consolidated

Deus ex Machina is in effect. Maldonado given a 10(!) grid place penalty for driving past the weight station directive when he came in in Q2. Scuderia moves up a place.

Maldo clearly screwed up, but ten places seems rather manufactured to me. Webber was given a warning for a similiar incident, his screw up was the same but he responded immediately.

Fred can only be WDC if something happens to Vettel's race, it's what Ferrari is set for. Alonso said today that they are taking no gambles, being conservative, so he's there if or when the race comes to him. A straight up fight he'd most likely lose, rain or no rain.

Massa doesn't have to crashgate or bowl for Red Bulls, he just has to race with abandon, pass or crash. Cue the safety car.

Here we go, it's going to be a wet cat fight.

ltc

Williams’ Pastor Maldonado has been handed a 10-place grid penalty by the Brazilian stewards after failing to bring his car to the weigh bridge when called to do so by officials during Saturday’s qualifying session.

Maldonado, who had qualified in sixth, received a reprimand for the incident, but because it was his third reprimand of the 2012 season he was automatically dropped ten places on the Interlagos grid.

When the Venezuelan’s penalty is taken into consideration, the starting order should be: Hamilton, Button; Webber, Vettel; Massa, Hulkenberg; Alonso, Raikkonen; Rosberg, Di Resta; Senna, Perez; Schumacher, Kobayashi; Ricciardo, Maldonado; Vergne, Grosjean; Petrov, Kovalainen; Glock, Pic; Karthikeyan, De la Rosa.


http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin.../11/14115.html

ltc

Given the above grid order (post Maldonado), Ferrari should immediately break the seal on Massa's gearbox, thus moving Alonso up to start immediately behind Vettel.

FGL28

The seal was broken last week because the "dirty side" was slicker than bull snot. From the clean side Frederica can make a good start.

ilko

First of all, that quali session was very entertaining from the very start - Glock & Kovalainen duking it out from the first lap of Q3, down to the last seconds of Q1. Congrats to Hamilton, this has not been a good track for McLaren as of late. I think Hakkinen's was the last McLaren car to start from the front here and that was 10+ years ago.

Ferrari aren't doing the same shenanigans this time around. Domenciali even said so much on the Sky broadcast when interviewed after qualifying. And they would be crazy to do that to Felipe in Sao Paolo out of all places. If they want to make it alive to the plane back to Europe on Monday.

It's interesting, this year started as a 1-2 McLaren on the grid in Australia and ends up this way in Brazil. I would not be surprised if Button goes for it in T1.

And not to do any Monday morning quarterbacking, but if McLaren didn't break down so much over the course of the season Hamilton would've been well within striking distance for the title this weekend...

Meanwhile Schumacher said that Mercedes are running a wet set up so if does indeed rain tomorrow as they are saying, he would be interesting to watch as well. Don't forget Montreal 2011

So Vettel needs to be 4th to win the title regardless of what Alonso does. He starts 4th with Webber next to him in 3rd. The way Webber does standing starts I'm pretty sure Vettel will make his way to the podium. Alonso probably will manage that as well. It just won't be enough...

Can't wait for tomorrow

ltc

Vettel does NOT have to finish 4th, no matter what Alonso does.
Please go back and read post # 9....

Vettel will win the title if...
* He finishes in the top four
* He finishes fifth, sixth or seventh and Alonso is second or lower
* He finishes eighth or ninth and Alonso is third or lower
* He finishes 10th or lower and Alonso fails to make it onto the podium

Alonso will win the title if...
* He wins the race and Vettel is fifth or lower
* He finishes second and Vettel is eighth or lower
* He finishes third and Vettel is 10th or lower

It's all about points, starting position, especially at the last race of the season.
Ferrari should move Alonso up one spot via a Massa gearbox penalty.
It is not illegal, it is a team sport.
If they did it in Austin, they should do it again. Period.

FGL28

Lewis,

Remember Masa is Brazilian. I do not know if the Locals would like it.

We shall see tomorrow. If they do if i were Adrian Newey I would break the seal on Webber's car as Red Bull has clinched the Constructors Championshipgiving Vettel the advantage of the clean line and putting more space from Frederica

ltc

What will the Brazilians do if/when Massa is ordered to pull over and let Alonso by? I know, slow or stacked pit stop...a bit more subtle.

What is the difference of doing it before the lights go out vs. after the lights go out?

As I mentioned, Ferrari's WDC hopes rest on a DNF rather than their team orders/strategy.

ltc

Senna - Prost at the start? I doubt it.

More likely that Kathekayen plays the role of Timo Glock, version 2012.

74goldtarga

Regardless of what happens I want to say how impressed I've been with Massa of late compared to my opinion of him and his driving over the previous year-and-a-half. Massa was nowhere, done with F1 and on his way out. A sensible team would've sent him packing after Melbourne this year and moved someone (Perez) in, but credit to Ferrari for keeping him despite the screams of protest to cut him loose. I didn't think Massa would ever be competitive again, I thought the highlight of his race would be crashing Hamilton out. He is fortunate to have been given so much time and a second chance and has proven that he is a capable F1 driver. The counter argument is that the team would've been higher in the manufacturer's points with a better driver in the number 2 car, but we'll never know. Anyway, I hope he is able to run his own race tomorrow, though I know it won't work out that way.

DreamCarrera

I think the reason Massa out-qualified FA is that FA is running more wing in anticipation of a wet race on Sunday.

IMHO, Ferrari knows that the only real chance they have for FA to win the WDC is for FA to beat SV in an ugly wet race. So, they are gambling on the race taking place in the rain. Given a clean dry race, Ferrari knows that FA(even with a good dry set-up) does not have a chance to put enough distance between himself and SV by the end of this race to win the WDC.

If the race does turn out to be wet(especially if very wet) I think FA will cruise to a win...

ltc

So, you would then have to assume that the reason Massa out-qualified Alonso in Austin (where there was clearly a chance of rain) was due to Alonso running a wet setup/more wing?

ltc

There has been discussion since Santander came to Ferrari that Massa was an important part of marketing strategy for Brazil, perhaps explaining why Ferrari "stayed with him" this long.

MUSSBERGER

F1 is just as bad as nascar. Safety car!

FGL28

Well Vettel hung on and Button takes it. Alonso has nothing to be ashamed about. Next year will be fun.