# Brazilian GP ** SPOILERS *** thread



## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

I'll start this with the info from the BMW press group.

*Brazilian GP - Preview* 
10/15/2004

Rather than constituting one of the first races of a new season, Brazil is unusually host to the final Grand Prix of the year. The team still has everything to play for, however, as the fight for position in the Constructors' Championship continues and the teams chase the last crucial points of the year. With this is mind, preparations for Brazil have been relentless, with three days of intensive systems testing and set-up work in Jerez this week. 
As the curtain falls on another Formula One season, the race at Interlagos will also mark the end of both Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher's tenure with the team as they head for pastures new in 2005.

Juan Pablo Montoya:
It's been a very long season, but it's still hard to believe that the next race will be the last. It's a change for the Championship to finish in Brazil, but I like it because it's close to home and I will see relatives and friends. I'll be flying out to Brazil a couple of days early to fulfil some sponsor commitments in Rio. The race in Japan was good, and we proved our car is competitive. Our aim for the last race will be to increase our points and maintain the gap over McLaren.

Last year's race at Interlagos was very hectic and unpredictable because of the wet track conditions and all the accidents that followed. In previous years, though, we have always performed fairly well there. It's a track I like, its fun to drive and the atmosphere is always great. I am always amazed to see all those fans queuing up outside the circuit in the very early morning and I'm hoping to see some Colombian flags waving.

Ralf Schumacher:
I really hope we can follow up the great result we had in Brazil in Suzuka, it is definitely possible with the car we have at the moment. If our Michelin tyre is as good as it was in Japan, we could certainly achieve a podium finish. After six years with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, I would really like to leave them with a strong result.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
Interlagos will be an exciting finale to the season for all the teams as the Sao Paulo track layout provides great overtaking opportunities. We have not raced in the dry here for over two and a half years as last year's race, at the start of the year, was fully wet. The circuit itself is dominated by slow to medium speed corners and straights. The long straights demand a good balance for the corners leading into them.

Strategy will be particularly interesting at Interlagos with such a long pit lane, combined with the tendency to do short first stints. We are confident of a strong challenge in Brazil. It will be the final race for the FW26, and we need to ensure that we finish fourth in the Constructors' Championship.

We are also saying farewell, for now at least, to Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya. Although this season has not been ideal for us, we have had some fantastic race wins with these two drivers since they have been with the team. Ralf's first race win at Imola in 2001, through to Juan's total domination at Hockenheim in 2003, have left us with great memories. Ralf with his confident, analytical approach when leading from the front, and Juan with his fantastic overtaking and raw racing talent resulted in a good combination. We wish them all the best for the future.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
After a pleasing result in Japan, we are hoping for another successful race in the final round in Brazil. The enormous effort that went into further development of the FW26 paid off in Japan, as did our technical reliability. Ralf's good performance also gives us reason to be optimistic for the last Grand Prix of the year.

Interlagos is a variable and challenging circuit. The long, uphill start/finish straight will certainly place demands on the BMW P84 engine. In addition, the circuit lies approximately 800 metres above sea level which causes around an 8% loss in engine power due to the low air density, although this obviously affects everybody to the same extent.

Stats and facts

- São Paulo is the capital of the southern Brazilian state of the same name and is the most highly industrialised state in the country. Population figures vary, the city itself is said to have around 10 million inhabitants with another 6½ million living in the surrounding area. The city was founded in 1554, and is the fastest-growing metropolis in Latin America.

- As its name suggests, Interlagos was located between two lakes when the circuit was built in the 1940s. Today, however, the setting is no longer as picturesque, with the sprawling city now extending almost up to the circuit's crash barriers. Before the 2003 Grand Prix, both the track and paddock areas underwent modernisation.

- Prior to 1990, the Brazilian Grand Prix was hosted by the Jacarepagua circuit near Rio de Janeiro. Formula One only returned to São Paulo in 1990.

- Interlagos, like Imola, runs in an anti-clockwise direction, requiring the drivers to carry out special exercises for their neck muscles.

