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[Denthúl]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

I've got it on now, too. It's great to be back at good track again, rather than the average Fuji and awful Shanghai.

I agree, though I think Fuji was better in the dry than had been expected.

It's nice to see that the Williams cars look to be going fairly well, for the time being at least. DC, too, seems to be doing better than Webber, which is nice considering it's his last race. Trulli's performance is also a surprise, he's knocked a fair few people off the top spot on multiple occasions so far.

[headless]

COME ON MASSA!

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Alonso tops times in second practice

By Matt Beer Friday, October 31st 2008, 17:32 GMT

Renault's Fernando Alonso snatched the top spot from Felipe Massa in the closing seconds of Friday afternoon practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, while the Ferrari driver's title rival Lewis Hamilton managed only ninth position.

Jarno Trulli completed the top three for Toyota, ahead of Massa's teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

While Massa was a factor at the front throughout, Hamilton spent most of the afternoon around the foot of the top ten - lapping over half a second slower than his practice one pace and regularly locking wheels in the middle sector. He also failed to gain significant ground on the softer tyres, although the Briton switched compounds just as one of the light rain showers really took effect.

Massa hit the front for the first time after 12 minutes, but was only on top for a minute before his time was beaten by Trulli.

Both were then usurped by Nico Rosberg four minutes later as the Williams driver became one of the first to evaluate the soft tyres, with Trulli then following his example to reclaim first position shortly afterwards.

Ferrari preferred to stay on hard tyres for the time being, and a fresh set of these was sufficient to put Massa back in front with a 1:12.569 after half an hour. He then improved by a further 0.216 seconds when he tried the soft tyres on his next run.

The times subsequently stayed relatively static for the rest of the afternoon, as the ever-present drizzle increased and led to a number of wild slides as drivers scrambled for grip in the cold conditions.

Both Toyota drivers had quick spins, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais had a number of excursions under braking for the Senna S, and Mark Webber managed to restrict his Red Bull to a high-speed half-spin after it snapped sideways under braking for the Descida do Lago.

By the closing minutes, the track had dried enough for times to start improving, and with 90 seconds remaining Alonso vaulted from a lowly 18th place to the top of the timing screens using soft tyres, with his teammate Nelson Piquet jumping from last to seventh at the same moment.

That pushed Massa and Trulli back to second and third, ahead of Raikkonen, Red Bull's Mark Webber and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel.

Rosberg fell to eighth at the end of the session, as Hamilton locked his brakes in the middle sector yet again on his final flying lap and ended the day ninth, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima (Williams). The Briton's McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen managed only 15th place.

Pos Driver Car Time Laps
1. Alonso Renault (B) 1:12.296 43
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:12.353 + 0.057 41
3. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:12.435 + 0.139 44
4. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:12.600 + 0.304 32
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:12.650 + 0.354 45
6. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:12.687 + 0.391 47
7. Piquet Renault (B) 1:12.703 + 0.407 44
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:12.761 + 0.465 42
9. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:12.827 + 0.531 33
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:12.886 + 0.590 42
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:12.896 + 0.600 38
12. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:12.971 + 0.675 48
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:13.038 + 0.742 49
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:13.041 + 0.745 39
15. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:13.213 + 0.917 37
16. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:13.221 + 0.925 39
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:13.273 + 0.977 41
18. Button Honda (B) 1:13.341 + 1.045 49
19. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:13.428 + 1.132 32
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:13.691 + 1.395 33

All timing unofficial

[7UpJordan]

I forsee another crap weekend for Williams. The FW30 should be just chucked in the bin. It must be the curse of carrying numbers 7 and 8, remember Honda last year and Toyota the year before that?

[scotty]

Massa is going to dominate is the weather stays his way...

I think i'll predict the podium is going to be 3 of Hamilton, Raikkonen, Alonso and Massa.

And Hamilton appears to have a whole half a second on Kovalainen. Jeez, i didn't know he was that slow!

[McLaren Fan]

To give Kovalainen his dues, he normally does improve his pace in qualifying, although usually loses it again in the race. McLaren are paranoid about reliability this weekend, so I suspect Hamilton is just saving his engine etc. and that there is a lot more speed in him and the car.

[darwin dali]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

Actually no. When you watch you see the view is way low. Peter Windsor explained that Arai mounted the camera right in front of the mouth - some great deal of research went into making that part of the helmet sturdy enough to be able to house the camera.

