F1 News
Date: 23/November/2012
Either Sebastian Vettel or
Fernando Alonso will be crowned an F1 World Champion for the third time in
Sunday’s Brazilian season finale.
Red Bull’s Vettel is favourite,
arriving at the 20th race with a 13-point advantage over Ferrari’s
Alonso, whom Vettel has also beaten in five of the last six races.
But the quick-changing Sao Paolo
weather and reliability concerns for the Red Bull - Vettel’s team-mate Mark
Webber retired with yet another alternator problem last weekend in Texas - means
nothing can be taken for granted.
Recent history is also full of
surprises. Sao Paulo 2008 saw Lewis Hamilton make a last-gasp pass to snatch
the crown from Alonso’s present team-mate Felipe Massa, while Vettel overturned
a 15-point final round lead to clinch the 2010 title from Alonso in Abu Dhabi.
Vettel, who is chasing three
titles in a row, finished second in last year’s Brazilian round, having won the
year before.
“Historically we've been very
quick here, but we also know this is a place where a lot of things can happen,
so we need to be sharp in the moment and see what we can get,” said Vettel.
“Weather-wise, it’s Sao Paulo.
Probably for Saturday and Sunday there’s some rain, but you don’t know how much.
Pirelli have the rain tyres, so I don’t think we have to be too concerned.”
Vettel, 25, added that he doesn’t
fear a repeat of the 2010 Championship showdown, this time at his expense. “I
think two years back we would have loved to have been in Fernando's position,”
he said.
For Alonso, the title outcome is
only partially in his own hands.
The Spaniard, 31, must finish on
the podium. Alonso must then also hope he can sufficiently outscore Vettel to
finally add to the back-to-back titles he won for Renault in 2005-2006.
“This is a sport and anything can
happen until the chequered flag,” said Alonso. “We will try to do the best race
we can, cross the line on the podium - which gives us more than 13 points - and
see where Sebastian crosses the line.
“If we win the Championship we
will be very happy, but we know we need some strange combination of results. If
we don't win, we will congratulate him and try again next year.”
Alonso warned that there is
unlikely to be a transformation in Ferrari’s qualifying fortunes this weekend,
meaning he could start the race several rows behind Vettel.
“There's no magic part that you can
put on the car in five days,” he said. “We were seventh in Abu Dhabi and ninth
in Austin so around those positions would be normal, but hopefully we can do a
better job.”
Ferrari helped Alonso move one
place up on the US GP grid by deliberately incurring a gearbox penalty for
team-mate Massa, due to start ahead of him. Alonso defended the tactic.
“I'm proud of my team, more than
anything because they said the truth when we changed the gearbox,” he said. “Not
many teams are able to say the truth when they make a strategic decision.”
As well as the title showdown,
this weekend’s grand prix marks Michael Schumacher’s final race before
retirement (for a second and final time) and also the last event for Lewis
Hamilton at McLaren.
Hamilton will replace Schumacher
at Mercedes next season.
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