Round Eleven: Hungary Review

Greetings Internet,

Well, well, well - I'm going to start challenging races to be entertaining more often it worked a whole lot in Canada and now the dull and traditionally single file Hungaroring stepped up to the plate, and was ready to deliver. The key ingredient in that recipe for entertainment is the rain, one of the simplest and abundant of substances on the surface of the planet can cause so much confusion and disarray. The rain that decided not to turn up one week ago in Germany decided to pay a visit this afternoon - which to be honest it would have been far more effective. The Nurburgring can enjoy a decent race without the help - Hungary....not so much and could do with a little moisture.

The race fell into place with almost cinematic precision, just like Kubica winning in Canada a year after his enormous accident in 2007. Several numbers were thrown about in the pre-amble to the race weekend and several cakes had been provided as Jenson Button reached his 200th race start, at the same track he scored his first win five years before. And then you turn on the television at the beginning of the program to see identical conditions to that race, as pieces of the cosmic puzzle were sliding into position. Has Button through his mythical status gained special powers of weather control, and cake conjuring. As it turns out Jenson rather likes sugary confectionery - and is already two cakes up, which is more than I have. But a number which is going grow over the next few hours - Jenson if you don't mind sending your cake here there will be some bonus points in it for you.

But here is how an uncharacteristically entertaining Hungarian GP worked out as the battle of the elements both water and fire raged.

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

The Race

The stage was set for what was perceivably going to be a straight forward battle of strategy where the fastest car would win and not much else would happen in between.  But upon activating the television that extra ingredient garnished the ground in a blanket of surprise - I don't believe that any of the teams saw it coming, I certainly didn't but they have a lot more data than I do here. Unveiling an enthralling title sequence to a race of cinematic proportions with several protagonists taking leading roles, ready for the big action sequence when the lights went out.

With the track in a very slippery state, not dry enough for slicks and not really wet enough to fully exploit the potential of the intermediate tyres - traction was extremely low. The drivers were in position on the grid despite a couple exploring the track limits before arriving - the time was upon them to open the curtain and start the show. It was an even start off the front two rows - with Mercedes making significant ground passing both over-cautious Ferarris and a slow starting Webber. The first lap was a series of dancing cars gliding across the damp surface, sliding perilously close to disaster, a rather balletic opening number to a powerful performance.

Everyone was treading carefully, ensuring not to step on the toes of the other performers, before a event of un-televised significance took place at the chicane. Where One-stop Perez, Adrian Sutil and Squadron Leader Heidfeld were dropped down the order without any obvious contact or debris remaining on the track,  some mythical encounter had occurred but there's a possibility that Sky had already bought the cameramen so it didn't make the pictures. The battle for the lead however was making the screens and it was brilliant, Hamilton spent laps pinned to the rear of Sebastien Vettel's Red Bull - the McLaren's superior mechanical grip making him much faster.

Alonso was in the same position trying to recover the ground he lost to both Mercedes cars off the line, after a significant amount of perseverance he'd fought back up to fourth - but has a little excursion which allowed Massa and Rosberg back in front. Vettel too decided that the tarmac the other side of the white line was more interesting - the adage that the track is always drier on the other side didn't work out and he ceded position to Hamilton. That wasn't the end of the early drama in this opening scene as Massa took the balletic atmosphere too far by pirouetting off gently into the barriers in turn two - bending the rear wing endplate just a little.

Gradually the track had begun to dry out with no more rain falling the dry line was being carved amongst the swathes of damp - who was going to be the first to exchange the wearing intermediate tyres for some new slick rubber. On lap 13 Webber and Massa were the first of the division one cars to visit the pit lane along with a flotilla of mid field runners including Wingman Petrov, Jaime El Incognito and Sutil. Soon enough it was slick tyres all round as the race slipped into the second phase. In the round of stops Two-Cakes-up Button had jumped Vettel to form a Mclaren 1-2 over the German Bloke and Webber. As the race settled, the calm before the storm, the rain clouds started to gather and a storm was on the horizon.

Trulli's Lotus returned to pit lane with an oil leak as the action was building once more. Mark Webber started setting fastest laps a reflection of switching tyres first - Buemi from his grid penalty was now in the points from 23rd on the grid racing with Kobayashi who's opted to run the harder slicks in this stint, both behind Di Resta and an out of position Massa. Then it all erupted for Squadron Leader Heidfeld - leaving the pit lane ejecting smoke, sparks and flames from his car. He pulled it over after the pit-lane exit when it became apparent it wasn't going out of it's own accord, a second blaze in that car this season - this time a little more animated. The Renault Squadron machine was rapidly abandoned by it's pilot as the flames intensified, the marshals descended on the fallen craft to douse the fuselage with extinguishing foam. But it wasn't done erupting quite yet, as the fire was being attended to the sidepod of the car exploded showering a fire marshal with bits of Renault. He limped away as the situation was contained - but the big question was where was the safety car, no-one wanted to deploy it here was a detonating car with marshals on the side of the fastest straight trying to contain a rather unusual scenario.

Many teams anticipated that the safety car would be released and headed for the pits having to negotiated through the innards of Squadron Leader's car and extinguisher on the exit. Still no safety car just plenty of waved yellows which was sufficient but odd considering the health and safety nature of the sport shown in Canada. The yellows under which One-stop Perez was caught passing Kovalainen and issued with a drive through penalty. During this interchange of pit stops Michael Schumacher decided he wanted to hide and pulled off the track after a half spin looking down the inside of Massa - gearbox failure reported after the race on his car. When it was time for Vettel's stop he had a little more to contend with when escaping pit lane - there was a recovery vehicle towing what remained of the burned Renault towards time so he had to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid contact. Losing time to the two McLarens in the tyre change rotations.

Massa was trying to recover from the early problems with spinning off and a slow pitstop dropping him deep in the points with Kobayashi who was on the traditional Sauber strategy of as few tyres as humanly possible running on the same set he replaced the inters with in the early stages. Kamui had no tyre life left and was an easy pass for the Ferrari driver and fell down to 7th ahead of Rosberg and Di Resta, Rubens Barrichello rounded out the points.

Once the remains of  the cremated Renault had been cleared there was another period of calm - the gap stabilised out front Hamilton ahead of Button followed by the two Red Bull cars with Alonso, Rosberg and Massa behind. The latter two were involved in a significant battle of their own but the single dry line made the single file Hungaroring even more challenging to pass on than normal. Felipe couldn't find a way past the Mercedes which used it's speed advantage to hold off the Ferrari in the DRS zone, losing more time to the cars in front - undoing the success of the qualifying session.

The time came for some more pit stops - the lane proved to be a popular place to be during the race after all a total of 88 stops were made. This time was to decide the strategy for the final phase of the race and the run to the line. Fernando and Hamilton went for another set of the softer compound tyres while Button and the Red Bull cars went for the harder of the two options aiming to finish on those tyres. Lewis and Alonso made initial gains Hamilton's lead grew while Fernando caught and passed Webber for fourth.

But then that storm that was brewing when Heidfeld combusted decided it was time to unleash it's wrath - in fairness it was not much of a wrath but just enough to make things very interesting indeed. A small sprinkling of rain on the top of the circuit near the chicane caught out Hamilton the leader, as he looped it round on the second part of the chicane. Hamilton immediately span the car back round - almost robbing Barrichello of a rear wheel and forcing Di Resta out across the grass to avoid clattering into the rotating McLaren. This allowed Button into the lead and brought Vettel right into play - which doomed Lewis' race as he had to stop again and the two cars around him didn't.

The rain was only a short shower but made life on the slick tyres very difficult, Button and Hamilton duelled brilliantly for the lead after Vettel behind took another look at the run-off in turn 2. Swapping positions over a course of a couple of laps without banging wheels or shedding carbon fibre parts, Webber gambled on the rain continuing and pitted for intermediates shortly followed by Hamilton. Jerome D'Ambrosio hadn't been on television for a while and decided to perform a not so accurate handbrake turn in the pit lane - almost ending in the garage not the pit-box. But the rain stopped which ruined the plans of Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg on the intermediates but places leader Two-cakes-up Button in a really good position.

And to make matters that much worse for Hamilton the stewards determined that his rejoining spin was dangerous - which to be fair it was, almost hitting Rubens and forcing Paul to the grass, to go along with his wrong tyres. As a result he was dropped down to 6th behind Massa and Webber when the Australian had to return to the slick tyres when the rain was no more. It wasn't long before the intermediate refugees caught up with Massa on his ailing soft tyres which had no life left in them - Felipe had no defence for the two charging drivers and relinquished the positions.

Speaking of ailing tyres Sauber were once again stretching the tyre life to new unfathomable limits on Kamui Kobayashi's car as a consequence his pace was painfully show with no grip left on the over-used circles of rubber. This caused a train to form behind him - a rather extensive and angry train in the most expensive traffic jam on the planet. Trapped behind the Sauber was Di Resta, both Torro Rosso's, Sutil. One-Stop Perez and Rosberg, Paul managed to escape the train and build a gap leaving Buemi next in line to attack the Japanese driver. Kamui remained defiant - making his last stand against a wave of faster cars, they fanned out on the straight it started to look like a junior formula race. Buemi went to the inside in T1 but Jaime El Incognito misjudged his visibility, just because the cameras could actually see him this time didn't mean Kamui would as he went for a closing gap. Jaime clipped the Sauber and span the car on the apex, allowing the rest of the queue through.

