Preview round 16 of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Japanese Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel is clear to race Lewis Hamilton at the Japanese Grand Prix after Ferrari cleared his Malaysia Grand Prix gearbox of any damage from the post-race shunt with Lance Stroll that cost the Prancing Horse a wheel. Meaning no grid-penalties are guaranteed for the title-chasing German, as he looks to begin a sizeable turnaround at the only figure of eight circuit on the F1 calendar.
Preview the final round of the 2016 Formula One season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The title fight has gone down to the wire, with a twilight duel set to decide who is victorious in Formula One. But will it be Rosberg’s first driver’s world championship, or can Hamilton overturn his team-mate’s lead to retain his crown at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix? All the while, Button and Massa bid their farewell’s to the sport with retirement around the corner.
Formula One heads off to the United States of America for Round 16 of the 2015 World Championship. Read on for my preview to the potentially title-deciding round.
America, a country known as the ‘Land of Opportunities’ is providing one of Formula One’s stars the opportunity to become a three-time World Champion this Sunday. But can Lewis secure the title at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas or will Vettel and Rosberg cling on for another round?
It was meant to be the duel in the desert between the Mercedes men to decide the 2014 Formula One Drivers World Championship but mechanical issues ruined Rosberg’s race, forcing the German to finish outside the points whilst Hamilton took his 11th victory of the season.
Going into the race, Hamilton had shown the better race pace in practice but it was Nico Rosberg who secured pole position in qualifying. That said, the man on pole had only ever won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on one occasion before 2014.
For the grid, Grosjean found himself at the back but knew he would have to serve a drive through penalty in the opening three laps. Maldonado would then join his French team-mate after stalling on the grid for the formation lap. A formation lap that did not include either Red Bulls after the two were excluded form qualifying and started the race from the pit lane.
And when the five red lights went out, the desert duel was underway with Rosberg leading the field away.
But Rosberg lost that lead before the two Mercedes even made it to the first corner after Lewis had a superb start to fire his Silver Arrow of the line far faster than Nico and into the lead with the German spinning his wheels.
By the time the two Mercedes drivers had made their way passed the first corner Hamilton had edged out a strong lead and by the end of the first lap that lead was up to 1.2 seconds. As for Bottas he had slipped down to eight after a slow get away from the grid.
Across the opening lap, the midfield remained bunched up and began to trip over each other when they got to the end of the first sector. A handful of drivers, including Sergio Perez, found themselves out on the run offs at the chicane whilst Kevin Magnussen and Adrian Sutil made minor contact.
Magnussen and Sutil were able to continue with the race despite the McLaren driver claiming to have front right suspension damage. Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean served his drive through penalty for engine component changes.
Soon enough, the field began to stretch out and the supersoft tyres began to degrade forcing drivers into the pits. First up came Fernando Alonso on lap six.
The Spaniard, in his final race for Ferrari, had just overtook his current team-mate Kimi Raikkonen before radioing in to request a pit stop to change onto the prime soft tyres.
Alonso’s stop engaged the pit stop window for the rest of the field as more and more drivers took to their pits, but Hamilton set about extending his lead out in front.
However, those who stopped for new tyres found themselves stuck in traffic with Alonso having to work his way ahead of Will Stevens in his F1 debut. All this was playing into the hands of Bottas following his poor start and was exemplified by his engineer on the radio.
As well as helping Bottas find his way back towards the front, the traffic opened up a window for Hamilton to slot into and on lap 10, the race leader pitted. With Lewis in the pits, Rosberg regained the lead for one lap before the German pitted himself.
Whilst Hamilton set about his out lap, the stewards brought out the penalty gun with Hulkenberg in the cross heads. The Force India driver was served a five-second stop/go penalty after the stewards deemed he had forced Magnussen off the track on the opening lap before the turn seven hairpin.
