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.