Round 10: Hungary 2013 - Review

Greetings Internet,

Well, we always come to this race and expect the worst, to find 70 laps of everyone holding position and following each other in one long processional line. Fortunately that was not the case, we saw cars going past other cars, something that is often so rare at the Hungaroring that the Stewards got all confused by it... but that is a rant for later on. The other thing that we learned from today is that everything we thought we had learned can be completely disproved in an instant, at the end of qualifying and looking at the weather we expected complaints of tyre melting into oblivion with a matter of laps and cars losing pace left right and centre. Yet very little of what happened today made a heap of sense - yes Lotus were as strong as we expected, and Red Bull remain the fastest car on the grid. But a no point in the race did anyone from Mercedes come on the radio explaining that they had no grip and things were falling apart, for some reason on the first race since the test they were not allowed to go to, Mercedes didn't lose pace. However the Hungaroring is a bit of an anomaly, when we move on to the next race, we expect things to be very different indeed.

I have seen better Hungarian GPs than this - mostly because of rain - but things have also been a lot less interesting especially in those years when a different German Bloke was winning all time... Today we saw a decent race, and most interestingly a lot of the overtaking didn't happen in the DRS zones, which in contrast to venues where every pass has been artificially introduced it was a nice touch. Agreeably for the vast majority of those it was tyre condition and strategy that gave the process a little helping hand - even if a few endplates were removed along the way. Turns out this trend that Giedo Van Der Garde started with Webber in Canada is catching on, lots of drivers have been wanting to shed wing endplates and elements now. But that was only a small part of todays Hungarian GP, of which the results are still under investigation on the basis of a potential Alonso penalty for incorrect DRS usage.

The Race

We had forecasts of temperatures reaching into the low 40's, yet that didn't really materialise, there was a slight increase from qualifying but nothing too significant, it was enough to cause cooling concerns up and down the grid however. The advice being to avoid spending too much time too close behind another car... right... on one of the tracks where being trapped behind another car is virtually a defining characteristic. So the only work-around there was to get out of the slipstream on the straights to cool things down... the irony of the solution to the temperatures is to lower the chances of getting past into clean air.

At start oddly it was Vettel who didn't quite get away quickly squeezing Grosjean into the grandstands while Rosberg was having a look to the other side. Hamilton was clear out front. At turn two Alonso tried to capitalise on Grosjean being held up by Vettel to pass the Frenchman round the outside, but Romain eased the Ferrari out wide. This meant that Rosberg tried to round the outside of Fernando in turn three - but he got eased out wide powersliding through the dust in the tarmac run-off space. To make things even more entertaining Raikkonen, Massa and the recovering Rosberg all seemed to be attempting to go round the outside of each other in turn four - resulting in Kimi going off in rally cross style through the dust. Rosberg was now on the outside of another Ferrari in turn five and got biffed out wide by Massa, costing Felipe and endplate and Nico was knocked down to 15th.

As is always the way in Hungary, the opening lap is the immediate highlight before everyone gets locked into their positions - Hamilton, Vettel and Grosjean lead a three car breakaway group while Alonso dropped back and Massa struggled with a damaged wing. Raikkonen was stuck behind the ailing Ferrari and would have plenty of time to memorise the rear wing of that Ferrari. A second group was forming featuring those cars starting on the medium tyre, lead by Webber from Button and Perez. So for the opening stint nothing much took place, everyone just waiting around for the first round of stops, and as Red Bull started positioning the team for a tyre change there seemed to be fewer photographers hanging around after Germany.

