The Grand Finale - Abu Dhabi 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

So the final qualifying session of the season has now been completed under the artificial lights of the Yas Marina circuit and while the front of the grid might look identical to many, many races this season further back there were a few interesting surprises. While the Abu Dhabi GP may be situated on a circuit that does receive it's fair share of criticism for being generally unimaginative and cursed with many identical corners, it does look marvellous under those lights. 

Q1

While continual discussions up and down the pit lane focussing on the future of Red Bull and their engine situation - it was their drivers who took to the circuit first. Descending through the underground pit-lane exit, which for another year it remains surprising that no-one in any racing category visiting the circuit had managed to crash into the barriers there (OK - scratch that one of the GP2 drivers just crashed there). Ricciardo did powerslide away from his garage in eagerness to start his session. Oddly when the two Mercedes drivers elected to start their Q1 efforts, they left the garage on the softer of the two available tyre compounds, but looking at the GP2 race which is currently underway - they might be onto something because the soft tyres are not lasting too long, so saving the more durable compound might be a sensible decision. A combination of the car and tyre advantage ment they went immediately to the top of the time sheets, more than two seconds clear of the nearest rivals. At this stage in the session Hamilton had just under a two tenth advantage over his resurgent team-mate. Lewis naturally trying to halt Rosberg's recent bout of resplendent form. 

Only one driver broke the two second deficit barrier in the early phase of the session on the soft compound rather than the super-softs, and that was Kimi Raikkonen. Initially it was estimated that the harder tyre was 1.7s slower than the softer ones, and Raikkonen was 1.7s behind Hamilton's current time. A gap that became 1.5s on his second lap - indicating that the soft compound is good for multiple flying laps. So on that estimate the Ferrari was on pace with the Mercedes... as it would turn out later, those estimates were quite wrong. Vettel on the other hand wasn't quite as quick as his Finnish team-mate but surely that time was good enough to make it into Q2... right..

More drivers switched onto the super-soft tyres to avoid relegation and make up some positions. The biggest jump forward belonged to Jenson Button in the McLaren - despite being woefully slow on the long straights the McLaren now in 9th place... ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Perhaps the sign that a car that traditionally is relegated from Q! has now ahead would encourage the German to pick up the pace and gain some places. Vettel did go back out but ran wide on the outside of turn three, and for some reason gave up with the rest of the lap... assuming that the Ferrari was safe. But he wasn't with Jenson's late improvement relegating Vettel, and it could have been even worse if Alonso didn't suffer a puncture on his final effort Vettel would have lost another place... so Sebastian was out of the session... makes tomorrow look interesting now doesn't it.

Q2

Onto the second part of qualifying and while we waited for someone to venture onto the track the Sky pit team were searching for answers for Vettel's relegation. Looking for clues to a technical problem explaining why only one Ferrari remained - but Vettel confirmed to the media that he and the team thought he was safe when he certainly wasn't. This time it was the Williams drivers hogging the TV time at the start of the second session, mostly because both Bottas and Massa looked to be driving drift cars rather than finely tuned F1 machines - Valtteri getting the car more sideways than his Brazilian team-mate

through the technical final sector of the lap. Despite being slightly more boring than Bottas' lap, Felipe's effort was quicker and took the early lead. But that time was comprehensively beaten by both Mercedes drivers - once again Hamilton was the car in front, with a larger advantage than he managed in the first part of qualifying. It was seeming more likely that Lewis would put an end to Nico's run of form.

Other cars were having a more problematic session, Nico Hulkenberg was informed by his engineers that he had a deflating tyre and had to pit. While that problem could be resolved Romain Grosjean on the other hand had a more terminal technical problem brewing in his final qualifying event for Lotus before leaving for Haas next season. Grosjean would reappear later in the session but only complete half a lap before braking down again. At the front of the field Raikkonen strapped on a set of the super-softs and if the calculations and estimates were to be believed was heading for a provisional pole position. But as we all sort of expected, that 1.7s lap delta never materialised and Raikkonen only found 0.9s of time on the softer tyre leaving a very sizable gap between himself and the two leading Mercedes cars. But an unusual interloper was making noises at the front of the grid... well not quite the very front, but those seats have been reserved for some geezers in silver cars. This interloper was Sergio Perez, the Force India driver was competing well above the speed of the car, beating Williams and Red Bull drivers putting the car in a very impressive 4th place. 

