After 19 enthralling races around the world, the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship is set to draw to a fine conclusion this weekend with the 41st running of the Brazilian Grand Prix around Sao Paulo’s notoriously tricky Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos) circuit.
This 71-lap race will see the eventual crowning of a new triple-World Champion, with both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso poised for Championship success heading into the final round of the season. Vettel is aiming to secure what would be his third successive Drivers’ Championship, a feat which would make him the youngest ever triple-World Champion. However, Fernando Alonso has remained the German’s biggest rival all season and could still spoil Red Bull’s party if he manages to thwart the German driver on Sunday.
Throughout the year we have been entertained by some of the most superlative F1 action in decades, with the first seven different races being won by seven different drivers including the likes of Nico Rosberg and Pastor Maldonado amongst the usual suspects including Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. However, as the season has progressed across the globe, normality has steadily been resumed and Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have enjoyed a resurgence over the past month.
Despite their fearsome pace at the likes of Korea and India, they have come unstuck at races such as Abu Dhabi and the United States, where the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton have shone. However, only Fernando Alonso can stop the ever-dominant Sebastian Vettel from storming to his third successive World Championship title, in what will be another tense 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Brazilian Grand Prix has featured on the Formula 1 calendar every year since 1973, one year after an unofficial event was won by Carlos Reutemann for Brabham. The event has since been hosted at only two venues throughout its long and vibrant history, with Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit sharing with Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepagua circuit largely throughout the 1980s. However, since 1990 the home of the Brazilian Grand Prix has remained at the shortened 4.3km Interlagos circuit, which has featured some F1’s most iconic moments including Ayrton Senna’s memorable home victory back in 1991.
Alain Prost is the most successful driver at the Brazilian Grand Prix, in stark contrast to many of the races still on the F1 calendar which usually see Michael Schumacher with the most victories. The Frenchman has won the race six times throughout his career (’82, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’88 and ’90), with McLaren holding the record for the most amount of victories as a Constructor with 11 throughout their time in Brazil (’74, ’84, ’85, ’87, ’88, ’91, ’93, ’98, ’99, ’01 and ’05). However, Red Bull have won the last three Brazilian Grands Prix, with Mark Webber taking victories in 2009 and 2011 and Sebastian Vettel winning in 2010.
This weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix will feature only one DRS zone, in exactly the same location as last season down the Reta Oposta, the long straight between Turns 3 and 4. Although the location of the DRS zone is located at the same part of the track as last year, including the same detection zone (at the apex of Turn 2), the activation zone has been brought forward (133m before the exit of Turn 3), therefore presenting the drivers with a longer period of time to complete a DRS-assisted overtake.
Eight times Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen will take on the role as the FIA Driver Representative steward at this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, a role previously held by Brazilian motor sport legend Emerson Fittipaldi at the United States Grand Prix. The legendary Danish Sportscar driver has previously won the Classic Endurance Event eight times, and has driven in numerous forms of motor sport including Sportscars, Touring Cars and single-seaters including a test drive in Formula 1. The 44-year-old will be joined in the stewarding of the Brazilian Grand Prix by Graduate of the FIA Trainee Steward Programme, Silvia Bellot and Deputy President of the FIA Institute, Gary Connelly.
With rain on the horizon for this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, it seems almost certain the Pirelli’s Cinturato Intermediate and Full Wet tyres will make an appearance, as the Championship storm edges closer to the legendary Interlagos circuit. Who will reign supreme once 71-lap Brazilian Grand Prix has drawn to a conclusion, Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso?
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