Hamilton pitted first and rejoined behind Jenson but was able to use a combination of fresh tyres, DRS and strong straight line speed to get past the McLaren on the next lap. A pass that seemed fairly easy and unspectacular turned out later on to be very, very important indeed. Vettel and Grosjean also pitted, rejoining behind Jenson- and there they stayed unable to pass the McLaren. It was a very similar story with Raikkonen, pitting seconds after Grosjean in a synchronised double stop for Lotus... only to find himself staring at the back of Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

Jenson spent a lot of time with the German Bloke filling his mirrors, with Grosjean right on the back of the queue - to sum up the time that they were all losing Fernando had managed to come from being 8 seconds down to join the line. Allowing Hamilton to vanish up the road, never to be seen again. Naturally this made Vettel rather displeased and tried to encourage Button out of the way, but because this is not touring car racing bumping the car infront mid-corner to forge a gap doesn't quite work so well. Jenson held position and all Sebastien gained for his efforts was a damaged front wing endplate. However he was doing it all wrong, as Webber proved all those weeks ago, the whole endplate has to come off before making the car faster... unless of course you're in a Ferrari. Massa wasn't able to catch the Jenson Button train in the same manner that Alonso had, and thus maintained holding Raikkonen up. Help was at hand however in the form of Adrian Sutil on an alternate strategy infront of Felipe, as Massa tried to pass the Force India and made some slight contact, a gap opened up for Raikkonen and was immediately through, and immediately faster.

Back with Jenson's friends, the McLaren was running out of tyres and was even more vulnerable - and after getting a better run through the first two corners Vettel took the place into turn four.  Being out of position on old fading tyres allowed Grosjean up the inside before the chicane... but Grosjean being Grosjean eased himself wide under braking forgetting that Jenson still existed. They bumped wheels and Romain cut across the chicane, fortunately without damage to either car - contact that would earn the Lotus driver a 20s post race time penalty. It was an incident similar to the one that span Hamilton into the wall in Spa after forgetting to account for Kobayashi's car. The contact also slowed Jenson enough to allow Alonso to make a pass on the exit of the chicane.

The next round of stops mixed up the different strategies all over the place, Hamilton ended up behind Webber and Alonso, while Grojean found himself racing with Massa's damaged Ferrari on older tyres. Staying with the Grosjean battle the Lotus driver had a clear pace advantage, but Felipe was able to defend in where you'd expect to be passed, so Romain tried something a little different. With the inside line up the hill out of turn three covered, Grosjean went to the outside of the corner and crafted a brilliant overtaking manoeuvre in turn four. But there was a problem, in order to leave each other room Grosjean left the track by a matter of centimetres, and was out of bounds for a fraction of a tenth of a second. The pass was deemed illegal and Grosjean was handed a drive-through penalty. Here lies the problem, there is a constant problem of drivers not leaving enough racing room, or passing - but as soon as someone does both things, they get a penalty for it...

Alonso towards the end of his stint was also causing a bit of a problem for those behind holding up Webber and then Hamilton added himself to the train after his stop. Then it appeared someone had been watching the GP2 series - learning that if a car is held up in turn two by a slower one ahead of it, it is possible to pass round the outside. So that's what Hamilton did to Webber, and before he got stuck behind Alonso the Ferrari pitted, everything was just falling into place, and those Mercedes tyres had still not disintegrated. In comparison, his formerly closest challenger, Vettel, pitted and rejoined behind Jenson Button again... this time however it was only two laps the German bloke spent examining the diffuser of the McLaren instead of 12. An application of DRS, and a little bit of KERs and Vettel was down the inside of turn two - this time without bumping the McLaren out of the way.

While no-one was really paying to much attention Raikkonen and Lotus were plotting, and after escaping the rear wing of Felipe Massa, had been marching forward exploiting the pace of the car and how easy it is on tyres. After pitting on lap 42, it was decided that they weren't coming in anymore - which made Red Bull a little concerned and hampered their hopes of a double podium. Speaking roughly of Finnish contenders, their 100% finishing rate was dashed as mechanical problems brought Bottas to a halt on the exit of the final corner. There was a mild threat of an enticing safety car but the Marshals were able to move the car safely out of the way. So as the lead cars were making their final series of stops Raikkonen edged sightly further forward.

Hamilton's final stop brought him out beside Webber in turn one - the Australian held off the initial attack but in turn two it was a case of de-ja vu as Hamilton went round the outside - as both cars went round the outside of Hulkenberg being lapped at the time. It was momentarily three wide before turn three, until Hamilton ran Webber out wide into the dusty run-off area, while Webber had yet to make his final stop to finally used the softer tyres. Grosjean and Button found themselves on the same piece of track again, this time the race was problem free and Romain took the spot safely in turn two - and was not penalised for the pleasure.