The top three were settled in their positions and that wasn't going to change, Two-cakes-up Button was leading Vettel and Alonso. Webber holding off Hamilton for 4th but they came up to the end of the Kamui train which had mainly disintegrated leaving only the two Saubers on their own, their battle had now absorbed Barrichello making them rather distracted to the Red Bull and McLaren coming up to do some lapping. Webber struggled to get by as the cars in front were two wide leaving no room as Kamui was certainly stirring up some entertainment in the final few laps. In the melee of negotiating the lapped cars Hamilton was able to take advantage of the situation stealing the place from the Australian on the exit of turn 11, a place he was never was able to reclaim settling a further portion of the order.

With everything now in place, and all the positions locked into place the chequered flag fell on the race calling the Hungarian GP to a close Button and his Two cakes claimed a brilliant victory on the 5th anniversary of his first win and on the 200th race. As the numbers fell in to place and the credits rolled on a spectacular and entertaining race in a place where processional races often dominate the proceeding, Button exercised his skill in the changing conditions to add another win to his tally - all of which for McLaren have come in similar climatic conditions. Vettel and Alonso filled out the podium with Hamilton and Webber completing the top five.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


In a race of uncertainty and confusion - peppered with strategy calls which failed to pay off and others that were rather confusing. There were performances and drives that certainly deserve some points and here are the winners for the Hungarian GP

• 10pts - Two-cakes-up Button: Has to get the maximum score for the performance in the changeable conditions when everyone else made errors Button was unphased and took the flag.
• 8pts - Sebastien Buemi: For finishing 8th after starting 23rd in the challenging conditions
• 6pts - Paul Di Resta: For claiming the first division two place beating the factory Mercedes team
• 5pts - Rain: oh the fun it causes
• 4pts - Hungary: For not being a boring tedious event and being rather good indeed
• 3pts - Jaime El Incognito: Another point without being on TV too often except hitting Kamui a bit
• 2pts - Hungarian Marshals: Putting out a exploding, burning car by the side of the faster part of the track certainly gets some points 
• 1pt  - D'Ambrosio: I have to award a point for his spin in the pit lane would have been more if he had made the pit box as well

The Also Official Penalties Championship

• One-Stop Perez: Drive Through Penalty - Passing under yellow flags
• Lewis Hamilton: Drive Through Penalty - Forcing Di Resta onto the grass
• Heikki Kovalainen: Drive Through Penalty - Unsafe pit release

The Still Official Dodgy Dealings Championship


Ah where and who to award the penalty points to this weekend and well, there are not many candidates for them. Hamilton was going to get some but the stewards took care of him on that one so who gets them this time.

• Sauber: Seem to be rationing tyres to the extreme - yes the car can make them last a little longer than the others but stretching them to last for an eternity is a little daft. They are not immortal and can't last forever, despite what they think. Compromising strategies just for the sake of prolonging the inevitable.
• Sky Television: I still hate you

Looking on to Belgium

Moving now into the summer break the teams have some time off to relax and for Button to eat both of those two cakes and any others that have come his way since...none have turned up here Jenson you seriously can't need all of them.... I have points for you.

Anyway what lies on the other side of the break is something of epic proportions, the single greatest track on the calender, the brilliant, outstanding Spa Francorchamps. The circuit in which all the others pale into mediocrity, with it's ferocious corners and the world famous Eau Rouge - albeit made easier by modern downforce the rain could easily see to that. And rain is one of the major features of the area hanging in the trees of the Ardennes forest. It is certainly a track worth waiting for by a long way.

Hungary: Pre-Race

Greetings Internet,

Flowing now into the second half of the season and another Qualifying session now completed over in Hungary throwing up some interesting results and some drivers returning to their form. The circuit does offer one of the unique challenges of the season effectively a wall-less street track with the single file nature and the dusty racing surface. Making the session very important in dictating the outcome of the race ahead - with the variation from one side of the grid to the other being a significant factor.

We saw differing fortunes for the Red Bull - Vettel recovering from the past two races while Webber fell to the bottom of division one. It also seems that the first division have begun to ease away from the rest of the field, there was a point during Q2 where they were a whole second ahead of the others. Mercedes have found a division all of their own behind the top three teams and in front of divisions 2 and 3. Renault Squadron have fallen into division two with Wingman Petrov leading the team ahead of the more experienced Squadron Leader Heidfeld.

But here's how this afternoon's session fell into place.

Credit to F1Fanatic for the image

Qualifying


The practice sessions had shown a much closer time difference between the two different tyre compounds available this weekend - somewhere in the margin of 0.8s making strategy interesting for qualifying, and also making the first session easier for the division one cars. As fewer of the cars further back would be able to use the softer tyres to overhaul those in front on the harder of the two compounds.

As per normal the lights at the end of pit lane signified the opening of the session and permit the first vehicles onto the track. Who were those first takers to the Hungaroring and for a while nobody wanted to leave the comfort of the garage and go onto the windswept track. Rather reminiscent of the 1hr qualifying session of old where no-one would leave the pits as the track was too dusty and slow first off - and Hungary was one such venue where the drivers would be rather reluctant. But after a delay the HRT cars were the first to break the virtual picket line and set some times - 0.2s faster than the Blogmobiles' 1:28.2.

The floodgates now opened and cars came pouring out of the pit lane and the laps times were shredded, Red Bull were the first team to hit the front with Vettel and Webber claiming the first two positions on the time sheet comfortably the HRT and MVR cars that had already posted times. McLaren came next - Button managing to spilt the two Red Bull cars while Hamilton went to the front. All of the front runners stayed on the harder compound because they weren't under threat of relegation. At the other end of the spectrum, fighting to avoid being booted out of the session things were much closer.

Maldonado was warming up 18th place for most of the session as many of the division two teams were trying to stay off using the softer tyres knowing how important they'd be for the race. This reluctance brought Lotus racing very close to escaping the session as they capitalised on other's caution, only 0.5s off advancement. As the time was running perilously thin positions fluctuated on the fringe of relegation - Maldonado had escaped but times from Alguersuari and Barrichello put him back in there. With his last lap of the session Pastor managed to scrape through knocking out Buemi who was staying on the harder tyres considering his grid drop penalty would be a wasted use of the Softer compound. So he joined the division three drivers in relegation before Q2.

On to Q2 we went and the same procedure came into being again with the drivers hiding in the garages instead of coming out to play. A couple of minutes of inactivity passed, drivers sitting in their cars and twiddling their thumbs before the first cars escaped the confines of the pit lane. Vettel and Di Resta were the first to break cover - joined quickly by One-Stop Perez and Hamilton, There was less then a tenth separating the top two early lap times As more cars took to the circuit the division one runners had established themselves at the front a significant margin ahead of everyone else - with Rosberg holding station in 7th in a division all of his own. Both Mercedes drivers would be in the division 1.5 zone but Schumacher wasn't keeping up with Nico.

As Renault Squadron had fallen squarely in the midfield there were two places remaining in the top ten to be contested. With Force India, Sauber and Renault Squadron all being contenders for the final two qualification positions. Only a few minutes remained on the timer, One-Stop Perez and Wingman Petrov were clinging to the positions - Squadron Leader Heidfeld and Kobayashi failed to break into the final session. Both Force India cars made strong final laps knocking both Petrov and Michael Schumacher out with no time left on the clock. However Michael was still on track and going rather quickly qualifying into the final shoot-out at the expense of Paul Di Resta who was knocked out. To be joined in relegation be the Williams team, Jaime El Icognito who once again was missing from the screen, Kobayashi, and the Renault Squadron.

Now onto the third and final session of the day, and there was no pause before the track activity began with the division one contenders making their presence first. Alonso opened the scoring only to be beaten moments later by Hamilton's McLaren with the rest of the runners falling behind the Spaniard, until Sebastien Vettel's run. The German Bloke found some speed to beat the Ferrari but Hamilton remained on the top of the table.

Time to regroup and get ready for the second run for the division one runners and this time to be joined by the other four contenders in the top 10, who were only opting for a single run to conserve tyres as they were only fighting amongst themselves. The order of runs from the first effort was a little altered - Alonso remained the first car in the queue but Rosberg and Vettel were next in line. Fernando failed to improve and Rosberg claimed 7th - but Vettel found even more time to defeat the only other car standing in his way of pole position moving almost two tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton. The McLaren driver had noting in response and couldn't improve on second place - and almost lost that to Button who put in an impressive time less than a tenth down on his team-mate. In the other inter-team battles Massa was able to surpass his normally all dominant Ferrari rival, but Webber was a considerable margin down falling to the bottom of the division one standings.

Rosberg maintained his sole division 1.5 lead position in 7th while Sutil managed to once again out-perform the car in defeating one of the factory Mercedes entries in the hands of Michael Schumacher who was still under-performing as he did last year at the Hungaroring. Then there was One-Stop Perez who was seen leaving the pit lane with the other competitors on the final run of the session but never actually set a time just as Maldonado did in the second session. Obviously opting to save tyres but attempting to show willing in the process.

So the grid was set and yet another Red Bull pole position going to Sebastien Vettel ahead of McLaren and Ferrari. Webber and Rosberg line up behind them with Sutil and Schumacher next in line and One-Stop Perez in tenth without really doing anything - so that's a penalty point there.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners.


Here are the points winners for the first scoring session in Hungary

• Lotus Racing - for getting close to making Q2 as a team, and for fixing Trulli's power steering making his times competitive again
• Daniel Ricciardo - for not qualifying last on actual pace ahead of D'Ambrosio
• Felipe Massa - for beating Alonso on pace into 4th position
• Adrian Sutil - for beating one of the factory division 1.5 Mercedes 
• Wingman Petrov - for out-performing Squadron Leader Heidfeld

The Still Official Dodgy Dealings Championship

While there were no official penalties - Buemi's 5 place drop was added last week when it was initially added to his account there were some penalty points handed out as follows.

• Pastor Maldonado - for not bothering to set a time in Q2
• One-Stop Perez - for not bothering to set a time in Q1
• Sky Television - I've avoided ranting, this is long enough as it is but they are getting a penalty point 

Looking to Tomorrow

As you will likely be aware the Hungarian GP is not one famed for excitement and outstanding racing - even in 2010 a year of brilliant racing only three changes of position occurred outside the first lap so I am afraid that the same thing will take place tomorrow afternoon. The DRS might be able to help - maybe even bring that number to four or the dizzying heights of five position changes. 

Looking at the opening GP2 race as a marker for things to come the start is very uneven between the different sides of the grid with the odd numbered positions on the outside of the track getting away much better. This being the lane which is effectively the racing line so doesn't accumulate the amount of sand and discarded rubber that an unused lane would. Their racing quality wasn't too bad but we had to wait until the tyres faded before things got rather entertaining.

And it is tyres that will be the most important feature of the race - high wear rates on the abrasive surface can make cars very vulnerable to being overtaken and not have the grip to defend their place.  Holding the racing line can only help so much when the rubber is destroyed, so pit strategy becomes even more important as track postion bears more weight this time. Dropping in an alternate strategy isn't going to work if you get caught out of position behind slower cars and lose a lot of time struggling to get by. Running longer stints where holding up faster cars is part of the plan could be an successful route, something I'd imagine Sauber are looking at and especially One-Stop Perez. 

Out front the times are very close between Vettel and the McLarens so the competition is going to be close with Ferrari's strong race pace thrown in there as well. The Hungarian GP may well turn out to be something worth watching this time around with the rarest of all things - unpredictability is on the cards and is certainly something to look forward too. So gather up the race snacks and flagons of tea tomorrows race may actually turn out to be interesting.

Round Eleven: Hungary Preview

Greetings Internet,

Only a week after the German GP the paddock got back on the road and headed east. Setting up over the last couple of days in Hungary at the under-inspiring Hungaroring. Certainly one of the more underwhelming events on the calender - a world free where overtaking and entertainment are long lost concepts mired in the dusty wastes of the circuit.

However all is not lost - throw in some rain and the Hungaroring can come alive, arisen from the mediocre crater of tedium and into the realm of unpredictability as so perfectly demonstrated in 2006, where Button opened his winning account. On the other side there is the probability of that actually happening, which is very unlikely 06 was the only wet event in the entire history of having the Hungarian GP - so I wouldn't be holding out for that to become a possibility. Forecasts so far are predicting normal dry conditions with fairly warm temperatures.

Credit to the FIA for the track map

The Track


It is one of the several traditional European venues on the calender following the likes of Barcelona, Silverstone and Nurburgring so far this season. Like each of those circuits Hungary has not been spared the layout modifications that the others have endured. At least here there certainly was a case for the changes to be made unlike in Silverstone or Nurburgring. The Hungaroring has gained international infamy throughout the motor-racing world as a venue that offers dull, processional events through a combination of its layout and track conditions. That was the reason things were changed in 2003 to try and alter that stigma pinned to the track - and have those changes made any improvement over the past 8 years. In a word. No.

Any modifications that have been made to the circuit have been counteracted by the development of the cars that race upon it - relentless levels of downforce prevent cars from running close to each other in the flowing corners. The built in overtaking zones were made useless because the cars were running too far apart for any progress to be made. A track that is quite enjoyable to drive as one corner leads right into the next allowing a rhythm to be built up but unfortunately does tend to result in rather tedious racing, to the extent where in the days of James Allen as commentator they were struggling to cover the event. But that might have just been Mr Allen's fault.

With downforce decreasing in recent years and the amount of pitstops forcing drivers to make places count on track has seen improvements. A degree of desperation creeps in as they know they can't just wait till the next round of stops to get the overtaking done as a result some rather optimistic and often deranged overtaking efforts. Which last year a significant proportion involved Michael Schumacher who was having that kind of a season - and has shown signs of the same again this season...

So what does the Hungaroring look like from the ground -from the cockpit of a slightly out of date American racing car painted in a lurid yellow paint scheme - well that can only mean it's the turn of the Blogmobile and this week's video. Although on the times of the Blogmobile are considerably slower than the times we'll see over the course of the event, unless you are watching a GP2 race whenever eurosport decide it's a good time to consider showing it. Looking somewhere in the range of 9s off the pace of the sub 1:20's likely in qualifying.

What to expect


Being a track with a high downforce requirement it would appear on the surface that it is going to favour the Red Bull cars again especially through the middle sector, but as we have seen over the course of the previous two races that may not bee the case. Both McLaren and Ferrari have claimed recent wins over the blue machines in the last two events and will perceivably remain very close here in Hungary - whether they'll get past here is a completely different matter.

Outside of division one the completion will be just as close even though Mercedes have begun to place a small gap between themselves and Renault Squadron. However they don't have division two all to themselves Force India and Sauber remain close in behind taking positions and points away from the top five teams should they not find optimum pace or drop the ball along the way. And just behind them Torro Rosso and Williams who are not opposed to scoring some points and having a strong weekend, although Buemi does have a 5 place grid drop looming over him for the Heidfeld accident.

Down at the other end of the field Trulli should be back in the second Lotus car after Chandok's turn in Germany which should bring the green cars back up to full strength, and return the gap they have over Virgin racing and HRT in the battle over the newer cars. Ricciardo will be looking to avoid being last for the first time in qualifying - on pace anyway, only being off the back row due to penalties for others in Germany.

KERs and DRS


Will this years array of gizmos and devices make an impact on the outcome of the race, can they over-ride the  single file nature of the track, and add a layer of excitement to a normally dull event. Well on balance probably not to be honest.

KERs will probably have the least impact on the outcome of the event with only limited opportunities to deploy the extra power it becomes much easier to defend against, given that each of the cars outside the bottom three teams has the system installed. In addition to it being used in conjunction to the DRS, KERs could prove useful on the exit of turn one to generate some extra drive off the corner to make a pass into two. However because this is in the early phase of the lap the car being attacked should have a sufficient amount of KERs power to defend the move and it's back to square one.

As for the DRS, unsurprisingly only one zone has been marked up on the layout - given there is only one possible area where the technology can be implemented on the track anyway. The detection line be placed before the entry to the final corner with the activation line 70 metres after the completion of the corner the DRS zone being the main straight. Which is the only reasonable place for overtaking to be conducted so may as well give them all the chances possible to change position, they certainly need the help.

On the whole the Hungarian GP, is not one of the points on the calendar that you mark out specially as being a must see. Because traditionally a grand total of nothing tends to happen throughout the race - even the support series have a tendency to struggle, although GP3 was decent last year. This makes the qualifying much more important than others in the season - the option of saving tyres and charging through the field when passing is a mythical concept. Which in theory should make qualifying more interesting then normal and probably more interesting than the race itself. However we can always hope for a different outcome and an eventful weekend will ensue with a strong and entertaining race on Sunday. Here's hoping indeed....

Blog Extra - Nurburgring

Greetings internet,

After the race has been completed and the points all tallied up, the leas passing back to Kamui Kobayashi it has come to my attention that somehow this little corner of the internet - one of many corners I hide in has attained over 1000 views which is a nice milestone meaning somewhere some people actually read this which is personally very impressive.

Now that announcement is out of the way the main purpose of this little addition beyond the normal three-post routine is to release a video which should have been ready for the post-qualifying post. However this took until half one in the morning to upload to YouTube - luckily most folk had gone to sleep by then so I could take up the internet for my own devious needs.

Because it was the German GP at the famous Nurburgring it was only a matter of time before the blogmobile - the DP01 version was taken out into the Eiffel Mountains for a lap of the monolithic Nordschleife. 21km of undulating road bordered by threatening steel armco barriers waiting to punish any mistake in a very expensive and destructive manner. With somewhere in the region of 150 corners depending on how they are counted the track is among the most challenging laps on the surface of the planet, dubbed the 'Green Hell' by those who've encountered it.

So in the words of Jeremy Clarkson "How hard can it be?" - driving the open-wheel race car out of the toll gates and onto the track. There were many accidents in the quest for a lap with a representative time of any sorts. It certainly is a relief virtual racing is painless or I'd have broken many bones colliding with the barriers and sailing into the forest beyond shedding wings and wheels in the process. Amidst the fragments times started to tumble falling from the initial efforts close to 7 minutes - seconds evaporated as the spins and excursions became less frequent . Then there was the first - a clean lap without spinning, without damage at a reasonable pace - somehow I'd remembered the track yielding a 6:06.