When Rosberg rejoined the track, he found himself in third with Hamilton in front and Massa in the lead, but the scrap of the lap was between ex-Toro Rosso team-mates Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo. The Aussie in the faster Red Bull was aiming to pick off his team-mate at turn 11, but Vergne fought back to maintain position. For the meantime at least, as Ricciardo found himself breezing ahead at turn eight on the following lap.
Despite Rosberg carrying the better pace and setting new fastest laps following both Mercedes pit stops, Nico was unable to dent Hamilton’s lead which stayed on the borderline of 2 and a half seconds for the following laps.
Elsewhere Ricciardo was being told Bottas was behind him and, despite the Finn not being “in our race” according to Daniel’s engineer, he was told not to make it easy for him. Whilst Vettel warns his rear tyres were starting to off and was swiftly granted a new set of soft tyres. However Seb’s stop was a slow 4.3seconds after he struggled to get going after the team made slight tweaks to his front wing.
After 24 laps, both Mercedes continued to push flat out but the gap had extended to over three seconds. Knowing he needed to catch up with Hamilton, Nico tried breaking late at turn 17 but it resulted in a lock up and the gap extended.
But that was the least of Nico’s worries as over the next lap, his ERS failed meaning he was down on 150 horsepower and fell to over 10 seconds behind Lewis, with Massa rapidly closing in.
Nico began to lose more and more time to his title rival as every corner ticked by and after two laps Massa was sitting on his gearbox looking for a way into second place. And at turn 5 after the 1 kilometre straight, Massa breezed passed Rosberg, dropping the title chaser into third place.
Over the next few laps Rosberg dropped further and further away from Hamilton and Massa, with the Brazilian closing in on the race leader as the Brit took it easy to check he had no problems on board.
But for Maldonado his race was over as he went out in flames, literally. Smoke billowed from the exhaust before his car was ablaze, leaving the Venezuelan out of the final race of the year.
Whilst marshals worked on moving Pastor’s car to a safe location, Button was feeling the danger of Alonso breathing down his neck. The two went side by side down the straight, with the Brit leaving it later to brake and hold position. But at the end of the next straight Alonso found his way ahead when Button left it too late to stop. Now he had his team-mate breathing down his neck, but Magnussen dove into the pits.
Out in front, Hamilton continued to take it easy with Massa closing in before the drivers champion-elect pitted for more soft tyres. When he rejoined the track he found himself behind Rosberg but walked past his team-mate moments later.
Rosberg continued to tumble down the order as the laps ticked by with Bottas and Ricciardo breezing ahead. By now it had also become clear that Rosberg had completely lost ERS power as well as loosing the hybrid power and suffering turbo lag. To push Nico further down the order, he pitted for the second time and found himself in seventh behind both Force India’s.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo continued to fly in his Red Bull in pursuit of Bottas. But there would be no scrap for the time being as the Finn pitted. There would also be no scrap for the time being between Massa and Hamilton with the Brazilian in the lead as Felipe pitted on lap 44 of 55 for the supersoft tyres.
Mercedes wanted to turn the engine mode on Hamilton’s car up in order to counter Massa’s pace, but Hamilton told them not to as he was enjoying the set up and proved that with another fastest lap.
Once Massa came out of the pits with 10 laps to go, he set about closing in on Hamilton and his first win since Brazil 2008, the day Hamilton won his first drivers title. For this he set fastest lap after fastest lap and was raking Lewis in hand over fist.
Another driver making a late switch for supersoft tyres was Sebastian Vettel. The German started the race in the pit lane but came out of the pits this time in tenth place and had Alonso in sight. The man he will be replacing at Ferrari, but right now he wanted to replace him in ninth place, which he did on lap 49. Before overtaking Rosberg a few laps later to regain eight.
By now their was just four laps remaining of Formula One Grand Prix’s in 2014, with Hamilton continuing to lead with Massa continuing to close in. Unfortunately for Lewis, traffic was slowing his momentum and Massa was closing in more than he could counter.
But the win was no longer important for Lewis as Nico fell out of the points and down the order with his problems becoming far to severe, forcing him into coasting around the circuit. But Mercedes still wanted Lewis to take the win and end the season in style as it would also be the teams 16th of the year and the most one team has ever won in a year.
