Brazilian Grand Prix
The F1 World Championship is set to fly over at Interlagos where we will get to see the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend.
The festive mood in Brazil is fit for a championship party for Lewis Hamilton, who recently brought home his sixth F1 championship after a second-place finish in the US Grand Prix.
The dream of drawing level (or surpassing) Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher’s seven titles is firmly on, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’ll do it all again next season.
“As an athlete I feel fresh as can be. We won’t let up. We must keep pushing because I know we have more to do – more championships to win, more races to win,” said Hamilton back in Austin, Texas.
For now, it’s the battle for the best of the rest here in Brazil and SBOBET is here to provide you some important updates ahead on Monday.
Talking points
Charles Leclerc’s costly new engine
Ferrari’s hopes of winning in Brazil had taken a huge hit when Charles Leclerc was meted a 10-grid penalty for the race this weekend, as reported in our Brazilian Grand Prix 2019 news.
After experiencing some trouble on his engine during the US Grand Prix, Leclerc needed a new engine to be put into his car, which takes him over the permitted number of parts for a season.
The Monegasque racer had to use an older-specification engine for the remainder of his time in Austin, Texas when his engine failed in their final practice. That probably had a huge hand as to why he only placed fourth in the said race.
“To be completely honest, I’ve got no explanations. The front-left felt very, very weird. We need to analyse that, because I’ve never had this feeling before. Pretty sure something was not right on this stint,” said Leclerc during a recent interview.
“It was an extremely hard day,” he emphasized.
With Leclerc having to suffer, Ferrari’s main hope in Interlagos will be placed on Sebastian Vettel as they try to finish their season on a high after losing four consecutive wins to their rival constructors in Mercedes. The Scuderia’s last win was back in the Singapore Grand Prix, when Vettel claimed his first win of the season.
Nonetheless, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto sees this as a fresh start for his team and he is optimistic about their Brazilian Grand Prix 2019 odds.
“We should be back to our normal performance level and show some fighting spirit to finish the season on a high note. Overall it’s been a good hunting ground for us and hopefully it will be like that again this weekend,” said Binotto.
Valtteri Bottas looking to secure future with Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas, for the most part this term, have played second fiddle behind Lewis Hamilton. However, he should be commended because of his splendid season so far.
The Finnish racer is currently second in the F1 standings, with 314 points just 67 points behind his teammate. Trailing him are the likes of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who have tallied 249 and 235 respectively.
That’s in stark contrast to a 2018 campaign where he failed to take a single win and sank to the fifth in the standings, which is why Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is keen on securing his services for the foreseeable future.
Bottas has been retained by the Silver Arrows for next year, which means that he will be with the champion constructors for at least four more seasons. His signing was a big sigh of relief for both parties — especially for Bottas — as he admitted that the looming uncertainty affected his performance.
“I had no idea what was going to happen. As an athlete, it’s not an ideal situation. When that continues, year after year, at some point it’s getting a pain in the ass,” shared Bottas.
“You can’t be completely with peace of mind and focus on the job and feel mentally free and in the right place,” he added.
Wolff admitted that there has been some misunderstanding regarding Bottas’ extension. And with a strong performance this year by his Finnish driver, it was indeed the smart move for the Silver Arrows.
“With Valtteri, there is a better way to deal with that. In retrospect, you can probably say it had an effect. I will try to consider that and make a better job in that respect,” said Wolff.
History
The Brazilian Grand Prix was first held in 1973 where local hero Emerson Fittipaldi took home the chequered flag for two years running. For a while, the race was held at the Jacarepagua track in Rio de Janeiro, but the F1 committee decided to move it back to Interlagos for good in 1990.
French Icon Alain Prost holds the most number of wins in the Brazilian Grand Prix with six titles. Carlos Reutemann and Michael Schumacher are level with four while Sebastian Vettel has won in three.
Lewis Hamilton emerged last year’s victor when he took advantage of Max Verstappen’s mishap with Esteban Ocon in lap 44.
What are the odds?
A quick look on our SBOBET website has Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen take the upper hand with odds of 1.45, 1.40, and 1.35 respectively compared to their respective teammates.
These three racers are expected to take the podium finishes in this match, but the order of such will be a different topic altogether.
I initially have either Hamilton or Vettel winning on this one. However, a vengeful Verstappen is expected to pull out all the stops to make up for last year.
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