Now it was a case of going faster, making fewer mistakes and knock away some more seconds - knowing breaking under the 6 minute barrier was possible. As the pace increased so did the rate the walls zoomed past the cockpit - and so did the speed I hit them at - pushing for those extra seconds to be trimmed off. I could be driving the layout for days on end for that quest so instead here is the closest I got on a 6:01.975 - I am all too aware there is more time available and it is by far and away not the fastest time this car can lap the Nordschleife. Running a little wide in some corners and some oversteer in others, that and generally not being the fastest driver by a considerable margin in the virtual arena - only ever being mid-field at best in online competitions. But time to put all that aside and here is the Blogmobile's visit to the Nurburgring

Round Ten: Germany Review

Greetings Internet,

The halfway point in the season has now come and passed and the paddock will be packing their equipment back in the immense trucks before the trek across to Hungary ready for next weeks adventure at the underwhelming Hungaroring.

But before we consider the next event on the Calendar, there is the more immediate matter of the 60 laps undertaken today at the Nurburgring - all witnessed in the generous hospitality for another very successful outside broadcast. A very special outside broadcast that included cake - a cake that certainly deserves a special mention and some very important bonus points regardless of whatever happened on the circuit. The German GP certainly provided a degree of entertainment being unusually close at the front of the grid binding the lead cars in a titanic struggle.

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk for the image

The Race


The grid was bathed in an atmosphere of uncertainty contradictory information was passed around from team to team with all eyes pointed firmly on the threatening skies. Rain was on the agenda lingering in the clouds blanketing the circuit and causing a significant amount of concern in pit lane. Small droplets were intermittently falling but nothing to force anyone off the soft slick compounds. The track was cold under the cloud cover - dropping the tyres out of their ideal operating window lowering the available grip - but extending their life.

Under a stable sky the race got underway - all drivers making the logical decision to open the race account on the option tyres. Webber's hope of converting a pole position into a victory faded slightly within in metres of the start. A sluggish launch handed the lead to second place starting Lewis Hamilton - Alonso lost a place to Vettel but regained it in turn one. Massa forced out wide on the exit lost a place to Rosberg, and Button fell down into the field after a horrid start. Further back there was a coming together of sorts - where Squadron Leader Heidfeld has turned around Di Resta.

While everything settled down Alonso wanted to widen the line at turn 2, using the damp carpet and the tarmac run off beyond that costing him a place to Vettel down to 4th. It was only a temporary change of position, the Spaniard charged back up to the Red Bull recovering from the excursion throwing this Ferrari down the inside at turn one from a long way back - exploiting the speed advantage over the Renault powered car. Vettel day was getting gradually worse, dropping a wheel offline on the entry to turn 10 looping the car across the run-off, signs were showing that Vettel is indeed an actual human rather than an irrepressible race winning automaton. Dropping seven seconds and falling back to the Rosberg/Massa battle.

After the first lap contact Squadron Leader Heidfeld had been offered a drive through penalty, but that was the least of his problems. While making a move on Buemi during the comeback drive through the field things went more than a little awry - the STR driver moved across in the braking zone. Contact was made it looked like front wheel to sidepod, sending Squadron Leader skyward flying into retirement in the gravel trap after the NGK chicane.

Battle was rejoined at the front of the field, Hamilton possibly distracted by the Heidfeld clear-up operation made a mistake at the chicane and Webber pounced. But Mark got a huge amount of oversteer on the exit of turn 15, allowing Hamilton to get a run on the Red Bull to reclaim the lead at the end of the pit straight. While the lead pair duelled Alonso was sneaking stealthily behind them - as the pitstops were looming on the horizon.

Webber was the first of the main protagonists to depart the track looking to get the overlap on the on Hamilton in front and escape Alonso behind. Exiting the lane behind Vettel and Massa who were in a battle of their own. As Mark caught his team-mate after he'd been passed by Feilipe the German Bloke took to the pit-lane - a lane which also contained Hamilton and Alonso pitting at the same time. All three leaders congregated all at the same time at the apex of turn one joined by Massa who was still on track, Webber had jumped Hamilton and into the lead for the first time of the season.

Then there was a period of quiet - where no-one did anything particularly silly, the time where you notice the other drives of the race. Kobayashi had made the points from 17th and Sutil was competing very strongly with the factory Mercedes cars. Button was being less mythical this race getting stuck for many laps behind Vitaly Petrov who over the course of the race had a lot of different cars in his mirrors while he was on an alternate strategy to those around him.

The second bout of pit-stops saw Webber dropped down to third, a longer than intended tyre change and the Lotus of Kovalainen caught on the outlap cost him too much time. Hamilton drove past - Webber tried to make a move on the outside of turn 2 - but Lewis gave him a nudge off into the tarmac run-off. Then it was Alonso's turn to change some tyres, before exiting into the lead only to have Hamilton drive right round the outside of the Ferrari in an exact replica of Webber's attempt - with the exception that this time it worked.

Further back Button had negotiated his was past Petrov and moved up to Sutil, making that pass into turn one - but Jenson wasn't finished quite yet setting his sights on Rosberg in the Mercedes. It took several laps for Button to work his way past the German given the inherent top speed advantage of the Mercedes car, however perseverance prevailed as Nico uot-braked himself in T1 sliding off wide handing the position to the McLaren driver. Alas things were not to be for Jenson when a call from the team regarding a hydraulic failure doomed him to retirement on safety grounds - as such a failure could cause brakes to fail and then a rather sizeable accident.

The laps were running out and no-one had yet moved onto the harder, slower of the tyre compounds - the question was when to abandon the wearing option tyres, when would the crossover point be. Who would be first to make the switch. Step forward Vitaly Petrov after a day of defending from Mercedes powered cars, several at once sometimes, to make the pioneering decision, the eyes of the pitwall were on his times. As the sectors turned green then the flood gates opened. The top two pitted in quick succession leaving Webber back out in the lead, he had to pit too the question was when - too late was the response, losing to much time to Fernando and Lewis on the newer tyres sealed his third place finish.

With most of the field completed the required tyre change onto the harder compound - two cars remained. Two resilient rebels staying out as long as possible on the softs, Vettel and Massa in 4th and 5th about a week ahead of Rosberg, were in an epic battle to the flag. Calls to Vettel to counter Massa's movements went unheeded  - perhaps they were too late, perhaps the cars were too close to make a last second dive into the lane. Whatever the cause the outcome of the battle lay in the hands of the pit crews as both drivers took their stops on the last available lap. All the other positions were settled and sealed off - it was down to these two to alter the order. And alterations there were, the last effort to lessen the disappointment of Vettel's pain paid off - the team fitted all four tyres faster than Ferrari handing Vettel 4th place.

Hamilton was clear out in front of Alonso and Webber - and that is how they finished. Vettel claimed 4th and Massa 5th, Sutil claimed an impressive 6th ahead of the Mercedes pairing, behind them was Kobayashi up from 17th on the grid and rounding out the top 10 was Vitaly Petrov the only surviving member of the Renault Squadron after Squadron Leader took off.

With the race completed you'd think all would be nice and simple - just drive round to the garage park it in parc ferme and job done. But there was a shortage of fuel it Mr Alonso's car it would seem he applied some of his magician's skill to make it disappear. As he slowed to a stop on the return journey he started to wave at Mark Webber behind him to pull up too, abandoning his Ferrari and sitting perched on the sidepod of the Red Bull. The least subtle way of trying to get into a Red Bull seat this season - but Webber performed taxi duties and delivered Fernando in the pit lane dropping him off in the 3rd place parking space, fares I'd imagine would be discussed later maybe in the form of the all important bonus points. Speaking of which....

The Official Bonus Point Championship points winners


Here are the winning drivers for the 2011 German GP

10pts - Adrian Sutil: Starting among faster cars in the form of Renault Squadron and Mercedes in a customer car ending up beating both factory funded Mercedes entries to an impressive 6th position
8pts - Lewis Hamilton: Had an exceptional race with some strong passes particularly the one on Alonso in T2
6pts - Kamui Kobayashi: From 17th to 9th - not the best run so not the top score but still 8 places was good
5pts - Mary: The co-host for today's outside broadcast and the provider of a fantastic lunch and on top of that CAKE and cake certainly gets points.
4pts - Red Bull - For rescuing a rather dismal day for Sebastien Vettel with the final pitstop getting him ahead of Massa
3pts - Mark Webber: For providing taxi service to Alonso after the flag without dropping him or going too fast, setting up a career after racing in a cab
2pts - Michael Schumacher: For the best effort at drifting an F1 car this year would have been more if he held it
1pt - Wingman Petrov - For fronting the Renault Squadron resurgence beating Squadron Leader all weekend

The Also Official Penalties Championship


The stewards have applied some sanctions across the weekend and they are as follows

• Sebastien Buemi - 5 place grid drop in Hungary  for launching Squadron Leader Heidfeld
• Sebastien Buemi - Dropped to back in Germany for fuel irregularites pre-race
• Squadron Leader - drive through for spinning Paul Di Resta
• Vitantionio Liuzzi - 5 place grid drop gearbox change (as mentioned after qualifying)

The Still Official Dodgy Dealings Championship

After the trackside officials have had their say into decisions on track it's time for me to step in and issue penalty points on what they left out.

