MERCEDES GP looking forward to Brazil

The final race of the 2011 Formula One season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, takes place at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo on Sunday 27 November. Located in Interlagos, the historic 4.309 km circuit is the highest of the year at 800m above sea level, and one of only five anti-clockwise tracks on this year's calendar.· The Safety Car has been deployed in seven of the last ten races inInterlagos, on a total of 11 occasions.· Interlagos is the shortest permanent circuit on the calendar with theshortest lap time of any circuit.· DRS can be used over 59% of the lap in practice and qualifying: onlyMontreal, Spa and Monza have higher values.Michael Schumacher"The final race of the season is approaching fast and I am looking forwardto the weekend in Brazil. There is always a really good atmosphere at theInterlagos track and it's one of the traditional venues for Formula One toend the season. We have enjoyed some good results finishing in the top sixover the last few races, and I would love to continue this trend in Braziland bring the season to a positive end. The team have worked very hard toimprove our performance with the car that we have available to us and itwould be a fitting reward for them."Nico Rosberg"I'm really looking forward to going to Brazil next week. The Interlagostrack is amazing to drive, and in the last weeks we have made some stepsforward without having any big updates on the car, so it should be a goodweekend. I would love to give the season a nice ending; our engineers, theboys in the garage and everybody at our factories in Brackley and Brixworthdeserve a good result at our last race. The stronger qualifying and racepace in Abu Dhabi makes me confident that we can push and try to catch oneof the cars from the top three teams at Interlagos. Our Mercedes enginepower and the top speed in the car will be good for getting up the hill onthe long start-finish straight."Ross Brawn, Team Principal"The Brazilian Grand Prix weekend is always a lively and vibrant event, andInterlagos is a fitting venue for the final race of this year's Formula Oneseason. Although our focus at the factory has been on 2012 for some timenow, at the race track we are continuing to work hard with this year's carand make improvements. We are determined to end the season on a high andcontinue the run of top six results that we have enjoyed recently, which isthe upper limit of the potential of the current car. Interlagos is a veryunique track which presents some unusual challenges; the high altitudelocation, the bumpy surface and the challenging layout all test both thedrivers and engineers."Norbert Haug, Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport "Brazil is a greatvenue for a Formula One season finale: our sport has a proud history in thecountry, and the atmosphere and dedicated spectators at Interlagos arefantastic. The circuit layout usually delivers exciting and unpredictableraces. Interlagos is the second shortest circuit of the year and, coupledwith a relatively high average speed, this normally makes for an intenserace. The 71 laps around an anti-clockwise layout are challenging for thedrivers, and the circuit requires good aerodynamic and mechanicalperformance in the second sector, and efficient aerodynamics and good engineperformance in the first and third sectors. Seven of the last ten BrazilianGrands Prix have featured Safety Car deployments, so we must factor thisprobability into our strategies - and even more so with the increase inwheel-to-wheel action this year, thanks to DRS and the Pirelli tyres. In AbuDhabi, we saw for the first time ever six Mercedes-Benz powered cars finishin the top ten - including in first and third places. Good results forMERCEDES GP PETRONAS and our partner teams are our target at the final roundof the season."

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