Down in the relegation zone, it was a very close battle between the two Toro Rosso drivers - at present Mad Max Verstappen held onto the final promotion spot. But in the dying moments of Q2, Carlos Sainz wrestled that place away from the Dutchman, and in the process won the year long qualifying battle against his much hyped team-mate. If it wasn't for constant reliability issues for Carlos, his points tally would also be a lot more favourable. Other drivers in the relegation zone tried to get in on this battle but were unable to make progress. Jenson Button put up a notable challenge finishing Q2 less than two tenths away from dragging a very difficult McLaren into the top ten. Had Hulkenberg not made it back on track and into Q3, Jenson would have scored McLarens best qualifying result of the season... a little too late perhaps but promising signs for 2016. I was expecting TV footage of Alonso watching all this unfolding on a deck chair under the palm trees at the side of the track... missed a trick there.

Q3

And so there were only ten drivers remaining, and the front row was already booked by Toto's posse. But the internal battle at Mercedes was certainly going to be a point of interest. Nico was running with an older Engine with having completed more miles than Hamiltons. But Rosberg has been on a run of form of late has been borderline unstoppable, yet Hamilton had topped all of the previous sessions thus far. So when it came down to the first runs of the session, Hamilton laid down a rather unimpressive laptime and found himself only a couple of tenths ahead of Sergio Perez's Force India who was still out performing his car. Hamilton's weak time meant it was relatively easy for Rosberg to take the provisional pole position in the first round of laps. Impressively Perez's time placed him ahead of Raikkonen's first effort and held onto third place.

When it came to the second runs, and the final qualifying laps of 2015 Hamilton certainly upped the pace and re-took that provisional pole position. For a while it seemed as if the final pole position was going to Hamilton but even with a weaker engine Rosberg was not going to take this lying down. Nico unleashed an outstanding lap to finish off qualifying, not only did he steal first place but he smashed Hamilton's time to almost four tenths of a second. So Rosberg's run of pole positions continues and I imagine a certain Mr Hamilton might be sulking in the team motorhome at the moment.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

In the final qualifying session of the year these are the final points to be awarded on a Saturday.

• 10pts - Sergio Perez - A brilliant performance today, comfortably on the second row of the grid challenging the remaining Ferrari
• 8pts - Jenson Button - Equalling the best ever result for that particular McLaren and on a much more power based track than Monaco the last time Jenson scored 12th place.
• 6pts - Nico Rosberg - A very strong final performance by Nico to claim that pole position and quite so comfortably
• 5pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Did will to uphold Ferrari's honour while Vettel ended up in the relegation zone despite pressure from Perez
• 4pts - Daniel Ricciardo - After being beaten by Kvyat recently, the Australian was the strongest Red Bull and Renault powered competitor in 5th place.
• 3pts - Carlos Sainz - Took the qualifying battle victory today over the much fancied Mad Max Verstappen 
• 2pts - Valtteri Bottas - Scores a couple of points for being the most sideways through the Marina sector of the lap
• 1pt - Sean Gelael - Takes home the final point for being the first driver to crash in the pit exit, just after I'd typed that no-one had completed such a feat.

Looking to Tomorrow

So here it is, the grand finale of 2015 - and this time we arrive in Abu Dhabi with all the championships decided well in advance and most of the positions in each table secured. So this race is pretty much just for fun, a final showcase before going into the winter break. But we've had this open framed approach to the race in Brazil and that didn't work out in the entertainment stakes. In theory Mercedes have no reason to stick to a safe, systematic strategy and can let both drivers go full attack... but there is the matter of another record the team would like to set in this modern era of domination. The most points scored by a constructor through a season, but that would only happen if the two silver cars finish in a dull and predictable 1-2 result. The only reason this points total hasn't been exceeded already is because of the farce that was double points in 2014.

If the battle at the front does fail to deliver, we have the interesting state of the rest of the grid. We have Sergio Perez in a theoretically slower car in front of faster opposition in the shape of Williams and Red Bull, so that section of the grid could all converge in a large unpredictable melee. One can hope anyway. To add to this we have Vettel starting well out of position at the back of the grid in a much faster car than those around him. So he should be making progress and passing cars along the way. With all those ingredients in play the grand finale has all the potential to be very entertaining. Alas that potential has been unfulfilled all too often, so just this once can we go out on a high... please

Round 18 - Brazil - Race

Greetings Internet, 

Now the chequered flag has fallen on the penultimate race we are left with the same feeling that we've been left with many times this season, a feeling that we are missing out on something. A feeling of unfulfilled opportunities and diminished returns - the radio comments from several drivers including our current champion indicates that the configuration of the current regulations and technical specifications are not generally conducive to consistently strong racing. Up at the front where the performance differences are smaller and the strategies are less diverse this phenomena of static racing becomes far more prominent. If we were to look at the recent US GP and why that was so much better, the most obvious reason was the weather and how the changing conditions created the performance differentials between drivers due to their setups. Red Bull had a wet setup on the cars and were quick when the track remained damp, as soon as the surface dried their performance vanished. Normal service resumed. The other influence of the US GP was the number of interruptions through real and virtual safety cars - created more variations in strategy and placed cars out of position throughout the race. Mexico and now Brazil didn't have any of that, and therefore we had to rely on the midfield to generate some action - because in that part of the grid teams and drivers are on different tyre sets of more varied ages. Of course there will always be exceptions to this - Hungary this year falls firmly into that category. The 2017 regulations are touted as the ultimate solution to the inherent problem, but it seems unlikely that things will change soon.