Soon enough the team were telling Nico his problems were even so severe they wanted to retire the car with a couple of laps to go. Calmly Nico replied over the radio his desire to see out the remainder of the race and within moments the German was lapped by Lewis before moving to the side to allow Massa through.
With that Lewis entered the final lap of the race with Massa a few seconds back and unable to challenge for the win leaving Lewis to take the chequered flag for his 11th win of the year, Mercedes 16th of the year, but more importantly Lewis’ second Formula One World Drivers Championship.
Massa took the chequered flag 2.5 seconds back from Hamilton with his team-mate a further 26 seconds down the road for third. Jenson secured fifth place and celebrated with doughnuts, potentially signalling the end of his Formula One career.
In Vettel’s final race for Red Bull he could only manage eight place, whilst Ricciardo secured fourth. But for Vettel, he was at least able to beat the man he will be replacing at Ferrari. Even if Alonso was in night place.
After being lapped on the penultimate lap, Rosberg was forced into settling for 14th place. With Nico out of the points, Lewis picking up the win and double points, Lewis took the championship by 67 points.
A couple of other notes to take from Hamilton securing the Formula One Drivers Championship are that British racing drivers have taken the title in Formula One, GP2, GP3 and the World Endurance Championship in 2014. As well as that, Lewis has become the first British driver to secure two Formula One championships since Sir Jackie Stewart in 1971.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 55 | Winner | 2 | 50 |
| 2 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 55 | +2.5 secs | 4 | 36 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 55 | +28.8 secs | 3 | 30 |
| 4 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 55 | +37.2 secs | 20 | 24 |
| 5 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 55 | +60.3 secs | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 55 | +62.1 secs | 12 | 16 |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 55 | +71.0 secs | 11 | 12 |
| 8 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 55 | +72.0 secs | 19 | 8 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 55 | +85.8 secs | 8 | 4 |
| 10 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 55 | +87.8 secs | 7 | 2 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 55 | +90.3 secs | 9 | |
| 12 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 55 | +91.9 secs | 10 | |
| 13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 54 | +1 Lap | 18 | |
| 14 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 54 | +1 Lap | 1 | |
| 15 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 54 | +1 Lap | 14 | |
| 16 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 54 | +1 Lap | 13 | |
| 17 | 46 | Will Stevens | Caterham-Renault | 54 | +1 Lap | 17 | |
| Ret | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 42 | +13 Laps | 16 | |
| Ret | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 26 | +29 Laps | 15 | |
| Ret | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 14 | +41 Laps | 5 |
As the sun set over Abu Dhabi, Nico Rosberg blistered around the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island to secure pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Rosberg topped the time sheet 0.386 seconds faster than his team-mate and championship rival, Hamilton, but the pole position man has only ever won once in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Friday was Hamilton’s day with the Briton topping both practice sessions, even if the gap between the Silver Arrows at the top was marginal. Then come Saturday in the final practice session of the year, Nico Rosberg romped clear of Lewis to finish on the top spot with slight breathing space between them.
That fastest lap from Nico in FP3 may have given him a psychological edge going into qualifying but all was still to play for come 5pm at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Straight from the off drivers were making their way out of the pit lane and onto the track, with Will Stevens and Sergio Perez leading the field.
Being the first men on the track Sergio Perez and Will Stevens posted the first qualifying times of the day, but both were pushed down the order rapidly as more times hit the board.
As Perez’s early 1:43:856 was pushed down the board, other drivers were flying. Most had opted for the soft compound for their first runs, but Mercedes hit the track on the supersoft option tyres straight from the off.
With the option compound of tyre fitted both Mercedes rocketed around the track faster than anyone allowing Hamilton to top the time sheet with a 1:41:207, one tenth faster than Rosberg. Hamilton’s table topping lap even came despite a lock up, whilst Bottas slotted into third a full second down on Nico.