- The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix, the 700th Formula One race since the World Championship began in 1950, turned out to be one of the most eventful in the sport's history with extreme weather conditions, numerous accidents and five safety car phases. Due to torrential rain, the race was started 15 minutes late behind the safety car and was eventually red-flagged after serious accidents involving Webber and Alonso. After days of deliberation, the race was officially judged to have finished on lap 54, out of a scheduled 71. Giancarlo Fisichella (Jordan) was declared the winner. Ralf Schumacher came seventh, while Juan Pablo Montoya retired from fifth position on lap 25 following a spin caused by aquaplaning in Turn 3.

- In 2003, Rubens Barrichello took pole position with a lap time of 1:13.807m. He also posted the fastest lap in his home Grand Prix (1:22.032m). BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers, Schumacher and Montoya, secured sixth and ninth places respectively.

- One lap of the Interlagos track measures 4.309 km, with this year's race running over 71 laps, total race distance will be 305.909km.

- The 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix starts at 15:00hrs local time on Sunday 24th October 2004.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

Thank god that there is only one more "race" to go and this season can be :flush: 


.


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Patrick 520iAT said:


> Thank god that there is only one more "race" to go and this season can be :flush:
> 
> .


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## Alamo (Sep 17, 2004)

tim330i said:


> I'll start this with the info from the BMW press group.
> 
> *Brazilian GP - Preview*
> 10/15/2004
> ...


 Juan is the biggest cry baby in F1 if not all Moto sports :bawling: . He is always complaining about something; the car, the team, the owner, the other racers, on and on and on. He needs to come to NASCAR; those good old boys will slap him silly.


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## Patrick (Dec 23, 2001)

Thanks for quoting Tim's entire post ...  


.


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

Patrick 520iAT said:


> Thanks for quoting Tim's entire post ...
> 
> .


 :lmao:


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## racerdave (Sep 15, 2003)

RB and MS fastest after second practice.

But to me, the star of the session was Robert Doornbos in the Jordan in 13th, outpacing Couthard, Trulli, Fisi, Webber and teammates Heidfeld and Glock by 0.8 and 1,6 seconds respectively. For the Jordan, that's outstanding.

Wonder if Williams worked more on race setups, or if they were really out to lunch in session 2 after being quickest in session 1?


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

BTW, they acknowledged the 2.4 liter V8 engines for 2006 :thumbdwn: 

And the new teams, Dubai F1 and Midland Racing are allowed to use V10 engines until 2007. WTF ?


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

Alex Baumann said:


> BTW, they acknowledged the 2.4 liter V8 engines for 2006 :thumbdwn:
> 
> And the new teams, Dubai F1 and Midland Racing are allowed to use V10 engines until 2007. WTF ?


Yeah, WTF is right!!!


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

*Brazilian GP - Free Practice* 
10/22/2004

Weather: dry, partly cloudy. Temp: 24-25°C Air, 38-40°C Track, Humidity 66-68% 
Sao Paolo (BRA). On the last Friday of this year's F1 season Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya had two troublefree practice sessions for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ralf Schumacher
Chassis: FW26 07 
First session: 3rd 1.12,873 min
Second session: 10th 1.12,235 min
The track seems to be massively bumpy. It is therefore not easy to find the right set-up nor will it be easy to make the right tyre choice. That said, all in all we had a trouble free day.

Juan Pablo Montoya
Chassis: FW26 05 (Spare car FW26 06)
First session: 1st 1.12,547 min
Second session: 11th 1.12,280 min
We did our homework today and the car seems to respond reasonably well. The track is maybe more bumpy than before, but the tyres seem to compensate for the bumps which is good. It won't be easy to get the right balance and we have still quite a lot of work to do in view of tomorrow's qualifying.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
It was a normal Friday with our time spent on evaluating tyres and working on the set-up. Since we have not been to Brazil for a long time and the cars and tyres have evolved a lot we have more work to do here than perhaps on some other Fridays. The high altitude here means everybody is down on power but also on drag.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
It was a good practice day. Both the drivers completed their programmes methodically and without any problems. It is obviously not easy to find the ideal set-up on such a bumpy circuit. Regardless, we should have collected enough data to meet our tyre choice and both the engines ran without problems.


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## racerdave (Sep 15, 2003)

On Autosport's site, Honda's already making noise about pulling out of F1. They are NOT happy with the V8s, mainly because they're so "IRL"... spec center of gravity, spec bore centers, etc. 

Re: Doornbos, they admitted to running him light on fuel and on new tires. But it'll still be interesting to see how it compares to tomorrow.


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Starting Grid

01 R.Barrichello Ferrari 1:10.646
02 J.P.Montoya Williams 1:10.850
03 K.Raikkonen McLaren 1:10.892
04 F.Massa Sauber 1:10.922
05 J.Button BAR 1:11.092
06 T.Sato BAR 1:11.120
07 R.Schumacher Williams 1:11.131
08 M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:11.386
09 F.Alonso Renault 1:11.454
10 J.Trulli Toyota 1:11.483
11 G.Fisichella Sauber 1:11.571
12 M.Webber Jaguar 1:11.665
13 D.Coulthard McLaren 1:11.750
14 J.Villeneuve Renault 1:11.836
15 R.Zonta Toyota 1:11.974
16 C.Klien Jaguar 1:12.211
17 N.Heidfeld Jordan 1:12.829
18 T.Glock Jordan 1:13.502
19 Z.Baumgartner Minardi 1:13.550
20 G.Bruni Minardi DNQ

PS : M. Schumacher will be starting from Position 18, he will lose ten grid places due to an engine change after he crashed his Ferrari in Saturday's second practice round.


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## berford (Sep 10, 2002)

Alex Baumann said:


> Starting Grid
> 
> 01 R.Barrichello Ferrari 1:10.646
> 02 J.P.Montoya Williams 1:10.850
> ...


It would be nice if JPM got off the line this time.


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## WILLIA///M (Apr 15, 2002)

JPM was unusually positive about his car at the post quali interview which bodes well I think. Berford is right about the start.


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## tim330i (Dec 18, 2001)

*Brazilian GP - Qualifying* 
10/23/2004

Weather: Sunny, dry. Air 27-30°C, Track 40-50°C, Humidity 46-55% 
Sao Paolo (BRA). It was a very positive qualifying for the last Grand Prix of the 2004 season for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. Juan Pablo Montoya set the second fastest time and will start tomorrow from the front row next to local hero Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari). The other Williams BMW, driven by Ralf Schumacher qualified 7th for Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Juan Pablo Montoya: 2nd (1.10,850 min)
Chassis: FW26 05 (T-car FW26 06)
It's very nice to be on the front row here, because Interlagos is the place where I nearly won my first F1 race in 2001. Still I am very happy with this result because I think I was not able to beat Rubens anyway. I lost most of the time on my lap in the first sector where you can gain or lose it all and unluckily I did not get it right. I am pleased to give this good result to my team, since it is my last race with them and this is my way to say thank you to WilliamsF1 and BMW for all their hard work. I will do my best tomorrow to give possibly even more. The start will be interesting and we've definitely got a good race car. Hopefully we get it right tomorrow and achieve a happy end to what has been a difficult season for us.

Ralf Schumacher: 7th (1.11,131 min)
Chassis: FW26 07 
Seventh is not too bad a place to start the race from because I will start from the clean side of the track. I know we have a good race car and a good strategy which makes me confident to be in a position to collect some valuable points for the team tomorrow.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):
After making a lot of changes to our cars we managed to get a good race set-up this morning. The set up here is a compromise between the slow infield versus the rest of the track which is fast. Both drivers did a good job in qualifying and it's a good way to finish the partnership with them. With such a tight grid here it will be interesting to see what happens when the various strategies unfold tomorrow.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
As in Suzuka, our team had another strong qualifying session. This time it is Juan Pablo who starts from the front row. Behind the quickest, Barrichello, the lap times are very close together. However, I believe we have a strong position from which to start the race. Regarding engine performance it is nice to see that in all sessions our drivers were always the fastest on the long up-hill section that comprises the third sector.


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

Alex Baumann said:


> Starting Grid
> 
> PS : M. Schumacher will be starting from Position 18, he will lose ten grid places due to an engine change after he crashed his Ferrari in Saturday's second practice round.


Which probably means he will start on pit lane on the jacks waiting for new tires and full fuel.


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Pinecone said:


> Which probably means he will start on pit lane on the jacks waiting for new tires and full fuel.


Just came on TV, he said he'll start from 18.

BTW, the weather forecast says rain


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## Alex Baumann (Dec 19, 2001)

Rain started.


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

Great stuff JPM vs KR...11 more.

Go JPM :thumbup:


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

At last....a win for BMW Williams.

A wonderful drive for Juan Pablo Montoya.

A great race.


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