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Scuderia
Ferrari has finished the Constructors’ Championship in
second place, Fernando Alonso is second in the Drivers’
classification and Felipe Massa is seventh. That is how
the 2012 season will be archived but it does not even
scratch the surface of explaining the drama of this
final race weekend of the year. Fernando Alonso said a
chaotic race would be his best chance of getting his
hands on the title crown and he got just that with
intermittent rain falling throughout the afternoon. The
Ferrari man also admitted that unless Sebastian Vettel
retired, being champion was very unlikely. He was proved
right, because, while the Spaniard delivered yet another
superb performance to finish the race second behind the
winner, McLaren’s Jenson Button, however with the German
bringing home his Red Bull in sixth place, it was enough
to give him his third consecutive Drivers’ title. There
was plenty of red on the Interlagos podium because
Felipe Massa also delivered a beautiful performance to
come home third, in a race where just staying on track
was an achievement.
As the cars formed up, the skies were grey but just a
few tiny drops fell on the grid. However, about three
minutes before the warm up lap, it could be described as
very light rain, although all 24 cars were resolutely on
slicks. As the lights went out, Felipe immediately got
the better of Button to lie second behind pole man
Hamilton and at the end of the first lap, the McLaren
retook second place as Alonso got by his team mate and
Webber at the Senna “S” to chase the two McLarens, with
Felipe now sixth as Hulkenberg and Webber got past him.
Vettel, was caught up as others braked early and he spun
colliding with Senna, which dropped him to 20th.
On lap 5 Fernando ran very wide which allowed Hulkenberg
to get ahead of him and Webber to close right up to the
Ferrari. Felipe got ahead of the Australian which thus
protected Fernando as the Spaniard re-established his
pace. Webber then spun on lap 7 one lap after Button
swept past his team-mate to take the lead. Vettel? He
was back up to eleventh by lap 7, as the two McLarens
continued to fight, swapping places at the front of the
field, with Hamilton back in front on lap 8. Behind
them, Hulkenberg was third in the Force India 2.2
behind, with Fernando 5.5 further back in fourth, and
Felipe fifth, 3.4 behind his team-mate. Vettel was up to
sixth trailing the Brazilian by 3.0.
Lap 10 saw Hamilton and Alonso both pit for intermediate
rain tyres, followed by Vettel and Di Resta. Two laps
later, the rain began to ease as Button led Hulkenberg
with Hamilton third ahead of Felipe, who had Vergne in
the Toro Rosso behind him. Kovalainen in the Caterham
had gone from twentieth to sixth behind Fernando. The
Spaniard passed his team mate to take fourth on lap 14.
He was 17 seconds behind Hamilton, with Button and
Hulkenberg at the front yet to pit. Felipe and Vergne
came in for intermediates on lap 15 the Brazilian
dropping to 14th when he rejoined.
By lap 17, Hulkenberg was right up on leader Button’s
tail, as they were the only men to have managed to stay
out on slick tyres since the start. Lap 18 and there was
a rush to return to slicks, with Alonso, Kobayashi,
Rosberg and Di Resta all doing it, as Hulkenberg got
ahead of Button to lead the Grand Prix on lap 19. Vettel
pitted next time round, Red Bull doing a double stop as
Webber followed, as did Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Felipe,
Glock, Petrov and Kovalainen.
Lap 21 and Hulkenberg set a fastest lap while Fernando
was fourth ahead of Vettel, with Felipe eleventh as the
Safety Car came out on lap 22 so that debris could be
cleared from the track, after Rosberg punctured.
Hulkenberg and Button finally came in for a tyre change,
which meant they maintained their places at the head of
the field. On lap 26 as the lapped cars were allowed to
pass the SC it seemed there was rain again at Turn 4.