The Race

The race was all set to get underway but Carlos Sainz was already in a bit of bother - the Toro Rosso refused to get under way during a practice start and had to be return to the pit lane. So we were already one car down - a premonition of a race of high attrition... well no, at least not for anyone other than Sainz himself. The remaining 19 cars took the start from the grid and did so in a rather orderly and generic fashion. All except Bottas who cleared the row of cars in front of him before hitting the bakes for the Senna 's' - almost picking off Raikkonen in the process. Further back Maldonado and Grosjean had to get out of each others way to avoid contact and Fernando Alonso had to apply some avoiding action to miss slamming into the back of the other McLaren. I bet a collision between the two would have been just another insult to their dismal performance, at least the drivers and Eric Boullier have been having a bit of a laugh at their own expense this weekend. Suppose things could be worse... they could be Carlos Sainz who completed five corners and broke down... again. Started from the pit lane and failed to complete a single lap. 

In the following laps it remained reasonably settled, waiting for the DRS window to open before making any moves which again is an indication of how difficult overtaking is in this modern era. The first car to move forward was Romain Grosjean, recovering from his early off when avoiding his team mate. Romain, opened up the DRS and powered past the Sauber of Felipe Nasr. At first it seemed as if the DRS was over-powered because of the ease of the pass, which is not unusual these days. But later overtakes and battles on the same straight seemed to prove otherwise... if only slightly. The next overtake also featured the slightly less popular Brazilian on the grid as Nasr dove up the inside of Jenson Button. In contrast to Grosjean's pass, Nasr had to rely on the braking zone to make the pass stick - and against a McLaren we all know is not massively quick in a straight line. 

The first of the stops was taken by Daniel Ricciardo, opting for an unconventional strategy due to the fact another Renault engine penalty forced him to start from the back. After the stop the Australian found himself duelling with the Manor Marussia cars for last place - Will Stevens put up a bit of a fight but was easily dealt with once the pair reached the DRS zone. Rossi was handled even easier on the following lap. It wasn't many laps later before we started to see more of the mid-field paying a visit to the pit lane, as it turned out the tyre degradation was higher than anticipated for some teams - while other teams saw an early pit-stop as an opportunity to score the undercut and gain a few positions. This made more sense when we saw the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg receiving a new set of tyres, because traditionally if there is any car that can stretch out the tyre wear - it is a Force India. The plan worked out reasonably well for the Hulk as he was able to jump Kvyat through the stops.

At the front there was the vague hope of a fight for the lead as Rosberg appeared to be dropping back towards Hamilton after their round of stops, losing time especially under braking. Prompting Hamilton to call his team and demand a change in strategy in an attempt to find some kind of advantage over Nico. This was because there was no reasonable way of overtaking the car on track - the performance similarity and the strategy similarity meant that neither car had enough of a pace advantage to create a pass. Lewis couldn't stay close enough to Nico to make use of the DRS and had the same car and engine therefore didn't have a straight line speed advantage. It is a strange state of affairs when a car needs to considerably faster in order to stand a chance of making a move stick... unless of course you are Max Verstappen who doesn't play by the rules, but that would come a little later on. For now it was McLaren who were losing ground as Jenson Button lost the place to Nasr once again, the positions reversed during the first set of stops.

The second stint of the race was a little inactive, there was even a shortage of inevitable DRS passes, Maldonado hadn't driven into anyone and a McLaren hadn't broken down. Vettel remained in sight of the two Mercedes - if you had a long range telescope to hand. Raikkonen and Bottas were living loney races a comfortable distance apart - which was probably the safest option as the pair have been running into each other recently. Behind Bottas was the mid-field which was a melting pot of different strategies and approaches - Maldonado was running long on the harder of the two available compounds, while Sergio Perez was finding that the new set of tyres on his car were not quite to his liking, losing pace and losing places in the process - even the high top speed of the Force India couldn't prevent DRS overtakes on the main straight. Mostly because he was losing time in the final real corner Juncao leaving him unable to pull away from any attackers. In contrast Hulkenberg in the sister car was having far more comfortable time.

