Report – Scuderia Ferrari drivers, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen finished the Brazilian Grand Prix in sixth and seventh places respectively, after staging a great duel, which saw them swap positions with only a few laps to go.
Everything went smoothly for Fernando at the start, as he maintained eighth place, while Kimi emerged from the Senna Esses in 12th place. The first pit stop came very early, as the Soft tyres degraded very quickly, after track temperature had exceeded 50 degrees. All the drivers tackled the second stint on the Medium tyres, which were clearly more consistent, to the extent that Fernando and Kimi extended the stint, making up places before their second stops. Kimi had a really strong race pace at this point, which, while the pit stops were on, saw him run as high as third.
However, the Finn’s stop was slow because of a problem with the front jack, but Kimi didn’t give up, lapping quickly and consistently, so the team decided to run him to the flag without a third stop. Therefore, with Alonso having stopped three times, the two men found themselves running together and they put on one of the most thrilling duels of the day, fighting wheel to wheel but perfectly fairly. In the end, because his tyres were more worn, Kimi had to give best to Fernando, but finishing seventh, having completed one less stop than the rest.
Pos | Driver | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1h30m02.555s |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1.457s |
3 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 41.031s |
4 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Mercedes | 48.658s |
5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull/Renault | 51.420s |
6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m01.906s |
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m03.730s |
8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m03.934s |
9 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1m10.085s |
10 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1 Lap |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1 Lap |
12 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Renault | 1 Lap |
13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1 Lap |
14 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber/Ferrari | 1 Lap |
15 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1 Lap |
16 | Adrian Sutil | Sauber/Ferrari | 1 Lap |
17 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Renault | 8 Laps |
– | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | Retirement |
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP:
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | 334 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | 317 |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 214 |
4 | Sebastian Vettel | 159 |
5 | Fernando Alonso | 157 |
6 | Valtteri Bottas | 156 |
7 | Jenson Button | 106 |
8 | Felipe Massa | 98 |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | 80 |
10 | Kevin Magnussen | 55 |
11 | Kimi Raikkonen | 53 |
12 | Sergio Perez | 47 |
13 | Jean-Eric Vergne | 22 |
14 | Romain Grosjean | 8 |
15 | Daniil Kvyat | 8 |
16 | Pastor Maldonado | 2 |
17 | Jules Bianchi | 2 |
18 | Adrian Sutil | 0 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | 0 |
20 | Esteban Gutierrez | 0 |
21 | Max Chilton | 0 |
22 | Kamui Kobayashi | 0 |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP:
Pos | Constructor | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Mercedes | 651 |
2 | Red Bull/Renault | 373 |
3 | Williams/Mercedes | 254 |
4 | Ferrari | 210 |
5 | McLaren/Mercedes | 161 |
6 | Force India/Mercedes | 127 |
7 | Toro Rosso/Renault | 30 |
8 | Lotus/Renault | 10 |
9 | Marussia/Ferrari | 2 |
10 | Sauber/Ferrari | 0 |
11 | Caterham/Renault | 0 |
QUOTES
Video:
Kimi Raikkonen: “Overall, this has been a positive weekend and even today in the race, I felt very good in the car. During the second stint, we realised that if we went for a two stop strategy, we could make up ground, but then, at my second pit stop, I lost valuable time and that cost me some places. In the final part of the race, I had to fight off Button for a few laps and when Fernando caught me, tyre degradation meant I couldn’t fend him off. We leave Interlagos with a good feeling and even if we still have a lot of work ahead of us, this continued progress makes me confident for the future.”
Marco Mattiacci: “I believe this weekend ended on a positive note for the team, with both our drivers finishing higher than their grid positions to bring home important points. With Kimi we decided to risk putting him to a two stop strategy and he was able to show that, if he feels comfortable with his car, he can get the most out of himself in terms of managing the tyres. We are disappointed to have lost a few seconds at his pit stop and we take away the lesson that we must improve in every area that can affect performance. As for Fernando, he produced an equally perfect race and in the late duel with his team-mate he was clear headed and precise in his driving. Clearly, fighting for the places we secured today is not our aim, but the team continues to improve day by day as we work on getting back to fighting at the front of the field.”
Pat Fry: “Like the majority of the grid, today we were planning to run a three stop strategy, as we knew that the increase in temperatures, the nature of the circuit and the abrasive track surface would impact heavily on tyre behaviour. Managing the two compounds was extremely complicated, with an early first stop to get rid of the Softs, because of graining, to take on the Mediums which degraded rapidly but in a more linear fashion. The decision to switch Kimi to a two stop paid off as, surprisingly, he was able to run consistently for no less than 36 laps. Fernando found himself fighting with Vettel in the Red Bull, who probably had a bit more pace today, but taking sixth place along with Kimi’s seventh, gives us a reasonable margin in the Constructors’ classification over McLaren. Overall, it was a positive weekend and, in future we must ensure we get on top of any reliability problems, like the ones we’ve had over the past few days.”
Alonso – Zero frustration over Raikkonen battle:When asked post-race if Raikkonen’s defending prevented him from finishing higher than sixth, Alonso said: “No, I’m very very happy – zero frustration.”The most important thing was not the battle with him, it was the battle with the other teams and we got some good points for Ferrari today.
“Even if I could have overtaken Kimi a little quicker I had to save a lot of fuel in the last couple of laps so a battle with Sebastian was never a possibility.”
Alonso said that he was pleased to come out on top in the battle with Raikkonen.
“Finishing in front of him always gives satisfaction,” he added.
“This weekend I managed to finish in front in qualifying and in the race after a weekend where I struggled a bit with some mechanical issues.
“It was definitely a good experience – I had one more stop so I had to recover 21 seconds.
“I had fresh tyres so I had the advantage in the last battle.”
Raikkonen described the dice as “normal racing” and said that he did not feel the battle had cost Ferrari anything overall.
“It’s the same points for the team, and at the end of this kind of season it makes no really big difference for myself or the team as we get the same points [whichever driver finishes ahead].”
Vettel on passing Raikkonen: I have good memories of T6. Passing is only possible if the other cooperates. With Kimi, I know what he’s doing
— Sebastian Vettel (@FansOfSebVettel) November 9, 2014
Jenson Button “My great fight with Kimi – you always push to the limit with him, but you never go over it – so I enjoyed that very much” #F1
— Connor (@cmckinleyF1) November 9, 2014
Button and his engineer full of praise for Raikkonen’s efforts in making the 2 stop strategy work #F1
— Connor (@cmckinleyF1) November 9, 2014
Great to see the real Kimi. It will only be bettter.
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Thanks Kimi! It was brilliant……our own the best Kimi!! Ferrari – why it took so long to find out, what your best driver needs? So shame…….
Kimi, go on , You´re the best!
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Great to see Kimi finally showing everyone that he can be right there with Alonso if he had the car to his liking. Too bad it took Ferrari this long to get it sorted.
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Totally agree – I never thought for one minute that Kimi had forgotten how to drive over the winter break !! Also good to see the comments from other drivers (Jenson Button & Seb Vettel) – they know they can trust Kimi implicitly to race hard but fair. Great compliment to his skill, honesty and talent.
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