America: pre-qualifying
The tyres this time are
soft and medium, a bit softer than previous years. This is because
the two races to date on this circuit only had a single pit stop and
the intention is to increase this number.
Only four cars will be
dropped from one session to the next, due to both Caterham and
Marussia entering administration. Neither team will, it seems, be at
Brazil either, but Abu Dhabi is a possible final appearance. Even if
neither enters that race, the last of the season, they will still (if
financially secured) be able to compete in 2015 with no problem as a
team can miss up to three races in a season and still have an active
entry on the grid for the following year. Marussia may well return
(it’s got circa £60m of prize money coming unless Sauber can score
a few points), Caterham seems unlikely to come back.
Neither Frank nor
Claire Williams will be present. He’s in hospital (sounds routine
rather than anything especially sinister) and she wants to be with
him. Claire Williams is expected to be at Brazil, in a week’s time.
In P1 Hamilton and
Rosberg were fastest with three-tenths between them, and Button only
a tenth off Rosberg. Kvyat, Alonso and Magnussen were next, with
Vettel, Nasr (Williams third driver), Hulkenberg and Verstappen (Toro
Rosso’s new driver for next year) rounding out the top 10.
In P2 the order at the
top was the same but Hamilton was a mere three-thousandths ahead of
his team mate. Alonso was third but over a second down the track,
followed by Ricciardo, Massa and Raikkonen. Kvyat, Magnussen, Button
and Hulkenberg round out the top 10.
In the preamble to P3
it emerged that both tyres were degrading a bit, and that the soft
might be the better race tyre, making it likely multiple stops could
be the way to win. There’s apparently 1.5s (for new) between the
tyres. McLaren has been somewhat concerned about lack of grip on the
soft (which has not bothered other teams).
Kvyat is changing his
engine, meaning he takes a 10 place grid penalty. Vettel is replacing
even more bits (the whole power unit), and will start from the pit
lane (he’s also changing his gearbox, just because he can’t start
any further back so he might as well change the gearbox as well).
Button is changing his gearbox, which means a 5 place grid penalty.
In P3 Hamilton was
fastest by eight-tenths of a second, with Rosberg second and Massa
three-tenths further back. Bottas, Alonso and Ricciardo were next,
followed by Hulkenberg, Sutil, Raikkonen and Button.
Rosberg’s final time
in P3 is not representative because he was held up by Vettel, and his
tyres were not hot enough. He also had a glazed brake.
Hulkenberg seems to be
doing reasonably well, and if Sutil could reach Q3 that’d be a
boost for Sauber and make Marussia even more nervous.
Initial betting
thoughts:
Rosberg pole
Hulkenberg to reach Q3
Decided against backing
Rosberg despite the tempting odds of 3.25. I checked the two races,
and both times (one as team mate of Hamilton, one otherwise) he was
some distance off. It may be worth a crack, but the glazed brake and
tyre issue makes it hard to assess his pace and past performance
would indicate a Hamilton pole. It is a two horse race, though.
Unfortunately there was
only a pittance available at Hulkenberg 2.5 to reach Q3. The Rosberg
bet had both more money and value available, though, for reasons
explained above, I decided against it.
So, no tip for
qualifying.
Incidentally, the race
is at 8pm tomorrow (BBC highlights start at 10pm). The pre-race piece
may be this evening or tomorrow morning, and the post-race piece is
likely to be Monday morning.
Morris Dancer
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