Grand Prix of Brazil: All Great Things Happen in Threes

Brazil is a promised land for excitement, from the Carnival to the Samba and the string bikinis. Formula 1 sure has had some of its great moments at Interlagos. But it is not always guaranteed. It depends on the field and, most important, on the weather gods – rain is good.

Going in, we knew a starry field was on hand; but how would it play out? There lurked a few impulsive comets within the glistening grid … As to rain, the human meteorologists – an unpredictable lot – forecast a wet weekend. But how much and when? São Paulo is smack on the tropic of Capricorn. Only the divinities in that constellation knew. Had Ayrton Senna’s soul given them a nudge?

Brazil and the gods delivered a mightily riveting show. And one Senna stamped a fateful nudge on a star driver, smashingly recorded by TV cameras. But Bruno was his first name and he definitely does not dwell in heaven, yet. And that was just one of a dozen dramas, feats of arms, conjoining of spinning tires, thrilling passes, dashed hopes, broken dreams and triple crowns to come. All jam-packed into two hours between two lakes and many inconsistent rain spells. Even television viewing was exhausting.

All 24 men in their wing-beaked machines on the grid had something to win and something to lose. But only two of them, both already twice World Champions, had the most to win or lose: a third crown. Vettel of Germany, riding his swift Red Bull RB8, had come charging back in the previous six races with impressive alacrity after an uneven early run due to reliability flaws. Alonso of Spain had ridden his dependable though slower Ferrari F2012 with gritty panache all season, but his once solid lead had started to melt after Monza in September, as Red Bull improved their performance impressively while Ferrari less so. So the Spaniard now sat on the grid with two serious handicaps: a ten-point gap versus his German rival; and his starting position was 7th, while Vettel’s was 4th. The odds for Alonso of winning his third crown at that point were poor. And yet…

By the end of lap 2, the Spanish bull was zooming in third position, while Vettel’s Red Bull was the caboose of this final 2012 F1 train! How had that happened? The weather gods had thrown in their first spell. While Saturday qualifying had been completed on a dry track after early showers, the Sunday morning rain had barely stopped as the field departed for its warm-up lap. The asphalt had a silky shine and one challenging turn was still quite wet. The human weathermen had minutes earlier predicted that the rain would not resume for a while. Everybody was on slicks. Many cars twitched on the slow, curvy roll to the starting line.

As the grid formed, led by the two McLarens, each trailed by one RB8, then Massa and Hulkenberg, TV camera lenses were seen slowly swarming with shuddering droplets. Then the lights turned green. In a surge of massive power, Hamilton rushed into the first corner leading Button, Massa, Webber then Alonso, who had out-smarted Vettel and Hulkenberg in that often fateful turn. Vettel, who for once started poorly, had retrograded to seventh. The pressure was suddenly much more on him, his Championship point buffer evaporating fast.

Now Turn 4 came into view, a downhill left-hander. Behind the leaders, the herd seemed near stampede as Raikkonen, who had moved up from 8th on the grid, went wide. There was shuffling aplenty as the Finn wandered on the green stuff. And that is when Bruno Senna, having surged from mid grid, nudged firmly into Vettel’s open rear left flank. Amazingly, not much carbon fiber broke, but the German champion now found himself immobilized, facing the tail of the grid backwards and, undoubtedly, transfixed. Miraculously, the rest of the pack flowed smoothly past either side of the RB8, as gushing water rushes past a pointed rock. With a quick demi-donut, Vettel turned around his thoroughbred and resumed the race, dead last. But how bad was the wound on his car? Was it also deadly? Many thought so.

Soon the radio crackled from the Red Bull pit lane command: “We cannot fix the damage. Repeat, we cannot fix the damage, do not pit.” It sounded ominous. Worse, on lap 2, down the main straight and approaching Turn 1, Alonso managed to take the inside of both Webber and Massa, emerging third already! Now whom were the weather gods rooting for? Sitting above the misty skies, it sure seemed to be Jupiter’s court rather than Wotan’s, god of the Germans.

The rest, as they say, is history, but with many more coups de théâtres still to unfold. The rain, though never heavy, came and went randomly. Between laps 6 and 10, most drivers had pitted for intermediate tires, but not Button and Hulkenberg who, by lap 11, were riding in first and second position. Vettel was now in the 17th spot, 38 seconds behind the leader. A close up-up photo of the damage on his left flank showed a hole in the fairing covering the exhaust system just ahead of the rear tire. A ding in a large pipe was also visible. Would it hold during the 60 laps yet ahead?

On lap 19, in a smooth pass with his Force India racer, Hulkenberg took the lead from Button, both still on slick tires. The track was drying again and many drivers, including Vettel and Alonso, had now gone back in to get new hard tires. The field was scrambled, except for the two leaders. When the actual standings were clarified on lap 21, Vettel was running in fifth, just behind Alonso, both slightly more than a minute astern of Button. Wotan and his helpers had been mighty busy up there.

