10 Tenths Grand Prix Preview - Brazil

[Super Tourer]

In the last preview of the year we go to Brazil.

2004 Brazilian Grand Prix
Autodromo Carlos Pace
Sao Palo

24th October 2004

2003 Result

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 54 1:31:17.748 8 10

2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 54 +0.945 4 8

3 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 54 +06.348 10 6

4 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 54 +08.096 2 5

5 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 54 +08.642 14 4

6 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 54 +16.054 13 3

7 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 54 +38.526 6 2

8 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 54 +45.927 5 1

Ret 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 53 Accident 3

10 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 53 +1 Lap 18

Ret 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 47 Fuel system 1

Ret 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 33 Accident 11

Ret 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 31 Spin 19

Ret 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 27 Accident 7

Ret 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 25 Accident 9

Ret 15 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 25 Accident 17

Ret 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 18 Collision 15

Ret 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 18 Suspension 16

Ret 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 16 Spin 20

Ret 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 9 Oil system 12

Fastest Lap: Rubens Barrichello 1'22.032

Official Result



2003 Grid

1 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:13.807

2 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.818

3 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:13.851

4 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.866

5 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:13.953

6 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:14.124

7 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.130

8 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:14.191

9 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:14.223

10 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.384

11 17 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:14.504

12 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:14.631

13 16 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:14.668

14 10 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:14.839

15 20 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:14.839

16 12 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:15.240

17 15 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:15.317

18 21 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:15.641

19 19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:16.542

20 18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:16.586



2003 Race Snapshots
Kimi awarded the win on the day but later the result was revised, giving Fisichella a popular win, the trophies being exchanged on the grid for the following race.

Wet weather dominated the race which was exacerbated by a drainage channel draining onto the circuit, which caught out several notables including Button and Michael Schumacher.

There were several accidents, the most violent to Fernando Alonso who came upon the crashed Jaguar of Mark Webber and had a huge accident. Fernando was actually classified 3rd but missed the podium ceremony as he was in the ambulance on the way to the medical centre – thankfully no one was injured in any of the incidents.

To sum up the nature of the day, Firman had a suspension failure on his Jordan which sent him careering into the helpless and innocent Panis – it was a race weekend when the almost last man standing would be the victor!





2003 race review
http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr700.html


Circuit Map
http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitmap/731.html



Brazilian GP Past Winners

2003 – Fisichella
2002 – Michael Schumacher
2001 – Coulthard
2000 - Michael Schumacher
1999 – Hakkinen
1998 – Hakkinen
1997 – Villeneuve
1996 - Hill
1995 – Michael Schumacher
1994 – Michael Schumacher

Last Brazillian winner – 1993 – Ayrton Senna - McLaren Ford

[Super Tourer]

Looking ahead to the race.

With both titles wrapped up long a go, press speculation has centred on whether Michael Schumacher will do Rubens a ‘favour’ and hang back to allow him a home win. I guess this kind of sums up the season when pre race talk is about which Ferrari will win, but other contenders are still thin on the ground.

Looking back at past winners, it’s over 10 years since a home driver has won the Brazilian Grand Prix - Senna back in 1993 – so Rubens will be desperate for a home win, he had pole here last year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on pole again for this race.

BAR have pace at times, but have yet to produce a consistent car throughout the entire race distance, so often Button has seen his race win chance slip away after the pitstops, the mid sector of the race has increasingly hurt the cars. You can’t help but fell they are due a win, Button has driven beautifully all year and now looks at ease as a front runner and race leader, they just need a bit of luck and a consistent car from lights to flag.

Williams have up and down pace and the same approach from the drivers who blow hot and cold on a seemingly alternate basis. JPM has disappointed of late and to me doesn’t look like a driver who will help McLaren to rekindle past glory. Lack of consistency and too many errors have been the pattern of late. It fell to Ralf to uphold Williams honour in Japan and 2nd place was deserved reward.

JV’s return at Renault certainly gained plenty of column inches for the team but hasn’t returned any points, which was the whole reason for him coming into the team. JV is candid enough to admit that his pace at Japan was ‘embarrasing’ and is hoping for better things in Brazil. No doubt the end of season reviews will question the judgement of putting a driver ( with a year out of an F1 car) into such a pressure situation and expecting results, particularly when the pace of the cars has increased massively in that time. Renault need a win and a 3rd place to beat BAR to 2nd in the WDC, which looks a long shot – but never say never in F1.

DC potentially bids farewell to F1 (for the time being at least), he says a ‘sabbatical’ is what he will take if nothing better turns up, although quite what will turn up as a better F1 opportunity 12 months down the line is anyone’s guess. You can’t help feel a pang of ‘if only’ with DC, here is a driver who has only ever sat in a Williams or McLaren in his F1 career, yet the WDC always eluded him and once Kimi established himself in the team, the gloss started to fade on his career. He will be missed.

No news from Jaguar on potential buyers and it’s getting close to the point when Ford either has a sale or they wind it up. For the sake of the team members and to keep cars on the grid, we hope a suitable buyer can be found, but that may be the stumbling block, there are plenty of big talkers in and around F1 and Ford have proved they are not willing to sell to just anyone, they need certain guarantees about future funding, etc

As to the winner - Rubens being the first Brazilian since Senna to win his home race has a nice ring to it and maybe Jean Todt and Michael will see it as a suitable result for his spadework this year. And it looks like rain which will favour Bridgestone.



Timetable

All times in local time – UK is 4 hours ahead of local time.

Friday 22 October

11:00-12:00 Friday Practice 1

14:00-15:00 Friday Practice 2



Saturday 23 October

08:00-08:45 Saturday Practice 1

09:15-10:00 Saturday Practice 2

12:00 Saturday Pre-Qual

13:00 Saturday Qualifying



Sunday 24 October

14:00 Race (71 laps) – 18:00 UK Time.




Live Timing

http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/731.html


UK TV Schedule

The Brazilian Grand Prix on ITV1 and ITV2

Qualifying - Saturday 23 October, 2320-0105
Main Race - Sunday 24 October, 1720-1950
Highlights on ITV1 - Sunday 24 October, 0005-0100

Qualifying on ITV2 - Saturday 23 October, 1630-1815
Highlights on ITV2 - Monday 25 October, 1830-1930

http://www.itv-f1.com/TVSchedule.aspx


Weather – a wet race in prospect.

Friday
21°C (69°F) | 14°C (58°F) - Cloudy

Saturday
23°C (74°F) | 17°C (63°F) - Partly Cloudy

Sunday
23°C (74°F) | 13°C (55°F) - Rain

http://weather.edition.cnn.com/weath...p?locCode=SBSP



World Clock

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html

[Super Tourer]

2004 Drivers Championship

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points


1 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 146

2 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 108

3 Jenson Button British BAR-Honda 85

4 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 54

5 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian Williams-BMW 48

6 Jarno Trulli Italian Renault 46

7 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 37

8 Takuma Sato Japanese BAR-Honda 31

9 David Coulthard British McLaren-Mercedes 24

10 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Sauber-Petronas 22

11 Ralf Schumacher German Williams-BMW 20

12 Felipe Massa Brazilian Sauber-Petronas 11

13 Mark Webber Australian Jaguar-Cosworth 7

14 Olivier Panis French Toyota 6

14= Antonio Pizzonia Brazilian Williams-BMW 6

16 Christian Klien Austrian Jaguar-Cosworth 3

16= Cristiano da Matta Brazilian Toyota 3

16= Nick Heidfeld German Jordan-Ford 3

19 Timo Glock German Jordan-Ford 2

20 Zsolt Baumgartner Hungarian Minardi-Cosworth 1




2004 Constructors Championship

Pos Constructor Points

1 Ferrari 254

2 BAR-Honda 116

3 Renault 100

4 Williams-BMW 74

5 McLaren-Mercedes 61

6 Sauber-Petronas 33

7 Jaguar-Cosworth 10

8 Toyota 9

9 Jordan-Ford 5

10 Minardi-Cosworth 1

[Pitstop]

These previews have been excellent ST - I award you the 'top bannana' prize for the season.

[Super Tourer]

Thanks very much....