an upside-down track, very changeable weather … How Interlagos became the scene of F1’s best thrillers

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Money time in the paddock. At the heart of a triptych of races in three weeks, the São Paulo Grand Prix is ​​a dream opportunity for Max Verstappen (Red Bull) to get closer to his first drivers title. A success on Sunday 14 November would ensure the championship leader a mattress of at least one victory over Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), regardless of the defending champion’s result in Brazil.

With three races remaining, the Dutchman would already have a hand on the trophy at Interlagos. The Autodromo José Carlos Pace has often been the scene of crucial moments in the race for the coronation in Formula 1. But what makes the carioca tourniquet so special that it is so decisive?

An investment at the end of the favorable calendar

In its recent history, the Brazilian Grand Prix, which this year became the São Paulo Grand Prix, was placed at the end of the season, even serving as the last meeting in 2004, between 2006 and 2008, then between 2011 and 2013. Thus located in the calendar, the Interlagos race has been transformed on several occasions into a place of crowning, in particular five seasons in a row, from 2005 to 2009. The layout thus offered some of the most indecisive and incredible moments in history discipline.

In 2007, the drivers’ title was played between the two McLaren-Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton (107 points) and Fernando Alonso (103 points), and Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari), who we believe to be too far away to join the fight again. (100 points), while a victory is worth ten points. But Hamilton was put offside in the first lap by a slight excursion off the track and a mechanical incident. The Ferraris make the perfect race: Räikkönen takes the lead in the pits while Felipe Massa secures the double, almost a minute ahead of Alonso. The Finn is titled with one point ahead of his two rivals.

Hamilton will take his revenge the following season in a scenario worthy of a film. The Briton still takes the start at the head of the championship and can only be overthrown by Felipe Massa. In front of his audience, the Ferrari driver made an exemplary race and won. Behind, Hamilton must finish 5th or better, but the rain starts again with five laps from the end.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver is in distress and falls to 6th place three laps from the end. Massa believes to be world champion, but the joy lasts only twenty seconds. Lewis Hamilton is saved by Timo Glock, at bay with the wrong tires, and who is overwhelmed in the penultimate corner.

The weather as a disruptive element

Placed later and later in the calendar, the race in Brazil sees the climatic hazard take an even more predominant place. In Interlagos, the weather forecast is sometimes as important as the steering wheel. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are some of the most skillful riders in the rain, although the Dutchman arguably has a little something extra when the weather turns bad.

In 2016, under a torrential rain, his mastery of the trajectories at Interlagos had bluffed everyone, gaining 13 places in 16 laps. Four years earlier, his mastery on the changing track had enabled Sebastian Vettel to save his third league title, after being hit and sent to the back of the pack in the first lap.

Besides the humidity, which is not expected this weekend, sudden changes in temperature can upset the track over the duration of a race. In more tricky conditions, strategies take on another dimension, especially when titles are being played out. “We can have a track at 50 degrees one day and heavy rains the next day”, explained Thursday Andrew Shovlin, director of track engineering at Mercedes. “I think if it’s warm then it will probably go in the direction of Red Bull. A little overcast sky might be more suitable for us.”

A grueling circuit for machines and pilots: the challenge of Interlagos

If the conditions around the Grand Prix were not enough to guarantee suspense in Brazil, the Interlagos track is far from easy for the drivers to tackle, as for their car. The Autodromo José Carlos Pace is one of the few circuits on which you run counterclockwise. An additional physical constraint, in particular at the cervical level.

Even the strongest riders sometimes come out of their bucket in pain, even more so in hot weather. Winner in 1991 for the first time in front of his public at the end of a Homeric race (his gearbox remained blocked in sixth with seven laps from the end), Ayrton Senna, paralyzed with pain, had to be carried out of his car.

The mechanics, too, suffer on this particular circuit. It is one of the most demanding on engines, with nearly 70% of the route with your foot pressed on the accelerator. For the engines, the load is heavy, all the more at an altitude of 800 meters where the air is scarcer to supply the turbos, and after 18 races already contested. While several drivers had to go through a penalty at the start for having used too many engine parts compared to the regulations, those with more worn machines could have nasty surprises.


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