Then on lap 23, they delivered another break: the Safety Car was called in, as much carbon fiber debris left over by back-markers was strewn over key corners. Rosberg had already suffered a rear-wheel puncture. For seven laps, the field was bunched up just behind the two leaders, who had managed to pit for fresh rubber without losing their position. Behind them were Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Kobayashi and Webber. With the race not even one third complete, the still theoretical World Championship crown had already been exchanged back and forth a few times…

On lap 30, the race resumed and soon, Hamilton overtook his teammate for second. Now DRS passing could come fully into play in the main straight and several drivers took advantage of it. Vettel could not, as his top speed had been electronically restricted to spare his wounded exhaust pipe. By lap 45, as a new drizzle was slowly giving a new shine to the dry line, it was still Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Button, Alonso – 9.2 seconds behind –then Massa, Kobayashi and Vettel – 19.1 seconds astern – the German had pitted a third time for tires. Christian Horner’s heels were revving high in the Red Bull command cockpit; in the Ferrari garage, the crew faces seemed breathlessly frozen, eyes fixed on the overhead screen. There were still 26 laps to go; everything was yet possible.

A mild spin by Hulkenberg on lap 49 allowed Hamilton to grab the lead. Written on the crest of his helmet were the words “Thank you, McLaren.” Was he going to leave his lifelong team on a fantastic double win? Too soon to tell. On lap 54 Räikkönen gave all a good laugh to break the tension as he hobbled through what seemed like an unguided tour of the old track after running wide in a corner. It took him and his Lotus a one-eighty and over 30 seconds to find their way back to the proper track, apparently unfazed.

One lap later, a new drama broke out in an flash in turn 1, soon much replayed on TV, and sending the blood pressure back up for all watching a race only Stephen King could imagine. Hulkenberg, over-eager to regain his lead, had dived inside of Hamilton, hitting the Brit’s left front wheel hard with his right rear tire. Hamilton was out for good with a broken suspension. Button took over the lead, followed by a recovered and unscathed Hulkenberg. The rain, meanwhile, was falling wetter.

And though Alonso had prayed for rain since leaving Texas, the wet track now was playing against him. For wet meant a slower pace overall, and this favored Vettel, whose engine, unlike Alonso’s had its power restricted. On dry asphalt, Vettel had clearly not been able to fully deploy his finely tuned and devilishly fast skills. And though the Ferraris ran quicker than him even on wet asphalt, they clearly could not challenge a very fast McLaren, with Button in full control. Alonso’s starting ten-point handicap was now looming ever larger.

In the final laps, a replay of some of the season’s standard skits now began to unfold. On lap 57, Hulkenberg was given a drive-through penalty for his “dangerous” driving and hit on Hamilton. On lap 62, and 20 seconds behind the leading McLaren, Massa gently allowed Alonso to take the second spot the Brazilian had worked hard to gain and keep. Now the Spaniard again only had a one championship point handicap versus Vettel. But this was to be Wotan’s day. Three laps later, and with only six left, Alonso’s fate was sealed. An old and worn German champion in a Silver Arrow let his younger compatriot pass him by, meaning Vettel grabbed sixth place and thus fastened his hold on the new crown with three points.

Schumacher did not act as gentlemanly with Kobayashi in the next lap, when he squeezed the Japanese driver long enough in turn 1 to send the Sauber spinning, fortunately not throwing it off track. Finally, one lap from the end in a now very wet main straight, Paul Di Resta, perhaps already thinking of an IRL future, smashed his Force India into the wall, triggering the Safety Car again. The flashing Mercedes ceremoniously led the remaining drivers in order to the finish line for the 71st and final time. Suddenly, all was officially decided. Elation, joy, sadness and regrets could now be let go.

On the podium, Button smiled happily, savoring his third victory in his third season with Mclaren. Alonso kept his face proud and his lips tight, knowing how close he had come, but also that he had done more than anybody else could with the F2012. Massa cried with very understandably mixed emotions. Who could fathom his thoughts? Finally, the lead Red Bull trio, who had won everything one third time, all in a row, was brought up. Sebastian Vettel, Christian Horner and Adrian Newey were all smiles and – Vettel only – giggles. What a supreme run those three on their team have had since 2010. Their many laurels are truly deserved.

And so, after such a wild and thrilling season, what a promise 2013 holds for us Formula 1 fans. It’s going to be a long winter.

© Philippe Defechereux 2012

Race Results

1	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h45m22.656s
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 2.7s
3	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 3.6s
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 4.9s
5	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 5.7s
6	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 9.4s
7	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 11.9s
8	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 28.6s
9	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 31.2s
10	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	+ 1 lap
11	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
12	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
13	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
14	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
15	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 1 lap
16	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
17	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
18	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
19	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 3 laps
20	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 17 laps, accident
21	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 66 laps, accident
22	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 70 laps, accident
23	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 71 laps, accident
24	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 71 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1m18.069s

Note: Maldonado dropped 10 grid spots after missing a call to the weigh bridge and thus receiving his third stewards reprimand of the season.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	281 Points
2	ALONSO	Ferrari	278 Points
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Lotus-Renault	207 Points
4	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	190 Points
5	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	188 Points
6	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	179 Points
7	MASSA	Ferrari	122 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	96 Points
9	ROSBERG	Mercedes	93 Points
10	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	66 Points
11	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	63 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	60 Points
13	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	49 Points
14	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	46 Points
15	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	45 Points
16	SENNA	Williams-Renault	31 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	16 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	10 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	460 Points
2	FERRARI	400 Points
3	McLAREN-MERCEDES	378 Points
4	LOTUS-RENAULT	303 Points
5	MERCEDES	142 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	126 Points
7	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	109 Points
8	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	76 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	26 Points