The Track 
The Autódromo José Carlos Pace, as virtually nobody refers to the Interlagos track is the venue for the climax of the F1 season for the third season in a row. The track is one of the shortest left on the calendar and offers a cheeky anachronism to the gleaming, brand new Tilkedromes elsewhere on the F1 world tour. The slightly ramshackle track facilities would be put to shame by just about every track bar Silverstone, while in recent years teams have had to contend with collapsing advertising hoardings, an overflowing drain sending a river of water across the track and various instances of local chancers robbing them at gunpoint. But all that aside, the Brazilian event is a staple part of the F1 schedule, and as of next year, may well be the one and only visit to the entire American continent.
The track itself is another that has been neutered from it's former glory, but the track that remains is still a fair challenge for the drivers, with the changes in gradient around the lap, allied with the bumpy nature of the tarmac, making it a neat contrast with the billiard table smooth modern circuits. For overtaking, the best place is into the opening chicane, the Senna S, a camber-riffic downward plunge, although the brave and the crazy will doubtless have a go into the Lake Descent corner (where Hamilton stuttered off the track on the opening lap last year) or possible even the Ferradura, if you're Michael Schumacher looking to get past a lachrymose Giancarlo Fisichella.
The final, flat out blast from the exit of Juncao all the way back to the first turn requires plenty of grunt from the engines, and offers one of the few chances these days to see cars bottoming out as they ride the bumps, although they only dispense splinters from underneath the cars now, rather than the more spectacular-looking sparks.
Talking Points
The title fight comes down to 71 laps of Interlagos, as it did last year. Lewis Hamilton is in a seemingly unloseable position at the top of the standings, as he was last year. His Ferrari rival needs to win and hope for some misfortune delaying the Brit, as one did last...well you get the idea. Hamilton comes to Brazil needing just a fifth place finish to secure his first world championship title, and the first British triumph since Damon Hill fluked into a massively superior car to everyone else back in 1996, and all things being equal, you would expect him to be able to cart his McLaren into the top 5 driving blindfold. But then 12 months ago, with the situation the same, Hamilton contrived to make a complete hash of everything and gifted the title to Kimi Raikkonen, so for Massa, there is still some hope.
For the Brazilian man, he will simply look to win the race at a canter, which he should be able to do. He was dominant in last year's race, only losing out to Raikkonen after a snifter of team advice saw him make a slow job of his final pit stop, and unlike his fellow countryman Rubens Barrichello, he is one who seems to thrive on the pressure from the local crowd, rather than buckle under it. So if he is easily capable of fulfilling his side of the bargain, how likely is Hamilton to fail to do what is needed of him?
Well, his half-arsed drive at Fuji two races ago, and his less-than-gracious acceptance of his team’s call to drive for third rather than attack Rosberg for second in Singapore shows that he still maintains the win-or-bust mentality that so ruined his hopes last year. But then part of his downfall last season was his determination to get into a tangle with his nemesis Fernando Alonso, and this year, he has no such distraction. Another potential issue may be reliability, not really a problem for McLaren in 2008 (or indeed since Kimi left), but Heikki Kovalainen's engine failure in China will unsettle a few nerves in the McLaren pit, and Hamilton will be using the same Mercedes engine as at Shanghai, after missing the window to take his "free" engine change for the season.
Anyway, enough from me, here are the thoughts of some of the rest of the Patty team ahead of this "climactic" decider:
The Elbow: "This abominable season finally reaches the final chapter at Interlagos, a circuit at which Felipe Massa dominated in 2006 and led strongly last year until handing the win to his team-mate, while Lewis Hamilton managed to self destruct and throw away the championship a year ago.
Sadly for Massa, I honestly cannot see lightning striking twice (despite the prediction of bad weather for the weekend), and therefore I fancy Hamilton to cruise to a podium or thereabouts, leaving Massa with the consolation of a home victory. Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica are probably Massa’s best hopes of denying Hamilton the title, but even then some serious misfortune will have to befall the Brit."
