"Cato Batista" 09/11/2014 0:05:59 ID #696

Ladies and Gentlemen,

After taking every session Nico now has his 10th pole of the season. Lewis closed the gap when it matters the most (Q3) but it took only a couple of minor lockups to concede by 33 hundredths of a second. In the Williams intra-team rivality (2 tenths behind Mercedes), MAS beat BOT by 58 hundredths to settle the second row. McLaren was able to revert their bad Friday with a completely different set up to get their cars in the top 10 with BUT 5th - albeit a long 7 tenths behind Williams and almost a second behind Mercedes. Big gaps considering this is a very short circuit (70-seconds laps). For once VET was faster than RIC splitting the McLarens in 6th. ALO attacking the corners with “scandinavian flicks” in pure rally style was 8th followed by MAG, RIC and RAI. There was intermittent rain at parts of the session but it didn’t affect the overall times. From BUT to RAI the lap difference was only 17 hundredths of a second!

Our CFA results were better than usual. We knew quite well the Mercedes were going to take the first row and the Williams the second, the problem (always) was doing them correctly. We all tried but only Carlos, Erik, Fernando, Lorenzo and Santiago got it in the right order to score plenums, the rest of us were left with the crumbs. This mark ties our best QF from Bahrain with 5 members collecting the full 4 points.

The grid for tomorrow:

ROS HAM  MAS  BOT  BUT  VET  ALO MAG RIC RAI

PER & KVY are taking penalties starting at the back of the field.

Pirelli says the fastest way to cover the 71 laps is 4 stints (3 prime sets, 1 option, 3 stops), but that’s all relative because it looks certain the race will be wet at some point, in which case all bets are off and not only because the rain is the big equalizer as we know, because the asphalt keeps releasing oil (takes 2-3 years to cure) and even Pirelli admits they have no idea which of the wet compounds (Intermediate / green-full wet / blue) could work better. What everybody knows it that is going to be VERY slippery.

My favorite stat from Interlagos is this: the driver starting in P2 has won 6 of the last 10 races. The poleman, 3. ALO & HAM  never won here. ROS never had a podium.

I checked a few places, precipitation by % is 68 to 90 at 2pm race time. Typical brasilian spring weather, just what drivers with not exactly the best cars are looking for...and a great chance to score CFA points.

Time is running out.

My picks - Cato - HAM ROS MAS VET BOT ALO

Good luck, enjoy!