That was horrible - is Interlagos fit for F1?

[Hugh Jarce]

I'm sorry guys but I found that horrible to watch.

Poor blokes flying off without any control. A guy missing from the podium!



I know certain circuits have been dropped from the calendar but when it appears that run-off ditches were channelling water onto the track, some serious investigation is needed as to whether that track is fit for F1.

I seriously cannot believe that a 2003 circuit cannot get the rain away from the 'road'.



If that's what the guys have to cope with and risk serious injury over, my view is drop it for next year and reinstate somewhere else!

And, I think my view will be the same having 'cooled off'.

Flippin' heck.

[TimD]

Would have been easier to handle with the right tyres.

Cost-saving, they called it....

[Logrence]

It wasn't about cost saving, this particular tyre ruling was about the michelin teams trying to pull a sneaky one and reclaiming the deficit they have from the Bridgestone wet and intermediate tyres...

[gttouring]

No inter lagos is not fit for F1 anymore the runoff should be controlled and pooling and sheets of water should not drench like that. Rain ok , puddles ok, but rain 'seeping out ' from under the track, what is this my neighborhood? it is an F1 facility get the drainage and all right. Spa, A-1, and Nurburgrung don't have these issues, and niether does Silverstone for crying out loud.

[Tom Fuller]

I don't think it is - its too fast and there are some dangerous corners. If they want a Brazilian circuit to replace Interlagos with, try Jacarepagua.

[Rafael]

The problem wasn't on the circuit. Interlagos often had rain races and there was no problem there. Even in 1996 it rained more than today.
The problem is on the tyres. It's impossible to run with intermediate ones. What happened on the Curva do Sol shows it. Every moment cars has gone aquaplanned.
The FIA must review the question of the tyres, or we will have a disaster.

[Hugh Jarce]

I'm sorry guys - I need to post again simply to say I feel really angry.

That shot of Alonso ploughing into Webbers carnage was awful, as was the utter fisaco on turn 3 - someone calm me down.

[Spaced Invader]

there was all the debarcle about Silverstone being banned because of the poor parking facilities but what about this???? turn 3 was a river, several cars went off there and hit each other while sationary and did you see how near Schumacher was to hitting that digger when he went off?? its absolutely disgusting.

[Hugh Jarce]

Originally posted by Rafael
The problem wasn't on the circuit. Interlagos often had rain races and there was no problem there. Even in 1996 it rained more than today.

When I heard Wilson comment that he was having to cope with two 'rivers' (his words I believe) on turn three, tyres or not, something is not up to scratch.

Rafael - it's nothing personal for your Brazilian guys but that was not up to standard and I'd same the same if it were Silverstone.

When most of the track 'bone dry' except for a dodgy run-off area - enough said!

I'm going for a glass of Chardonnay - I'll see you later when I have 'got the revs down a bit'.

[Kenny W.]

Any news on Alonso. - Didn't like the neck support.
Will this affect peoples opinions of HANS?

[Shinners]

God Hugh, your as bad as my brother (massive Jordan fan) who is almost having a coronary here !! Dont think any of the drivers saw the waved yellow prior to Webbers carnage as they didnt seem to slow down and I think there was a query re the yellows at this incident.... correct me if Im wrong ?

[Alfaholic]

Surely Alonso's accident was the driver's fault, not the circuit. Yellow flags were out and his team must have warned him about the debris on the track, so why plough into a tyre in the middle of the circuit at speed?
As far as the water at turn 3 is concerned, the drivers had been through it enough times to know that caution was required with reduced grip.

[Jay]

I would think the HANS device would have helped him in that accident actually...

Every circuit has problems when it comes to rain. Don't single out Interlagos.

[Snrub]

No way, that was a b!ching race. Interlagos forever! If you go off, that's your problem. That's racing. Fisi kept his nose clean and drove fast. He deserved to win. It was nice to see a race where the cars were equalized a bit. TONS of passing. This is what we keep trying to tell you 'F1 Technology must be king' people. This is what racing is about. I don't think I've seen a better F1 race.

F1 circuits do not need to be surgically perfect environments. Let the drivers pass, make the circuit safe and that's all that's needed.

[Sodemo]

I actaully do NOT agree with all the tyre rule bashing, think about it for one moment:

Look back to Sepang 2001, here we had a wet race with torrential downpours. Now the cars were only allowed to go racing once the track had been cleared of water.

Even if the teams had brought wet tyres with them this weekend, they would have still started behind the safety car, and would have still done a fair few laps before the track was "ready".

