So, the end is nigh.

Anyone care to wager against a waggy-finger hat-trick?

Apparently (all gossip courtesy of Joe Saward ) HRT are about to disappear (to nobody's surprise or disappointment outside the team itself), whilst Force India will be getting some cash from Vijay Mallya. Lotus have signed a big sponsorship deal with Coca-Cola for the Burn energy drink brand and Sauber have an announcement coming up on a new deal too.

Although Red Bull have gone well at Interlagos in recent years, I think Hamilton's will to win and the McLaren package are looking promising; Vettel's inability to play the percentage game could cost him as he attempts to win the Championship with a victory and fastest lap. Ferrari have nothing to lose, but I don't see them making it. If Vettel makes a hilarious and humiliating blunder to go out leaving McLaren to score a 1-2 with Alonso third, I could live with that. (Not going to happen.)

im going to say waggy finger boy will lead the race and then have a failure of some sort.

and Alson will win from his mistake!

shumacer will crash out

hamilton will finish 2nd
Button 3rd

I reckon Grosjean is due another first corner meltdown but Vettel (and Hamilton) will be in more danger from it than Alonso due to the latter's qualifying struggles so on that basis it'll be Button, Webber then Alonso.

and it may rain

And poor old Kobayashi is trying to raise money by selling wristbands to secure his drive at Sauber

I fear Kobayashi doesn't have a drive for next year. I think Guitterez Guiterrez Gutierrez is a done deal.

Yes I guess Slim's money guarantees him a drive.

Doesn't that apply to Perez as well?

Perez is a paid driver at McLaren.

Telmex (one of Slims companies) are continuing their sponsorship of Sauber, hence Guiterrez getting the drive.

Gutierrez now confirmed at Sauber

This all becomes clear now (from BBC's F1 "Gossip" attributed to the Indy)



....because "his seat" is a small plastic chair at the back of the garage...

On paper it's a no-brainer for Vettel as overall champion.

On the track - I'm hoping for him a little "coming together" with someone, obviously not with Alonso. Puncture or Wing damage, and at the Senna "S", with virtually a whole lap to limp back to the pits, will do.

Unless he starts from the back - I expect as usual- our local lad Di-Resta, to go backwards from his starting position.

Lol (literally, for once).

I reckon it will be dry for the start and finger boy will be off into the distance with webber in 2nd and Hamilton in 3rd, then it will rain and finger boy will try to hard and have a couple of offs leaving Webber to lead and Hamilton 2nd. Alonso and finger boy will battle it out for third and finger boy will win the battle and the championship.

All done..............but wait.....................

After scruitineering the officials will find an invisable, illegal third wing on the back of the Red Bull and they are disqualified from the season. They will also find out that Alonso's eyebrows are actually a development by Ferrari for more downforce and are promptly disqaulified from the whole season. Kimi is disqaulified for swearing to much at his race engineer, Hamilton will be disqaulified because... well maybe 'its because he's black' (his words not mine).

Which leaves Jenson to pick up the title.

Stranger things have happened.

Hamilton to win, Webber second, Alonso thrid and wins title,

Massa to have a bad pit stop putting him into clean air infront of Vettel where Massa will then brake far too hard and early into turn 1/3 taking Vettel out of the race.

Ferrari aren't stranger to taking out the competion!!!

Good call

I'm hoping for another Renault alternator failure, putting Vettel out of the race, Jenson to win, Lewis second giving Mclaren second place in the constructors and Alonso to take third, taking the drivers championship.

Jenson experimented with low downforce settings in FP2, with mixed results, but has gone to Lewis' higher downforce setup in FP3 and looked excellent. If Jenson is fast, then then its an excellent indicator of a rear stable, driveable car. The Mclarens looked great on long run pace and are right at the top of the speed traps. So if the race is dry, they look in great shape. The all new front wing Mclaren introduced at Austin, looks like quite a big step.

The rubber nosed Red Bulls look predictably good too. But, they are losing out slightly in T1 and T3 compared to the Mclarens, despite their double DRS system. This isn't too surprising as the Renault engine lacks a bit of top end power compared to the Mercedes and the Red Bull KERS isn't as powerful either. The KERS disparity will hurt them more at Interlagos, due to the altitude and the long uphill drag from the final corner, Junção.

Red Bull tend to run slightly more fuel in their qually simulation runs. So looking at FP3, pole will be a straight battle between Mclaren and Red Bull, unless somebody like Grosjean or Kimi pull something spectacular out of the bag.

Alonso is ragging the death out of the Ferrari, but he has a real headache in the shape of Lotus (nee Renault), Force India and even Williams. He's going to have to do something special to even get ahead of them. In a worse case scenario, he'll be going out in Q2! If he does qualify badly, its not even as if the Ferrari has the straight line speed to aim overtaking in the race too. Ferrari will be praying for rain tomorrow. Especially as the car works great in the wet.

The softer medium tyres are worth 0.6 - 0.8sec per lap when new. So with the times being so close (8th to 14th were separated by half a second in FP3), some of the front runners may be forced to using mediums in Q1 and/or doing two runs in Q2. I don't think this will have much knock on effect in the race though, as temps will be much lower on Sunday compared to Friday and deg. doesn't look too bad.

Personally, I really, really want a wet race tomorrow. Its the only chance Alonso has in my opinion.

Not a big fan of MCL, but i agree with your "point" that MCL must be second in the F1 ChSp, Ferrari 3th, and Alonso deserves the F1 title most of all.

Also, isn't it great that we have the decider at Interlagos?

(this is a rhetorical question).

Huge understeer on Alonso's Ferrari.

Alonso's car balance suggests a setup skewed towards wet conditions. No way is Alonso over a quarter of a second slower than Massa over a lap as short as Interlagos. It would make sense as he's got no chance in the dry.

Great pace from Mclaren. Just the wrong driver got pole .

He damn near made it though. Good to see you posting on a race again, Dennis!

Agree, great to see you back again Dennis.

Try to pop in when I can. But never have much time these days with the new teaching career. I may not have a Coupe anymore, but I still love this place.

Aloso has one less person to overtake tomorrow, as Maldonado has been dropped ten places for missing (yet another) weigh check in Q2. It also puts him on the cleaner side of the grid, but there isn't that much difference on either side at Interlagos anyway.

Also, rain is still forcast for the race. Mclaren struggled in their last wet race, having problems getting heat into their tyres. They've made steps since then, but its a mystery as to how well they'll go. Especially at they seem to be running less wing.

Alonso has it simple - just all out attack. The pressure really, is on Vettel and he's been shown several times to make mistakes when subjected to intense pressure.

I don't know why, but I just have a sneaky feeling that Alonso will take the title tomorrow.

Lewis to win as long as there is no mechanical problems/bad luck.

Still think Vettel will win overall, just


hope I'm wrong !

We love you and your insight into F1 too Dennis Always welcome here, with or without a Coupe

Just checked the Interlagos weather forecast. Currently dry, but intermittant showers expected all day.

Really hope that Alonso can win the title but I think it's a massive task unless Vettel goes out.

Surely Vettel has to be worried about having a certain red car next to him on the grid.

Although I'd hate to see it (because I want it to be a good fair race) I wouldn't put it past Ferrari getting Massa to do a spot of kamikaze at turn 1.