F1 - Brazil Qualifying Sun 9 Nov 2014 02:30 AEDT ONE HD

[gary]

Coverage of the Qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix takes
place in the early hours of Sunday morning at 02:30am AEDT on ONE HD.

Coverage of the race itself is on Monday morning starting at 02:30am AEDT
on TEN.

Sao Paulo is doing its thing and storms are expected on Saturday and
there is a possibility of rain on Sunday. Regular race watchers
will know that storm cells can come and go during the race, sometimes
missing the Interlagos circuit and at other times bucketing down to
cause chaos.

Being on the right tyre at the right time at Sao Paulo has often been key.

As Vettel himself found out, you can end up doing a 180 in the rain
on the first lap, facing the wrong way with the rest of the pack bearing
down on you.

Or if you don't get back onto intermediates or slicks fast enough you
end up losing precious seconds a lap.

Rosberg lead the way in FP1 with Hamilton only 0.2 seconds behind.

Ricciardo set the 10th fastest time, some 1.43 seconds slower than
Rosberg.

Hamilton currently leads Rosberg in the championship by 24 points.

The point scoring system is :-

1st : 25 points
2nd : 18 points
3rd : 15 points
4th : 12 points
5th : 10 points
6th : 8 points
7th : 6 points
8th : 4 points
9th : 2 points
10th : 1 point

However, the final race in Abu Dhabi is double points.

There are many permutations but Hamilton can even afford to come
second to Rosberg in this and the final race and still get the championship,
which would then be 370 points to 367.

Though Ricciardo can no longer win the championship, many fans
would love to see him win the final two races.

In other news, Marussia has ceased trading and the 200 staff
unfortunately made redundant. Bianchi remains in a critical but stable
condition. Story at BBC here including an account by Eddie Jordan
as to why the smaller teams are in trouble :-
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29954250

[Exfso]

Thanks Gary, as usual very knowledgable. I love the F1, hopefully it will be a closer comp next year engine-wise. Interesting stuff with the driver shuffle, I wish Alonso would let people know what he is doing, it is causing a right royal quandry for some of the teams, not to mention the followers like us:D

It is a pity Dan had the points taken off him in Melbourne, he would still be in the hunt if that had not happened.

[astroron]

Thanks Gary, :thanx:
As proven in the last race if there is a chance to overtake between Hamilton and Rosberg or visa virsa,you can guarantee that Hamilton will pull it off more so than Rosberg.
Watching "Live Timing" this morning there was very little between both drivers, .2 of a second,which in a race is in DRS territory and a chance for an overtaking move.
The only thing I hope is that the championship is not won because of the double point's BS,
IMHO Bernie was too smart for his own good and has made himself look a proper Nanna, as we poms would say.
Go Lewis :D

[gary]

Rosberg now fastest in all three practice sessions in Brazil, always
a tenth of a second or two ahead of Hamilton.

Should be an interesting qualifying session!

[Exfso]

Listening to the commentators this morning and they reckon that talking to Mercedes, that they know where they can get another 60hp from that power unit over their winter break. The mind boggles that is even more catch up that is required by Renault and Ferrari if that statement is correct.:eyepop:

[gary]

Hi Peter,

When it comes to engines next year, things are even more complex than that. :)

In order to reduce costs, there was a rule introduced that started just
before the beginning of the season this year that throttles engine
development over a seven year period.



See http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/news/files/FIA-leaflet-2014-A5-light.pdf

To police this, each team had to hand-over one of their engines to the FIA
just before the start of the season. The FIA reserved the right to then
conduct a random audit, comparing the engine they had "on file" to
one being used by a team at any one time. This process was referred
to by the FIA as "power unit homologation".

It might be argued that Hamilton and Rosberg's incredible run of podium
finishes this year was actually set in motion by Mercedes engineers
several years earlier when they first sketched on the back of the napkin
the idea of how to minimize turbo lag.

When each of the teams had to open their kimonos at the pre-season
testing in Bahrain, it would have been immediately clear to the
Renault and Ferrari engineers that their designs were inferior to what
Mercedes had innovated.

Speaking of kimonos, it is therefore interesting that Honda, who
plan to introduce their engine next year, would possibly
have the benefit of having seen what everyone else had already come
up with.

With the Mercedes design so much better than Renault and Ferrari's,
it therefore comes as no surprise that there was much talk at Sochi
about allowing an "unfreeze" period in 2015. Otherwise Mercedes would
dominate for years to come.



See http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/10/to-unfreeze-or-not-to-unfreeze-with-hybrid-turbo-engines-that-is-the-question/

Back on October 10th, The F1 Strategy Group, which had representatives
from six of the eleven teams, passed a vote in favour of an unfreeze.

Mercedes were initially against it, slamming it as "ridiculous".
However, on November 8th, Mercedes said they were willing to
"compromise".

See http://www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/f1-engine-marques-still-arguing-over-2015-unfreeze?artid=172739

Mercedes engineers apparently believe they will still have the technical
edge over their rivals because their design is just that much different
and because they have hinted that they too have other upgrades up their sleeve.

But today the news is that engine unfreeze talks have stalled :-
http://www.grandprix247.com/2014/11/09/f1-money-crisis-and-engine-unfreeze-talks-stall/

[Exfso]

Thanks Gary, I suppose there is one way around the cramp on engine development, in particular for Renault and that would be to withdraw their engines from F1, not sure how they go contract wise, but that would throw the cat amongst the pidgeons, considering the teams that currently use the Renault "snail".:D

[gary]

With the world championship now hanging on the final double-point race in Abu Dhabi
on 23rd November, the BBC has posted all the permutations for either
how Hamilton or Rosberg can win.

See http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29982917

[AstroJunk]

Of course, Hamilton could take the championship the easy way and do a 'Schumacher' on the third corner and take them both out...

It was an interesting comment IIRC that Rosberg Snr was the last driver to win a world championship having won fewer races than his opponent. Could Run in the family.

A little like Wozniaki being worlds No1 tennis pro without ever winning a slam. These folk need to sort their points system out!!!

[astroron]

My guess as to what will happen in a fortnights time.
Mercedes will find a gremlin in Lewis's car, so Rosberg can win.
German car German driver.
Probably something like stuck wheel at the tyre change or a convenient electrical fault.
They have won the constructors championship so having Lewis finish down the list won't harm them a bit.
Lewis will get peed off,leave Mercedes and in steps Alonzo.
I hope it doesn't happen and Lewis wins,but I am not confident.:sadeyes:
Cheers:thumbsup: