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Added on the 26/06/2019 15:59:05 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
The Frenchman produced a textbook drive from pole position to hold off an aggressive challenge from Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans to open up a massive 32 point gap with closest challenger Lucas Di Grassi suffering a nightmare day to leave with one point.Home favourite Sebastien Buemi gave Swiss fans something to smile about, taking third place to round off a brilliant week in which he won 24 Hours of Le Mans with Fernando Alonso the weekend before.The first corner of the race brought out a red flag after Mahindra Racing's Pascal Werhlein was squeezed into the chicane wall to cause a 10-car pile-up as Robin Frijns saw his Championship hopes fade by having his race ended by a shunt from Jerome D’Ambrosio during the commotion. Di Grassi looked to have made up 11 places after using the escape road to avoid the carnage but FIA stewards decided to restart the race in grid order due to the overtake being under a yellow flag which resulted in a confrontation between drivers and marshals during the delay led by the Brazilian.Once the race restarted Evans was pushing Vergne hard as he activated Attack Mode but a well-timed full-course yellow helped the Frenchman out as Pascal Wehrlein ground to a halt.
The Frenchman produced a textbook drive from pole position to hold off an aggressive challenge from Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans to open up a massive 32 point gap with closest challenger Lucas Di Grassi suffering a nightmare day to leave with one point.Home favourite Sebastien Buemi gave Swiss fans something to smile about, taking third place to round off a brilliant week in which he won 24 Hours of Le Mans with Fernando Alonso the weekend before.The first corner of the race brought out a red flag after Mahindra Racing's Pascal Werhlein was squeezed into the chicane wall to cause a 10-car pile-up as Robin Frijns saw his Championship hopes fade by having his race ended by a shunt from Jerome D’Ambrosio during the commotion. Di Grassi looked to have made up 11 places after using the escape road to avoid the carnage but FIA stewards decided to restart the race in grid order due to the overtake being under a yellow flag which resulted in a confrontation between drivers and marshals during the delay led by the Brazilian.Once the race restarted Evans was pushing Vergne hard as he activated Attack Mode but a well-timed full-course yellow helped the Frenchman out as Pascal Wehrlein ground to a halt.
It’s time for the penultimate race of the longest season in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship, with no less than 22 rounds. This weekend’s race at Interlagos is the second São Paulo Grand Prix, although for the previous 47 times, it featured on the championship calendar, known as the Brazilian Grand Prix.Formula 1 has raced at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, more generally referred to as Interlagos, 38 times. It is one of the most unusual tracks on the calendar, set in a natural bowl, between two artificial lakes (Interlagos meaning “between lakes” in Portuguese.) At 4.309 kilometres it is one of the shortest on the calendar, runs counter clockwise and provides a severe test of man and machine. It features a mix of fast corners, hairpins and gradient changes, which along with a bumpy surface makes for a particularly demanding mix. Therefore, finding the right set-up is a compromise between a lot of aero downforce and as little drag as possible. Interlagos is demanding from an aerodynamic point of view, mainly because of the slow mixed middle section with its low speed corners, while the first and third sectors favour a strong power unit to deal with straights and corners taken at full throttle. Overtaking is a definite possibility, especially in the Senna esses after the start-finish line, which is one of the DRS zones, along with another on the straight between turns 3 and 4. Turn 12, “Junção” is the key to being quick in the final sector, both on a qualifying lap and in the race if a driver has to defend or go on the attack in the braking zone for turn 1.
Just one week on from the Portuguese Grand Prix, on a track that has only hosted two Formula 1 races, the World Championship now moves to the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit in Montmeló, 25 kilometres from the Catalan capital, which has featured on the calendar every year since 1991. It also used to be the usual venue for pre-season testing, but this year, because of the pandemic, that was moved to Bahrain.The track layout, featuring high, medium and low speed corners, direction changes, undulations and a long start-finish straight, is a demanding test-bench of a car’s abilities. It is also one of the most difficult tracks for overtaking. Being close to the coast means that changes in wind direction are one of the factors to deal with, because it has a significant impact on the balance of the cars that run in a medium-high downforce configuration. There are two DRS zones, one on the main straight leading to the first chicane and another after turn 9 on the back straight that leads to turn 10, where it will make less of a difference under braking, but it will not be impossible to try a textbook overtaking move around the outside, relying on entry speed going into the turn. During the winter, major changes were actually made to turn 10, a very heavy braking point where it was easy to lock up
The third round of this year’s Formula 1 World Championship takes place at Portugal’s Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimão. As was the case with the Grands Prix run in Sakhir and Imola, the drivers find themselves back on a track that they last visited just a few months ago. Last year’s Portuguese Grand Prix was held on 25 October.
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