As the first stage of qualifying ticked by, the order at the front remained the same given the tyre choices. But once other drivers switched onto the supersoft tyres and the Red Bulls joined the pack, the table was moving once more.
Red Bull had set in the garage with both drivers longer than anyone else and joined the action midway through the session on the supersoft tyres.
For Vettel his first timed lap moved him up to fourth place, but his 1:42:495 was soon knocked down the order when his Aussie team-mate posted a 1:42:495 for third place.
But the times were still crumbling down as the track conditions improved, and Alonso was the first man to improve. However his Ferrari remained off the pace and could only move into P10 as Raikkonen moved into P5.
Unlike Fernando, Jenson Button moved into third place in his McLaren before being pipped by 3 hundredths of a second by Kevin Magnussen.
Not so soon after that, the chequered flag was waving to bring Q1 to an end with Grosjean, Gutierrez, Maldonado, Kobayashi and Stevens eliminated from qualifying. Despite being Will Stevens’ first race in Formula One, he ended qualifying just half a second down to his experienced Japanese team-mate.
Five minutes later, and Q2 was underway. Once again Sergio Perez hit the track from the green light and once again posted the first lap time. This time Sergio posted a 1:42.467, which was two tenths faster than his Q1 time but he needed more as Q2 progressed.
With Perez’s time far from flying, Masa took the reins at posted the first real flying lap. A 1:41.575 saw the Brazilian move into P1 as Rosberg struggled to stay on track at turn nine after out-braking himself. But Hamilton wanted P1 back and stormed six tenths clear with his first timed lap.
Over Nico’s next lap he set a purple first sector but ended the lap half a second down on Lewis, and within range of Bottas matching his time. Up until now the gap between Mercedes and the field had been comfortable but this was the first sign of Williams as challengers.
When all drivers returned to the garages mid way through Q2, all but McLaren had posted a lap time. Unfortunately for Button this was due to the team under-fuelling his car. But it was more unfortunate for Magnussen as it left the two with just one lap each to post a time and Kevin found himself knocked out of qualifying.
As the last laps were carried out with the chequered flag waving the times in the drop zone started to plummet with drivers aiming for a Q3 slot.
Both Mercedes and Ricciardo remained in their garages as others attacked the track, and this was the perfect chance for the Williams duo to move ahead of Rosberg. Which they did with Massa going purple in the first sector and Bottas in the middle to go P2 and P3.
Hamilton ended Q2 on top, but others remained searching for time to beat the drop. For Magnussen, his time fell down the order as Button moved into sixth and Raikkonen scrapped into the top ten at the death.
Raikkonen’s survival at the death came at the cost of Magnussen who was joined out of qualifying by Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Perez, Hulkenberg and Sutil. Leaving the Mercedes’, Red Bull’s, Williams’, Ferrari’s, Button and Kvyat to compete in Q3.
Which was engaged with Bottas taking to the track. Valtteri was swiftly joined by Massa and the rest of the top 10 field minus Raikkonen as Ferrari’s Finn sat out the first runs.
Being the first man out in Q3 left Bottas the job of setting the first time but Massa managed to better his team-mates time with a 1:41.119.
But as you would expect, a clean lap by Rosberg resulted in the title contender obliterating the order at the top to get his Mercedes in P1. Nico’s time was also the first of the day to break into the 1:40’s which even Lewis was unable to manage with his first run.
Once all but Raikkonen had posted their provisional Q3 time they returned to the pits with Rosberg leading from Hamilton, Massa, Bottas, Ricciardo, Vettel, Button, Alonso, Kvyat and Raikkonen.
As the session began to approach its end, all drivers hit the track once more in search of a faster lap. This time it was the Red Bulls at the front of the pack but neither were able to hook up a lap that could challenge the front order.
Over at Williams it was a different story with Bottas flying from the off. The Finn went purple through sector one, purple through sector but through the final sector fell away and came across the line just shy of Lewis’ provisional lap time. For Massa, he was also unable to challenge after failing to improve on his earlier time.