• One penalty point certainly going to the rain - for not showing up at all, deciding not to bother joining in the fun. Sure it was a good race without it but it could have been even better.
• Eurosport gets two penalty points for being usesless with the GP2 coverage again - race one in mutilated highlights and race 2 on a 12hr delay for the second event in a row. So out come the penalty points.

And onto Hungary

Ah the Hungaroring - well if there is any race where you need to take a nap and catch up on some sleep this will likely be it, famed for dull and un-eventful races the track is a dust-bowl of tedium. That said there has been exceptions which given the law of averages is inevitable - the 2006 race where Button claimed his first victory amid changeable conditions and a little bit of carnage.

Seeing that again next weekend is rather unlikely as under normal circumstances the Hungaroring's flowing layout may be entertaining and challenging to drive but leads to processional trudges. Will the DRS and KERs fix that, probably not to be honest with only one decent straight any attempts will be in to turn one unless something can be forced elsewhere when the tyres degrade on the abrasive surface. At least it will probably be an easy run of things here on the Blog as not too much will happen. I could just post the grid listing as the race review because that's how it will finish. So Hungary I challenge you to prove me wrong and serve up an uncharacteristic bowl of entertainment goulash.

Germany Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

Surprisingly the rain has stayed away from the circuit and today's qualifying remained dry with threatening clouds hovering rather ominously over the Nordscleife which lies just above the pit straight. However down on the GP streke it was an unusually orderly and controlled - almost everyone managed to avoid running off the course through out all of the sections.

The roll-back of exhaust blown diffuser advantage versus excessive fuel burning saga - thing, has seen some major changes in fortune across the field be has made remarkably little difference up front with Red Bull not being able to claim a sizeable advantage. The bigger changes have come at the other side of the top ten and beyond - with Renault Squadron and Mercedes becoming a lot more competitive. One advantage of going back to the Valencia specification of regulations is that - at least in the qualifying show there were a lot less people whining about them. Focussing more on the team orders in Silverstone from Christian Horner in the Red Bull camp.

Then the time to put all that aside came to fruition so set up the grid for the 2011 German GP here - or there rather at the Nurburgring Jr track.

Sourced from F1Fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying 

Looking into Q1 there were lots of thoughts floating about regarding the tyres which come in a developed stage to Germany, with greater durability. The hard tyre allegedly capable of completing 100 Laps, and we could see more drivers entering the one-stop club in normal circumstances to join One-Stop Perez. I know some people managed it in Monaco but things happened which allowed a free tyre change without a pitstop. This did result in a bigger difference between the two compounds meaning less drivers would be safe only running the primes in Q1.

Those lights at the end of the pit lane turned into the usual green and it was the two Virgin Racing entries followed by Liuzzi in the HRT car. But it wasn't long before the track started to get a lot busier - with the division one entries all wearing the harder of the two compound tyres. Hamilton took the provisional lead of the session before Ferrari driver Alonso decided to take that place away from him with Red Bull not showing their pace quite yet but running fast enough not to be under threat of relegation.

Things were much closer on the edge of the drop-zone with several drivers taking turns in joining the six newer cars in the ejection positions. The likes of Jaime El Incognito and Paul Di Resta were the first suspects in the zone. With more teams throwing soft tyres at their cars as they were slipping further towards exiting qualifying - Rosberg was a surprise name to see at this end of the time-sheets but the soft tyres worked and he was propelled much further up the grid. This moved Kobayashi out of the running and as he was in the pit lane at the time that wasn't going to change. An interesting scenario considering the Sauber is faster than 18th position, I think it's a strategy call by Kamui looking at the championship and some serious bonus points tomorrow on a charge through the field.

Then it was time for Q2 and some race snacks in lieu of any breakfast at the time. One-Stop Perez and Massa the fastest car in Q1 on a call to use a fresh set of soft compound rubber.  Felipe was the initial pace setter but was quickly beaten by team mate Alonso giving the Brazilian a .4s trimming. Hamilton and Vettel set faster times and went to the top of the timing screen. But this was Q2 so the interest was focussed further down the order with the battle to secure entry into the top ten and the final session.

Initially things were looking good for Di Resta and Maldonado who were holding position inside the progression zone. All division one cars were safe with 6 tenths separating them from Rosberg in 7th and the others close behind. The Renault Squadron mobilised it's forces and both Squadron Leader Heidfeld and Wingman Petrov advanced their positions with the Wingman taking point - beating Schumacher down into 9th, and ejecting Paul and Pastor. At this stage the top five teams controlled the top five rows in the form seen before the exhaust confusion, but it wasn't to remain that way. Home race power was gathering behind Adrian Sutil as he made a late charge at the end of the session, launching the Force India into the top ten and into Q3. Those relegated were Squadron Leader Heidfeld knocked out by Sutil, along with both Willams and STR cars, One-stop perez and Paul Di Resta.

Then it was time for the final session - 10 minutes to decide the rest of the grid. As seems to be the pattern this year the first batch of cars to leave pit lane was the division one cars lead by Alonso and Hamilton - but joined by Wingman Petrov.  Fernando set the benchmark in the high 1:30's only to find Lewis trimming a tenth off that time to claim pole position. Hamilton's 1:30.766 remained on the top for a while until the Red Bull team took to the track with their full exhaust blown diffuser in effect - Webber's first lap was devastatingly fast blowing Hamilton and Alonso into mediocrity.

While the main contenders returned to the pits before run two the second batch of cars set their times - going anomalously slower than in Q2 droping them to the bottom of the top 10, sutil ahead of Petrov and Schumacher. Button retained his mythical status and was off the screen for pretty much all of the session - only spotting his coasting car after abandoning his second run - and ended up 7th.

The second phase of the session was underway in the quest for pole position. Alonso went first and went three tenths faster but not enough to beat Webber for the lead. The Australian also managed to find some more time and extend the advantage over the field, on an impressive 1:30.0 - leading the charge against the fastest of the Red Bull entries was Hamilton. The british driver came very close to usurping Webber from pole position producing an almost super-human effort to force more pace out of the McLaren 0.055s shy of the Australian. Vettel was having an off-weekend only managing third 0.1s behind - it just sums up his dominance when 3rd position is a bad day and the lowest starting position of the season with both Ferraris starting right behind him. Mythical Button stayed 6th ahead of Rosberg, Sutil, Petrov and Schumacher.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners 


As the season reaches the half-way point things have settled more into a rhythm and performances have stagnated a little each team and car performing roughly how you'd expect - give or take a couple of positions or tenths on track. However that said there are competitors that have made some stand out performances and reasons to earn some points - so here are the five winners from today.

• Mark Webber - A major comeback from the team orders issue last race and outpacing everyone
• Lewis Hamilton - For being able to make the McLaren go that quick without hitting anyone for once
• Adrian Sutil - For making the top ten when Mercedes and Renault Squadron at full strength 
• Vitaly Petrov - For leading the Renault Squadron return to action with the rolled back regulations
• Heikki Kovelainen - A sympathy point for being the only car to go off course, sure Schumacher cut the chicane but Heikki investigated a lot of T1's run-off space

The Penalties Championship

A grid drop penalty was applied to Liuzzi for changing the gearbox during the weekend and will drop 5 places from 23rd to 24th. I suppose he should start behind the Safety and Medical cars in 26th - or 27th if Doctor's Cayenne is on the grid too. But 24th it is making it the first time Ricciardo has spent in a place that isn't last.

Looking to Tomorrow

There is one very important variable that is planned to make things interesting, very interesting indeed, and that would be the changeable Eiffel weather. As the rain will be looking to score more bonus points as it is tied with Sebastian Buemi  in 20th place at the moment, even the weather is seeking to climb up the table. If or when the rain arrives then there is no guessing what will happen - the mid-field could merge into the points as the pace is levelled out, or they could all crash into each other. 

Red Bull should be safe whatever happens, given the fundamental downforce of the car which will work in the wet and dry as seen in Canada. Some extra moisture might bring button and Schumacher into play given their specialities and could hurt Ferrari more than the other lead cars. Should it remain dry then we are in for a titanic battle at the front of the field as McLaren always have better race than qualifying pace which will make them even closer to Red Bull and a chance for the win.

With the increased durability of the tyres this weekend there will be some more strategic options on the table with a few more drivers likely to try a single stop strategy given the success Perez has had becoming synonymous with the technique. A plan that would fall apart should the sky open up and release some water, a mid race downpour would catch some people off guard and really shake things up. There are so many permutations for the outcome of this race and so many different plausible outcomes when rain gets involved. Though a Lotus 1-2 may be a little outside those possible - but with Kamui in 18th the back of the grid will undoubtedly be entertaining as well.

While I have another outside broadcast scheduled for the race tomorrow, from further up the hill, as I did for Silverstone. But John you already got a bonus point last time - you probably won't get another one unless nothing happens on track - which I hope doesn't happen. So whose ever sofa you are on for this race, fuel up on some tea because if the rains fall you could be there for a little longer than normal, because the German GP of 2011 is set up perfectly for an outstanding race. 

