2010 German Grand Prix ****SPOILERS****

Early I know, however I wanted to discuss the tyre situation;

For this race we will be racing with tyres with a two-step gap! The super-soft and hard. Now I dont need to remind people how hard this track is on tyres im sure we all remember the problems in 2002. The track is very demanding on the rears with many hard acceleration points. The other thing is there is a lack of fast corners but heavy braking. So the fronts dont get worked near as hard as the rears.

From that standpoint I see this race being the best of the season yet. The track lends itself to overtaking ( I am one of few who love the new layout over the old - call me crazy! ) and with the added tyre issues we could see one spectacular race!

The weather seems dodgy, I dont want to make predictions just yet... but let's just say it wont be the warmest.

If you want a slightly more technical review on why this should be a good race, go read James Allen's article and note the bit about making the front tyres work.

*** JB crap begins :p ***

This doesnt bode well for Jenson. At all. He's struggled with tyre temperature ever since the introduction of slicks. Put simply he cant find the limit of adhesion over a single lap when the car is not 'loaded' with fuel. We know this from last year, unless the car was perfectly balanced on low-fuel he struggled. So he will undoubtably be behind Lewis and at least two RBR's in qualifying, and most likley Alonso and maybe Nico. Sooooo.... does he qualify on the super-softs? We know he can deal with graining in relation to traction. I'd like to think over a single lap the super-softs will hold out and be able to give him a front row and he can go from there? He likes Germany, he runs well here, so that could be an alternative for him.

*** JB crap over ***

Either way im looking forward to this race more than any other so far! I even had a dream that JB beat Lewis in a Mclaren one-two and scored the front row by 3tenths to RBR :p

But yeah 3 things would make this weekend awesome:

1 - fantastic race full of strategy and overtaking
2 - Kobayashi podium (top step preferably)
3 - Rubens podium

Thats all I ask for in a race :p.

Oh, and for sky viewers, after the post-race forum switch over to open access 3 at 5pm to watch JPM win the Brickyard 400 and become the only driver in the world to Brickyard 400, Indy 500, Rolex 24hour and Monaco GP. next up, Daytona 500 and of course, the best race of them all, Le Mans 24hour :p

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Apparently, it's gonna rain.

[en.espnf1.com]

Here's hoping for a good race and more points for Kamui. And maybe some for Lotus.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

atm there's only a 20% chance of rain on sunday, temperature forecast is 20-25 °C. in the last weeks rain usually started in the evening so a wet race is quite unlikely imo

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used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Maybe an emotional win for barrichello like in 2000, that would be ironic but unlikely.

marwood82, I like your post (below) it'll probably be webber taking out vettel, or vettel taking himself out again.

[www.formula1.com] This link is for the Sauber Motorsport 40th Anniversary logo.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2010 09:31AM by alexf1man.

and of course the big question that needs answering.....


which of the red bulls is going to run the other off the road this weekend?

Danny Sullivan joins the stewards for this weekend.

^Not a great choice there tbh

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From that standpoint I see this race being the best of the season yet.

While promising, there's not a hope of that. Montreal was the best race of this and many seasons. In my opinion it's the best dry race for a decade or 2 now. It was epic 10/10 stuff. If Hockenheim is half as good then we're in for a treat.

Of course, what made Montreal so great? Tyre wear (and a cracking, demanding circuit), so that bodes well if the tyre split does indeed pose a problem. However I think the tyre wear depends more on the tarmac than on the style of circuit - some tracks just don't eat tyres. For example using your Hockenheim example of tyre wear (lots of acceleration zones) then Monza (especially with its low downforce configuration) should be horribly punishing on tyres, but it's traditionally one of, if not the least demanding on tyre wear, going back as far as I can remember. Melbourne on the other hand as swung - it used to be quite easy on tyres, yet for the past couple of seasons it's been marginal at best.

at monza you have mainly fast corners (ascari, lesmo, prabolica etc)
at other tracks like Canada or Hockenheim the corners that lead to the straigghts are slow corners and with the acceleration, some drivers which are very aggressive and early on the throttle, punish their rear tyres really heavy.

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
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> Apparently, it's gonna rain.
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Just had to

Montreal was spectacular gav, you are right. But my reasoning for maybe going OTT (:p) was this track is tradionally good for overtaking, and tough on tyres. So the 2 step tyres should in theory make it a race for ages! But yes, if its half as good as montreal, it will still be a cracking race!

At the same time im nervous about Mclaren's performance, will it be good enough?

The other thing im looking out for is Mercedes performance. Today I put a bet on Schumacher at 40-1 after first hearing Merc are going to run a new fduct, and new diffuser (i persume uncompramised, ie without all the rush heat sheilding they put on for Valencia/Silverstone). Of course to win Schumacher has to overcome 2 RBR's, 2 Ferraris, 2 Mclarens, Nico and probably Kubica. But given the possible rain on Saturday and added complications on Sunday with tyres I dont think its a bad bet :p!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

If a Mercedes is going to win, it will be Rosberg. MS isnt the same as before. He isnt driving his Mercedes like he drove that average Ferrari from 1996.