One of the drivers to launch an attack against a struggling Perez was Mad Max Verstappen - the dutchman didn't have the speed advantage to use DRS and breeze past a Mercedes powered car. So Max had to improvise and be later and braver on the brakes - round the outside of the Senna s. Perez held the line but Max was alongside and wouldn't take no for an answer, in the way that most stubborn teenagers do, forcing the Force India out wide and claiming the position. Ever the opportunist, Grosjean took full advantage of Sergio having to back off to avoid contact and swept round the outside of the Curva do Sol and demoted Perez yet further. This deep into the race it seemed odd, that on a track like interlagos there were no further retirements - only the Toro Rosso on the open lap of the race had dropped out. But if in doubt we have Pastor Maldonado who when necessary will give his best in the cause of reducing the amount of finishers. This time he set his targets on Sauber of Marcus Ericsson. The Venezuelan thew the Lotus down the inside of turn one from quite a long way back, clambering all over the inside curbs and inevitably into the side of the Sauber. Ericsson was turned around and Pastor carried onward, unaffected by the contact. Marcus was able to stay in the race despite Maldonado's best efforts, but the car was damaged and dropped to the back. The incident was discussed by the stewards and Maldonado found himself back on the naughty list after a temporary absence and was handed a five second time penalty.

Back at the front, the distant but still present threat of Sebastian Vettel did have an impact on Mercedes' strategy and was one of the driving factors behind Hamilton not getting his demands answered. The other Ferrari was trying something a little different, Raikkonen was running a two stop strategy mostly because he was so far ahead of Bottas that it didn't matter what strategy he was on, the place was safe. Kimi could have gone with a four stop strategy with a cup of tea and still taken fourth by the end of the race. One clue that the plan wasn't quite the optimal way to go racing today, despite early calculations was that the Finn was a considerable distance behind Vettel - but that could be down to Vettel doing a good job or Raikkonen just being off the pace, both of which have been the case on occasion this season. At the opposite end of the grid, Ricciardo's meteoric climb through the field wasn't really going to plan, three pit stops later and he was only up to 17th... I guess that new Renault engine wasn't delivering any real progress. Then again the old iteration of the power unit was not getting much love from Mad Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was swearing at his engine when Grosjean powered past the Toro Rosso on the main straight with effortless ease. The combination of the DRS and the powerful Mercedes engine made it all to easy for Romain to take the place.

While we were watching Mercedes stay in formation after the call of 'Hammer time' failed to bring Hamilton any closer to Rosberg - in fact he lost time and fell behind traffic - we got interesting news from the stewards office. Now that they had finished handling the Maldonado case, they turned to Williams and the revelation that Massa started the race with a really hot tyre. The tyre was recorded on the grid as being 26 degrees over the maximum temperature limit, while the pressure barely cleared the minimum limit. This suggested that the tyre had been overheated by the tyre warmers to create a falsely high tyre pressure. Which was rather bizarre, and if intentional - devious and underhanded by the team. We now know that Felipe was disqualified from the race, but at the time the Brazilian continued to have a reasonably anonymous race in the second half of the points positions. In fairness if you weren't driving a Lotus, Sauber or happened to be Mad Max - you were also having an anonymous race. Because the main contenders were just doing their jobs and holding station. Maldonado was making an appearance on the TV once more as he approached his second Sauber of the day. This time he made the pass into turn one without taking Felipe Nasr out, but then again if he had taken out one of the local drivers, he wouldn't be winning any fans around the circuit, and leaving Brazil might have been rather difficult.

To make matters more interesting after Pastor and Nasr pitted the Lotus driver found himself in place to overtake the Sauber for the second time - and for the second time in a row, Pastor made the pass without hitting anyone. Well done Pastor. There was some more overtaking further forward as Perez was in a fight with Ricciardo, who had made a little more progress, mostly through others pitting. The Force India was still struggling on the current set of tyres and struggled to fend off the Red Bull - like we saw with Mad Max, the Renault powered cars had to wait a little longer in the DRS to get alongside enough to make a pass. Only taking the place through the braking zone of the Senna 's'.

So while one car was moving forward another was starting to slip backwards and that car belonged to Nasr, for the upteenth time this season Felipe was experiencing issues with his brakes. Post race we heard Jenson Button pointing out that he could smell Nasr's brakes burning when he was pursuing the Sauber late in the race. I don't know what Nasr does to his brakes but more often than not he does seem to ruin them. This made him vulnerable to Verstappen and was why he didn't put up much of a fight when Maldonado came calling - although that might be more self preservation than anything else.