Round Ten: Germany Preview

Greetings Internet,

It's that time again when the teams are setting up  as we now pass the half-way point in the series - a little further from home this time however - although being in the North most places are a long way from home. But that's just semantics, and so onto the business at hand the calender rolls round to Germany and taking the hosting duties this year is the Nurburgring which is sharing on an alternate year basis with the neutered Hokkenheimring. The circuit was the former home of the European Grand Prix before it was handed to this odd creation in Valencia but the less said about that the better.

It may only be a shadow of the monolith of motorsports that is the Nordschleife which winds through the forest and the hills of the Eiffel Mountains. With it's 20km of racing enjoyment - but at least in the simulator bouncing off the barriers costs nothing and there is no risk of being hospitalised when I inevitably cream it into the walls. Just press ESC to return to the pit lane for another go. But the shorter GP layout may not have the high speeds of the full layout it still has the flow and rhythm of a traditional European racing circuit. Throw the micro-climate into the mix which often throws up some rain, looking at the photos from Lotus so far the rain has already paid a visit.

The Track

Credit to FIA for the circuit map

Nurburgring Jr has been modified over the years, the opening complex has been the most recent change - installed in 2004 eliminating the original Castrol S from the lap installing the Mercedes Arena instead. The original chicane still remains in a re-profiled fashion for the 24hr race held on the full layout, earlier on in the year. Overall the new section is rather horrific - turn one is good for some overtaking but the rest of the section is a pain - turn three is a particularly irritating bend.

The rest of the layout however is a different matter, keeping the fast and medium corners echoing the flow and  speed of many of the sections of the full ring. Formed out of a series of left-right combinations of varying speeds ranging from the fast Schumacher S, which causes an intriguing situation - where a driver gets to go through a corner named after himself. Because his last German GP was at Hokkenheim instead, and his last visit to the Nurburgring the corner was under it's former name - the Audi-S.

Aside from the opening hairpin the best chance for some overtaking is into the tight NGK-Chicane towards the end of the lap, after the DRS zone on the back straight. Whereas the rest of the lap will be a single file affair especially on these new tyres which will disintegrating all over the circuit, significantly narrowing the drivable line. But there is another variable that seems to come into play when we visit the Nurburgring, that variable of course being the weather - which is a law unto itself in that region of Germany.

But now I get to introduce the video for the weekend - where these words get converted into something more perceivable with a little detour to the Nordscleife - afterall when it came to Germany I had to have a go on the bigger one. Introducing a new Blogmobile as well which can manage the Nordschleife in close to six minutes flat if I managed to avoid crashing or traffic. But without further literary delay - here is the guide to the Nurburgring.

As there was no race at the track in the calender last year, I can't really compare times but it certainly would seem the car/driver combination is around 8s per lap off the pace of the 2009 laps and probably won't be to much difference this year. In these more traditional circuits the American cars are dropping further away from the pace of these current F1 machines. Maybe one day I'll run these laps in a more recent machine but I can paint these with the livery. Wouldn't want to appear biassed now would I.

What to expect


With the move back to the Valencia specification of exhaust regulations we could easily see a resurgence in Red Bull's dominance on a track which will favour their high downforce car configuration. The layout will play into their fundamental strengths, however the rollback will bring McLaren back into the leading pack - severely hurt in terms of qualifying pace in Silverstone. Last race however did show their race pace to remain very strong - but overall performance will be evened out. Ferrari will retain their speed and will be in close proximity with McLaren at the front - the telling thing will be how much pace have Red Bull taken back.

In the mid-field Renault Squadron will be hoping for some improvement - their exhaust system was a basic element of the car - having that restrained was a major hit in Silverstone. Looking back at breaking back into the top ten, this causes a problem for the likes of Force India and Torro Rosso who have been benefiting from Renault and Mercedes being knocked back.

Changes are afoot further down the field in the team Lotus camp - Jarno Trulli has been placed on the substitution bench for this weekend in favour of Karun Chandok. The arrangement is more temporary than Ricciardo's placement in HRT, Trulli will be back in the racing seat for the Hungarian GP - while Lotus install a new power-steering system. Something that Jarno has been struggling with - explaining his lack or relative pace against team-mate Kovalainen.

The German GP is home to a fair amount of the field, with Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher, Sutil and Glock playing on the home side this weekend the greatest proportion of local drivers this season. So we'll be looking for enhanced performances from them - the final phase of qualifying could have a very German look to it indeed.

DRS and KERS


Again the FIA have opted for a single DRS zone in Germany, as they had in Silverstone - shunning the dual system which proved flawed in Canada and in Valencia. I'm assuming the dual system will make a comeback maybe for Spa or Monza where there are plentiful opportunities, when the FIA have developed software that can process two distinct activation zones without crashing or producing anomalous activations.

At the Nurburgring there were two usable sections of track where the DRS zone could have been applied - the first opportunity would have been to use the main straight leading into turn one, place the detection zone before the final corner and activate it on the exit. The other solution would be to use the stretch before the NGK chicane, this is the solution is the method the FIA have selected - and in terms of the detection point it will work out better. Avoiding the concertina effect after the chicane, well it certainly feels weird to say the officials made the right call - must be a cake shortage or something. Anyway the detection line will be placed after turn 10 and the activation after turn 11.

Then there is the KERS, this season has shown the system being mostly ineffective, especially in comparison to the DRS which has a far greater influence. Even in the inaugural year for KERS introduction in 2009 - it took until Spa before the system actually made a difference to the outcome of a race when Raikkonen took the win away form Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India. Now with all the cars barring the bottom three teams KERS only seems to have a benefit in terms of lap time because it is too easy to counter and use defensively. It certainly puts you at a disadvantage if the system fails as is often the case at Red Bull. So I wouldn't expect it to have too much of an influence this weekend, on a circuit which is mostly flowing corners rather than stop-start chicanes and hairpins which typify these new tracks like Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

On the whole the German GP is normally an interesting event considering it sits at the tipping point in the mid-season, bridging the gap before descending into the second half of the year. The Nurburgring is a perfect setting for such an event with the back-drop of the epic Nordschleife in the mountains, and it is those mountains which have brought many a storm before this weekend - causing a red flag in 2007 when Winkelhock's Spyker has a 30s lead. The rains have already visited the track according to the teams' twitter feed so this could become another eventful weekend. So sit back for the next instalment of F1 2011

Round Nine: Great Britain Review

Greetings Internet,

Today I give you the results of the first Blog outside broadcast - well not technically outside, because I'm inside and returned from my adventure. But those small technicalities aside it was a very enjoyable event and I have to thank John for the hospitality in hosting the viewing of the 2011 British GP. Just goes to show this little corner of the internet is going up in the world, next stop the pitwall.... no well perhaps not

Anyway to the racing at had, and boy did we have some - the race often plundered into the depths of mediocrity by cars becoming trapped behind each other in a train of cars all equally spaced out and with no-one passing anyone else. But not this weekend oh no indeed, Britain had overtaking - there were folk in the grandstands revelling in the rarity of cars going past other cars here in the homeland. And on top of that the good old British weather opened the race with on of the most peculiar setups I've seen outside of Belgium.

So here's looking back - or sideways depending how sleepy you are at today's action from a little too far down the road.

Sourced from F1fanatic.co.uk

The Race


The scene opened up with the most intriguing set of circumstances, ones I have't seen at the beginning of the race in this country before considering the way that the track was affected was rather anomalous. Rain from earlier in the day - not sure when, I haven't seen the earlier races to see the time scale of the weather, but whenever it happened one half of the track was completely dry, while the other half was very wet indeed. A situation that normally only evolves in places with their own micro-climate tracks such as Spa and the Nurburgring - where we're going next coincidently.

Drivers were taking several installation laps to get round to the grid, cutting through pit lane to gauge the level of contrast on the track. The severe difference between the two halves caught out One-Stop Perez on his installation lap as he has an adventure across the grass through an advertising barrier and had to replace the nose. It was clear that the wet part of the track wasn't going to dry before the start so the only logical conclusion the teams could make was to start on the intermediate tyres because the wets wouldn't cope with the dry section and would simply disintegrate.

With the prospect of a very changeable race in front of them it was an understandably cautious start for most of the grid - not wanting to risk anything when the wet track came into effect into the first breaking zone.  The initial launch off the line looked equal but in the second phase of start saw Vettel slide into the lead turning into Abby. Webber settled into second place with the Ferraris in place behind them. Paul Di Resta made a strong start but ran out of room and found himself boxed in behind Massa while Button went round the outside of turn one, as they settled into the damper section of the track. The biggest gains were made from further back on the grid where Michael and Hamilton gained three places each over the course of the opening lap.

Hamilton's initial gain continued with taking Kobayashi and following that up with passing Di Resta coming into Stowe corner at the end of the first lap.  Massa two was making progress reclaiming the position he lost to Button off the line at the beginning of the second lap, the manoeuvres cost Jenson time dropping back into the sights of Hamilton. Lewis caught him coming through Aintree and had a strong enough run on his team-mate to get up the inside into Brooklands making Massa his next target. Within a couple of laps he had brought the McLaren up to the back of the Brazilian's Ferrari which was holding 4th, the pair had pulled a considerable distance from Button. On lap four Hamilton ran close to the back of Massa's car before sliding off and out wide, discovering the new tarmac run-off space on the exit on Brooklands somewhere he'd be back later.

