#F1 @Heineken #BrazilianGP 2019 Preview. – @F1 #BrazilGP

After Lewis Hamilton clinched his sixth World title despite team-mate Valtteri Bottas taking the victory in Texas, the penultimate round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the popular Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the Formula 1 Grande Premio Heineken Do Brasil 2019. This marks the 47^th running of the Brazilian GP as a round of the world championship since its inception in 1950 and the 36^th event to be held at Interlagos.

 

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Brazilian GP – A look at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace

 

 

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, known by its former name Interlagos is a permanent racing circuit located in the city of Sao Paulo in the neighbourhood of Interlagos. The circuit was renamed after Brazilian Formula 1 driver Carlos Pace who was tragically killed in a plane accident.

 

In 1938 a huge plot of land was bought in Sao Paulo by two property developers whose intention was to build accommodation. Following difficulties partly due to the 1929 stock market crash and one part of the land not being suitable for housing, they decided to build a racing circuit instead. Construction began in 1938 and the track opened in 1940. Sao Paulo grew at a rapid rate and the circuit was quickly surrounded by houses.

 

In the 1970s when legend Emerson Fittipaldi began to have international success, the Brazilians wanted to host a Grand Prix. In 1971 and 1972 Interlagos hosted non-championship races but in 1973 the track staged its first Grand Prix as part of the world championship.

 

The track quickly became the locals’ lucky charm, with Fittipaldi and Carlos Pace claiming victories in the 1970s. Interlagos was the scene of Pace’s first and only Formula One victory and following his death in a plane crash the circuit was renamed in his honour.

 

In 1978 it moved to the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro, but in 1979 Interlagos reclaimed the race back for a couple of years. By 1981 however, Rio de Janeiro had taken the Grand Prix back. When an agreed $15m investment to shorten and smoothen the circuit was made due to recent success of Sao Paulo native Ayrton Senna, the race made its return to Interlagos in 1990 and has stayed as the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix ever since.

 

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Paces’ natural contours provides a challenging combination of technically demanding medium and low-speed turns linked with high-speed straights and bends. The topography of the circuit means many of these are off camber, increasing the challenge.

 

A major car setup consideration is the altitude. At 800m, Interlagos is the second highest altitude circuit of the year after the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico and the thinner air in the past led engines to produce 7-8 per cent less power but the 1.6L turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrains have the advantage over its naturally aspirated predecessors due to the turbochargers being able to spin faster to compensate for lower atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. The altitude levels also effect aerodynamic performance too as such teams will run higher downforce packages to cope with inefficiencies. The lack of aerodynamic grip also means that the importance of good mechanical grip is emphasised. The other variable is the weather and conditions at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace which can be hard to predict at times.

 

The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace is 4.309km (2.677 miles) in length with 15 corners and runs in an anti-clockwise direction.

 

Race distance is 305.909km (190.067 miles) in length with 71 laps in total.

 

Valtteri Bottas holds the fastest lap record at the circuit with a 1:10.540 set at last year’s event in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+.

 

Four-time World Champion Alain Prost holds the record for most Brazilian Grand Prix victories with six.

 

McLaren are the most successful constructor at the Brazilian Grand Prix with 12 victories.

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Brazilian GP – Onboard lap of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace

 

 

Here is the onboard pole lap of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace set at last year’s event by Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+, with the Briton posting a blistering 1:07.281. You can watch the video right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyX6aNxL9SQ

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Brazilian GP – The Last Five Winners

 

 

2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2017: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

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Tyres

 

 

Sole-tyre supplier Pirelli will be bringing with them to Brazil the hardest compounds of its range, the C1 white side-walled Hard rubber, the yellow-marked C2 P-Zero Medium tyres and the C3 red-branded Soft compounds along with the green-branded Intermediate and blue-marked Full Wet tyre compounds in case of rain.

 

World Constructor’s Champions Mercedes have once again gone with a conservative tyre approach against its rivals Ferrari and Red Bull for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

 

Mercedes and McLaren have selected eight sets of the red side-walled softer rubber, whilst Ferrari and Red Bull opted for 10 sets of the C3 soft compound.

 

The allocation was followed suit by Haas F1 Team, Renault F1 Team and SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team while Alfa Romeo Racing, ROKiT Williams Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers will all have nine sets of the soft tyres at their disposal.

 

With the C2 mediums, newly crowned champion Lewis Hamilton has chosen four sets with team-mate Valtteri Bottas selecting three sets of the yellow-marked tyre.

 

All Ferrari and Red Bull drivers have the same choices with the C1 hards and C2 mediums, choosing one set of the harder compound and two of the mediums.

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Brazilian Grand Prix – DRS Zones

There will be two DRS Zones at Interlagos for the Brazilian GP. The first detection point is at the apex of turn two, with the activation point 20 metres after turn three. The second detection zone is 30 metres after turn 13 with the activation point 30 metres after the final corner.

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Brazilian Grand Prix – Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speed limits will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race for the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

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ICYMI: United States GP Rewind – Hamilton secures sixth title despite Bottas snatching the victory

 

 

Lewis Hamilton claimed his sixth World Driver’s Championship crown despite being overtaken late on by Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the United States Grand Prix.

 

Hamilton made short work of the two Ferrari drivers on the opening lap to grab third and was the sole runner among the leaders to take on a one-stop strategy, which put the Briton above Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.

