What to expect from the 2018 Brazilian F1 GP?
Lewis Hamilton did it again in Mexico! Just like last year, the best British driver ever won the Formula 1 drivers title for the 5th time. So is there nothing to race and watch for now in F1?
But off course there is! The 2018 Formula 1 constructors title is still undecided. Mercedes and Ferrari are the constructors that can win it. Mercedes now has 585 and Ferrari 530 points. A difference of 55 points. We still have 2 races left in the 2018 F1 season. So theoretically, when both drivers finish 1st and 2nd in the last 2 races, a team can win (25+18) x 2 = 86 points and Ferrari could win the 2018 F1 constructors title if Mercedes doesn't come as runner up those last 2 races.
Below you can see how both title contenders have won their points total per Grand Prix.
Looking at this graph the following comes to my mind. Mercedes won 4 times with a 1-2 finish, while Ferrari didn't finish any race as 1-2. Furthermore Mercedes won 3 of their 1-2's when one of the Ferrari drivers retired and scored the lowest amount of points this season, while Mercedes maximised their score.
Mercedes was also "lucky" that Red Bull was strong in races when the German team failed to do well. Red Bull won In Monaco, Austria and Mexico while Mercedes had their worst performance. The biggest turnaround is by far the race in Germany, where Vettel retired driving in the lead and because of that Mercedes won a 1-2 and scored 28 points more than the team from Maranello.
Last 2 races Ferrari gained 43 points on Mercedes, which is their best performance since the British GP. After UK Ferrari lost points to Mercedes 7 races in a row, but the tight seems to have turned in favour of Ferrari.
Next race will be the 20th race of the 2018 season. Get ready for the 46th Brazilian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
2018 Brazilian GP facts & Figures
The first Brazilian Grand Prix was held in 1973. Not all Grand Prix' are driven on the Autodromo Interlagos. 10 races were held on the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet or Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro.
Interlagos it's official name is Autódromo José Carlos Pace and located in Sao Paulo. José Carlos Pace was a Brazilian F1 driver that won on this circuit in 1975 and died in 1977 at the age of 32 in a plane crash near Sao Paulo.
The first race in 1973 was won by Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi in a Lotus. Back then the circuit was almost 8 km long and a grand prix was 40 laps instead of 72 today.
Driver Victories
A strange fact is that Alain Prost is still the driver who won the most races in Brazil, he won it 6 times. Sebastian Vettel is the only current driver who won the race more than once and crossed the finish line as first 3 times. If Vettel manages to win here this weekend, he will equal his idol Michael Schumacher with 4 victories.
Did you know that the legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna only won this race twice and Hamilton also has difficulty to win here and only won this Grand Prix once in 2017?
Team Victories
From a teams point of view McLaren won the most races in Brazil with 12 victories. Their first victory was already in the second grand prix in 1974. Ferrari has only 1 less victory with 11. If Ferrari wins this weekend, they will equal McLaren's amount of wins.
Autodromo Interlagos
The Interlagos circuit is a closed circuit and situated in the in the neighbourhood of Interlagos. The track is driven anti-clockwise and has 15 turns, 10 right-handers and 5 left-handers. The fastest corner is turn 15 with 320 km/h. The slowest is right-hander turn 10 with 90 km/h.
The autodromo has 2 DRS sections, one on each straight where cars can reach 335 km/h. Overtaking is done at the end of these 2 straights, but is difficult, because the corners behind them are blind.
The official lap record is set last year by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull RB13. He drove a 1:10.044 during last years race in lap 64. This year the lap time will probably be broken the more powerful power units.
2018 Brazilian Grand Prix Infographic
What happened in last years 2017 Brazilian F1 GP?
Cars right after the start during the Brazilian F1 GP 2017
Vettel won the Brazilian GP for the 3rd time last year. He had a very good start and passed the Mercedes of pole sitter Valtteri Bottas right after the start in the first corner of the race.
In the Senna SS-es of the first lap a few drivers collided and had to retire the race. Daniel Ricciardo who started on 14th place also collided but could go on racing.
Because Lewis Hamilton crashed during qualifying in Q1 he had to start as dead last from the pit lane. He surely showed his talent again and passed the whole grid to even lead the race for several laps, because the top drives pitted early.
The British now 5 times wold champ almost finished on the podium. In the stages of the race he was hunting down Kimi Raikkonen for 3rd place, but could not overtake him. The Ferrari SF70H was to quick and Hamilton asked to much of his tyres and had to settle for 4th.
Brazilian F1 GP 2018 Tyres
The Brazilian Grand Prix marks the final appearance of the season for the Medium (white) and Soft (yellow) tyres, nominated together with the Supersoft (red) tyres this weekend. It's well-known as a race where anything can happen, both in terms of weather and on-track action. Brazil is one of the most important single-country markets for Pirelli in the world, with three major factories producing tyres that equip about half the total number of cars on Brazil’s roads.
On the face of it, the Brazil nomination is the same as last year but in actual fact it’s a step softer – as all the 2018 compounds are one step softer than their 2017 counterparts. Brazil is the third-shortest lap of the year (after Monaco and Mexico City) at 4.309 kilometres, meaning that tyres are kept busy with an almost non-stop sequence of corners and plenty of traffic.
The right-rear tyre is the most stressed on the anti-clockwise layout, with tyres subjected to fast corners and combined forces: these high energy loads are the reason for a relatively hard tyre nomination. Last year’s winning strategy was a Supersoft-Soft one-stopper, but a two-stopper was also seen. A one-stopper is what most teams will probably aim for this year.
Selected sets for the 2018 Brazilian F1 GP
Brazilian GP Weather Forecast
In terms of weather, it’s perhaps the most unpredictable event of the year: previous races have included the hottest track temperatures seen all season, as well as torrential rain.
The weather forecast for this weekend on Autodromo José Carlos Pace looks to be wet. On Friday during day time it's wet and around 20°C during FP1 & FP2. At the end of FP2 we could see some scattered showers.
Saturday it will be around 23°C, but rain will fall again whole day. FP3 will have scattered showers. Qualifying looks to be wet.
On Sunday the morning looks to be dry. Around noon the change of rain grows and at the start of the race it will rain the hardest. The temperature will even rise to 27°C in the afternoon.
Who will be on the 2018 Brazilian F1 GP podium?
This all depends on who is the most motivated to win in Brazil? Valtteri Bottas hasn't won a race yet in 2018 and is the only top 6 driver who hasn't won a race yet. He had to settle for 2nd in Sochi for his teammate Hamilton while leading the race and will be very motivated to get a trophy. Last year he scored his 3rd pole in Sao Paulo, but was overtaken by Vettel in the first corner.
Sebastian Vettel will also be very motivated after loosing the title to Hamilton and still has to make up for his mistake in Germany, where he lost a lot of credit towards the Tifosi fans.
The race has a big chance to be wet, so the 2 rain-masters on the grid: Hamilton and Verstappen will probably float towards the surface. Everybody can recall Verstappen's amazing performance in 2016 when he finished on the podium, while he was driving on P15 with only 10 laps to go.
My podium prediction for a wet Brazilian Grand Prix is:
1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Max Verstappen & 3. Sebastian Vettel
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
