test2wa

Will Jenson Button-up the title in Brazil ?

After the floodlit splendour of Singapore and the squeaky-clean, newly refurbished Suzuka track in Japan, there couldn't be a greater contrast as the Formula One circus arrives in Sao Paulo. This is most definitely a circuit of the old school.

You can guarantee that even as mechanics unpack the cars, painters are still trying to tidy up the peeling décor. This is the track where timing screens go mysteriously blank, advertising hoardings have fallen onto the start straight, stray dogs have sprinted across the raceway, the winner of a race has not been given the trophy till the next GP and where the safety cars have even collided.

Yet Interlagos is also a track which has brought some of the most memorable motor racing moments of recent time. Little wonder that every driver, team member, journalist and race fan enjoys a love/hate relationship with the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the sometimes sterile world of Formula One, it brings us back to motor racing in the raw.

The track itself is an amalgam of fearsomely bumpy surfaces and stunningly good corners. The 320kph approach to turn 1, the Senna-S, is one of the greatest overtaking points anywhere in the world. Add to this the roaring passion of the fans and the continuous samba beat, which begins on the long access road to the track. The Brazilian Grand Prix has a party atmosphere like no other.

The question is, come Sunday evening, which driver will be enjoying the party most? Would it be Rubens Barrichello, hoping for a home win almost certainly in his penultimate drive with the Brawn team before moving to Williams next season?

Could it be Sebastian Vettel, whose domination of the Japanese Grand Prix has raised his championship chances from a minor mathematical probability to become a real threat to Brawn in the final two races.

Or will it be Jenson Button, who arrives in Brazil with a fourteen point advantage over team-mate Barrichello and a sixteen point lead over Vettel.  Third place or better in Brazil will mean that Jenson could be celebrating the 2009 World Championship title in Sao Paolo.

Except in the Brazilian Grand Prix, it doesn't ever seem to work like that. Back in 2007, feuding McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso arrived with a seven point lead over Kimi Raikkonen.

A second place for Alonso or sixth for Hamilton would have made them champions. History of course records that victory for Raikkonen, at the head of a one-two for Ferrari ahead of Alonso, and a disastrous race to 7^th for Hamilton, meant that the title went to the Finn.

Last year of course, the chase went event closer. Hamilton, trying to play the numbers game in the final laps of a rain soaked race, very nearly didn't achieve the fifth place he needed for the title. Meanwhile Massa's charging performance nearly gave him the crown.

This year, Brazil is no longer the final round of the championship. Even if Jenson fails to score any points in the race, he would still take a four point lead into the final race of 2009 in Abu Dhabi. That could be a strong probability.

Overcast conditions and even rain could be likely for the coming weekend. If that happens, it exposes the Brawn BGP001 cars weakness, its inability to get sufficient temperature into its tyres. Meanwhile I suspect that Vettel's run of form may continue, which combined with the likely advantages of KERS for Ferrari and McLaren and the improved performance of Toyota in recent races, could squeeze the Brawn drivers out of the points.

That would set up a championship finale in Abu Dhabi, every bit as tense as those delivered by Sao Paulo in the past. In the meantime, Brazil is going to be as highly-charged, exciting and unmissable as ever!

ADD COMMENT

No comments on “Will Jenson Button-up the title in Brazil ?”