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ROUND 18 · AUTÓDROMO JOSÉ CARLOS PACE · 2010

2010 BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX

The 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grande Prêmio Petrobras do Brasil 2010 ) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in the city of São Paulo on 7 November 2010 before 157,582 spectators. It was the 18th round of the 2010 Formula One World Championship and the 38th Brazilian Grand Prix to be held as part of the series.

Winner

Vettel

Red Bull-Renault

Podium

Webber / Alonso

P2 and P3

Pole Position

Hülkenberg

Qualified fastest

Circuit

Autódromo José Carlos Pace

Race

Some Formula One pundits suggested the Red Bull team would adopt a strategy in which Vettel would help Webber's title bid. Webber courted controversy when he suggested Red Bull would support his teammate Vettel over him: "It's obvious isn't it? Of course when young, new chargers come onto the block, that's where the emotion is. That's the way it is." His team principal Christian Horner believed Webber's words were taken out of context and that the driver was supported by the team a... The Grand Prix was entered by 12 teams (each represented by a constructor ) and 24 drivers participated, with one pre-race driver change. The day before the first practice session, Hispania Racing for unexplained reasons announced Christian Klien would drive in lieu of Sakon Yamamoto whom Klien had also deputised for at the Singapore Grand Prix two months prior. Force India cancelled a first practice session outing for third driver Paul di Resta because the team wanted to pr... Behind the first four drivers, Schumacher fell to tenth due to a driver error putting him onto the grass. Kubica moved from seventh to sixth and Button advanced from eleventh to ninth. Petrov made a slow start, mounting a kerb at the exit of the Senna S Chicane to avoid colliding with Alguersuari and fell to 22nd. Towards the end of lap one, Hamilton was slow out of Junção turn, allowing Alonso to challenge him on the main straight, but Hamilton retained fourth place at... At the start of lap four, Alonso steered right to attempt to overtake Hülkenberg; the latter blocked Alonso into the Senna S chicane; Hülkenberg ran with his rear wing at a high angle, making him vulnerable to a pass and it required him to steer left and brake later than Alonso. On lap five, Alonso again failed to pass Hülkenberg on the outside into the Senna S chicane. This allowed Hamilton to close up to Alonso, albeit not close enough to pass him. On the seventh lap... On lap eight, Hamilton made an unsuccessful overtake on the outside of Hülkenberg for fourth into the Senna S chicane. This was due to a lack of tyre grip, and he sought to conserve his tyres since he did not want to overheat them in the aerodynamic turbulence created by the airflow over the rear of Hülkenberg's car. In his first lap out of aerodynamic turbulence, Alonso was unable to close up to the Red Bull cars; Vettel opted to avoid tyre strain and losing grip in ... On lap 30, Button overtook the yet-to-pit Kobayashi on the inside into the Senna S chicane for fifth position. Barrichello attempted to pass Alguersuari for 13th on the outside at the same corner five laps later and the two made contact. Barrichello sustained a front-left puncture and slowed en route to the pit lane for super soft tyres. He rejoined the race one lap behind Vettel. Four laps later, Rosberg overtook Kobayashi on the inside into the Senna S chicane for sixth place. [ ... Lap 51 saw the sole safety car deployment. Liuzzi lost control of his car on a kerb to the outside of the second Senna S chicane due to a suspected front suspension failure. He crashed into a barrier to the track's inside at the bottom of a hill before the exit of the turn. Liuzzi was unhurt; a suspension rocker penetrated his car's left-front monocoque and touched his foot. His car was deemed to be in a dangerous position and a recovery tractor moved it.... Racing resumed at the conclusion of the 55th lap when the safety car was withdrawn when Liuzzi's car was removed from the track. Vettel led as lapped drivers separated him, Webber and Alonso in second and third. The first three lapped faster than they had done before the safety car and prevented Hamilton and Button from gaining further positions. Alonso managed the wear on his tyres to allow for a challenge to Webber, who was distanced by his teammate Vettel with a sequence o... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. Vettel said it was important for him to pull away from Hülkenberg after he passed him: "The car felt fantastic. All throughout the race I was able to hold the gaps as I planned, so I could control the race from there. With the safety car in the end it was the right choice not to try to pull away too much, to have some tyres left." Webber agreed the start ... Afterwards, the Red Bull team celebrated their first World Constructors' Championship. Christian Horner commented on how Red Bull was regarded as "a party team" after they purchased Jaguar in 2005: "In six years, this team has come from a team that no-one took seriously – that everyone thought was a party team – to the 2010 F1 constructors' champions. We have finished ahead of teams with far more experience and heritage than ourselves – we took them on and we won, thanks to the tremendous... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Practice

Rain briefly fell in São Paulo on the night of 5 November and returned the next morning. Weather forecasts suggested more rain would fall, albeit not to the same intensity than in qualifying in Japan and Korea. This created a damp track, prompting drivers to use wet-weather tyres. Several drivers tested their cars to see how they would behave in qualifying with five minutes to go. Kubica used the intermediate tyres to lap fastest at 1 minute, 19.191 seconds, three-tenths of a secon...

