{"id":2902,"date":"2016-11-11T20:24:18","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T20:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2016-11-11T20:24:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T20:24:18","slug":"notebook-brazilian-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/notebook-brazilian-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"NOTEBOOK \u2013 Brazilian Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both the practice sessions for this weekend\u2019s Brazilian Grand Prix, though his team-mate Nico Rosberg managed to close the gap in the second session.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s day<\/em><\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton is looking in good form going fastest in both of the practice sessions. Hamilton needs to be at his best this weekend as it is key to a narrow chance of keeping his title hopes alive. He knows that Mercedes have the edge on track on both Red Bull and Ferrari.<\/p>\n

In FP2 there was a little anomaly for the team which was partly to do with the cooler conditions. That affected nearly all the teams, however the gap between the team in both sessions between Mercedes and Red Bull was around half a second.<\/p>\n

Magnussen in, Gutierrez out<\/em><\/p>\n

After todays session Haas have confirmed that Kevin Magnussen will partner Romain Grosjean. Team boss Gene Haas says the new line-up would help drive them forward amidst heavy regulation changes in 2017.<\/p>\n

Haas said \u201cFrom the time we began looking at drivers, Kevin Magnussen was always on our short list. He’s accomplished a lot in a very short period of time, and we feel like he can accomplish a lot with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur second season will bring a new set of challenges, and we feel that pairing Kevin with Romain will help us develop our new car and continue our growth.\u201d Haas have also thanked Esteban Gutierrez for his efforts saying \u201cHe’s been an instrumental part of our first year in Formula One and we’re looking forward to finishing the season strong with him and Romain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Bull \u2013 Prancing ahead of Ferrari<\/em><\/p>\n

Red Bull once again has appeared to be the challengers to Mercedes this weekend but in dry running they still are miles behind on track. But looking at the weather forecast looking wet for the rest of the weekend could bring them back into play.<\/p>\n

They keep telling us they can beat Mercedes in wet conditions it looks like we will find out.<\/p>\n

Honda woes #Placesalonsowouldratherbe <\/em><\/p>\n

During the second practice sessions both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were both having problem on their cars. Alonso stopped on track after the return of the #Placesalonsowouldratherbe on social media. Yes it is fun to have this but I think with Button\u2019s issue too it may underline the teams weakness is still there despite this year they still lack some reliability and that is expected that this time in the season<\/p>\n

Off track McLaren Meltdown <\/em><\/p>\n

Sky Sports say they understand that a consortium of Chinese investors has tabled a \u00a31.65bn takeover bid for McLaren. Over the past few weeks a coup plot has emerged to overthrow Chairman Ron Dennis from his post.<\/p>\n

Sources say that Mr Dennis has been to the high court to stop McLaren placing him on gardening leave until his contract expires in mid-January, but that has been rejected. The board are now looking to place him on suspension tonight if that happens it will see the end of his thirty six year career.<\/p>\n

Neither Mr Dennis nor McLaren would comment, while Mr Ojjeh and Mumtalakat could not be reached for comment on Friday.<\/p>\n

Ferrari v Williams<\/em><\/p>\n

Williams are appearing to be another treat to Ferrari this weekend as they looked to have the like they could be in the mix. Ferrari appeared to struggle to get good single and multiple laps together on their tyres in both FP1 and FP2 and they need that to challenge this weekend.<\/p>\n

Adding to their woes is Kimi Raikkonen is being investigated by the stewards for cutting across into the pit lane in front of Carlos Sainz midway through the session. The Fin went round the outside of the Spaniard as he entered the pits cutting across him.<\/p>\n

Qualifying Preview<\/em><\/p>\n

Qualifying could be interesting because we are expecting wet weather tomorrow which is likely to mix things up on track. In 2010 we had a wet session where we saw many drivers slide off and water runs down the hills here which don\u2019t help. Being on track at the right time will be key for the rest of the weekend.<\/p>\n

Mercedes are likely to be on pole I feel unless they get the timing wrong like we saw in that 2010 session and Red Bull will not be far behind.<\/p>\n

RELATED<\/strong><\/p>\n