[kingpinsam]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

Actually no. When you watch you see the view is way low. Peter Windsor explained that Arai mounted the camera right in front of the mouth - some great deal of research went into making that part of the helmet sturdy enough to be able to house the camera.

i'd hope it was sturdy enough to withstand a crash at 200 mph, if it couldn't hold a small camera, i'd be seriously worried

[darwin dali]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

Actually no. When you watch you see the view is way low. Peter Windsor explained that Arai mounted the camera right in front of the mouth - some great deal of research went into making that part of the helmet sturdy enough to be able to house the camera.

i'd hope it was sturdy enough to withstand a crash at 200 mph, if it couldn't hold a small camera, i'd be seriously worried

Nah, no need to worry - his chin is definitely sturdy enough to withstand almost any impact

[darwin dali]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

Actually no. When you watch you see the view is way low. Peter Windsor explained that Arai mounted the camera right in front of the mouth - some great deal of research went into making that part of the helmet sturdy enough to be able to house the camera.

i'd hope it was sturdy enough to withstand a crash at 200 mph, if it couldn't hold a small camera, i'd be seriously worried

Besides, if you carve out a hole for the camera, the structural integrity may get compromised, so they had to come up with a solution for that...

[scotty]

Nah, no need to worry - his chin is definitely sturdy enough to withstand almost any impact

Titanium alloys are supposedly one of the strongest metals

Those camera angles were incredible though - it gives you a pretty good idea of just how hard it can be to see out of the cockpit!

[darwin dali]

Nah, no need to worry - his chin is definitely sturdy enough to withstand almost any impact

Titanium alloys are supposedly one of the strongest metals

Those camera angles were incredible though - it gives you a pretty good idea of just how hard it can be to see out of the cockpit!

Well, I found them deceptive, about the opposite of the camera on top of the air inlet which gives a too generous view and can't be compared either to what the drivers actually see. Why couldn't they mount the camera on the side of the helmet around the height of where the eyes are?

[Denthúl]

Has anybody been watching the practice sessions on ITV's site? The helmet-cam view that you can see from DC is amazing! It's as if you're watching through his eyes.

Actually no. When you watch you see the view is way low. Peter Windsor explained that Arai mounted the camera right in front of the mouth - some great deal of research went into making that part of the helmet sturdy enough to be able to house the camera.

Well, you get what I mean. It gives you a better idea of what the driver sees than the T-cam. Of course, they couldn't mount it over his eyes to give you the real view. Well, not without him crashing (although, unfortunately, that may happen anyway).

[al4x]

woo for alonso,

reanult could get a good result here, even if it means nothing, would be nice to end the season well, as i fear for the next

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Brazil

Heading into the 2008 season finale, Michele Merlino assesses the facts and figures for the forthcoming Brazilian Grand Prix

Titles decided at the last race

It's the 25th time in history that the world drivers' championship has gone down to the wire.

[I had to remove the table. It won't display properly on the forum.]

Britain for 200

Lewis Hamilton's win in China was the 199th by a British driver. The country with the next most wins is Germany with 104 (91 of them Michael Schumacher's).
Brazil and Britain's most recent world champions were teammates at Williams in 1994 © LAT

How long...

Great Britain and Brazil are the countries boasting the highest number of world champions: 12 from Great Britain and eight from Brazil.

The last Briton to win the title was Damon Hill in 1996 and the last Brazilian champion was Ayrton Senna, back in 1991.

McLaren have also been waiting a long time for another constructors' title: the last one came in 1998 with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard driving the MP4-13. Hakkinen was also the last to win a drivers' title in a McLaren, in 1999.

No.2

Only one driver has won a world championship carrying the No.2 since 1974 (the year fixed numbers were introduced).

That driver is Alain Prost, who took the crown three times with a number two car: in 1985, 1989 and 1993.

On the other hand, the No.2 car lost the title in 1981, when Carlos Reutemann at the last race to Nelson Piquet, and last year when Hamilton lost to Raikkonen at Interlagos. The No.2 was also second in 2002 and 2004 (Rubens Barrichello).

Youngest champions

If Hamilton wins the title this year, he will become the youngest world champion of all time.

At the moment the record belongs to Fernando Alonso, who was 24 years, two months and 17 days when he clinched the title at the end of 2005.

Hamilton will be 23 years, nine months and 26 days on Sunday - 20 years younger than the first world champion, Nino Farina, who was 43 years, ten months and four days.

Heidfeld 150

Nick Heidfeld will celebrate his 150th race start at Interlagos. He will be the 28th driver to reach this goal. The absolute record belongs to Barrichello, who has 266 starts under his belt.
Nelsinho Piquet and Fernando Alonso prepare to qualify © LAT

A clean sweep

Fernando Alonso arrives at the last race at Interlagos having defeated his teammate Nelsinho Piquet in all the qualifying rounds held so far during 2008.

There were several occurrences since 1950 where a driver was able to outqualify his teammate at every race, but it has not happened in the last ten years.

The last one to record a clean sweep was Jos Verstappen, who in 1996 outqualified Ricardo Rosset in all the 16 rounds of the championship.

