Two weeks after the British GP the blog has returned at this, the half-way point of the season well it will be once this weekend has been completed at the fall of the chequered flag on Sunday afternoon. By this point last year, the outcome of the championship had started to turn slowly into a formality as that German bloke was walking away with it a little too easily. Fortunately it has turned out rather differently this season where in the first nine completed races we've had seven different winners, and no one is running away with the championship. There is a slight contrast in the bonus points championship has been a little less competitive than its opening year, where six drivers came into the final race looking to claim the inaugural title. It might be a by-product of the change to the points scoring system which may be recalibrated for 2013, but there is the slightly more pressing matter of the race ahead this weekend.
Where we head shift from the home of the bonus points champion into that occupied by the actual world champion, along with several other members of the grid. Meaning the next stop on the European leg of the season is indeed the German GP. With its history linked to some of the greatest tracks the sport has encountered including the epic Nordschleife which ended up on the blog for this weekend last time. But this time around the race is handed over to the other track that operates the shared hosting of the event, another former legend of the series - Hockenheim. Initially famous for the long full speed straights powering through the forest between walls of trees. Interspersed with chicanes to break up the straights, to stop people hitting the fence too hard in places. However those powerful blasts out into the wilderness have been amputated from the track Leaving us with a rather shorter version of the lap, but despite the loss of the original sections what we have is still a decent set of corners.
The Track
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| credit to the FIA for the map |
It could be said that the track is a stereotypical representation of Germany, because it has been engineered specifically to function in the capacity of a racing facility, and therefore works for all series that compete on the layout. Where other tracks designed initially for F1 are oversized and ineffective for any other category, this one functions for everything. What is also rather impressive is that the track also manages to balance all the different elements that form the circuits of the world, including slow corners for overtaking chances merged into the rest of the lap without coming across as contrived. Something the likes of Korea and India have been guilty of in their latest efforts.
Incorporating faster, more interesting corners into the lap as well, the turn into the Mercedes arena and the mobil kurve are key highlights although one consequence of the improvements to aerodynamic technology minimises the challenge these corners present. The opening corner still maintains some of it's difficulty because the rough edges of the curbing can throw the car off balance if they run a little wide, which is all to often the case through the corner. It does make lap one an interesting prospect in these uncertain times.
But after repairing this weeks video it is now time to unleash it onto the world, and there may be some typos as I has to revert to an earlier version since WMM ruined the first release, hideous program always trying to destroying everything. In this week's edition as with last week, there is an element of nostalgia going on once more, from a less historic time. Taking a visit back to the time the blog first started tuning into the world of motor-racing well - three years after that. So this is the video release from the German GP.
What to expect
This could prove to be a rather interesting weekend, as the track should keep the cars rather close on pace, which should carry through into the race leading to the chance of long car trains forming - probably behind Schumacher as other events have shown. It could be a track that will close up the front teams leading to conceivably four teams competing for pole and that is before you throw in the competitors from the mid-field that can mix things up a little.
So at the front Ferrari, Red Bull, Lotus and McLaren will be the main contenders one can assume, and perhaps this weekend McLaren won't be so far off the pace in comparison to Silverstone. But because the times will be so close only a couple of tenths would shuffle them down to the bottom of the top ten, to where Mercedes and Sauber will be lurking to benefit from a fortunate lap.
That means the mid-field will be in contention for some serious points and close on pace to the front running cars, which can cause a very uncertain grid, as a will timed run in qualifying can jump a driver several places further up then we'd normally expect. This applied to all of Sauber, Williams and Force India who have all exhibited strong turns of speed in the recent races through the large amount of updates brought to the cars. It does sort of leave Torro Rosso in a division of their own towards the back fighting to stay ahead of the three newer teams.
Looking at those teams and the updates didn't work out too well as a large gap had opened up between group leaders Caterham and mid-field tail enders Torro Rosso, a gap which was completely erased in Valencia. This time however the two phases of the grid should be a lot closer, and there is a chance for Heikki to break out of the first qualifying session again probably at the expense of Vergne. As for the other two teams back here, well they are now roughly on the same pace once more, as they managed through the middle of last season. Illustrating that it takes half a season for HRT, to get up to speed with the next slowest team on the grid which doesn't bode too well for their future really.
The blog predictions.
It is that time once more, where the blog gets to demonstrate how little idea how badly the blog can figure out who belongs where in the rapidly changing hierarchy this season and the scoring reflects how not so well it has gone, so here we go again.
- Vettel
- Alonso
- Hamilton
- Webber
- Raikkonen
- Grosjean
- Button
- Rosberg
- Massa
- Kobayashi
qualfying battle
- Red Bull - Vettel
- McLaren - Hamilton
- Ferrari - Alonso
- Mercedes - Rosberg
- Lotus - Grosjean
- Sauber - Kobayashi
- Force India - Hulkenberg
- Williams - Maldonado
- Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
- Caterham - Kovalainen
- Marussia - Glock
- HRT - De La Rosa
So there we go then, all the criteria for setting up a race weekend have been put in place for the weekend, and the event does omit a subtle hint of anticipation. Because on the surface it may not seem like one of the races that would be picked out as a certain highlight, the actual race can still prove to be rather exciting. Hockenheim may not have the climatic variability that the Nurburgring does, but the simplicity of the layout and the refreshing focus on the racing a track can provide make this one race that could go either way in terms of entertainment. Yes this isn't the original charge through the forest that is used to be but the shorter modern layout has a different charm and personality and can lead to an unpredictable and enthralling weekend. So on that note the blog shall bid you all farewell until the post qualifying update.
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