As for the Silver Arrows, Rosberg found a smidge of time in the first sector, belted a purple middle sector and improved on his overall lap time across the line. But Hamilton was struggling to attack and locked up at the hairpin, loosing time and loosing the chance to challenge for pole.
Meaning for the final Formula One Grand Prix of 2014, Nico Rosberg has secured pole position ahead of his title rival, who ended the session in second and securing another Mercedes one-two on the grid.
Williams are set to start the race in third and fourth place, but if Nico is to win the championship he will be hoping one of those two can get ahead of Lewis early on.
The third row of the grid was meant to consist of the two Red Bull’s, with Kvyat & Button on the row behind and the two Ferrari’s rounding off the top 10 in Alonso’s final race with the team. But after qualifying had ended, the Stewards began an investigation into the two Red Bull’s for having flexi front wings and found them both guilty meaning they were excluded from qualifying.
Back towards the rear of the grid, as Grosjean only secured 16th in qualifying he will start tomorrow’s race in 20th place and will have to serve a drive through penalty during the Grand Prix after the team were forced to change his internal combustion engine, TC and MGU-H ahead of FP3.
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:41.308 | 1:41.459 | 1:40.480 | 13 |
| 2 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:41.207 | 1:40.920 | 1:40.866 | 12 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 1:42.346 | 1:41.376 | 1:41.025 | 18 |
| 4 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1:41.475 | 1:41.144 | 1:41.119 | 20 |
| 5 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:42.204 | 1:41.692 | 1:41.267 | 12 |
| 6 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 1:42.495 | 1:42.147 | 1:41.893 | 17 |
| 7 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 1:42.302 | 1:42.082 | 1:41.908 | 18 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:42.137 | 1:41.875 | 1:41.964 | 18 |
| 9 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:42.439 | 1:42.168 | 1:42.236 | 15 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1:42.467 | 1:41.940 | 1:42.866 | 19 |
| 11 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:42.104 | 1:42.198 | 13 | |
| 12 | 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Renault | 1:42.413 | 1:42.207 | 12 | |
| 13 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1:42.654 | 1:42.239 | 15 | |
| 14 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1:42.444 | 1:42.384 | 12 | |
| 15 | 99 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:42.746 | 1:43.074 | 14 | |
| 16 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.768 | 8 | ||
| 17 | 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1:42.819 | 8 | ||
| 18 | 13 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus-Renault | 1:42.860 | 8 | ||
| 19 | 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | 1:44.540 | 7 | ||
| 20 | 46 | Will Stevens | Caterham-Renault | 1:45.095 | 8 | ||
| Q1 107% Time | 1:48.291 |
Just one week on from the United States Grand Prix, Formula One travels south to Sao Paulo as the battle for the drivers championship rolls into Brazil.
The Brazilian Grand Prix has decided six of the last nine drivers championships, including Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the 2008 drivers championship, and this years race comes just seven days after the USGP were Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 24 points. Now all Lewis has to do is finish in second place behind Nico Rosberg in both of the remaining races and the 2014 drivers championship is his.
With a potential 75 points still to play for, the championship cannot be decided in Brazil this year. But Lewis has the possibility of extending his lead to 49 points depending on where Nico finishes. It should also be mentioned, if it was not for the double points in Abu Dhabi, Lewis would have the chance to clinch the championship this weekend as a point swing of 2 points in Hamilton’s favour would have seen Lewis crowned the champion. On the other hand, Rosberg can regain the championship lead by a single point if Lewis does not see the chequered flag and Nico wins in Brazil.
Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace track guide – from Formula1.com
The Brazilian Grand Prix has been on the Formula One calendar since 1973 but over that time the race has been held at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace circuit in Sao Paulo as well as the Jacarepaguá circuit in Rio de Janeiro.
The race was first held at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace but after just five years the race was moved to the Jacarepaguá circuit for a year after drivers complained about the track conditions in Sao Paulo. In that time, they installed new and upgraded facilities but the race would only stay in Sao Paulo until 1980. From there on, the race was permanently held in Rio de Janeiro.
