TJ13’a readers were not feeling the love for the 2015 Brazilian GP, scoring it a woeful 3.92. Only one race this year has been rated lower and that was the season opener in Australia with an average mark of 3.38 out of 10. There was a measure of excitement on Saturday, as Nico Rosberg claimed his 5th consecutive pole position by less than a tenth of a second from fellow Mercedes driver and bitter rival Lewis Hamilton. Questions have been raised about this turnaround in form and the coincidence in timing with the new raised minimum tyre pressures.
Hamilton again complained about the team’s lack of strategy freedom for the Mercedes drivers and appears to have finally realised that for some years now, extreme aero packages have ruined overtaking opportunities for drivers in similar cars on similar race strategies. Yet, there was little the 2015 world champion could have done even had the team allowed him the strategy freedom he believes he should be allowed.
The Brazilian GP can be a rather Jekyll and Hyde event from year to year as Kimi Raikkonen pointed out. “Quite often I think [in the past], we happened to have some odd conditions, and a lot of things can happen with safety cars and things like that. You then get a lot of overtaking and a lot of battles.
“But quite often, we can have a pretty boring races from start to finish in the end, and it was one of those days.”
Indeed, Brazil has not been rated well by TJ13 since records began. In 2014 it was scored 6.51 as Rosberg again won, but an over cut attempt by Hamilton that saw him set a stellar lap on ageing tyres as Rosberg pitted for the second time – gave hope that the race leader may lose the lead. However, Lewis surprisingly stayed out for another lap, his tyres were spent and he spun at turn four, finishing his hopes of a win.
In 2013 the Brazilian GP was scored 5.58 as Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished the season champion again for the fourth time.
The driver of the weekend or the 2015 Brazilian GP was Max Verstappen, scoring 64% of the readers votes. Love him or not, Verstappen is clearly an F1 mega star of the future and for many his moves will have brightened up an otherwise less than exciting chase for the drivers championship.
It was so boring I fell asleep and didn’t even bother to watch the after race broadcast. Shane really with all the effort put in by the teams. Been the same since hybrid engines have created such a huge difference in power levels between teams. They should have never be introduced to F1 as the entertainment has now gone.
completely disagree.
was 100% worth watching that boring race knowing we all have learned Red Bull is due a big apology.
we have all learned that the majority can be wrong, and in this case is wrong.
Red Bull have been living the truth 24/7 that we all witnessed in brazil. their partner is incompetent.
this is f1, incompetence is unacceptable, how dare fans of F1 begrudge red bull for expecting anything less than perfect let alone what they actually received in the game of F1? do we not love that this is a sport of perfectionist? can anyone say renault is the perfectionist of the two? there is no argument.
it took some time for red bull to be vindicated but ask yourself what red bull does for the sport in 2015? riccardo/kvyat/verstappen/sainz/, 2 teams, a race on the F1 calendar, showing mercedes what was up in the rain in the US?
what does renault do for F1 in 2015? interesting answer isnt it?
we are all being robbed of Red Bulls dedication and ability, plus the incredible amount of money spent (another thing that makes F1 great!!!) to provide real competition and ENTERTAINMENT. Who doesnt want to see riccardo and his teammates mixing it up at the front?
The only person i can think of is renault. shame on them.
Wow, I generally consider myself a RB supporter, but LayerCake, do you work in their marketing office? 😉
I’m surprised you didn’t mention Honda in your small diatribe there. Or the lack of strategy flexibility at Mercedes. Or the over-the-top aero.
On topic: I think 3.something is a good score; as an engineer I see it like 3.92/10==>39% of the race was good which it wasn’t really. I like the Interlagos circuit and might have given an extra point for that alone for a grand total of 2 – 1 for Verstappen and 1 for the circuit.
Very well said.
Can wait to see what money bag$ Maldonado will do for Renault in 2016.
Still a better race than Valencia 2009.