Lap 29 and the SC finally pulled in so the race was on
again with the top eleven cars all nose to tail on
slicks on a damp track! Vettel was caught out and
dropped to sixth, while in front on lap 30, as
Hulkenberg pulled away, Hamilton again got past his
team-mate. Fernando was fourth, but behind the Ferrari,
Kobayashi had got ahead of Vettel. Then the Sauber man
also managed to get in front of the Spaniard, who
regained the position at the start of lap 33. Felipe
meanwhile had moved up to seventh and then passed Vettel
for sixth on lap 34. Felipe, having stayed out a long
time on slicks which cost him time, was charging now and
on lap 37 he took fifth place off Kobayashi and the
Brazilian was three seconds behind his team-mate. More
light rain came around lap 43, mainly in Sector 1. The
two Ferraris were having a lonely race at this point,
with Fernando 5.6 behind third placed Button and Felipe
a further 4.9 behind. Meanwhile Hamilton had relegated
Hulkenberg to second when the Force India half spun on
lap 49.
Vettel pitted from seventh on lap 52, which dropped him
to tenth. Lap 55 and Hulkenberg tried to attack Hamilton
which resulted in them colliding at turn 1. As
conditions worsened, Kobayashi, Schumacher and Vettel
returned to the pits to fit intermediates. Felipe did
the same on lap 55, as did Webber. Vettel’s crew had not
been ready and he had a long stop. Fernando, now third
came in for Inters on 56, rejoining fourth. Button had
been leading and he made the change to Inters on lap 57
followed by Hulkenberg, who unlike Hamilton was able to
continue after their collision. At this point, Felipe
was third ahead of Fernando thanks to a well timed
switch to intermediates for the Brazilian, with Vettel
going seventh as Di Resta ahead of him pitted.
Hulkenberg lost his position when he had to take a drive
through penalty on lap 58, for his collision with the
McLaren. The Ferrari were now second and third, the
Brazilian ahead of the Spaniard, as the rain
intensified.
On lap 62 of 71, Fernando passed his team-mate to lie 21
seconds behind leader Button. The Englishman had an
unassailable lead by now and Fernando’s title hopes
could only depend on a misfortune for Vettel. Nothing
happened, except that a late crash for Di Resta in the
Force India meant the last race of the year actually
ended behind the Safety Car.
The final figures tell the story: Vettel 281, Alonso
278: just three little points at the end of 20 grands
prix. In the Constructors, another second place: Red
Bull Racing 460, Scuderia Ferrari 400.
Luca di
Montezemolo: “I am proud of my team. We fought all the
way to the bitter end, getting both our drivers onto the
podium for the final race of the season. When you miss
out on the title by the smallest of margins, naturally
there is some regret. I want to congratulate Fernando on
what he has done this year: his season has been simply
fantastic. Felipe drove very well in the second half of
the season and demonstrated once again that he is a real
team player. I also want to thank Stefano Domenicali and
all his colleagues for the work they have done, day
after day, to produce a car that, in terms of
reliability, was perfect and for what they achieved on
track in terms of strategy and the work in the garage.
Now we must immediately concentrate on next season,
because, right from the start, we must have a car that
is competitive at the highest level.”
Stefano Domenicali: “That’s sport and that’s how it
goes. To have lost the Drivers’ title twice in the last
three years by the tiniest of margins hurts, it hurts a
lot, I can assure you of that. I am particularly
disappointed for Fernando, who like never before, really
deserved to win this time. He has been extraordinary,
not just in the way he has driven, nor because he simply
never gave up in the first very difficult part of the
season, but mainly for the human qualities he
demonstrated within the team. Where did we lose those
three points? Hard to say, but I just want to point out
that Fernando ended where he did, having effectively
only taken part in 18 of the 20 races: the few hundred
metres he covered in Spa and then Suzuka lays heavy like
a rock on today’s outcome. Sure, we cannot ignore the
fact we were unable to give him and Felipe a quicker
car, especially at the start of the season: this also
cost us dear and our main aim for 2013 should be
precisely that of giving our drivers the equipment with
which they can win immediately. We owe our drivers and
we want to wipe out that debt as soon as possible. I
also want to thank Felipe for not letting go after a
very difficult opening part to the year: he worked very
hard and if today we have finished second in the
Constructors’ championship, we also owe it to him. We
always stuck by him, even when the outside world was
calling for us to sack him and we have given him
confidence for 2013. I think his results in this final
part of the season have been the right response to those
who doubted him. At this moment, I also want to thank
everyone who has worked day and night, at the track and
at Maranello to try and help us realise our dream and I
am proud of all of them. Finally, I want to congratulate
Sebastian, who is a great adversary. I think I can say
we are leaving Brazil our heads held not just high, but
very high!”