However after Ayrton Senna’s success in the 1980’s. Sao Paulo city officials revamped the Autodrom Jose Carlos and in 1990 the race returned to Sao Paulo, where it has been held since. In the revamp, the Autodrom Jose Carlos Pace was shortened in length from 8km to the current 4.3km.
Now the 4.3 kilometre circuit encompasses most of the original challenging corners, but without the long straights that made up the first sector. In order to link up the track, the current circuit begins with the Senna S. A lovely downhill double corner that flows the cars into high speed turn three before the first DRS straight, Reta Oposta.
The start of the Senna S will also work as one of the best overtaking areas of the track come Sunday as drivers break hard at the end of the DRS aided pit straight. For this corner you can either send your car down the inside and run your opponent out of track or, if you have the momentum, send your car around the outside of turn 1 and hold for the inside line through turn 2.
Moving on to the Reta Oposta straight, drivers are handed another chance to gain positions as DRS will either allow them to breeze ahead or close up and challenge under breaking at turn 4.
As the middle sector winds on, drivers rapidly gain speed as they approach the tighter turns of the lap. First up on the run down between turns 5 and 6, an un-DRS aided straight provides drivers the first chance to regain any lost positions or continue their charge. As the speed declines as quickly as it was picked up, the cars have to wind their way through the corners as the elevation shifts from high to low.
Come the start of the final sector, the track opens back up as the high speeds return. Now drivers face a long climb back up the hill to round of the lap. But as the speeds increase, the chance to gain positions increase and as drivers make their way around the top of the hill, the DRS will kick in and can send a driver flying ahead.
But come Sunday, will it be a Silver Arrow flying ahead or can someone upset their rhythm? For me, I cannot see past another victory for Mercedes with the win most likely falling to Hamilton. After the performance Lewis showed in Austin, it was clear he could carry the pace in the race even with qualifying not going his way. But for Rosberg, he kept a bit in his pocket for qualifying but come the race was unable to keep Lewis at bay over the race. Also, with double points in Abu Dhabi, a win is not 100% necessary for Nico but the 25 points and the confidence that go with a win can give him Rosberg a much needed boost.
For the ‘best of the rest’ I would imagine Williams will be able to show greater pace around the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in practice and qualifying. But come Sunday, I feel Red Bull will be challenging Bottas and Massa for the podium spot. Unless Ferrari and McLaren can cause a surprise with their set-ups I can only see the two battling it out at the lower end of the point scoring positions with the Force India’s, Toro Rosso’s and after their display in Austin, maybe even the Lotus’.
If you intend to watch the race weekend live on TV in England, it is available on SkySportsF1. With highlights on both SkySportsF1 and the BBC later in the day.
Wednesday 5th November
21:00 – Classic F1 – 2003 Brazilian GP
Thursday 6th November
13:00 – Drivers’ Press Conference – Live
21:00 – Classic F1 – 2007 Brazilian GP
Friday 7th November
08:45 – Gear Up for Brazil.
09:00 – Classic F1 – 2008 Brazilian GP
11:45 – Brazilian GP Practice One – Live
15:45 – Brazilian GP Practice Two – Live
18:00 – Team Principals’ Press Conference – Live
20:00 – The F1 Show – Live
Saturday 8th November
12:45 – Brazilian GP Practice Three – Live
15:00 – Brazilian GP Qualifying – Live
21:30 – Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday 9th November
14:30 – 2014 Brazilian GP – Track Parade – Live
15:00 – 2014 Brazilian GP – Race – Live
18:30 – 2014 Brazilian GP – Paddock Live
21:15 – 2014 Brazilian GP – Highlights
10:15 – Ted’s Race Notebook
As for the BBC’s scheduled coverage for the weekend:
Saturday 8th November
21:00 – Brazilian GP Qualifying – Highlights – BBC2
Sunday 9th November
20:30 – 2014 Brazilian GP – Highlights – BBC1
Kyle Archer 