Abu Dhabi: With the Formula One World Championship still undecided, Sunday's penultimate race of the year will be run in Interlagos, Brazil, which is one of the three tracks in the series which is anti-clockwise, adding another challenge to the drivers.
Williams driver Nico Rosberg, who finished fifth in Japan said: "Interlagos is a really fun track to drive as it has a bit of everything — gradient changes, a complete mix of corners and it runs in an anti-clockwise direction, which presents a different challenge for the drivers, especially for our neck muscles."
According to Team Williams, the third anti-clockwise circuit of the campaign, after Istanbul Park and Singapore, Interlagos features a long, long uphill left-hander that places a tremendous strain on drivers' necks — and tyres.
"Last year wasn't so great for us because of the rain at the start of the race which left us towards the rear of the field, so I really hope we go there and do well this time," said Rosberg, though the wet weather is likely to play a role in Sunday's race.
"I love Brazil. It's such a vibrant country and Sao Paulo is cool. It's normally the last race of the year so there are a few parties, but I imagine it will be different this year: now it's not the last race on the calendar. Either way, it's a great place to have a race so I'm looking forward to it," Rosberg said.
Commenting on his performance in Japan, Rosberg said: "It was a strange weekend in Japan. The weather on the Friday made things quite tricky as we didn't have much time to prepare the car, then all the incidents during qualifying made for an interesting session as well."
"What happened in Q2 obviously affected qualifying for me, but then I benefited from all of the grid penalties. In the end, I started from seventh and ended the race in fifth position, collecting more points which I was pleased about after Singapore."
Williams second driver Kazuki Nakajima is looking to put behind him the disappointment of drawing another blank as far as points are concerned and that too on his home track.
"Japan was just disappointing for me really. I really went there hoping to score points as I was back home at Suzuka in front of my home fans but it wasn't to be," he said, hoping for a good result in Brazil.
"Interlagos is a fairly challenging track because it's so bumpy and goes in an anti-clockwise direction, but it's really exciting to drive. There are some good overtaking opportunities, which is good because the grid will no doubt be tight because of the shorter lap time and it's important to qualify well. We'll have to do lots of work on Friday to find the right set-up and achieve a strong mechanical balance to cope with the track's layout, but I'm looking forward to it," said Nakajima.
