The Sao Paulo Grand Prix brings the curtain down on Formula 1's long trip in the Americas, with the races at Austin, Mexico City and now Interlagos all taking place at one week intervals.

There is a common thread, a very dark one in this case, that links all three of the aforementioned tracks, namely new asphalt. However, while in Austin and Mexico City only sections of the tracks had been resurfaced, in Sao Paulo all 4.309 kilometres has been renewed, including the pit lane. The work was only recently completed and the asphalt was then thoroughly cleaned, using a high pressure water washing system that removes the sheen that usually appears on brand new bitumen and this has also increased the abrasiveness of the surface.

Therefore, the track surface will be a completely unknown factor for drivers and teams this weekend. Complicating the puzzle still further is the fact Pirelli has chosen to bring a softer trio of compounds to Brazil than last year: the C3 will be the Hard, with C4 as Medium and C5 as soft. On top of that it's a Sprint weekend, so that there is only free practice session for teams to find the best set-up, even if, as was seen in Austin, the "short" race in fact proved to be very useful to fine tune the balance of the car for the actual Grand Prix.

At Interlagos, the lateral and longitudinal forces exerted on the tyres around the 15 corners of this anticlockwise track are medium to low in intensity and well distributed across both axles. Furthermore, the new track surface could see a lowering of lap times and, as a consequence, an increase of the stress to which the tyres are subjected.

The Brazilian weekend usually provides spectacular action. The circuit named in honour of José Carlos Pace presents several overtaking opportunities, but other random factors, such as a high chance of a Safety Car and extremely changeable weather, make the outcome of the Grand Prix uncertain and hard to predict. Usually, the fastest strategy is a two-stop, favouring the use of the softer compounds. Last year, all bar one of the drivers chose to start on the Softs, but a red flag after the start allowed for a switch to Mediums before ending the race on another set of Softs. This year, the fact the compounds are a step softer could open up a wider range of possible strategies, making the race even more exciting.

The Interlagos circuit has hosted 40 Grands Prix, but only the last three have been named after the Paulista city. The previous 37 went by the name of the Brazilian Grand Prix, a race which was also held ten times at Rio de Janeiro's Jacarepagua circuit.

The most successful driver in Brazil is Alain Prost with six wins to his name, although only one of those was in Sao Paulo, a track where Michael Schumacher holds the record with four victories. Ayrton Senna tops the list for pole positions with six in his home country, equally divided between the two tracks. At Interlagos, four other drivers have matched Senna's total: his fellow countrymen Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello, Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton. Of the teams, McLaren is the most successful with 11 wins, although Ferrari has the most wins at Interlagos with nine. The English team tops the list for pole positions in this event with 11 as well as when it comes to those at this weekend's venue, with nine.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the tragic death of Ayrton Senna and, as was the case at Imola back in May, events and tributes will be held at Interlagos. Pirelli will be involved, in conjunction with the Senna Institute, auctioning a special version of the Pole Position Award in the Brazilian national colours, also featuring the legendary Brazilian's logo. Furthermore, as was the case at five previous races this year, there will be a special edition of the Pirelli Podium Cap, also in the colours of the national flag with the Senna logo, paying tribute to a driver who will forever be remembered not just by all Brazilians, but also by all those who love Formula 1.