I wouldn't be so sure.

A sniff of a win could be what it takes to get Schumacher to up his game, I'm sure after over 90 wins he hasn't forgotten how he did it. And as much as I like Nico, and I do regard his potential highly he has yet to deliver upon that. He still needs to find that final gear to become a Grand Prix winner regardless of the car being up to it.

His mistake at Singapore last year that lost him a certain podium, and his mistake at China this year whilst leading, are just the more recent examples of major cock ups he makes whilst in promising positions. He's yet to become the finished article.

Nico hasnt looked as impressive as I hoped he would, but I put that down to the car more so. Im confident that if he had a Mclaren/RBR he would have as many points as either RBR/Mclaren driver. Likewise, if he had a Ferrari I am 100% sure he would be around about, if not ahead of Alonso (due to Alonso's problems). Like JB (previously) Nico is a great driver in a less than great car IMO. He does have a couple of rough edges but these are things which will be smoothed with experience, and experience at the top level rather than fighting with the Sutil's of F1.

Schumacher also has a new chassis for this race. And if it anything it could give him a confidence boost.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

Many sites predicting rain tomorrow, maybe rain for Saturday and dry for Sunday.

If would be fun if the F1 God made it rain the moment a Ferrari, RBR, Mclaren, Mercedes, or Kubica left the pits on a qualifying run, then once back in the garage it was perfectly dry ... just saying :p That would leave Kobayashi and the two Williamses in prime posistion for the best pole battle of the year :p

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

I am not really sure why people are are getting tough on Nico. Most people on hear expected MS to blow him away and that has never happened even though the car was changed to suit MS more. Once Nico got used to the new car MS has never been ahead.

If the car is that bad why has it finished 3 times in the top 3 in the hands of Nico but never looked close in the hands of MS.

Nico has double the points of MS as well so he is not doing a bad job, I would actually say MS is doing a bad job and if that had been any other driver they would have been stood down by now.

I didn't say Nico was doing a bad job... I'm simply inferring that he hasn't quite delivered on his potential as a driver. He's very good, has had some nice results etc... but I feel there is still a rung or two to climb to get to the level of performance currently occupied by say a Webber or a Button... he may never get to a Hamilton or a Alonso type of peak.

Yes he has beaten Schumacher pretty much hands down this year... but if you look at the facts logically... then that was only to be reasonably expected. If anything the team should get behind him as lead driver, to help develop him more as a driver. He was after-all 2nd in the Championship prior to Spain... but a few disastrous races where the car was more to the liking of Schumacher changed all that. Yet if Nico was really at superstar level... he'd have still punched above his and the car's weight... very much in the way Kubica has done and overall he hasn't done this.

guys please stop repeating that the car is specially changed to the style of MS. this is not the case.
Ross brawn said that they had weight allocation problem or so and hey had to simply change the ballance of the car to make it faster.
Niki Lauda also confirmed that this is the way the car has to be developed. Not because it is made for schumacher.

P.S. nico is a likeable guy, and i enjoy watching him racing, BUT 2 of his podiums were all down to 50 percent luck or more.
1) malaysia the qualy disasters for Macca and Ferrari
2)china ( complete chaos )
+ , marcl , MS was indeed close to podiums twice (maybe 3 times)
1) turkey 4 th
2) spain 4 th
3) canada.... who knows what might have been without kubica doing crazy stuffs.

And i dont wanna argue with you. that is just the way i see things right now
P.S. (2)
I wish all the f1 fans a great great racing weekend

Monza972 Wrote:
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> Incident 2k9 Wrote:
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> > Apparently, it's gonna rain.
> >
>
>


>
> Just had to

I was thinking that when I wrote it :P

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

MS 4th twice due to a number of cars going out, he was 4th but about 40 seconds off 3rd It was clear Nico took longer to adjust to the changes but once he did he was back on the pace, I used my words wrong when I said it was changed for MS it was changed to help both drivers.

Nico I dont think is a great driver at the moment, but he is doing a good job.

Anyway I dont wish to knock MS but for me he is not showing that well at the moment.

i'm a big MS fan, and i had my hopes quite high with his comeback, of course i got a touch of reality as many of us have...

the main problem?, consistency... as he says there's a series of facts that contribute to his results, the tyres (mainly), the new team, car, and of course the fact he hasn't been in F1 for 3 years... i don't know if people overlook this but a fact is F1 is one of the most demanding motorsport in terms of competition, you have to give 100% everytime you go out oherwise you won't get good results and finish behind a car you weren't supposed to

the tyre problems mainly reflects itself in qualys, is where him and Jenson and Massa seem to struggle, however the consistency that Jenson has with the car is what helps him recover from bad qualys to finish ahead of where he starts
Michael not only has a problem with qualy but he seems to be hit and miss in races as well... yes, he's had some good race pace races, like Barcelona and Turkey and even Monaco, and yes he's also had bad luck but bad luck ends eventually, Canada's result i would attribute it to it, but there wasn't bad luck in Silverstone instead he had a badrace... he must sort his consistency first before focusing on other problems