The top three teams were running in formation in the order of the respective speed between the cars. Red Bull were out front with Vettel building a gap over Webber. Both Ferraris were not much further back and McLaren further back after Hamilton's mistake and Button's fading pace, only a few seconds a head of the train forming behind Di Resta. After a sporadic opening few laps things were settling down - becoming all too settled in Heikki's gearbox where fourth gear had gone missing rendering the car virtually inoperable calling things to a close on that side of the Lotus Garage. In order to help apply some more on-track action Race Control enabled the use of DRS deeming that area was dry enough now to allow it's use

This amount of tranquillity was about to be put to an end, step forward Michael Schumacher, the German had caught onto the end of the train behind Di Resta pulling up behind Kobayashi. Schumacher now with DRS available gained a significant amount of speed on the Sauber but carried too much of that speed into Brooklands. The rear of his car got loose and ploughed uncontrolled directly into the rear of Kamui's car - I should take points off just for that but I shall remain unbiased. Both cars were not terminally damaged but Kobayashi lost two places and Schumacher lost his front wing and was given a stop-go penalty for his troubles.

Rather irritatingly Schumacher's wing change played directly to his advantage as he took the opportunity to be the first driver to make the change onto the slick tyres as a dry line had now formed through the formerly wet section. While all the teams were looking eagerly on to see Michaels times to determine if using the soft tyres were producing faster laps than the worn intermediates, Hamilton was lining up for another go at Massa now with the DRS in use. Lewis got a strong run on the National Straight (Wellington Straight indeed) and placed the car on the inside - a part of the track which remained wet, failing to gain enough grip on the damper line Hamilton once again enjoyed a visit to the run-off at Brooklands. I reckon now along with the Strewards office this section of Tarmac was tuning into one of his favourite places.

The results were in from the Mercedes lap times and slicks were definately the best tyre as Schumacher began lighting up the live timing screen - It's nice to have these things available during the race - and the flurry of pit stop activity begun. Webber and Alonso were first, being the highest qualifying drivers for their teams they got priority pitting order for the weekend, those two were then followed shortly by Hamilton. As the top teams were pitting and gaining the better tyres - it appeared Jarno Trulli had gone missing showing on the driver tracker (oh the power of many screens, another benefit of my off-site location) as being stopped in sector three but his car was never shown on any cameras only a marker indicating yellow flags but no sign of the missing Lotus. So now both Lotus cars were out of the race - knew it was a bad omen crashing their car in the video.

Making the switch to the softer tyres passed the incentive to McLaren with both Hamilton and Button gaining on their opposite numbers from the Ferrari camp. Having jumped Massa in the round of stops Lewis was now right up with Alonso, and behind them things were even close between Felippe and Jenson - who after warming his tyres for a lap used the extra grip to power round the outside of Massa at Stowe completing the pass into Vale corner...Massa would have more fun with a McLaren there later. Lewis dispatched of the Red car in front of him too into Copse on the following lap all of this was happening behind Webber in 2nd and that German Bloke out front.

Things got quite again tyre perfomances began to equalise allowing the true pace of various cars to come into effect - Alonso caught and re-passed Hamilton while Button became invisible again regaining his mythical status from Valencia. But when things have calmed down a little too much that's the call for some destruction, who was going to step up and shed some parts - and answering the call was Paul Di Resta. Paul pulled into pit lane to find the wrong set of tyres waiting for him - Sutils wheels were out in the pit lane instead of his and ended up with a diabolically long stop. He came out behind Sebastian Buemi in the STR entry - made a move to the inside of Brooklands and hey presto the amazing disappearing front wing trick was performed again. Followed by the also amazing disappearing rear tyre trick. As Buemi's tyre shredded as a result of the contact tearing into all sorts of important mechanical peices of the car forcing him into retirement.

And then there were some more pit stops, when things started to go rather down hill for Red Bull - apparently it seems they can make mistakes at least two and both seemed to happen in succession. First there was that German Bloke to encounter issues when the left rear refused to be attached in time handing the lead to Alonso. Webber wasn't able to pick up the lead because off camera he too had a slower stop releasing Fernando clear out front with Hamilton too jumping both of the Red Bull cars. Back in the pit lane even more problems were developing in the Sauber camp Kobayashi was slow leaving his pit stall and had to drive through the Force India air hoses causing all sorts of damage and earning a stop-go penalty in the process.
But that wasn't the end of the misery to befall Kamui.  After serving the penalty his engine overheated and he began to plummet down the field nursing the ailing while losing out Di Resta and Maldonado. Alguersuari made a pass on him into Stowe but Kamui being the way he is threw the car down the inside at the last second into vale in the overtake of the race. Alas his overheating car gave up finally brining his race to a premature conclusion.

Vettel was mounting his recovery charge but found a silver and orange obstacle in his way piloted by Hamilton who would rather not allow the German Bloke through. He spent many laps trapped behind the McLaren only managing to catch up in the slow speed corners but the aerodynamic loss of following another car through the fast sections held Vettel back. Instead of losing more time he pitted for some new tyres where he'd be able to jump Hamilton in the pits. Because of the hold up Alonso had build a sizeable gap out front and was able to resist the speed gain by the newer tyres of Vettel and Hamilton.

The top four were set with Alonso, leading Vettel, Hamilton and Webber. but instability was afoot back in the pit lane. Jenson came into the pitlane with four wheels.... and then left with three - McLaren thought it would be a good idea to save weight be not adding a fourth wheel nut. The results were not really that great for Button's race three-wheeling his way into retirement. On the other side of the Silver garage things were also coming apart at the seams - Hamilton was running out of fuel and was thrust into conservation mode which was devouring his speed feeding him slowly into the path of Webber and later Massa.

Fernando was gone and no-one would be seeing from him again, the Red Bull cars were converging towards each other with Webber closing down Vettel after taking care of the slowing Hamilton in Brooklands. Massa was charging rapidly towards Hamilton now and the rest of the points were taken on by those who we'd barely seen anything of all race. Rosberg and One-stop Perez had sneaked into 6th and 7th with the demise of Button. It had been a very quiet day down at Renault Squadron, Petrov's only appearance was only seen being passed by Michael and Heidfeld avoided the cameras when getting in 8th because I didn't see him for most of the race. In 9th was a certain Mr Schumacher with one penalty and a replaced front wing to his name the base carspeed of the Mercedes had hauled him into the points. Completing the points was Jaime Alguersauri once again appearing in the points without any idea El Incognito was building a run of points without ever appearing on camera.

The laps were running out and Alonso was running away - Webber was right behind That German Bloke and wasn't paying any attention to the team orders to stay in position looking to the outside in Woodcote and then the inside in Copse. After some frivolity Webber started to pay attention to the radio message and retained position to the line with Fernando already claiming victory with ease.

Massa had closed within inches of Hamilton on the final lap, he dove to the outside of the McLaren in to vale corner. Lewis came to two simultaneous points of realisation firstly he could see another position outbraking him and secondly he realised he'd gone almost the entire race without actually hitting anyone. He saw an opportunity to tie up both of those issues in one corner as he slid the McLaren deftly into the side of the Ferrari. There were sparks and an endplate sailing through the air, but Massa was forced wide so was offline for club. Hamilton shifted to the inside of the Ferrari and pipped him to the line by less then a tenth - while the remainder of the top 10 maintained their position and claimed their points.

We had someone different on the top step of the new podium at Silverstone but those Red Bulls were still there ominously lurking and only a pit lane blunder kept them off the lead - but the pace of Alonso is not something they can brush away. It was this time last year Fernando made his championship claim...though the points difference is 30 more than last year it may not be so successful.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


After forgetting to bring along my notebook to the special outside broadcast points were not awarded on-site and then of course I couldn't give away the intentions to soon now could I. There were a lot of Average performances in the field but points shall be awarded and here they are.

10pts - Fernando Alonso - for a combination of winning and not being That German Bloke, and for actually having more speed than Vettel in the last phase of the race
8pts - Jaime El Incognito - Out in Q1 and scoring points for the third race in a row certainly deserves points
6pts - Lewis Hamilton - for having a strong race in spite of being a prat going from 10th to what would have been 3rd had fuel not being a problem gets points.
5pts - One-stop Perez - for still running at one stop less than the leaders gaining a lot from the strategy from 12th to 7th during the race
4pts - Rain - for creating the most intriguing wet/dry layout seen outside of Spa - but Belgium is special
3pts - Nick Heidfeld - for overcoming the pain from the regulations to move into the points from a lowly 16th place
2pts - Michael Schumacher - despite having a rather poor race, hitting Kamui (should be a deductable offence) yet still managed to score points
1pt - John  - for providing the hospitality for the race and some rather enjoyable race snacks
* also a bonus bonus point to Sebastien Vettel for being good on Top Gear, and one for The British GP as an event

The Also Official Penalties Championship


There was some contact this weekend some punished some not, only two official penalties were given out as follows. All stop/go penalties will be classed as drive-throughs because that's what they represented this race

• Michael Schumacher - Stop/go, for Spinning Kobayashi - a good call by the stewards 
• Kamui Kobayashi - for running amok in the pit lane almost driving into a Williams before raiding Force India's air hose rack

The No Less Official Dodgy Dealings Championship

As to the other activities this weekend things were rather civil and obedient, I had considered giving a penalty point to Hamilton for hitting Massa but it was covered off well and was a little of a racing incident bore out of last lap desperations. But the field does not get off Scott free oh no indeedy... 

