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Brazil GP: Burning questions

Can the genius overcome the jester? Will the Interlagos weather gods have the last laugh? Can Schumacher go out on a high?

Will it be Vettel or Alonso? The Sky Sports F1 Online team asks the pressing questions as a thrilling season reaches its climax at Interlagos this weekend...

The path might seem gilded, yet life also has an uncanny, unerring habit of placing obstacles in the way. Hence Christian Horner's admission that the team are worried by the recurrence of alternator-itis that struck last weekend. It was an older specification alternator that was fitted to Mark Webber's car, Red Bull having opted to play it safe even though Renault, in conjunction with supplier Magneti Marelli, has beefed up the newer spec. that let them down in Valencia and Italy. The older spec. had never let them down before last weekend. With Red Bull now electing to use the Mark 2 newer version in Brazil, they will be hoping that it will succeed where the other two have failed. It's precisely the hat-trick they don't want; sat up on the pitwall on Sunday, Horner's foot could be twitching more than ever. MW Will it rain?
Despite a reputation for unsettled weather, only three of the last ten races at Interlagos have been affected by rain. However, the good news for Ferrari is that the wet stuff is forecast for this weekend. The question, though, is when. One thing we do know is that when it rains at Interlagos it rains hard - just ask Fernando Alonso or Jenson Button about what happened in 2003. Usually, you can watch the clouds roll in over the city, giving the teams a visual reference in addition to their existing radars. With the forecast for Sunday predicting temperatures of 31 degrees and humidity of 92%, the expectation is that we are likely to see rain at some point during race day. Even if the rain falls before the start of the grand prix, it is likely to wash away any rubber on the track and a damp, greasy, green track could be just what Alonso needs to pull off a shock. We'll see. WE Will McLaren and Hamilton be promoted in the standings?
And will it matter if they are? Well, for McLaren and Ferrari, the team which could be usurped at Interlagos as runners-up in the Constructors' Championship, it matters a great deal. The difference in prize money between second and third place in the finals standings is thought to be as much as £10m; a sizeable amount in anyone's budget. Push a little further and you could argue that a promotion for McLaren would also amount to vindication of their two-driver policy against Ferrari's de facto one-man-team outlook. Perhaps. As for Hamilton, it's doubtful he's particularly fussed about whether he finishes third or fourth in the Drivers' Championship. And we can be sure Kimi Raikkonen, the current fourth-placed driver with a lead of sixteen points over Hamilton, really doesn't give a hoot. But Hamilton will be aware that the 2012 Brazil GP might be the last race he has a realistic chance of winning for a long while, so he'll want to leave McLaren on a high, and if that results in third rather than fourth, all the better. PG Can Sauber catch Mercedes?
Just twelve points separate the two teams heading to Brazil, with Mercedes enduring the worst season in their F1 history, having never finished lower than fourth in the Constructors' Championship. Losing fifth to Sauber would be a major blow to the Brackley-based outfit, with the Swiss team seen as relative minnows compared to the might of Stuttgart. Mercedes seem to have given up on 2012 since F1 left Europe, with Nico Rosberg's fifth in Singapore their only score in the last six races, and points around the twists of the Interlagos circuit are unlikely. Sauber have also struggled in the fly-away races, failing to score in three of the last four, and it is that form that could ultimately cost them fifth - and with it much-needed revenue. But, with his future still in doubt, Kamui Kobayashi has a point to prove, as does Sergio Perez after failing to score even one since being announced at McLaren in 2013. But what a neat twist it would be if Perez rediscovered his summer form to deliver additional and costly humiliation against the beleaguered Mercedes team Hamilton is joining for 2013 before taking his place at McLaren. WE How will Schumi sign off?
It's a sad reflection on the way his 'second' F1 coming has petered out that unless Michael Schumacher does something completely extraordinary in Brazil - like win the race or inadvertently run into one of the title contenders - the end of the most successful career in the sport's history is likely to prove a mere footnote in the wider context of the race weekend. As a man who became so accustomed to playing a central role in such last-day title showdowns (he won two and lost three in his glittering 'first' career) the wily old German will know full well that he, and a host of other drivers, will be even further down the bill than normal at Interlagos with Vettel and Alonso taking the two starring roles. In truth, that's a position he's had to live with more than ever over the last couple of months given Mercedes' year has gone into free-fall since the end of the European season. Furthermore, if his and the Brackley team's fortunes from Austin are an accurate guide, Interlagos could prove another completely forgettable weekend given from what a now appears to have been a frankly heroic fifth on the grid, Schumacher inexplicably dropped to 16th at the flag, the second worst finish of his entire career. Whatever you think of the ever-controversial German, a similarly anonymous result on his definitive F1 swansong would be rather cruel. But, facing facts, unless this weekend proves wet throughout - which, of course, it could - the best Schumacher can realistically hope for is scraping a few points in the race before definitively beginning the next chapter in his life. F1 rarely does fairytales. JG

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