Also from memory, it was much wetter at Brazil in 2001...

The question as to whether F1 drivers should start in the wet in the usual manner is another arguement (I think F1 should start all its races in most conditions, bar tropical storms) We could have started todays race on wets.

[Adam43]

Originally posted by The Monster
Look back to Sepang 2001, here we had a wet race with torrential downpours. Now the cars were only allowed to go racing once the track had been cleared of water.

This race actually gave an indication of why the one tyre rule wouldn't work.

The race in Malaysia wasn't re-started because some were on inters behind the pace car and it wouldn't have been safe to restart. So if you have one tyre you make the least like a wet and say it is too dangerous to race because you have **** tyres.

If the teams had slicks the race would have started much earlier and we wouldn't have had as many problems in turn 3.

The level of wetness can be higher when they start the race if they have proper wets.

Maybe Ron has an idea that if they can stipulate that the sinlge wet is a true wet everything would be OK with the one tyre rule. But it isn't at the moment and we lose racing laps.

[Andrew Kitson]

Originally posted by Alfaholic
Surely Alonso's accident was the driver's fault, not the circuit. Yellow flags were out and his team must have warned him about the debris on the track, so why plough into a tyre in the middle of the circuit at speed?
As far as the water at turn 3 is concerned, the drivers had been through it enough times to know that caution was required with reduced grip.

I agree entirely. They are supposed to be the best drivers in the world. If they can't handle the conditions, move to the IRL or something.
Proper racing drivers race in all conditions. Look at Stewart at the Nurburgring or Senna at Estoril!

[Lee Janotta]

Quit whipping on Interlagos! You don't know what you're asking for when you say you want more safety!

Y'know what? You guys need to grow up instead of whining every time a race goes as something besides a 100% safe procession around a Tilke-ring surrounded by seas of gravel. I'm firmly in the Villeneuve "Sh•t happens!" camp. Alonso's crash was a bonehead move, and he's paid for it with injury. No one else got hurt spinning off or crashing! That's GOOD!!! But you're gonna whine because the race organizers couldn't overcome the forces of nature and will the water to flow uphill? Give me a break!

It's racing! It's wild, it's chaotic, it's unpredictable! And may it always be!!!

[bastinscully]

replace interlagos with spa

[Mekola]

Replace Interlagos with Rio or Buenos Aires instead. South America must have a race.

[Alfaholic]

Leave Interlagos alone. It's the "follow my leader" tracks like Hungary & Monaco that need replacing - perhaps with Road America!!

[Greg Cummins]

Got to give it to Webber for the dramatics: save of the day (brilliant or luck?) and one of the more spectacular crashes of the day, ultimately decided the race's outcome. Only upstaged by Alonso...

[M Coupe]

Interesting that everyone blames the tyres, lets say the teams had a choice of 3 different wets like in the past (Inter, wet & Monsoon), they would have started on the Monsoon, then possibly changed to the full wet, then what????

The circuit was basically damp so inters really, but turn 3 was a Monsoon corner. No matter what the rules are they would still have been on inters towards the end so they would still have been going off at turn 3.

This circuit should be removed from the calendar, obviously it will never happen, but look at the history of the place. Advertising boards falling off on the main straight, teams having laptops stolen and team members mugged etc, bumpiest circuit on the calendar, it always seems chaotic, but having the circut continue to flood itself, when the rain had stopped for at least an hour is ridiculous. Bet it never gets mentioned by the FIA again.


Alonso's accident was either driver or team error, why weren't they screaming at him that the track was covered in debris, and if he didn't see any yellow flags either he missed them or where were they? Possibly another circuit issue.

[J.McClane]

Yes, this is what F1 is all about.
remeber not too long back when racers would race in far worse condtions?

I feel its only Ferrari fans that are dissapointed with this season....can't think why.

This here in Brazil is what F1 is all about......racing, not driving.

[BootsOntheSide]

Clearly somethign ahs to be done about turn 3. The streams of water there were unacceptable and dangerous. Still, the safety on the cars was able to withstand those impacts, so it doesn't matter.

I agree with Lee's attitude on this - ALonso should've slowed correctly when he got to the accident scene.

The real problem was the ludicrous tyre rules, for which Michelin should be fined for bringing the sport into disrepute. They made a deliberate attempt to scupper Bridgestone's hard won advantage, and create this fiasco where £20m cars couldn't race on a circuit because they didn't have what was sitting in the factories. Ludicrous.