Fernando Alonso: “I score this season a 10! If we had to
repeat these twenty races I would change nothing done by
the team or yours truly: no mistakes, no mechanical
problems, zero problems at the pit stops, zero strategic
mistakes. We definitely did not lose the title today, as
that happened in Spa or Suzuka. We might not have
finished the season with the most points, but we won
many other things, like everyone’s respect and fans and
colleagues agree on who was the best this year. I am
proud of the job I did and that was also the case last
year when I finished fourth and again this time when I
fought right to the very end. Today is very different to
Abu Dhabi: then, there was the frustration of an
opportunity missed, whereas here we did our utmost race
after race. I feel happy inside: I worked day after day
with the team, which pays me at the end of every month
and today, they can be proud of what they’ve done. Once
again today we did an impeccable job, finishing on the
podium after starting from the fourth row, producing yet
another little Sunday miracle. The team kept me
constantly updated about Vettel and, towards the end, I
was hoping something might happen to him or Button which
would allow us to reach our goal. It didn’t happen and
we must accept the result delivered on the race track.
What to ask from the team for 2013? That’s easy, a
quicker car, but most of all I’d like to see the same
effort and professionalism the team displayed when it
reacted to our initial difficulties. Even if maybe we
didn’t manage to reach the performance level of the
best, everyone demonstrated total dedication. I repeat,
I am happy and proud and now’s the time to drink a
caipirinha!”
Felipe Massa: “It was very emotional for me to jump up
on the podium at my home race. I cried like a baby,
thinking back to how difficult this season has been for
me, disastrous at first and then very competitive in the
last part. Fernando should be proud of what he has done
this year: he was able to win when the car was not
perfect and fought right to the end, even if his car was
not a match for those of his rivals. His championship
has been truly spectacular! We too must also be proud of
what we have done. Today’s race was very close fought
and difficult and so many things happened. It was not
easy to work out what was the right tyre as the
conditions changed so quickly. At the start, when it
began to rain, we had opted to stay out on track, but we
did so for too long. Then, I found myself down in
eleventh, but I began to go very quickly and overtake a
lot of drivers. Who knows, maybe I could even have been
in the hunt for the win today...The team kept me
informed all the time about what the situation was on
track and on what could be useful to do in the fight for
the championship: I think I did the right thing, for my
team and also for my fans.”
Pat Fry: “I said it in Austin a week ago: we would fight
to achieve our objectives right down to the last lap and
so we did. We came within a whisker of achieving our
goal with Fernando, who along with Felipe managed to get
to the podium after an eventful race affected by
changing weather conditions. When track conditions
change so much it’s very difficult to pinpoint the right
choice at the right moment: we think we reacted in the
best possible way, trying to make the most of what we
had to work with. When it began to rain, we decided to
split the choices, bringing in Fernando while leaving
Felipe out on track, but then his lap times were getting
too slow and we switched him to the Intermediates. At
that time, the leaders were able to lap very quickly
even on the dry tyres, which just wasn’t possible for
us. After that, I think we picked the right moment to
switch back to the dry tyres and then the wets. Right to
the last we hoped something might happen to allow
Fernando to take the Drivers’ title which he definitely
deserved. We didn’t manage it and obviously we regret
not having been able to give him the fastest car of the
field. We will try again next year, trying to learn from
the mistakes we made this year and to strengthen our
good points even more, those being reliability, pit
stops and strategy.”
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