In Brazil we trust. Rarely do we get a dull race around the
Interlagos track in Sao Paulo and with the weather forecast predicting rain on
every day of the event, the 2013 season could be in for a thrilling finale which
might just see the dampening of the Red Bull party.
Not that it would take much of the gloss off what has been a
brilliantly dominant campaign from the Milton Keynes based team. If it is a dry
race then they have every hope of Sebastian Vettel continuing to exploit their
car to the fullest as Pirelli are bringing the hard and medium tyre meaning the
tyres should last nicely. There are also two DRS zones, the first on the start
finish straight with the second coming after the Senna S.
If it is a wet race let’s not get carried away with thinking
that Vettel will be out of it. He’s brilliant in wet conditions too and would
have every chance of showing them off, but a bit of H2O goes a long way to
mixing the pack up, especially if it’s a wet dry race. The weather at the
moment seems to suggest that Sunday will be full of short showers not constant
falling rain. So let's look to the positives for F1's final 2013 fling.
I can’t think of a wet race that Romain Grosjean has
excelled in during his time of Formula 1, although over the last few years they’ve
been hard to come by. If it is raining on Sunday then that will be the first
wet race all year. However, my point was that Grosjean in the latter half of
this year has been brilliant and put in some incredibly mature drives, not
least his great run to second place last time out in America.
Lotus look to have the only car capable of at least getting
into the mix with the Red Bull’s in dry conditions so if it is wet, perhaps
this will be the chance for them to nab a second victory of the year, in fact
it would mean they bookend the season. Definitely watch out for Grosjean. Even
his replacement team mate Heikki Kovalainen might be worth watching out for. He
looked quick in his first race back for nearly a year, especially in
qualifying.
Nico Hulkenberg for Sauber will also be worth watching out
for. He took a fantastic pole position for Williams here in 2010 and last year
was leading the race comfortably for a while before a dice with Lewis Hamilton
saw him sliding helplessly into the British driver. He still recovered to fifth
while Lewis retired in his final race for McLaren.
Lewis looked to have rediscovered a bit of form for Mercedes
in the USA ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg, and he’s always looked quick here despite lacking a win. If it’s
raining it might be a chance for him to shine one final time in 2013, his wet weather
driving is usually something to behold and Rosberg isn't bad either.
That could also mean renowned wet weather specialist Jenson
Button could finally grab McLaren a podium this year, or maybe something even
better; he was the winner here last year in a mixed condition race. Sergio Perez too, in his final race for McLaren is pretty handy in the
wet so it is potentially a race for them to go for the win with nothing to
lose.
Valtteri Bottas made Williams look like a team to be taken
seriously again in the USA with a strong qualifying and an equally strong race
to claim their best result of the year. He was fantastic in wet qualifying in
Canada, and with Williams having made real progress since they sorted out the
rear end of their car, it would be worth keeping an eye on Bottas and Pastor
Maldonado to spring a surprise.
We can’t forget about Ferrari either. In the dry, maybe we
can, but again this hinges on the race being wet, but Fernando Alonso can be
magnificent in these conditions and will exploit his car to its fullest to pull
of one final miracle win. Felipe Massa shouldn’t be ruled out either, he’s a
twice winner of his home Grand Prix, and in his final race for Ferrari will be
desperate to go out in style.
There are interesting dynamics in the constructors
championship too, with a fight for second still going on between Mercedes,
Ferrari and Lotus while down at the back, it takes just one mixed up race for
Caterham to steal 10th place and a lot of prize money from Marussia
who’ve been in the vital spot since the start of the year. Caterham pulled off
that feat last year, there’s no reason they can’t do it again.
There's plenty to fight for with regards to next year too. There are only a few seats left up for grabs and enough drivers currently competing to fill them up twice over. It's going to one final chance to prove themselves for the likes of Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutierrez, Sergio Perez, Pastor Maldonado, Giedo van der Garde, Charles Pic, Max Chilton and for some inexplicable reason Nico Hulkenberg. Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne have their seats safe for next year, but they'll likely be jostling with many of these drivers, so it could be quite the wild time.
We shouldn’t forget two time Brazilian Grand Prix winner
Mark Webber either, in his final race in Formula 1. He’ll be desperate to
finish his career with one more win to take him into double figures, and if it
ends up being a dry race he should be the only one able to take the fight to
Vettel and give us a rousing send off to the 2013 season. It doesn’t really
matter if Vettel wins or not, I think some of his wins this year have been mesmerising. But it would just be nice to send this season
off with an exhilarating fight for the win.
If it’s dry, it’s almost certain to be a Red Bull
demonstration run, if it’s wet however, then let the sport come alive once
more. Come on Formula 1, one last hurrah.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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