March 29, 2024

FF1M

Fantasy Formula 1 Management

Brazilian Grand Prix : Preview

Sao Paolo hosts the final round of the 2014 FF1M Season.

Sebastian Vettel enters the weekend knowing that a fourth placed finish will guarantee him the championship, whilst chasing Lewis Hamilton needs a win to have any chance at winning the title. Meanwhile, in the Constructors Championship Willows Racing have a fourteen point lead. Shake n Bake have an outside chance at the title, if one of their drivers wins the race, the other must finish 7th or higher, with Willows not scoring to secure the title. If Willows score seven points or more, they will win the title whatever ShakenBake do.

The championship battle will be fought along the 4.309km Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, more commonly known as Interlagos. The race will be 70 laps in length, and with the majority of teams choosing to use Soft Tyres, it is expected that drivers will make three scheduled pit stops.

Last season, the Gojira of Kimi Raikkonen won the race and in so doing claimed the championship, beating Sebastian Vettel’s Shake n Bake, with the Tornado of Romain Grosjean, finishing 3rd. Raikkonen had gone into the weekend with a six point lead. Grosjean, who had been the favorite for the title for most of the season had suffered reliability problems in the previous race and qualified 8th on the grid knowing only a win would be sufficient. Despite a spirited fight to third, the championship was not to be for the Frenchman.

This season has been a different proposition. Whilst Hamilton has shown to be the fastest driver over a single lap for most of the season, particularly in practice sessions, it has come at the cost of reliability, with a streak of technical problems holding back his championship challenge. On the other hand, Vettel took the lead of the championship early with a combination of good strategy and excellent reliability leading to three wins in the opening five races. And it could have been four, had it not been for a clumsy collision with Hamilton at the opening round of the season. Whilst Vettel struggled to repeat this form in the middle of the season, he was consistently scoring points whilst his challengers faltered and in the final third of the season has found good pace to renew his championship assault and pull away from the field. Whilst in 2013 Tornado seemed to rest on their laurels, with seeming over-confidence in the performance of their car leading to a late drop off in performance, Shake n Bake have doubled down on their pace for the final races, with Vettel producing a perfect performance in Suzuka to mark himself as the favorite for the title. Will ShakenBake’s reliability hold out to claim a famous championship win? join us on Sunday at 18:00 BST to find out.