On Thursday when the first post went up there was a slight remark on a higher degree of climatic consistency in practice this weekend. Well from the session we have had this afternoon, that process has gone completely out the window, as there has been all sorts of showers dowsing the track across the two practice sessions on Friday. Would today be any different, dry and consistent maybe - well apparently not, however that isn't a bad thing at all, actually makes things a fair bit more interesting, but looking at the forecast for the rest of the weekend it might stay dry. Shame on that note, because the rain during the race would be more entertaining. On a hilarious note, just the final warning on the grid for the GP3 race went out the rain started to fall as the drivers for the most part opted for slick tyres, this is not going to end well for about half the field.
But the grid that we have been dealt does bear a resemblance to a simple dry qualifying with a couple of fluctuations up and down the field where the conditions caused problems or induced an advantage elsewhere. The results from the session will be rather different from the order in which the teams line up on the grid tomorrow afternoon as a spate of gearbox penalties have blighted the field, dropping the likes of Webber, Rosberg and Grosjean all suffering five place drops from their final qualifying position. So lets examine how a very changeable session fell into place.
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| Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
After two days of severe rain showers, it was anyone's guess what the conditions were going to be when the coverage started, there were hints of previous rainfall in the pitlane, but the track was effectively dry and easily clear for slick tyres. The skies overhead were also clear and bright, something that this island is only recently getting itself used to after rainfall drowning the nation for the past month. So at least the first part of the session was going to be dry.
On the other note, the rainfall in GP3 has now brought out the red flag, pfft, it was going to be rather hilarious but not anymore...
Back to the qualifying update and at the end of the pit lane was a growing queue of cars, as people in the area had pointed out there was a large cloud bearing rain coming towards the track, and peering over the pit lane grandstands the black cloud was visible. It was Force India leading the train out of the garage followed by the lower running teams of HRT and Marussia. Now this is where the blog encountered a minor problem regarding nourishment, prior to the green light, a toastie was prepared and inserted into the machine, aimed to be returned on the warm up laps. In theory this was a flawless plan, but the things didn't follow the plan, because the machine wouldn't release my food - so several minutes of fighting later some laps had been completed.
On return from the toastie machine battle, it seemed that the McLarens were at the top of the timesheets with Hamilton leading from Button, but the silver dominance at the top was divided by the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi moving into second position. Down at the other end of the field the relegation zone was populated by the common six runners still as far off the pace as they were in Silverstone. Demonstrating that the updates that the likes of Caterham haven't made any real net improvements in catching likes of Torro Rosso. Joining them for now was the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, having not set a competitive time, the other Mercedes of Schumacher wasn't to safe at the time either.
With more than half the session completed Hamilton returned to the pit lane, under advice that his time was safe, based on predictions of the tyre performance differences in FP3. But then drivers who had fitted the softer tyre started to go rather quicker, Hulkenberg found 1.5s in the Force India to go second making the McLarens look a little less safe. Then out of nowhere, Raikkonen found half a second over Hamiltons fastest time - on the harder tyre of all things to set an unbeatable time, but it was at the back where things were more interesting. As each lap saw a different driver holding the final relegation place, passing from Rosberg, to Senna and then to Micheal Schumacher. Yet with seconds left on the clock Michael managed to find half a tenth to escape the zone, dropping relegation regular Vergne out of the first session of qualifying.
Moving swiftly on to Q2, and the attention turned to the sky as that cloud had moved a lot closer and was leaking over the track, drawing a rather unusual response from the teams - in Silverstone everyone rushed down to the end of the pit lane. This time no-one was queuing and even at the turn of the green light no major rush to get on with things. It seemed nonsensical considering the rain was only going to get worse therefore it would be quicker at the start of the session. Only Button and Maldonado left the pits on the intermediate tyres. Then the mother of all delayed reactions took place as teams started throwing tyres at the cars and getting them onto the track as more rain fell. Jenson and Pastor were sliding on the slippery track on way to setting the opening times. A train of cars was circulating round the track a little too close for the Ferrari team as Massa and Alonso almost bumped wheels in the stadium section.
