitting on row three. Behind them it is an all Toro Rosso row four with Ricciardo leading his team-mate by mere fractions of a tenth, rounding out the top ten is Felipe Massa for Ferrari and Hulkenberg in the Sauber.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Conventionally in a session like this we have some stand-out performances that belay the generally accepted pace of the car, this didn't quite happen in any consistent sense. There sporadic moments throughout the disjointed event, and such here are the points from the first part of the Brazilian GP weekend.
- 10pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - One of the few drivers to make time when the rain increased in Q1 and then made it through into the top ten.
- 8pts - Heikki - Kovalainen - How that car ended up in the top five in the increasing rain in the first part of qualifying is mysterious.
- 6pts - Nico Rosberg - The only car within second of Vettel's excessively quick pole time
- 5pts - Valtteri Bottas - Another strong showing for Bottas, while Maldonado barely turned up
- 4pts - Adrian Sutil - Brilliant save of that slide through turn three as the rain increased
- 3pts - Romain Grosjean - Won Q2 and was the first to move onto the intermediates
- 2pts - Paul Di Resta - Gets a couple of points for his drifting attempt in turn
- 1pt - Van Der Merwe - Powersliding the medical car on the sighting laps at either end of the season
The Penalties Series
A couple of reprimands were handed to Gutierrez and Chilton following final practice, but the only punishment was handed to Marussia in a 5,000 EUR fine for releasing their cars in the side of the queue at Q1, forcing other cars to take avoiding action.
The Penalty Points Series
In the uncertain conditions there are a few points to hand out:
- Kimi Raikkonen - gets two penalty points for not turning up to qualifying both at this race and in Austin because he hasn't been paid
- The FIA - what is the point of the wet tyres if the paddock is forbidden to use them any more
- Romain Grosjean - Complaining at slower cars far too easily again
- The invited class of cars at the final WTCC race in Macau - Although it is a weekend late that batch of cars behaved terribly causing an immense accident under yellow flags and almost murdering a marshal - shame on you all.
Looking to Tomorrow
This is it, one race left in the V8 era, one race left in this twisted mess of a season, plagued by tyre difficulties, an abuse of the DRS system to excess, conservation based events all boiling down to the same conclusion. Rain is threatened for this final chapter in this story, rain that could end 2013 with something special, something worth remembering this championship for, before we venture off into the uncharted territory of the 2014 regulations. This is our last stand to make something of this year... The grid suggests that Vettel will scamper off into the mildly damp distance leaving the rest of the field to fight it out amongst themselves. And I hope that it shall be the greatest fight we will have seen this year bring it on...
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