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
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| 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
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