It's time to party in Brazil.

Well here we are. We’ve done Asia so now it’s time to stop off in South America, break out the caipirinha and put on the factor 59, it’s going to be hot and sweaty.

Brazil and Interlagos, it’s old, it’s run down, but it throws up some fantastic races now and again. The circuit is built on a reclaimed swamp or some such. This means that the track is all lumpy and bumpy; it’s not a Tilk super flat, dull as you like, billiard ball smooth, bore-a-thon. Throw in a bit of rain, not unknown round here, and you get some random results.

Last year we saw a nail biter. Hamilton had to finish 5th or better. Much to Bernie’s ire, McLaren went for 5th rather than the win. Meanwhile Massa had to go with the win and hope McLaren dropped the ball. Rain on the grid spiced things up as Hamilton did just enough until a sudden downpour 10 laps from the end threw it all into chaos. Vettel charged passed Hamilton, demonstrating his prowess on wet tracks yet again. Massa crossed the line as world champion; Hamilton passed Glock with 2 corners to go and crossed the line 5th and world champion. England let out a sigh of relief. The Brazilian crowd went bananas, then went quite, then broke out the caipirinha and started dancing again carrying on with the party.

12 months on and it’s a Brit chasing a Brazilian yet again. Button doesn’t need to win, but he still needs 5 points to secure the title. Barrichello needs to win with Button coming as far back as possible. Vettel needs to win with both of the brawns out of the points. We still have to go racing in Abu Dhabi at the end of the month, but a lot of the teams would like to have the championship sewn up here so they can get some testing done in the warm.
Realistically, you have to go with Button can only loose this now. Barrichello has never ever gone well here. He always freaks out at the pressure. With Massa missing the whole of Brazil will dancing and drinking for him. He’ll be the only local boy racing and he will cock it up yet again. Button will be crowned king and the crowd will be disappointed all over again. Probably.

The word on the street is that Webber spent the Japanese GP testing bits for Brazil. He tested three different front wings and got the fastest lap on the final lap with the bits to be used in Brazil. So Vettel and Webber are currently the hot favourites for a 1-2 here. Engine or no engine worries they’re going to be fast here. I can see a Vettel back to back win here, he like the circuit, suits his style and if it rains as it looks like it’s going to, Vettel is the out and out clear favourite. Webber will have bad luck as usual and choke when it really matters. Or Win … I don’t know.

The smart money said McLaren wouldn’t go well in Japan, but Hamilton showed his class and got a good third. I think he’ll go well here. He has nothing to lose and would like to prove last year was about tactics not racing. Podium possibility.

Finally please note that Glock has “suddenly” found one of his vertebras got cracked when he hit the wall in Japan. It’s taken them a week and a half to spot this rather painful and career threatening injury. But there you are. So he’ll not be taking part in Brazil. He will be replaced by some Japanese chap, Kamui Kobayashi. Who got a run in Japan practice 1 and 2 where Glock at flu for 24 hours. Do you see a pattern here? Why they don’t just fire Trulli like they want to and let Kamui
Have the seat for the rest of the year. The sooner Toyota just packs up and leaves the better. Sell up to Lola or Prodrive and stop cocking around with drivers. Its sneaky underhanded and just wrong.
My respect fro Toyota reaches a new low, it really does. If they hadn’t built the TSR01 I’m not sure I’d have any respect for Toyota.