Qualifying

Williams driver Nico Hülkenberg ran more front wing angle than Barrichello, and used super soft tyres earlier than the fastest teams. His final lap of 1 minute, 14.470 seconds earned him the first pole position of his career and the Williams team's first since the 2005 European Grand Prix . [ N 3 ] He was joined on the grid 's front row by Vettel and Webber took third after traffic slowed both drivers. Hamilton qualified fourth because he could not extract temper... Button was the fastest driver not to progress to the final session after Massa demoted him to 11h in the closing seconds of the second session; a lack of grip on a set of damaged intermediate tyres and brake and tyre temperature slowed him. Tyre wear left Kobayashi 12th. Rosberg set the 13th-fastest lap and was slower than his teammate Schumacher for the fourth time in 2010, attributing the result to Buemi slowing his fastest lap. Alguersuari was the fast... After the session, Buemi and Sutil each took a five-place grid penalty because the stewards deemed them to have caused separate collisions with Glock and Kobayashi at the preceding Korean Grand Prix. Both drivers were required to start from 20th and 22nd, respectively. This moved Heidfeld to 15th, Liuzzi 16th, Glock 17th, Trulli 18th, Kovalainen 20th and di Grassi 21st. Rosberg reported Buemi impeding him in the second session to the stewards, who rejected the complaint after scrutiny. [ ... The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold . Notes:

Race Result

PosNo.DriverConstructorLapsTime/Retired
15Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault711:33:11.803
26Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault71+4.243
38Fernando AlonsoFerrari71+6.807
42Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes71+14.634
51Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes71+15.593
64Nico RosbergMercedes71+35.320
73Michael SchumacherMercedes71+43.456
810Nico HülkenbergWilliams-Cosworth70+1 Lap
911Robert KubicaRenault70+1 Lap
1023Kamui KobayashiBMW Sauber-Ferrari70+1 Lap

Qualifying

Pos.No.DriverConstructorQ1Q2
110Nico HülkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1:20.0501:19.144
25Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1:19.1601:18.691
36Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1:19.0251:18.516
42Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1:19.9311:18.921
58Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:18.9871:19.010
69Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1:19.7991:18.925
711Robert KubicaRenault1:19.2491:18.877
83Michael SchumacherMercedes1:19.8791:18.923
97Felipe MassaFerrari1:19.7781:19.200
1012Vitaly PetrovRenault1:20.1891:19.153

Championship Standings After This Race

1 Fernando Alonso* 246
2 Mark Webber* 238
3 Sebastian Vettel* 231
4 Lewis Hamilton* 222
5 Jenson Button 199
Source: Source: Source:

The Paddock Breakdown

Barry · Gary · Kat

Barry — 58 · Watching since Senna

Can you *feel* the tension here? The air itself crackles with the desperate gamble of a championship hanging in the balance. Webber, always a predator, stalks behind, sensing weakness. But Alonso… does the Spaniard truly believe he can wrest the crown from Red Bull's grasp? The rhythm of the race is fracturing, isn't it? This could be the moment that defines a season, a legacy forged in the Brazilian heat.

The championship hung in the balance, a razor's edge of ambition and desperation – this, my friends, is Formula One distilled. Vettel seized the moment, a volcanic eruption of speed and strategy, and the roar of the crowd mirrored the raw intensity of a battle for supremacy. Prepare yourselves; this is going to be a brutal, unforgettable spectacle.

Gary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues

"São Paulo erupts! The air itself vibrates with anticipation – a palpable hunger for speed!" Vettel explodes from second, a crimson blur against the McLaren's blue. That Renault power unit, pushing 740 horsepower, carved a brutal path, leaving Webber to fight tooth and nail for second. A strategic gamble from Ferrari – a late-race tire adjustment – almost snatched a podium, but the relentless German was simply… unstoppable.

Hold on to your helmets! The air here in São Paulo crackles with a desperate energy – a final, brutal push for glory. Hülkenberg's pole position, a stunning debut, immediately throws a wrench into the established order. Let's see if Red Bull can maintain their stranglehold; the Constructors' Championship gap of 27 points isn't going to shrink on its own. This is about more than just speed; it's about psychological warfare, a calculated risk against a team hungry for dominance.

Kat — 30 · Technical journalist

The air crackles, a tangible thing, doesn't it? Webber's charging, a crimson blur against the São Paulo skyline – he *needs* that lead! Alonso, a coiled serpent, stalking Vettel, sensing weakness. This isn't just a race; it's a brutal chess match played at 200 miles per hour. Vettel, coolly dominant, yet the slightest misstep could shatter everything. The championship hangs in the balance, a precarious jewel glittering under the Brazilian sun. This is where legends are forged, or dreams are brutally extinguished.

The rain. it's a serpent, isn't it? Coiling around the track, twisting the grip, stealing the certainty from every calculation. Hülkenberg, a young man consumed by the hunger for a first victory, seizing that moment with a savage grace. Twenty-two years old, and already a predator. Webber, relentless, a granite wall of determination, fighting for every inch. This isn't just about speed; it's about will. Alonso, a simmering volcano, plotting, anticipating… the championship hangs precariously in the balance, doesn't it? This is where legends are forged.

Race Calendar

2010 season