Brazil preview & essentials

Speed, samba & unpredictability! Welcome to Brazil everyone, one of the shortest but most intense races of the year, with a 60,000 audience capacity in mighty circuit Interlagos — Autódromo José Carlos Pace — and with Pirelli’s most popular combination of the season: the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft compounds.

"Interlagos is one of those historic venues that has helped to shape the history of Formula One, so it’s a pleasure to come here and experience once more the unique atmosphere and passion from the local fans, as the end of what is our first American triple header in Formula One, with races in the United States, Mexico and now Brazil," said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

"The changes to the asphalt at Interlagos last year altered the pattern of tyre behaviour, so it will be interesting to see how that affects tyre usage this year. Traditionally, Interlagos is quite a high-energy circuit for tyres, so we would expect to see two or three pit stops for the majority of competitors. As always though, we will only have an accurate picture of the real situation after the opening free practice sessions on Friday."

Last year’s strategy to win

Following a heatwave last year, it was Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg who won the race from Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa using a three-stop strategy. He started on the soft tyre, changed to mediums on laps 7, 26 and 50. Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari was the highest-placed driver on a two-stopper.

Felipe Massa
Williams

"Your home Grand Prix is always the most important race for a driver. For me to race at home where I started my career - first on the other side of the wall at the kart track, then onto the race track - there is always a big expectation to perform in front of your home crowd.

"I love the track, it’s one of the best tracks for me and I’ve always had good results there. I’m really looking forward to hopefully achieving another amazing result this year. Last year we managed to finish on the podium. It was a race with so many things happening – I had a five-second penalty and even stopped in the wrong garage - but we still managed to have an amazing race so it’s important to look back on what we did last year to try to repeat it and have a very strong weekend once again.

"The passion from the fans is amazing. The emotion they have and how close they are to me as a driver, it’s really an amazing feeling to race at home. The experience is difficult to explain."

Schedule
Fri 13 — Sun 15 Nov
Practice 1 - Fri 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2 - Fri 14:00 – 15:30
Practice 3 - Sat 11:00 – 12:00
Qualifying - Sat 14:00 – 15:00
Race - Sun 14:00 — 16:00

Grand Prix: Brazil
Race Date: Sun 15 Nov 2015
First Grand Prix: 1973
Circuit Name: Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Circuit Length: 4.309 km
Turns: 15
Laps: 71
Race Distance: 305.909 km
Lap Record: 1:11.473 Juan Pablo Montoya (2004)