Interlagos

A McLaren at the Head of Affairs

Florian Masse gave the opening Championship race at Interlagos a firm centre of gravity. The Frenchman was ahead at the completion of every one of the 24 laps, and there was no alteration to that essential fact as the race settled into its course. His McLaren set the pace of the afternoon and supplied the fastest lap as well, a 2:31.534 which underlined the authority of the winning run.

There was, however, no need to embellish the achievement with unnecessary drama. Masse's was a controlled race, built upon an unbroken command of the lead rather than a late escape or a narrow reprieve. pitman completed a useful McLaren one-two in second place, while FMG's BRM took third to give the podium a suitably varied character. All three completed the full distance.

For Masse, the result carries the particular weight of an opening round. He leaves Interlagos as the Championship leader, with five meetings still to shape the longer argument.

Porcu Restores His Afternoon

The more eventful story among the front runners belonged to Simone Porcu. The Italian began the third lap in eighth position but, after an incident during that lap, was running 16th by its end. It was a severe interruption to a Williams race which might easily have become one of mere salvage.

Instead Porcu worked his way back through the order and reached fourth at the finish, a recovery of 12 places from his lowest recorded position. The result placed him immediately behind the established podium and ahead of Nat Stevenson in the Shadow. It was the sort of drive that did not alter the victory, but did much to preserve a promising beginning to a Championship season.

The climb also gave movement to a race otherwise governed at the front by Masse. Porcu repeatedly found himself among changing company as he advanced, and his eventual fourth place was earned over the full course of the 24 laps rather than presented by a single fortunate turn of events.

Business Behind the Leaders

Interlagos offered several close arguments through the opening part of the race. Max Solmyr's McLaren and Eetu Karjunen's Fittipaldi ran closely together from the early laps, with Karjunen moving ahead before Solmyr reclaimed the advantage prior to the end of that phase. Solmyr ultimately finished eighth and Karjunen ninth, both on the lead lap.

Further back, Mika Hakala and Daniel Lund exchanged positions more than once during an early contest which remained close through laps five to nine. Lund had the better of Hakala by the end of lap three; Hakala moved ahead before Lund retook the place, only for the Finn to regain it by lap nine. Their paths then diverged in the final classification, Hakala bringing the Ferrari 312T home 12th while Lund's March was classified 23rd after nine laps.

The leading group had its own shifts of emphasis in the latter stages. Kasperi Sirén and Stefano Bucci remained central to a close-running cluster, first with Porcu and then with Stevenson as the order evolved. Sirén's Surtees finished sixth, Bucci's seventh, and the pattern left Stevenson fifth after a notably steady run in the Shadow.

The First Mark on the Table

A field of 25 set out for the first of six Championship races, and Masse has made the first decisive mark. The opening result alone cannot settle much, particularly in a season governed by a dropped-score rule, but it establishes the immediate order of merit: McLaren at the head, BRM on the podium, and a Williams recovery that prevented Porcu from disappearing from the first-round reckoning.

There will be more demanding tests than a race in which the leader remained undisputed throughout. Yet there is value in beginning cleanly and emphatically. Masse did precisely that at Interlagos.