• I issue a single penalty point to Paul Di Resta regarding his response to his contact with Buemi - which pretty much blamed the STR driver. The same sentiment he echoed when in contact with Heidfeld in Montreal. Paul is turning slowly into Hamilton where the first defence it shout at the guy he hit before blaming them in the process. This may have something to do with Anthony Hamilton managing his career... maybe not the best influence. 

Looking on to Germany

From one traditional track to another moving to the Nurburgring nestled in the Eiffel Mountains. Most noticeable is that were are moving from one track prone to rain to another prone to a lot more with a opening corner almost guaranteed to cost some wings. We are also moving into the home turf of most of the drivers in the field - including the German bloke and the older German bloke who used to keep winning everything. 

The German GP usually ends up being a fair bit more entertaining than the race here in Britain, so after a rather good race at Silverstone. That does make things look rather enticing for Germany, and I recall the last time I challenged a race to do better then the race before it - we ended up with Canada. So Germany I challenge thee to surpass our fair Isle, and place your towel on some entertainment first.   

Britain Pre-race

Greetings Internet,

After a jolly good qualifying session has been completed, with some rather spiffing entertainment with the good ol' British weather once again having some fun with the proceedings. It did rather put a damper on the final stages of a couple of the sessions, but seems to have finally opened up at the site of the track to make the GP2 race more interesting but that's not being played till later.

But no amount of tea supplies and bacon consumed during the session could drone out the incessant whining of teams and Eddie Jordan regarding the rather impromptu shift in the regulations. Being altered in the middle of FP3 before Q3 - so teams were running around to fix and adjust the settings before being released onto the track. Only to be told at the end of the session that all this change and annoyance will be overturned at the end of the race and be reset to the Valencia standards when the engine mapping was changed. Makes you wonder why they bothered really just for this one race - but some teams have been stung by the temporary change and others being able to take advantage of those dropping back.

It looks like Renault Squadron and McLaren have taken the biggest hit as they are two of the main teams who have this blown exhaust diffuser system as a fundamental element of the car. Red Bull have also been hurt but the underlying speed of their car has allowed them to weather the storm and still maintain control. But all that political and regulation nonsense aside it's time to look into how the session took place beneath the ominous English sky.

Sourced from F1fanatic.co.uk

Qualifying


With rain speckling the radar the session opened with all the teams glancing up into the sky, technology is all fair and helpful but there is no substitute for actual observation. The initial flurry of activity wasn't as intense as you'd expect it to be considering the threat of precipitation, it was the smaller teams first to venture on track in the form of Lotus and Virgin. Within a couple of minutes the entire field was on the track fuelled up to stay out right up until the rain to take advantage of any dry running.

Vettel set the early fastest time while Alonso was exploring the gravel trap in Luffield deeming that was not the optimum line round that section of the track bouncing the car not so gently in among the stones. The Ferrari surprisingly showed no signs of damage and returned to the track, setting a fairly healthy time on his next lap. Drivers running the soft tyres were mingling up with the top runners - the likes of Maldonado, Kobayashi and the Force India cars were secreting themselves in the top 10. Webber decided that the German bloke had spent too long at the top of the timesheets and took away the pole for the first session.

Down at the opposite side of the grid the battle to avoid relegation was looking rather interesting - the back row was claimed by the two HRT cars with new entrant Ricciardo starting last. A couple of rows further up and it was the Torro Rosso team being completely submerged in relegation as Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen was once again outperforming the car placing it into Q2. Of course STR weren't going to let that go without a fight - sending their drivers back out, however the Lotus favouring gods decided that it was a good time for a rain shower and water hailed from the sky in significant enough quantities that no further running was going to take place. This ended the effective lappery for the session consigning STR, HRT, Virgin and Trulli into relegation.

Having done it's work the rain had stopped before the start of session 2. There was a degree of indecision up and down the pit-lane as to determining what tyre compounds were going to be most effective - the majority of the track had dried but there was still some water down in Copse corner. Mercedes went out first on Intermediate tyres along with Willams, the rest of the field filtered out on differing tyres. Opening laps was considerably slower as the drivers were very cautious through the segment of the track which still held water.

The likes of Sauber and Force India set the early pace running on the soft compound tyres while Red Bull and Mercedes were being more cautious at first. As the track gradually got drier and drier the times began to evaporate seconds were being shaved off left right and centre - Rosberg and Ferrari were the first to redress the balance of power charging up to the front of the field. Renault Squadron were struggling outside the top ten as each lap grew faster and faster, the gap to enter the final session was extremely close. Only two tenths separated seven cars it ended up being a lottery of just who would end up shuffled to the bottom of the queue and dumped out.

Despite the intense nature of the session Red Bull and Ferrari was showing they were the two teams to beat with the power just in Red Bull's favour. McLaren were in the middle of the mess trying to survive with the likes of Kobayashi, Maldonado and Di Resta refusing to give in and fall to the end of the train. The time was running out and and the positions were changing fast with cars moving up and others shuffling down, the mid group of drivers setting almost the same time was expanding 0.2 now being the gap between eight competitors. The chequered flag fell, or was waved rather, and the field was frozen so who was caught out and doomed to relegation...both Renault Squadron cars failed to make the cut along with Sutil, Rubens and Schumacher. Also in the drop zone were Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen who was realistically as far up as the car could achieve, and one-stop Perez was the last car to stay in the garage.

And then there was ten, but eyes once more were aimed a little closer to the radar screen as Silverstone wasn't quite finished yet with it's interesting weather. This threat of more rain forced more cars to the track then normal for the opening run. The majority of the top ten left the garages with only Kobayashi and Maldonado aiming for an alternate strategy to avoid the traffic. After the first run of laps it was the Australian Mark Webber to set the fastest time only a third of a tenth ahead of that German bloke who wins a lot. Alonso proved to be the closest contender to the Red Bull front row moving into third, ahead of Massa. Things were not so rosy down at McLaren - their opening laps were significantly off the pace with Hamilton worst affected being 2s behind the pole. The second barrage of laps settled the positions between Button and Hamilton in the 0.7s abyss of space, it was the third of the locals in the final session who was first in that void. Paul Di Resta forced the Force India into 6th ahead of Maldonado and Kobayashi.

Rosberg was shuffled down to ninth ahead of a rather displeased yet unusually restrained Lewis Hamilton. Everyone was gearing up for a second run both Button and Rosberg took to the track followed by some of the other contenders as the rain was starting to descend again. It was only a slight drizzle but enough to slow the times down - Button backed off realising it wouldn't work - but Nico wasn't going to be beaten by a little local rain. He began throwing the car at the corners - exiting chapel sideways onto the run onto the Hangar straight but there was just too much dampness on the track to prevent any time from being gained. So he too with the rest of the field aborted their runs and pulled back into the pit lane.

Pole belonged to Webber in a Red Bull one two - we still have on of those blue cars on P1 but it is a rare change from that German bloke. Ferrari after benefiting from the rule changes have caught right up to Red Bull this weekend but McLaren have been left behind, Button hung onto 5th but Lewis down in 10th. Good run for Di Resta in the Force India staring 6th making row three an all British affair. Maldonado and Kobayashi line up on row four - a strong result for both of them and Rosberg sideways or not pips Hamilton in 9th and 10th.

The Official Bonus Points Championship points winners


After an entertaining session here are the points winners from this weekends Qualifying

• Hekki Kovalainen - for escaping Q1 again beating both STR cars
• Nico Rosberg - for still pushing as the track conditions were slipping away
• Paul Di Resta - for considerably making the top 10 in his first race at Silverstone GP
• Fernando Alonso - for once more taking the fight to Red Bull 
• Mark Webber - for taking the pole a rare victory over that German bloke

The No Less Official Dubious Dealings Championship

I have to award a penalty point to the FIA for the handling of this blown diffuser issue, we have heard for weeks how things would be changed by the British GP. But when that time rolls around they are still making changes and allowing concessions in the middle of the weekend and altering the regulations just before qualifying. And on top of that deciding to ignore all the things they've done and revert to a previous state after the race... 

Looking to Tomorrow


Of course you have to be excited for this - after all this is the British GP but if you look at it logically our circuit doesn't often throw up outstanding races the nature of the track does often incline itself to a more processional event.

That said there are some variables to consider, firstly how close Alonso it to the Red Bull cars which could make that fight rather interesting. There there is the position of the McLarens - Hamilton in particular who should be entertaining when out of position and given his temperament so far this year could end up hitting people.

And to top it all off there is that lovely element of the weather - a nice addition of some rain can easily convert the dull and single file nature of a race into a seething torrent of unpredictability and madness. Lets just hope the FIA ease off on the health and safety madness they exhibited in Canada and not throw a full yellow at the first sight of water. But i did think I saw the GP2 race started under safety car in the background shots inside the team's motor homes so that precedent seems still to be in effect - sigh.

Whatever lies in store tomorrow afternoon, it's good time to spend in front of the tele with plenty of tea at hand to fully enjoy the British GP from which ever location - I for one will be deserting the solitary confinement of my room for the event and will be off-site for the race venturing into new territories. Wherever you are it's time to get ready for the 2011 British GP