At the front of the field, that hope of a battle was starting to build up once more - but we've seen enough of these races now to know that in most circumstances it isn't going to lead anywhere. This time Rosberg and Hamilton were carving their way through lapped traffic - and because the Mercedes were as usual all dominant most of the field was soon converted into lapped traffic. Yet both of them remained almost the same distance apart throughout the lappery - the only driver who had an issue was Kimi Raikkonen who found himself complaining over the radio about the Manor drivers not getting out of the way quick enough. Not that it really mattered to Kimi, there was no-one anywhere near him on the track so any time lost would have absolutely no impact on his overall race. It would be at this point that we could do with some rain, and the clouds were gathering on the outside of the circuit... the problem being they were on the outside... and all the forecasts predicted it would remain dry. Spoilsports. Not that any rain would help the battle out front, because Hamilton damaged his tyres as he locked up into Bico de Pato. Lewis was two busy waving at Grosjean as he lapped the Lotus and missed the braking point for the hairpin. He also radioed the team that he thought that the floor of the car was damaged from curb usage. Therefore the fight for the win was even more over than it was before.

So once more we have to look elsewhere for more entertainment, more positional changes and we come to the plight of Felipe Nasr who was very much under pressure from Mad Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was obviously faster than the struggling Sauber, but the Toro Rosso was too slow in a straight line to make full use of the DRS. So Mad Max being mad, thought he'd have a go into Bico do pato, with a very late lunge, and almost became the second driver to collide with a Sauber today. Verstappen backed out at the last moment and narrowly kept his front wing. It wasn't long before even the superior top speed of the Sauber could keep the Toro Rosso at bay and Mad Max completed the pass in turn one as Nasr couldn't brake as late as he wanted. Verstappen then swiftly took off in pursuit of his next victim - Pastor Maldonado. Which on the surface is a recipe for destruction, a mad dutchman and... Pastor. However the Lotus driver was also struggling, this time it was tyres which were the problem. Just like the battle with the Sauber, Verstappen had a much quicker car round most of the lap, barring the straights. However a lack of tyre grip meant that Pastor was slow out of Juncao and therefore Mad Max was quickly into the slipstream and used DRS to complete the pass in turn one. 

At the front of the field it was an easy victory in the end for Rosberg albeit too little too late in terms of the championship but still proving that when it comes down to it he can still defeat Hamilton. Lewis made it an inevitable Mercedes 1-2 with Ferrari 3rd and 4th. These were the only cars on the lead lap, everyone else was at least a lap down. Bottas was the first of the lapped runners in 5th ahead of Hulkenberg once more proving to be an Interlagos specialist. Like so many drivers today Kvyat drove an almost completely anonymous race but finished as the lead Renault powered car in 7th place ahead of Grosjean... Massa actually finished 8th but as noted earlier, he was disqualified for having hot tyres and therefore doesn't exist in the results. This promotes Verstappen to 9th and Maldonado into the final points position - his first ever point in Brazil... even if he didn't quite have a clean race along the way.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Once more we were faced with a slightly unimpressive race and therefore selecting bonus points winners will be more challenging than usual, but here goes anyway.

• 25pts - Mad Max Verstappen - For being interesting, and overtaking people with an inferior engine 
• 18pts - Nico Rosberg - Once more comfortably handling the race and keeping Hamilton at bay
• 15pts - Nico Hulkenberg - An anonymous race but scored well for Force India and locked them into their highest placed finish in the constuctors 
• 12pts - Valtteri Bottas - Made the most places off the line clearing the row in front and almost instantly erasing his grid penalty
• 10pts - Sebastian Vettel - Kept the Mercedes in sight for a while and easily dominated his team mate 
• 8pts - Daniil Kvyat - The highest placed Renault runner, and using the older engine, but Ricciardo had to start last so it was no real comparison
• 6pts - Felipe Nasr - Also for being interesting in his battles with Jenson Button before his brakes started to fail.
• 4pts - Romain Grosjean - For being the only driver to pay tribute to the horrors in France over the radio post race. Granted Romain is French but still this is a global issue.
• 2pts - Pastor Maldonado - Yes hitting people is wrong, but at least it was interesting 
• 1pt - McLaren - Have to take a point for seeing the funny side of their ongoing dilemma

• -1pt - Kimi Raikkonen - Nowhere near Vettel today, a generally disappointing performance
• -1pt - Bernie Ecclestone - For having absolutely no idea behind the black armbands on the grid, despite the FIA presenting a press release statement containing the information and the obvious issues of the atrocities in Paris

Looking to Abu Dhabi 

The grand finale of the 2015 season is upon us, even if all the championships have been won and the vast majority of the championship positions are settled there is still something to look forward to. That probably won't be a battle for the win, because those things are very few and far between. I've read about such things on the internet but haven't seen too many out in the wild before. Traditionally the Yas Marina circuit doesn't really generate too many enthralling races, but 2012 was certainly an exception to that rule. 

Hopefully with nothing left to lose for so much of the grid, we can finally let them all loose and have all kinds of mayhem. Finish the season with a mad finale, please. 