Then things got really interesting, as the rain steadied, the times were actually getting faster despite the track being wetter than it was for Jenson and Maldonado at the start of the session. Hamilton went fastest finding an inexplicable amount of time compared to the drivers around him, what was more interesting is that he was joined by Schumacher - who only just made it through and left the pit lane last a long time after the track was at its driest. Down in the relegation zone this time were the likes of Massa, Grosjean who had KERS problems and Rosberg. But that was where they were going to stay because the rain picked up a lot, too much for the intermediates and the times suffered. Several drivers went out on the full wets in some vain hope it would help, or to learn something for Q3. The conditions severely hampered the Sauber team who were quick in the dry but trapped in relegation at the we conclusion of Q2.
Only ten cars remained and the rain was beginning to ease off a little, but the track was going to remain rather wet for the remainder of the session. Fernando came on the team radio before the session began complaining that the Q3 shouldn't go ahead due to the weather, being a little whiny perhaps on that occasion. But ahead it was going to go whether the grumpy Spaniard liked it or not. This time the best laps were scheduled to happen at the tail end of the session as the track dried slightly but all laps were to be done on the full wets. McLaren were out first with both drivers setting the initial pace. Nico Hulkenberg had an almighty moment through the parabolika, getting some wheelspin on a gear change spinning the car on one of the fastest points of the circuit. Luckily there was enough run-off to control the slide and keep it off anything solid so he could rejoin undamaged.
The McLaren domination at the top of the timesheets was ended by a strong time by Schumacher, who had also been complaining about the conditions on the radio, then it was Alonso's turn - assuredly happy the FIA decided to run the session now... Well that would have been until the German bloke took the top spot by a tenth of a second. Several drivers opted for some new tyres, to displace the water from the track a little better, as the conditions were gradually improving meaning times were falling rapidly. Illustrated by Schumacher taking the provisional pole by 1.7s away from Hamilton. That in turn was defeated by Vettel and then it was time for a new leader in the form of Mark Webber in the other of the Red Bulls, albeit weighted by the penalty hanging over his grid position.
With the drivers on the final laps of the session it was Alonso who claimed the top spot, 0.7s clear of Webber, and it was that gap Vettel managed to move into placing his car on the front row. Schumacher and Hulkenberg made it three Germans in the top 5 (top 4 after Mark's penalty). Maldonado finished in 6th, ahead of the two McLarens Button heading Hamilton. Paul Di Resta completed a British trio in the mid pack with his Force India in 9th while Raikkonen rounds out the top 10.
The bonus points championship points winners
From another session which has shifted from completely dry to using the full wets, here are the points scores from the qualifying phase of the German GP.
- 10pts - Kimi Raikkonen - mainly for destroying everyone in Q1 on the medium tyres while others were fitting the soft compound
- 8pts - Michael Schumacher - in comparison to his team-mate a brilliant job, starting a net third
- 6pts - Nico Hulkenberg - A very strong performance in the Force India, and avoiding the wall in Q3
- 5pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Not bad for the Torro Rosso, almost making the top ten
- 4pts - Fernando Alonso - Suppose there are points for pole position
- 3pts - Charles Pic - Out-qualifying Glock on home turf deserves points
- 2pts - Kamui Kobayshi - For the strong Q1 pace when things were dry
- 1pt - Pastor Maldonado - For not hitting anyone for an entire session
The penalty points series
Although several grid penalties have been awarded before the race, they are all for technical infringements and gearbox changes, so we shall move on to the penalty points awards.
- Fernando Alonso - for whining about the weather, it certainly wasn't wet enough to stop the session at all, you were just being silly.
- The Toastie Machine - for trying to take my breakfast away from me
- Windows Movie Maker - for ruining the initial upload of my video on Wednesday.
Looking to tomorrow
As it has been said already in the run up to this race, the track does look a little simplistic on the surface, even Webber this weekend has stated that is it a little dull in design but can work well in terms of entertainment on race day. Because of the slightly mixed up grid from the wet final segments it could get rather more interesting indeed, especially if it does stay dry as the likes of Sauber and Lotus will be moving forward while Mercedes will be falling backwards. With Schumacher so far forward the train of cars behind the German could get long and agitated which can only lead to hilarity and mayhem. There is also the matter of cars dropped down the grid from gearbox penalties to look out for coming through the grid as well.
On top of everything once more is the weather, the forecast is for a dry race, but as I've seen in the support races the showers are sweeping in very rapidly and dropping a lot of water in the process, so the broad forecast probably cannot be trusted. A shower mid race would spice the show up quite a lot and throw in yet more unpredictability into a season which is completely mad at the moment. And who will suffer the wrath of Maldonado this weekend, all in all this German GP could be surprisingly entertaining one. So until then this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.
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