Brazilian GP Qualifying Thread

[m schumy]

Any predictions for Qualy ?

[goferrarigo]

Fernando 1st, Felipe 2nd, Vettel 22nd, Hamilton 23rd and Webber 24th.

[epiclyaddicted]

A front row lock out for us will do nicely, thank you!

[Grillo]

Any predictions for Qualy ?

Rain?

[Ste]

Rain?

That's a given.

[m schumy]

From the BBC:

1435: Hello to you. All set for qualifying? It does seem to be drying up at Interlagos at the moment. I think I can see dry lines appearing on the track but that might just be my glasses. Apparently there will be rain intermittent rain until qualifying. The clouds in the distance are very, very close to the ground.

[m schumy]

BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Sao Paulo: "Rookie team Hispania look to have secured their future after announcing in Brazil that they have a new financial backer. Spanish businessman Juan Villalonga has teamed up with owner Jose Ramon Carabante to stabilise the team and attract new sponsors. After taking another swipe at the new teams - Virgin Racing, Lotus and Hispania - in the build-up to Brazil, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is understood to be right behind the Hispania deal. He said in Brazil: 'We need the teams if they are financially sound.' One of Hispania's priorities will be to sort out their driver line-up after using four drivers in 2010. Bruno Senna would say no more on his home turf in Brazil other than that he is concentrating on the final two races, while Karun Chandhok, who started the season alongside Senna, is understood to have broken his ties with the team. Sakon Yamamoto, who replaced Chandhok from the German Grand Prix, has lost his place here to Austrian Christian Klien, who also drove in Singapore."

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Sao Paulo: "Renault have been looking for a title sponsor all season, and it appears that they have found one for 2011. I understand that the Proton car company will become Renault's title sponsor, and they will use that deal to advertise the Lotus brand. It seems the cars will probably be called Lotus Renaults. Which raises some interesting questions. Will people call them that? After all, McLaren and Ferrari are very rarely referred to outside their marketing department by their title sponsor names. Either way, the team currently called Lotus will be called something else next year."

[Grillo]

I think a wet track is better for us but who knows.

If it rains a bit before Qfying I'd be more optimistic.

[m schumy]

BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Sao Paulo: "Welcome back to Interlagos where the rain is ominously falling rather heavily just ahead of qualifying, which, you may recall, was delayed by heavy rain in 2009. I have trooped back from the paddock, where the drivers are wisely hiding away while the media - and the odd recognisable face like Eduardo Massa, brother of Felipe - poke out from under large umbrellas. In Brazil, Formula 1 comes second only to football in the hearts of sports' fans and from my seat in BBC HQ I can hear waves of shouts and cheers from the packed stand across the other side of the track. The fans' spirits are undampened and who can blame them? The five-way championship is still to be settled and qualifying for the penultimate race of the season is just around the corner."

[Ste]

Yea, hopefully a bit of rain just before and then nothing during the session. The cars looked quick in those conditions. Although, they did in the dry.

[Ste]

Ooh a Felipe/Smedley feature coming up.

Awesome!

[Grillo]

Good, some rain might help us a bit.

They said Red Bull was unreachable on a dry track in Qfying.

[Hornet]

Good, some rain might help us a bit.

They said Red Bull was unreachable on a dry track in Qfying.

Just IMO, but I think the media were too quick to dismiss Ferrari's performance. We were only about 0.36 or 0.38 slower than the fastest Red Bull, which may be due to having to tune down our engine, therefore losing a lot of time in S3

[m schumy]

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Sao Paulo: "With all the speculation about Mark Webber's future here, I grabbed a word with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner just now to ask him whether the team were thinking about a split following the Australian's critical comments this weekend. He said: 'There is no doubt in our minds that Mark will be driving for us next year. We've provided him with a great car and lots of support. He's got a contract. Why would he want to be anywhere else?'"

[Effone]

I loved Rob's nice little dig at Glock

[m schumy]

I loved Rob's nice little dig at Glock

What did he say?

[Suzie]

What did he say?

He said Glock "threw in the towel" in Brazil 2008.

[Effone]

What did he say?

Was talking about Massa being world champion for like 5-20secs. 'until Glock threw in the towel, thanks for that' :D

[m schumy]

Was talking about Massa being world champion for like 5-20secs. 'until Glock threw in the towel, thanks for that' :D

That`s true...still makes me angry to remember that

[m schumy]

He said Glock "threw in the towel" in Brazil 2008.

It`s great that finally someone said this

[Suzie]

I think he meant it tongue in cheek tbh.

[AvantiFer]

So it didn't rain in these two hours, did it?

[Greig]

[m schumy]

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali on the title battle: "The feeling [among other people] is now we've done everything that we have to do, but we have done nothing yet. Red Bull are a fantastic team, it's a fantastic car and, for me, that we are still here to fight [for the the championship] is a miracle."

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali:" I think that if you listen carefully to the outcome of that [Smedley and Massa] interview you will hear what the team means to everyone. We have a personal relationship in a professional environment."

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson in Sao Paulo: "It was a case of contrasting fortunes for the McLaren drivers in final practice this morning here. Team principal Martin Whitmarsh told me: 'Jenson is struggling with too much front locking. Lewis tried both high- and medium-downforce set-ups and was fairly quick on both. With Jenson, we haven't quite got there yet. He's not getting enough temperature into the tyres.' Whitmarsh added that it was extremely unlikely, with a forecast for a dry race, that McLaren would chose to use a full wet set-up in qualifying, as was being discussed before first practice."

Red Bull principal Christian Horner:" Obviously a couple of comments have been made and the drivers are under extreme pressure. Mark will use whatever means to put pressure on his opponents and one of his opponents is his team-mate Sebastian. Mark, in his heart of hearts, knows that what he said is not right. He has had support, not just from the guys in the factory in Milton Keynes, but from Austria. It's not great, but we win as a team and lose as a team."

BBC Sport's Sarah Holt in Sao Paulo: "Championship leader Fernando Alonso shrugged off worries about Red Bull's practice pace in Brazil as he reminded us that he managed to steal pole in Singapore before waltzing off to a race win. Alonso finished fifth in final practice but on Friday's longer runs, with higher fuel loads in the tank, the Ferrari appeared to have a pace advantage over Red Bull. This is what Alonso has to say about the final stage of the intense title battle: 'Upgrades will be very few between now and Abu Dhabi. All the cards are on the table, we just need to play it better. There is very little to lose for us. The other four contenders, if they do a bad qualifying, it is more a problem because they have to catch us in terms of points. So for us there is less risk."

[Lithium]

[Hornet]

Anyone have any links please

It won't be showing live on TV over here

[KurtC]

seems like no rain :P

[Grinsomx]

what's up with those trashy looking badges the 3 Mcreporters are wearing?

[m schumy]

Live streaming: http://eplsite.com/stream1.html

[vcs316]

Any links.. We have a delayed Quali broadcast due to Barclays Premier League