6 things to WATCH out for at the Brazilian GP

After being reminded he only needs to finish second to Lewis Hamilton to clinch the F1 world championship, Nico Rosberg is now being handed the initiative with a simple equation: Win in Brazil and the drivers’ crown is his. The German driver has continually reminded everyone he is taking it one race at a time but knowing he is one race away from the championship and at a venue he’s won at for the past two years, Rosberg must be relishing Sunday afternoon.

Having announced his retirement from F1 at Monza, thoughts immediately turned to Interlagos and Felipe Massa’s last home race. The two-time Brazilian GP winner has enjoyed his most triumphant and bittersweet moments in F1 and his emotional 2008 victory – where he lost out on the F1 world title by one point to Lewis Hamilton – still remains his last win in the sport. Without question Massa will be the most in-demand driver all weekend and he’ll be hoping to give the home fans one final cheer by finishing on the rostrum.

Another driver who will gain significant attention, albeit for very different reasons, is Sebastian Vettel in his first public outing since his expletive-riddled outburst against Max Verstappen and FIA race director Charlie Whiting. After being given a stern warning but no formal punishment by the FIA, all parties will be keen to move away from the ugly incidents in Mexico, but no doubt questions and tempers will be tested.

One of Vettel’s constant frustrations, at least over the team radio, is trying to overtake backmarkers who (at least in his opinion) may not cede to blue flags as quickly as he’d like. At the short, tight and twisty Interlagos this issue is likely to be heavily stressed. The Interlagos track is the second-shortest on the F1 calendar at 4.309km and holds the quickest lap times of any track. If it does become too much to bear for Vettel he can hold this in mind, in dry conditions the Brazilian GP is on average the shortest race in terms of time – from lights out to the chequered flag last year’s race lasted just 91 minutes.

After Marcus Ericsson narrowly missed out on Sauber’s first points of 2016 in 11th place in Mexico, those ahead of him diced dangerously with one another and the Swiss team needed just one car in front to retire for it to leapfrog Manor in the F1 world constructors’ championship. With only Brazil and Abu Dhabi remaining, the Interlagos race on paper could be better suited to Sauber as it is less reliant on outright power, while the chance of rain and consequential retirements is also much higher, but Sauber will still have its work cut out.

Predicting the weather in Sao Paulo is a tricky job at the best of times and with a couple of days to go the current forecast is mixed at best. The worst of the wet weather is set to hit the track on Friday which is likely to make set-up work extremely iffy but any storms are set to clear off by race day. For now at least…