The penultimate race is upon us, but early reports have indicated that there may be heavy rain for every session of the weekend. Although reports suggest that there will be the most rain on Friday and Saturday, we will still be in for extreme conditions during the race, including between 10-15 millimetres of rain and strong winds of close to 20km/h. It is important to stress that it is still early and that the weather conditions can change dramatically, it is important to prepare for the worst.
The Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace Interlagos is an extremely demanding circuit and presents a challenge to the drivers. Wet conditions will not make this track any easier. Drivers will already be forced to cope with the excessive amount of g-force, putting a large strain on their left neck muscles because this circuit has so many sharp left turns. On most tracks, the strain in on the right neck muscles, therefore, Brazil places an unusual strain on the drivers. Fatigue will definitely play a factor to drivers’ performance, as driving is wet conditions is more physically demanding.
In wet conditions, hydroplaning is always a concern, but even more so at Interlagos. There are quite a few elevation changes on the circuit. Not as many compared to a track like Spa, but more than the average track. Drivers will need to watch out for small pools of water forming at the bottom of hills, especially at the exit of turn nine where there is a dip in the track. Hydroplaning is also a concern at Interlagos because of the amount of tight turns, as well as the amount of flat out turns. If a driver carries too much speed in a corner, a hydroplane would only make the situation worse.
Braking is vital at Interlagos because there are multiple high speed sections that lead into a sequence of low speed corners. With water on the racing surface, braking distances are amplified and it becomes so much easier to lose control of the car when applying the brake.
Visibility is always a major concern in the wet conditions, but visibility is also a concern for drivers in optimal conditions at Interlagos. The circuit has multiple blind corners, where drivers are unable to see the corner because it is at the top of a steep elevation change. This is an issue when approaching turns eight and ten. With visibility already decreased, the affect that the rain will create impact a drivers’ ability to react to an incident. Not to mention the large spray that the cars will create on the long full throttle areas of the track.
It’s true that the wet conditions have a negative affect on any circuit, but at Interlagos these difficulties are multiplied. Rain races are sometimes fun, but not on this circuit. Since it is still a few days before the race, I am hoping that the rain will stay away from the race, as I would like to see a great race on Sunday. In response to the Jules Bianchi accident, it is entirely possible that they FIA may call a race cancellation, even if the conditions are not as bad as they would normally need to be. I don’t think that a cancellation is as likely as others may be saying, but I also think that it is still too early to be able to prediction this sort of action.
