Interlagos dished up the kind of action you’d expect in a Hollywood script, but the circuit’s bad drainage could easily have led to a tragic accident, writes CAR deputy editor John Bentley.
Poor Giancarlo Fisichella. Imagine the feeling of deflation. The talented Italian had passed leader Kimi Raïkkönen on the lap before the Brazilian Grand Prix was stopped, and believed he had chalked up a fairytale win. But the rulebook said otherwise, giving victory to the Finn…
As Fisi said afterwards, “I won that race”. But Interlagos, which dished up the kind of action you’d expect in a Hollywood script, was the scene of many more heartaches. None, perhaps, was more poignant than that of Rubens Barrichello, whose Ferrari gave up the ghost – an uncharacteristic failure for the F-2002 – when he looked assured of victory in his home race (and his first finish since 1994, when he finished fourth).
Then there was David Coulthard, who would surely have had it in his pocket if the event had gone the full distance. And Fernando Alonso, unable to take up his position on the podium for third place after being hospitalised as a result of the dramatic crash into the debris left by Mark Webber’s Jaguar – the incident that caused the race to be red-flagged.
Or all the other drivers who were caught out by the rivulets streaming across the track, particularly at the Senna S. It’s one thing to be caught out by a lack of traction, but the unpredictable aquaplaning caused by the ebb and flow of water across that part of the track turned things into a lethal lottery.
They’d better sort out the Brazilian track’s drainage, or there might be a real tragedy at a future rain-drenched race. – John Bentley