- Friday, March 29:
11h00 - 12h00 Formula 1 Free Practice
13h00 - 14h00 Formula 1 Free Practice
14h20 - 15h00 Formula 3000 Qualifying
15h30 - 16h10 Formula 3000 Qualifying
- Saturday, March 30:
09h00 - 09h45 Formula 1 Free Practice
10h15 - 11h00 Formula 1 Free Practice
13h00 - 14h00 Formula 1 Qualifying
14h30 Formula 3000 Grid Line-up
15h00 Formula 3000 Inaugural Race (35 laps)
Result: a 1-2-3-4 Brazilian sweep!
- Rodrigo Sperafico (BR), Durango
- Mário Haberfeld (BR), Astromega
- Ricardo Maurício (BR), Red Bull
- Antônio Pizzonia (BR), Petrobrás
- Bjorn Wirdheim (SE), Arden
- Enrico Toccacelo (IT), Coloni
- Ricardo Sperafico (BR), Petrobrás
- Giorgio Pantano (IT), Astromega
- Tiago Monteiro (PT), Super Nova
- Patrick Friesacher (AU), Red Bull
= Click here for MieNet's F3000 Pages =
- Sunday, March 31:
09h30 - 10h00 Formula 1 Warm up
11h15 - 11h35 Drivers' Parade
13h30 Grid Line-up
14h00 GP of Brazil (71 laps)
Grand Prix Preview
- The Brazilian Grand Prix takes place in Interlagos, a circuit built in 1940, in the city of São Paulo, and officially renamed José Carlos Pace, to honor the great local driver who lost his life in a plane accident.
- One of Interlagos' special characteristics is that the drivers race counter-clockwise, a situation that makes them consider the Brazilian GP quite demanding from a physical fitness viewpoint. Ondulations on the track add to the challenge, these having been the object of many complaints in many years. From a more technical viewpoint, Interlagos has also represented a challenge of its own, as finding the ideal balance for the set up can be quite difficult.
- The Brazilian GP has at times taken place in the Jacarepaguá track, in Rio de Janeiro. But for many years now Interlagos has been the stage where Brazilian natives gather to applaud their great idols, more especially, José Carlos Pace, Emerson & Wilson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
- This year, the local boys that the crowds will be cheering for are Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello (a native of São Paulo, who grew up near Interlagos), Arrows' Bernoldi Kiesa, and Sauber's new boy Felipe Massa. In addition to these three, Luciano Burti (ex-Jaguar and ex-Prost) will also be in town, now as Ferrari's second development driver.
- When they flew off Malaysia, the Ferrari Team seemed likely to take their new car to Brazil, whereas the Jaguar Team had been considering doing precisely the inverse (i.e., return to last year's car). The final decision for both teams depended on tests to be run in the week following the Malaysian GP, when this year's and last year's cars would be compared.
- At the end of the week following the Malaysian GP, the Ferrari Team remained unconvinced as to the relyability of their new car. In other words, they were still undecided whether they should risk the F2002 in Brazil, even though they had been leading the time-sheets quite comfortably while testing their new car in Barcelona. After looking closely at the test results, however, they made up their minds: the Team are taking one F2002 for M.Schumacher. They will additionally have two modified F2001's as spare cars in Brazil, where R.Barrichello will also be driving another modified F2001.
- Meanwhile, the Jaguar Team have decided to continue using the R3, instead of reverting to last year's R2 car: their comparison tests with the latest R3 in Barcelona reportedly could not justify the change.
- The McLarens, now running third in the Constructors' championship, are of course hoping for better reliability.
- The BMW Williams, on the other hand, should be strong in Sao Paulo. Last year, after that now famous move over M.Schumacher, Montoya was to have possibly won the Brazilian GP, had it not been for Verstappen's unexplicably running into the back of the Colombian's car just after Montoya had overtaken the Dutch driver.
- Along with the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix, the F3000 Season's kick-off takes place before the warm and cheerful Brazilian crowd, who will be delighted to see six local promises lining up on the F3000 grid: BMW Williams' second development driver Antonio Pizzonia and team-mate Ricardo Sperafico (Petrobrás Junior Team) are likely the local favorites, in addition to Mário Haberfeld, who seems ready to start the season with renewed energies and enthusiasm in his new team (Astromega), Ricardo's twin brother, Rodrigo Sperafico, now driving for the Durango Formula SRL Team, Ricardo Mauiício (Red Bull Jr.Team), and former Barber Dodge racer (USA) Alex Sperafico, just signed by European Minardi
for this F3000 season. (Alex Sperafico, a cousin of Ricardo and Rodrigo, is not the only other Sperafico in motor racing -- theirs possibly being the fastest family on the Planet!;)... formula1_genealogy.html" target="new">See here further information on these local boys.)
- For the F1 fan, in general, Tomas Enge, who deputized for Luciano Burti in the now gone Prost Team, after Burti's serious accident in Spa, last year, will be a familiar name on the F3000 grid. Another is Australian Ryan Riscoe, who currently shares with Frenchman Stephane Sarrazin the task of development driver for the Toyota F1 Team.
- Despite the presence of very experienced F3000 drivers, such as Czech Republic's start Tomas Enge, the Brazilian crowd can keep their hopes high, as far as the possibility of applauding their local boys on the podium. Except for rookie Alex Sperafico, they all have at least one year of F3000 experience under their belts, and have had some strong performances in last year's Season -- especially jungle-boy Pizzonia and Ricardo Sperafico (Petrobrás), followed by Ricardo Mauiício (Red Bull Jr.).
- On the F1 camp, the highest local hopes obviously fall on Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), to whom a home win no doubt seems the sweetest among all possibilities of a career Nr.2 victory. If fate shifts around and smiles to Barrichello on his home GP, the local crowd is certain to offer the international audience some unforgettable bursts of joy spiced by a flavor of Carnaval, a local tradition in sporting celebrations.
- Although only Barrichello can realistically trigger the joyful batucada (Carnaval percussion), home boys Bernoldi Kiesa (Arrows Ford) and Felipe Massa (Sauber Petronas) can certainly add a beat of enthusiasm to the local rhythm that may eco in the circuit, at the end of this coming F1 weekend.
- But let us wait for the final flag in order to tell the story...
|
Net
Click here for MieNet's 