Round 18: Brazil 2015 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet, 

With the world reeling from another devastating bout of terrorism in Paris - celebrating a day of sport seems really out of place. But as tragic as those events were and will always be, we have to remain resilient and power on in the face of these aggressors. So turning to the world of sport and to the Brazilian GP qualifying, where a traditional circuit was all set to deliver a very traditional result, traditional from the perspective of this season anyhow. The front runners remained firmly at the front and the tail enders remained at the back. It was the bit in the middle that we often have to rely on to be more dynamic and more interesting. I can't really say that this mid-grid armada was particularly entertaining this afternoon - it was far too routine, and too regimental. We had Renault underperforming in comparison to past results, we had McLaren running towards the back, and breaking down. 

In other news in and around the paddock, there have been a couple of penalties which would shape the grid before qualifying took place. Valtteri Bottas was handed a three place penalty for overtaking under a red flag during practice, caused by a McLaren breaking down... again. The second penalty belonged to Daniel Ricciardo because Red Bull opted to replace his engine with Renault's newest incarnation of the power unit. Amusingly for Red Bull they left the older specification engine in Kvyat's car - and in comparison across the data indicates that the new engine is actually slower in a straight line in terms of ultimate top speed... no wonder Red Bull and Renault have continual incidents of falling out. But in practice, over a complete lap the upgrade does seem to offer some performance advantage... by a couple of tenths. 

Q1

There were reports in the run up to the race weekend that there may be rain for qualifying, but bright skies and high temperatures made that forecast increasingly unlikely. So it was very much business as usual, which was a bit of a shame. For the first part of the session it was quite quiet, only a handful of cars ventured onto the track the first of those took four minutes to vacate the garage. That first volunteer was Nico, Hulkenberg that is - followed by Felipe Massa. The reluctance to take to track has something to do with the track evolution, meaning the lap times and the overall track condition would be better towards the end of the session. So doing laps early in the session would be a waste of tyres, which are always a limited resource these days. But the track condition wasn't going to get any better if no-one was driving on it - that's how it used to be in the old qualifying format. The big teams would sit in the garage and wait until the smaller, slower teams cleaned the track and put the rubber down. 

Eventually they all relented and started setting times, well almost all of them - Fernando Alonso found his McLaren didn't manage to complete a single lap before breaking down once again. While the marshals pushed the car away Fernando found himself a collapsable chair and sat on the side of the hill, winking at the camera and soaked up the sun. The other McLaren wasn't going that much faster, just ahead of the two Manor cars. At the other end of the spectrum it was a traditional Mercedes 1-2, unusually starting their Q1 session on the softer tyres, rather than saving them for later on. Hamilton marginally ahead of Rosberg. 

With the session drawing to a close lap times and positions started to change rapidly, within a space of 30s for example Grosjean moved up to third and then dropped back to 9th. This made the battle for relegation more dynamic, Massa was on the cusp of being knocked out and found himself having to dive off the track when Nasr decided to amble down the middle of the track on his out-lap. The two Felipes will be visiting the stewards office later on. In the end Massa held on to his promotion place and Nasr joined him in Q2.

Q2

Before the second part of qualifying got underway - we saw an official medical car head out to pick up Alonso from his sunbathing spot up on the hill and bring him back to the pits. Once the track was open once more, the circuit remained relatively unpopulated - Mercedes and Williams having the place to themselves. Again Hamilton had the upper hand with several tenths of an advantage over Rosberg. A minor discussion over the radio, indicated that Rosberg had no intention of staying on track on the current set of tyres in case he'd have to start the race on them and lose any hint of an advantage to Hamilton. The team suggested he could improve his lap time on the current set, and Nico decided he was pitting. 

The Mercedes 1-2 was more short lived than usual as Sebastian Vettel exploited Nico's slow lap to get steal second place. But with more than ten minutes gone in the session, only 11 drivers had actually set times, Lotus waiting to the final moments to make an appearance. To indicate how uneventful things were, both McLaren drivers found themselves wandering about on the podium - well no-one else was using it and they certainly won't get a change under normal circumstances. Suppose it shows how the times have changed at McLaren when they have to find small moments of happiness in a rather difficult season.

Back on track and more cars had finally decided to take part in qualifying, and traffic became more of an issue. This time the cars on an out-lap  were more observant of cars behind them and stayed out of the way. Just like Q1, lap times closer to the relegation zone were changing quite rapidly as Massa moved himself into the top ten. Lotus were also planning on getting one of their cars through in the final part of qualifying after Maldonado didn't escape Q1. But that plan didn't quite work out when Romain span the car through Ferradura and ruined his tyres and thus his final run. Preventing the second Lotus from making promotion.

Q3

The final part of qualifying, was poised as a significant battle between the two Mercedes, comfortably clear of the opposition. Between the pairing Rosberg set the first lap - the fastest lap of the weekend and certainly lay down the challenge to his team-mate. On the first time of asking - Hamilton couldn't quite find the same lap time and fell a few hundredths short of the German. Bottas and Hulkenberg lined up on the second row. The Ferraris rearranged that order slightly with Vettel taking third and Raikkonen 5th before everyone started setting up for the final efforts.

There were only two minutes left on the timer when the final efforts got underway and this time Max Verstappen joined the fray. Nico Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes pairing to set a new time, moving the goal post further away from Lewis' grasp. Of course Hamilton tried to recover the difference and he too did improve his qualifying effort but it was not enough to claim pole position. The other positions remained reasonably stable only Kvyat was able to make any real gains - jumping from 9th to 7th. 

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Despite the session not being that entertaining, those points still need to be awarded and these are as follows.

• 10pts - Nico Rosberg - A very strong session, recovering some of that qualifying form in a weekend without disrupted practice
• 8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - After being notable outshone by Perez, Hulkenberg scores a top six qualifying result
• 6pts - Daniil Kvyat - Despite being lumped with the older, not upgraded Renault engine and still beats Ricciardo with the newer engine. 
• 5pts - Sebastian Vettel - Once more the closest competitor to the Mercedes pair and well clear of Raikkonen 
• 4pts - Romain Grosjean - Before the spin in Q2, Romain was considerably outshining Maldonado in the other car.
• 3pts - Felipe Massa - Scores some points for his avoidance action when dodging a completely oblivious Sauber driver before Juncao
• 2pts - Fernando Alonso - Has to score some points for just being amusing while sitting around on the camping chair 
• 1pt - Jenson Button - Scores the final point for joining in on the podium silliness which was amusing

Looking to Tomorrow

There probably won't be any rain, which is a shame - so we are probably heading for a dominant Mercedes performance, but we can live in hope that the two cars in the all conquering team will offer some form of internal competition something that we saw a brief hint of at during the American GP. We want a race far more in line with the epic Bahrain race of 2014 - that is something we have been wanting ever since and has far too often been denied. Alas the Interlagos circuit doesn't necessarily supply the sort of layout that encourages that sort of racing. But it is a track which can trigger mistakes and inject something that prevents the slightly stagnant event we experienced in Mexico.

Round 18: Brazil 2015 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

It has been a while since I last polluted the internet with my disjointed ramblings about folk driving cars and having arguments about it in the process. There were some issues around having to go to London for a little while and theatrical performances that rather got in the way of life and things. But much to the collective disappointment of the collective internet population I have returned, and I think I can vaguely hear the faintest sounds of people throwing their computers out of the nearest window in disgust. Frankly I don't blame them. Anyway it has been an interesting and contrasting pair of races during my absence from this corner of the internet - the US GP was magnificent, actual overtakes for the lead, and not just between cars which happen to be owned by an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator. We had Kvyat having a mad race, passing people, throwing the car off the track and then into the barrier before the end. There was a championship which was almost prolonged but ended up being gifted to Hamilton before the end of the race. Then there was the worldwide sensation that was 'capgate' where people up and down the county opened their imaginary psychology textbooks and started preaching their findings to the world online. Personally I just figured Rosberg threw the hat back because he was angry at Pirelli for not bringing the stetsons to Texas.

Then there was Mexico - a returning venue brutally murdered by Tilke's design team. But alas we knew changes had to be made in the interests in safety, as immense as the old Peraltada corner was - it was too risky to use it with modern speeds. The changes to the middle sector though... that was just mean, the old esses were lovely, at least the ones that Champ Car raced on... because the last actual Mexican GP was many years before I tuned into things. So a returning traditional circuit, mixing the high speed original layout with a colossal amphitheatre stadium section was going to make for a great race... surely. Well no, it was rather dull - so dull in fact that Vettel crashed his Ferrari just to go home earlier. The Finns clashed again in a retribution attack from Bottas spinning Raikkonen out of the race, it seems that Kimi has rather forgotten all of a sudden how racing actually works... and those were the only highlights. A dominant 1-2 for Mercedes with Rosberg in front, nobody else was even close summed up the contrast between the two North American races. Even Nigel Mansell on the podium was so bored he forgot he was even in Mexico... maybe next year will be better. The Russian GP certainly was on the second time of asking.

In the news everyone is keeping their focus on Red Bull and their ongoing engine dilemma. The FIA has laid down an ultimatum on engine pricing to encourage more teams/manufacturers to join in. They want the price of a season's supply of power units to cost £12,000,000... which is quite a bit. But Mercedes and Ferrari have out and out rejected that as far too low, stating that they would make a loss selling that cheap... If the low prices were rejected by the manufacturers then Jean Todt and the other overlords would source a cheaper alternative engine which meets a different specification. I assume this 'budget' engine will be less powerful than the factory efforts but who knows. So where does all of this put Red Bull and their plight. New rumours suggest they will go running back to Renault for a rebranded version of the engine. But as Renault potentially take over Lotus, Red Bull would become a customer team and have to pay more for the engines. So their future may be a little unstable for now as no official final confirmation has been released.

