Brazil: pre-race
Qualifying went more or
less to form, with some woe for Grosjean and McLaren, and a good
performance by Hulkenberg. Grid penalties and overtaking potential,
and perhaps weather, may present opportunities come the race.
In Q1 we saw the
traditional McLaren engine calamity, which forced Alonso to sunbathe
before joining Button on the podium for larks. As well as the two
McLarens, both Manor cars failed to progress, and Maldonado,
disappointingly, was fastest of those to leave at this stage.
Q2 was rather more
competitive. Grosjean should’ve been in with a chance of reaching
Q3 but left it late to go out, then spun and ruined his tyres, to the
extent he qualified a paltry 15th. Nasr did well to
qualify 11th, ahead of Sainz and Perez (who was
comprehensively outqualified by his team mate), with Ericsson between
Perez and Grosjean.
Worth noting that as
well as Bottas’ three place penalty and Ricciardo’s 10 place
drop, Nasr may suffer a penalty for badly blocking Massa in Q2.
At the sharp end, Q3
was tighter than a miser’s purse strings. Rosberg was a tenth
faster than Hamilton on the first run, and less than a tenth faster
than him on the second, so the German maintains his superb qualifying
form for yet another pole. Also worth recalling that whilst
overtaking is eminently possible here, last year Rosberg drove
brilliantly to keep Hamilton behind him.
Vettel, as you may well
have guessed, was next up, but half a second down the road. He was
followed by Bottas, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg. Kvyat, Massa, Ricciardo
and Verstappen round out the top 10.
Rain seems unlikely.
Initial bets that took
my fancy:
Hulkenberg top 6
Kvyat top 6
Grosjean points
No Safety Car
Hulkenberg and Kvyat
were hovering around evens to be top 6, which is too short to tempt.
Grosjean was 2.37 for
points, which also seems a shade tight.
No Safety Car is 2.75.
It’s been a few years since there’s been one and no rain is
forecast. On the other hand, it seems eminently likely one or both
McLarens will explode at some point.
Given that, the 2.75
available (each) for Alonso and Button not to be classified seems
very good value.
So, two tip
(Ladbrokes)s:
Alonso, not to be
classified, 2.75
Button, not to be
classified, 2.75
Race starts at 4pm
tomorrow. Interlagos is perhaps my favourite circuit, so it should be
a good race.
Morris Dancer
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