09/11/2017
NEWS STORY
A number of changes have been carried out at Interlagos ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
In the wake of excess water on the track during last year's race, which led to a number of cars aquaplaning, grooves have been carved into the track surface.
"Additional grooving of the track has been carried out in places where water was accumulating the most during the race last year," said race director Charlie Whiting in a note to the teams, "notably in turns 2, 3, 12, 13, 14 and 15.
"In order to ensure that the grip of the track is more consistent it has been cleaned twice with very high pressure water," he added.
Furthermore, with an eye on track limits, 'Sausage' kerb elements have been installed behind the existing kerbs on the apex of Turns 2, 4, 8 and 10, while additional tyre barriers have been installed in parts of the barriers at Turns 1, 6, 8 and 10.
This year sees the Supersoft make its debut at the Sao Paulo track, while soft and medium are the other compounds, though drivers have gone for the bare minimum in terms of the white banded rubber.
Last year's race was won by Lewis Hamilton, who, due to the heavy rain, ran a two-stop strategy, using wet tyres throughout.
A year earlier, Nico Rosberg won using a three-stop strategy, the German starting on softs before switching to mediums for the remainder of the race.
Check out our Thursday gallery from Interlagos, here.