The Venue

After rambling on about various other things it is time to return attentions to the matter of this race weekend, the penultimate round of the championship... not that any of the championships actually matter anymore. A part of me hoped that once the overall titles were settled in Texas, Mexico would be a free-for-all, instead of an uneventful evening. All that means is that Sao Paulo will have to pick up that particular baton and deliver something to make up for the Mexican GP which fell far short of the full enchilada. 

The Interlagos circuit has provided some brilliant races in the past, but the vast majority of those had one vital ingredient - rain. Showers are forecast for around qualifying... the last time that happened the session took several hours to complete due to rain red flags, accidents and general waiting about. Best put Doctor Who on record, just in case. The race however looks as if it might be dry, boo and hiss come to mind there but that's life for you. As to the configuration itself - it does bear the hallmarks of a traditional and historic venue. Bumpy grass run-off areas, varied corner speeds and types - a world away from the sparkly car park used for the finale race. So many of the corners have character and stories to tell over the years, each one different to it's predecessor.

The first sector is defined by the Senna 's' a blind entry to a downhill chicane where picking a braking point can be quite challenging - especially to those of us who have never actually driven one of the cars and just played about in computer games. It presents a good opportunity for overtaking, for crashing - and as a young Nick Heidfeld once found out, for taking doors off medical cars. Turn three, the simple acceleration zone in the dry, collects rivers of water in the wet which caught so many drivers out in 2003 leading to a very expensive collection of broken cars being stored on the exit of the corner. The first sector is concluded by the run up to Descida do Lago - one of Interlagos' many flamboyantly named corners. The corner where Vettel almost threw away the 2012 championship by colliding with Bruno Senna in the damp conditions. 

After Descida do Lago the track heads into the technical middle section which several corners are crammed into a relatively small space. However the sector starts off with Ferradura a quick corner at the top of the ascent where the powers that been have decided to apply some tarmac to the run off area. I suppose Kvyat might be happy so see some of that after the gravel in Suzuka flipped his car. The exit of Ferradura immediately flows into the first of three hairpins - Laranja which in turn defines the entry to the challenging Pinheirinho corner. The final hairpin in the complex is the Bico de Pato, translating as the 'Ducks Beak' the amusingly named corner has been the scene of the odd optimistic overtaking effort. This complex finishes like it started, with a quick exit through the downhill Mergulho corner, where rivers have thrown many folk into the barrier. Most recently Grosjean in the last wet race at the circuit. 

The final sector is defined by Juncao corner, the exit of which establishes the speeds for the huge climb up the hill back to the start/finish line passing through two high speed flat out kinks to round out the lap. The barriers have been moved back in key places to improve safety as ongoing developments plan to relocate the grandstands on the outside to allow more run-off area. This in response to several significant accidents over the years, most recently Mark Webber ripped a LMP1 Porsche in half after colliding with the wall in a WEC race. 

The Form Guide

Conditions may have impact on qualifying and create a very interesting grid for Sunday - if the rain does arrive on Saturday then Red Bull might be in for an outside look at the front row. Combined with the middle sector should also suit their car... but the long uphill climb will show off Renault's obvious power deficit. Ferrari and Mercedes might be closer on one lap pace in the dry and anyone gambling on a wet setup might do well in qualifying. But cooler conditions are predicted for the race, and that might hurt Ferrari and make life easier for Mercedes. Of the pairing in the silver arrows, a disruptive weekend of mixed conditions has played more into Rosberg's hands, as evidenced by the spate of recent poles at weekends where practices have been rained off. 

Wet weather is also bad for Williams who have proven lack of performance when the rain sets in, pushing them further into the mid-field with ground to make up on the Sunday. Seeing Bottas and Massa carve through the field might add a little something to the race. The middle of the pack should get very crowded especially considering the track is so short, Force India, Toro Rosso and Lotus all mashed up together and melting pot of competitive rivalry... or just a long procession following each other round with two second gaps between each car, if Mexico was anything to go by. 

Where the struggling McLarens fit into this remains a bit of an unknown, the middle sector won't expose their lack of engine power and the short lap won't expose the weaknesses in their hybrid unit. But two high speed sectors including a long uphill climb might pose greater difficulties for both drivers, and make their battle with Sauber that bit more difficult. Of course Manor will be at the back of the grid, still waiting for that new, shiny Mercedes engine next season. But if the forecasts are defied and the rain makes it to Sunday's race, some madness might put them in the running for a point. But that would take a lot of madness, which I do approve of. 

Rain or no rain the Brazilian GP generally provides a reasonable amount of entertainment, and after Mexico we could do with some.