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Thousands of fans pack themselves into the circuit for the only South American Formula One race of the year. Although resurfaced in 2000, the track remains bumpy. This, coupled with the fact that Interlagos is one of just two circuits that runs in an anti-clockwise direction makes this race one of the toughest and physically demanding for the drivers, putting extra strain on the drivers' muscles. The circuit is built in a very hilly area so there are some steep gradients to the track. The combination of two straights and a section of slow, technical corners in the infield, means there has to be a compromise with car set-up and downforce, which can be further affected by the very changeable tropical weather conditions. The Interlagos circuit which hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix has maintained its place on the F1 calendar by virtue of being the only South American venue suitable for holding an event of this calibre. However, although the facilities and the track itself have come in for plenty of criticism over the past few years, steady improvements to the infrastructure have made their mark as Interlagos works to maintain its position as the only Grand Prix in the region.
"We got through most of what we were looking to do this morning, but it began to rain near the end of the session and that interrupted our tyre evaluation," said Director of Race and Test Engineering Gary Anderson. "It's not looking too bad and we've been able to get some running both in the dry and the wet, we'll have to wait and see whether that is an advantage."
Friday’s practice was run in heavy rain and highlighted a problem many pundits had predicted before the start of the season. As a “cost saving” plan, Bridgestone and Michelin are only allowed to supply one type of wet weather tyre and the competitive nature of Formula 1 means that both companies have, so far this season, opted to bring rubber that is best described as “intermediate.” Obviously not designed to cope with a soaking wet track, the idea is that if conditions are too bad for the tyres to deal with, then the Safety Car will be deployed. That obviously does not apply to qualifying and with several cars going off the track in the morning, it looks like being an exciting hour this afternoon.
The Interlagos grandstands are usually pretty empty on Friday, so this year, the organisers hit on a novel way of colouring in the backdrop to the track action. A couple of hundred school kids were bussed in for a free view of practice. All of them chose to sit opposite the Ferrari pit, cheering and screaming wildly every time local boy Rubens Barrichello put in an appearance.
Jordan Ford experienced a difficult day in changeable weather conditions in today’s qualifying at Interlagos. The Free Practice and testing sessions were affected by heavy rain however Fisichella and Firman completed some valuable evaluation work during dry conditions in the early part of the test session. Giancarlo Fisichella qualified 14th and said afterwards, “I’m not too happy with how it went. The car had a lot of oversteer during the lap and the grip was not good - I don’t know why. I’m hoping for a better day tomorrow.”
Australian Mark Webber set the fastest time in today's first qualifying session in Interlagos, the Jaguar driver making the most of wet conditions which had been bad enough to raise the prospect of a driver boycott. Webber's performance saw him pip the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello, while the McLarens of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard were next up. World Champion Michael Schumacher was fifth fastest.
Jordan Ford had trouble-free practice sessions on Saturday morning in warm and dry conditions at Brazil's Interlagos circuit. The team spent time evaluating tyres for qualifying and the race and Giancarlo Fisichella, who completed 33 laps during the course of the morning, reported that the car feels good and is optimistic about its balance for qualifying. He set the quickest lap time of the Bridgestone runners, after the Ferraris. Ralph Firman said he experienced balance problems, alternating between understeer and oversteer, throughout his 31 laps, and the team is busy working on finding the best set-up for qualifying and the race. A small hydraulics glitch at the end of the first session did not cost him any track time.
Final qualifying went smoothly for Jordan Ford, with Giancarlo Fisichella and Ralph Firman lining up 8th and 16th on the grid. Fisichella’s morning practice and qualifying sessions were trouble-free and he delivered a flawless lap to be the quickest Bridgestone qualifier behind the two Ferraris. Firman worked with his engineer to overcome some balance problems he reported during practice, before setting his best time of the weekend, despite making a small mistake on his qualifying lap. Both drivers are optimistic about their chances in tomorrow’s race.
Rubens Barrichello was ecstatic after claiming pole position for his home Grand Prix in Interlagos, the Ferrari driver heading the field by a mere 0.011s from the McLaren of David Coulthard. Once again the new qualifying format produced surprises, the Jaguar of Mark Webber lining up 3rd and showing that his fastest time in yesterday's qualifying was no fluke, while Jarno Trulli was 5th for Renault behind the second McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen.
Giancarlo Fisichella claimed a dramatic 2nd place for Jordan Ford in today's Brazilian Grand Prix, the Italian driving superbly in atrocious conditions to finish just behind race winner Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren. This was Jordan's 200th Grand Prix and the result has delighted the team, even though there were a few seconds during which they seemed to have actually claimed victory.
Giancarlo Fisichella’s heroic drive to second place at Interlagos today gave Jordan its best result in three years, although he narrowly missed out on his first race win due to a rules technicality. Starting from 8th place on the grid in heavy rain, he exploited an astute strategy from the team, which took advantage of erratic weather conditions and the use of the safety car. Fisichella overtook Raikkonen on lap 54 and was leading the race when it was stopped following a heavy accident on the same lap.
'The FIA has received evidence which suggests that, contrary to the information supplied by the time-keepers at the Brazilian Grand Prix, car no. 11 (Fisichella) had started his 56th lap before the race was stopped. If this proves to be the case, the race classification would be that at the end of the 54th lap and not at the end of the 53rd lap as published.'
Jordan Grand Prix has received the FIA statement concerning the results of the Brazilian Grand Prix, which is in keeping with the team's evidence. The team awaits the outcome of the stewards' meeting on Friday 11 April. Click here to read the FIA statement.
Fisichella’s victory is also an important milestone for Ford this being the 176th Grand Prix success for Ford Cosworth engines and the first win for the Blue Oval since its return to Formula One with Jordan this season.
As soon as the great news about Fisichella’s win in the Brazilian GP had been confirmed, the McLaren team (originally declared winners of the event) sportingly put out a press release congratulating Jordan. “The evidence presented earlier today leaves no doubt that Giancarlo and Jordan are the winners of the Brazilian Grand Prix,” said Ron Dennis. “It’s obviously a shame that neither driver nor team were able to celebrate in Brazil, but knowing Eddie, I would imagine that a few pints of the Irish brew will be raised today.”
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