The Knee: "As I am not a particular fan of either driver, the choice for me as to who I want to win plays on my pretty non-existent patriotism. So, with that rather half-hearted decision in mind, I will be rooting for Lewis to take the trophy this weekend. While it has been one of the best and most unpredictable seasons in a long while, I still can't shake the feeling that whoever wins this WDC is not necessarily displaying a superiority as a driver, but more as the goon who made the least mistakes in a season littered with schoolboy errors.
That all being said - I'm ridiculously over-excited for this weekend, and can't wait to see how it all turns out. I hope (and think it's more than likely) that Hamilton comes in on the podium (thus becoming World Champion), but that Massa wins the GP - and as much as I think Felipe is a moron, I still love the reaction for a driver winning his home GP, it always adds a little something special. Also, it's a nice feeling going into a final-race weekend without having torn all my hair out, and without having scribbled 'ALONSO' across my forehead in an excitable frenzy. It becomes much more enjoyable, ironically, when your favourite driver is well and truly out of the running and you are choosing between the lesser of 'who cares?' for the WDC. You can relax, sit back and enjoy the spectacle that Brazil always delivers."
The Foot: "Going on the tiny chance that Mark Webber's late charge for the drivers championship fails somehow, I'll be spending my weekend waving my little Ferrari flag and cheering any bad luck that happens to run into Lewis Hamilton. Bad luck these days going by the name Fernando Alonso of course. Either champion though will be less than worth their title given this years paltry display of driving talent, and I find myself yearning for the good old days of 2007 like never before."
Modern Classic
2001
Ah, the sweet, thrilling early days of an affair. The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix seemed to hint that I, like so many others, had backed the right horse in championning Juan Montoya as F1's glorious future hero. After a couple of false starts, he finally got it together at Interlagos, running second after an early safety car caused by a stalled Mika Hakkinen, and then going wheel-to-wheel with Michael Schumacher at the first available opportunity to take the lead. Sadly, there was to be no first win here, as Jos Verstappen spectacularly took the Colombian out of the race while being lapped, leaving Montoya fanboys around the world frustrated. It was an emotion that we were to become all too accustomed to throughout the rest of the portly hero's time in F1.
After Montoya's demise, the race became a straight squabble between David Coulthard and Schumacher, on a rapidly moistening track. But, controversially, it was the German who made a cock of things in the wet, spinning while in the lead and allowing Coulthard to close the gap, before the Scot took the lead into the first turn with a stunning pass as the pair of them jinked either side of the lapped Minardi of Tarso Marques. A similar move to Hakkinen's do-or-die move at Spa the previous season, and perhaps in hindsight a better one. DC went on to take the win from Schumacher, with the rate of attrition allowing Nick Heidfeld to take the first podium of his career for Sauber, ahead of the BAR of Olivier Panis, the Jordan of Jarno Trulli, and somewhat improbably, the wretched Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella.
One Year Ago
12 months ago, we saw the finest moment of Kimi Raikkonen's career so far, as he drove within himself, saw Lewis Hamilton to get confused by the buttons on his steering wheel and then waited for his team mate to let him past as he slithered to the title in Brazil. Read all about the extensive fun and frolics over here.
Facts and Guesses
Number of Laps : 71
Lap Record : 1:11.473 (Juan Pablo Montoya - 2004)
2007 Pole : Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
2007 Winner : Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Free Practice 1 & 2 : 10:00 & 14.00 (Local Time) / 12.00 & 16.00 (GMT) - Friday 31st October
Free Practice 3 : 11:00 (Local Time) / 13.00 (GMT) - Saturday 1st November
Qualifying Start : 14.00 (Local Time) / 16.00 (GMT) - Saturday 1st November
Race Start : 15.00 (Local Time) / 17.00 (GMT) - Sunday 2nd November
On Patronise
This is the final round of the season, and Patty will be with you every step of the way, should you need us. Friday's practice will be covered in some shambling live form or another, as will all of Saturday's action and of course the race on Sunday. How truly wonderful of us.
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