 

But pole-sitter Bottas caught and passed Hamilton with five laps remaining to snatch the victory.

 

Hamilton’s sixth world title, his fifth with the Silver Arrows, appeared to be reality before the start of the race as the Briton only needed to finish eighth to mathematically wipe team-mate Bottas out of the equation.

 

A sixth victory for Hamilton in Texas seemed less likely after a difficult qualifying meant he started behind Bottas, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

 

Hamilton was in-front of both Ferrari’s at the midway point of the opening lap, clearing Leclerc rapidly then executing a brilliant move around the outside of Vettel into the sweeping turn eight after the esses sequence – which gave the Mercedes driver the inside line into the ninth corner.

 

Once in third place, Hamilton slowly started to put pressure on Verstappen, who had sustained front wing damage at turn one.

 

Verstappen passed Vettel around the outside into the first corner on the opening lap and though the Dutchman backed off as leader Bottas moved wide at the exit, there was slight contact between the duo.

 

This gave Verstappen a balanced offset throughout the race, meaning by the time he pitted his Honda-powered RB15 racer on lap 13 – committing to a two-stop strategy – as Bottas was comfortably clear and Hamilton was on the rear of the Red Bull.

 

Mercedes reacted by stopping Bottas a lap later to hold track position against the undercut threat, which was successful, while Hamilton remained out longer until lap 24.

 

That set a split of race strategies that gave Hamilton track position once Bottas and Verstappen pitted for their final time, as the top three converged for the closing stages.

 

Bottas got within DRS range of team-mate Hamilton with six laps to go and next time round the latter ran slightly wide into the hairpin, giving the former a better run on the long back straight.

 

Hamilton covered the inside line as Bottas got alongside the Briton and briefly in-front on the outside, but Hamilton braked later, making Bottas take to the run-off area on the exit of the corner.

 

On the next lap, Bottas was able to the inside of Hamilton with DRS assistance at the same place, passing his Mercedes team-mate without no problems.

 

With no chance at fighting Bottas back, Hamilton turned to keeping Red Bull’s Verstappen at bay.

 

Verstappen’s front wing damage meant he never quite got back on terms with race leader Bottas after dropping back in the initial race stint, but he caught the struggling Hamilton with three laps remaining and was given “full power” in an attempt to snatch second place.

 

But yellow flags at the end of the back straight – caused by a brake failure from Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who ended up in the gravel, meant a key overtaking opportunity for the Dutchman was removed.

 

Behind race winner Bottas and second-placed Hamilton as the Silver Arrows wrapped up a one-two, Verstappen had to settle for third.

 

Leclerc finished a distant fourth place after Ferrari’s strong run of form was dashed in a dismal Grand Prix for the Maranello squad.

 

Leclerc had a slow 7.7 stop and ended up 52.239 seconds behind winner Bottas in fourth, but team-mate Vettel retired from the Grand Prix after a left-rear suspension failure in the early stages.

 

Vettel already fell to seventh from his front-row start after struggling with no grip and understeer in the opening laps, then his SF90 racer broke on the eighth lap.

 

The second Red Bull of Alexander Albon finished fifth despite a tangle with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz on lap one, having squeezed Leclerc’s Ferrari and the McLaren.

 

Albon had to pit at the end of the opening lap because of damage his RB15 racer suffered but the Thai-Briton driver charged back with two impressive stints.

 

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo ended the Grand Prix best-of-the-rest in sixth after overhauling the two McLaren MCL34’s.

 

Lando Norris took a late second stop that allowed the youngster to make short work of his midfield rivals and claim seventh, ahead of team-mate Sainz – who lost ground in the early stages thanks to his opening lap collision.

 

The other Renault of Nico Hulkenberg made a late-great charge to snatch ninth whilst Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat passed Racing Point’s Sergio Perez for the final point’s place on the last lap but was demoted to 12^th after being immediately hit with a five-second timed penalty for his collision with the Mexican.

 

This promoted Perez to take the final point position and Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen to 11^th.

 

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll finished 13^th and in-front of the second Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi who was 14^th and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who took 15^th.

 

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was 15^th and did not finish whilst ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell brought up the rear and two laps down.

 

Russell’s team-mate Robert Kubica was the other casualty in the Grand Prix retiring due to a hydraulics failure on lap 31.

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The Situation

 

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to Brazil with his sixth World Driver’s Championship wrapped up, sitting on 381 points and a 67-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 314 points while Charles Leclerc is a further 132 behind the Briton in third on 249 points.

 

Mercedes comes to Sao Paulo with the Constructors Championship secured with 695 points and a 216-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 479 points while Red Bull Racing are third and a further 329 behind the Silver Arrows on 366 points.

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Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 381 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 314 Points.
3. Charles Leclerc – 249 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 235 Points.
5. Sebastian Vettel – 230 Points.
6. Alexander Albon – 84 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 80 Points.
8. Pierre Gasly – 77 Points.
9. Daniel Ricciardo – 46 Points.
10. Sergio Perez – 43 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 695 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 479 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 366 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 121 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 83 Points.
6. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 65 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 64 Points.
8. Alfa Romeo Racing – 35 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 28 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 1 Point.

https://termiontrack.com/2019-f1-world-championship-standings/

 

The Formula 1 Heineken Grande Premio Dos Brasil 2019 weekend begins Friday November 15 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday November 16 and the 71 lap Brazilian Grand Prix Sunday November 17.

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