Preview

Formula 1 Brazilian GP

Williams head to Brazil expecting another strong weekend

Felipe Massa secured a podium last season that sent the José Carlos Pace Circuit into a memorable frenzy.

Edited: Nov 10, 2015, 11:26 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW37

Felipe Massa, Williams FW37

Felipe Massa, Williams FW37

Felipe Massa, Williams on the drivers parade.

Felipe Massa, Williams FW37

Podium: Third place Valtteri Bottas, Williams

Felipe Massa, Williams

Felipe Massa, Williams FW37

Felipe Massa, Williams FW37

It may be one of the shortest tracks on the Formula One calendar, but the 4.3km José Carlos Pace Circuit presents a number of challenges to teams. It combines a long sweeping start/finish straight with a tricky infield section so choosing the right setup compromise is paramount.

The high altitude (800m) leaves the power units feeling breathless, and the bumps and undulations keep the drivers on their toes. The Brazilian crowd always give their countrymen a raucous reception and Felipe secured a podium last season that sent the José Carlos Pace Circuit into a memorable frenzy.

**Rob Smedley: "**We head to Brazil after a good result for the team in Mexico. We are in good spirits, with our main target of securing third position in the Constructors’ Championship still firmly on track. It means we are going to be racing extremely hard to make that happen. Equally as important will be beating the cars that we have been racing against all season.

Brazil should be a good circuit for our cars - it was certainly good for us last year with Felipe on the podium at his home race, and we will look to repeat that. The layout is power and drag sensitive so the efficiency should work in our favour. The hard part will be getting the car to perform well in sector two. We want to get a good result and find ourselves in a position to celebrate securing third position on Sunday evening."

**Valtteri Bottas: "**I haven’t had the best races in Brazil in the past, but I’m looking forward to fixing that. It’s a very nice circuit to drive, it has a good combination of different types of corners, and it’s good for racing with good possibilities for overtaking. The fans are very passionate and obviously with Felipe being Brazilian there is a lot of support for Williams Martini Racing. Hopefully this time around I can have a good result. We will be looking to fight with Ferrari and Red Bull for an opportunity to be on the podium. That will be the target."

Felipe Massa: "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."

Williams Martini Racing

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Every 2015 Mercedes-Benz racing champion at Stars & Cars in Stuttgart

Next article Sahara Force India priority in Brazil is to clinch fifth place in the championship

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Felipe Massa



On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement

Formula 1

Formula 1

Italian GP

On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement



Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case

Formula 1

Formula 1

Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case



Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial

Formula 1

Formula 1

Las Vegas GP

Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial

More from

Williams



Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon

Formula 1

Formula 1 12 h

Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon



James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap

Formula 1

Formula 1

Singapore GP

James Vowles explains request for review of F1 cost cap



How Fernando Alonso scored ninth at Zandvoort - and how Alex Albon lost a similar payday

Formula 1

Dutch GP

How Fernando Alonso scored ninth at Zandvoort - and how Alex Albon lost a similar payday

Latest news



Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 6 h

Barcelona set to host IndyCar race in 2027 under multi-year deal



Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

8 h

Winners and losers from a Chase-altering NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix



Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 8 h

Heart of Racing rules Valkyrie GTP step next year ‘too soon’ for IMSA standout Barrichello



Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

8 h

Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"

Feature

Discover prime content



How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1



Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027



Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense



Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Ronald Vording

Why Christian Horner sees history repeating itself for Adrian Newey at Aston Martin

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe