Interlagos, 8 November -The picture of today’s qualifying pretty much mirrored the one we have seen over all previous 17 Grands Prix weekends this year, with Mercedes in a class of its own, usually followed by Williams, while a close-knit group of teams battled it out for Rows 3 to 5 on the grid.
Today, the Prancing Horse cars secured places on the fourth and fifth rows, with Fernando Alonso eighth fastest in Q3, while Kimi Raikkonen was tenth. It should be pointed out that the Scuderia Ferrari drivers were the only ones who made just a single run in the final top ten shoot out, thus saving a set of tyres for tomorrow. Whether they get to use them or not will depend on the weather, as the threat of rain has been ever-present this weekend, even if so far, no rain tyres have been required.
Nico Rosberg today took his tenth pole, to become the first winner of the new FIA Pole Position trophy for the most number one grid slots in a season.
Rain would certainly be welcome for the eighteenth round of the world championship, as a wet track reduces the advantage of having the most powerful engine and it would allow our two world champions to show off their skills. But even in the dry, the Jose Carlos Pace circuit usually throws up some surprises.
When all the numbers are pushed through the strategy programmes, a three stopper comes out as the fastest route to the flag in the dry. However, the very short lap distance means traffic is a problem and only the quickest cars will consider making so many tyre changes, with the Soft tyre only being used at the start, before completing the race on the Mediums. So a two stop is the more likely route, but if the rain comes then all bets are off!