The other ones in the last 20 years were:

• Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 1995, 17-0 against Karl Wendlinger and Jean-Christophe Boullion;

• Michael Schumacher, 1993, 16-0 against Riccardo Patrese;

• Michael Schumacher, 1992, 16-0 against Martin Brundle;

• Gerhard Berger, 1988, 16-0 against Michele Alboreto.

Race distance

David Coulthard has run 59,727km in his 245 race starts and if he manages to complete 64 laps at Interlagos, he could become the third driver in history to reach the milestone of 60,000km.

At the moment the only ones to reach this goal are Michael Schumacher, at 66,164km, and Rubens Barrichello at 64,754km.

Rubens close to retirement record

Rubens Barrichello has retired 11 times in 15 home grands prix and if he scores one more DNF he could clinch an all-time record of retirements in the same race. That honour is presently held by Andrea de Cesaris and Riccardo Patrese.

De Cesaris retired 12 times each from the Brazilian, British and San Marino Grands Prix, while Patrese was out 12 times in the British Grand Prix.

Barrichello has, however, outqualified his teammates 10-5 at Interlagos.

Brazil personal scorecard

• Kimi Raikkonen last year won the race and his first world championship. He also had a string of three second place finishes from 2003 to 2005. The Finn suffers in qualifying on the Brazilian track, as he managed to gain only one front row spot in seven attempts (2006) and trails his teammates 5-2;

• Before Felipe Massa's victory at Interlagos two years ago, he only managed a single point in three attempts (2004). Massa set pole at Interlagos both in 2006 and 2007;

• A troublesome race for Nick Heidfeld, who scored his maiden podium here in 2001 and was back in the points only last year in sixth. Four retirements in seven starts, but the German is quick in qualifying having outqualified his teammates 6-1;

• Robert Kubica's best result in qualifying is seventh last year, from which he gained his only point-scoring finish out of two races in Brazil: a fifth place;

• Fernando Alonso set pole in Brazil in 2005 and has finished on the podium four times out of six races, but has never won it;

• Kazuki Nakajima started his first F1 race in Brazil one year ago, finishing in tenth place;

• David Coulthard won the race in 2001 and scored three more podium finishes in 1995, 1998 and 2002. In 13 races run at Interlagos, he suffered four retirements and one disqualification. His last point finish here was in 2003 (fourth);

• Mark Webber has never scored points in Brazil, as his best result was ninth in 2003. That was also the last time he finished a race at Interlagos;

• Jarno Trulli was at his best in 2000 and 2001, when he scored a fourth and a fifth, from then onwards his best result has been only an eighth, scored twice: in 2003 and last year. He has also retired four times out of 11 races here;

• Jenson Button's best result came in 2006, at his seventh race run here: a third place. That is the last podium to date for the British driver;

• Giancarlo Fisichella scored here his maiden win in 2003 after a controversial race finish that gave him first place only when the weekend was over. He climbed on the podium also in 2000, in second place;
Juan Pablo Montoya leads the 2004 Grand Prix of Brazil in a Williams FW26 BMW © LAT

Other notes on the Brazilian Grand Prix

• McLaren are the most successful team in Brazil, counting 11 wins to Ferrari's nine. They also have the highest number of poles: ten to Williams nine, but the last pole recorded by a McLaren car here was in 2000 (Mika Hakkinen);

• BMW Sauber's best result in Brazil has always been scored by Kubica: ninth in 2006 and fifth last year;

• Both Hondas retired from the race with engine failure in 2007;

• Red Bull have never scored points in Brazil. Their best result is a ninth place scored in 2005 and last year;

• Renault haven't won in Brazil since their return to racing in 2002. Their last win in Brazil dates back to 1982 (Alain Prost);

• The Toro Rossos have never made it into the top ten: their best result is an 11th place in 2006 recorded by Scott Speed;

• Toyota's best result came on their first visit to the Interlagos track back in 2002, when Mika Salo finished sixth. In the following editions, their best effort produced an eighth place, both in 2005 and 2007;

• The Williams team recorded their last win to date on October 24th 2004 with Juan-Pablo Montoya. That was also the last time a Williams car qualified inside the top ten in Brazil (Juan-Pablo Montoya second and Ralf Schumacher seventh);

• In the 58 editions of the world championship run so far, only once has a driver won the title in his home grand prix: in 1950, when Nino Farina won at Monza. Felipe Massa is in the position to repeat that;

• This is the fourth straight year the championship has been decided at Interlagos, while before this the Brazilian track had never been the title decider. The track that has held the most deciders is Monza (12) followed by Suzuka (10);

Anniversaries of the race weekend

November, 1, 1998. Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka: Mika Hakkinen clinched his first world championship, beating Michael Schumacher. The German stalled and had to start from the back. He then suffered a puncture that put him out of contention.