When the Red Bull team pitted their drivers they found that Raikkonen was not ahead and up into second place, while Grosjean's comeback charge was brought to a halt as the Lotus became trapped behind Alonso's Ferrari. So with Hamilton vanishing off into the distance it was only the battle for second that remained alive as Vettel trying to wrestle it from Kimi Raikkonen stretching out his tyre life aiming for a 28 lap stint. Although further back Button was running his car even longer, but wasn't battling anyone at the time. Making the Raikkonen, Vettel battle the only position looking likely to change, but Kimi resisted everything the German Bloke could throw at him. Vettel tried round the outside of turn four, but again Raikkonen fended it off, if he had made the pass it probably would have been declared illegal anyway.

Due avoiding the Button train, Hamilton went on to claim an uncontested victory, without any tyre disintegration or failures - despite the final five laps being very worrying following an engine failure for Nico Rosberg. Interestingly Nico's retirement moved Maldonado into 10th scoring the first point for the Williams team in 2013 - so Williams may owe Rosberg a beer tonight. Kimi held off Vettel to secure his position on the podium while Webber recovered from a poor grid position to finish in 4th. Alonso and Grosjean followed each other across the line in 5th and 6th. Jenson survived been biffed and pushed by several people during the race, to score more points for McLaren in 7th, ahead of what remained of Massa's damaged Ferrari in 8th. The points scoring positions were rounded off by Perez in 9th and a first point this season for Williams and Pastor Maldonado.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

In a race where the majority of the field were deemed insignificant by the TV footage, as far as they were concerned the mid-field could have fallen into a sink hole in the middle of the main straight and no one would ever know, keeping track of everyone had been difficult. For example Di Resta retired with hydraulic issues and we never found out until the race was over and the standings published... but here are the points for todays race.

• 25pts - Kimi Raikkonen - For being subtly brilliant without biffing anyone, and powersliding through turn the exit of turn three
• 18pts - Romain Grosjean - For being brilliant, especially that pass on Massa
• 15pts - Mark Webber - For almost making the podium from 10th on the grid
• 12pts - Lewis Hamilton - For winning without destroying tyres in the process
• 10pts - Pastor Maldonado - For getting Williams first point
• 8pts - Nico Rosberg - For giving Williams team its first point
• 6pts - Van Der Garde - For winning the lowest division in the Caterham
• 4pts - Adrian Sutil - For helping Raikkonen escape from behind Massa
• 2pts - Jenson Button - Survived a bit of a beating today
• 1pt - Felipe Massa - Proving that front wing endplates are a little more necessary than Red Bull think

The Penalties Championship

Over the last break the stewards must have been a little bored, and came back and issued some penalties:

• Romain Grosjean - Drive through penalty - For passing Massa
• Romain Grosjean - 20s time penalty - For biffing Button
• Nico Hulkenberg - Drive through penalty - For speeding in the pitlane
• Ferrari - 15,000EUR fine for having a dodgy DRS system on Alonso's car

The Penalty points series

Time for some of those other things that need penalising

• The Stewards - For being a little bit silly
• Sebastien Vettel - For immediately complaining about the first defence Raikkonen made
• Fernando Alonso - For complaining about Grosjean then doing the same thing to Rosberg a corner later

Looking forward to Belgium

Lots of tracks are classified as dull, some as only making sense in some dark design office in the middle of some city miles away from where they are going to be built, but there are others that are a little bit different those like Hungary or Interlagos which are genuine and fun. But then there is a whole different league of race track, and very close to the top of that exclusive club is the Belgian GP of Spa Francorchamps the greatest circuit on the calendar in the middle of the Ardennes where rain, mayhem and grandeur are in abundance. When racing drivers go to their happy places, Spa is where that is because it is brilliant, if there is a track there worth waiting for across this summer break - this is one of the few worth waiting for as we plunge headlong in the second half of the season. Featuring the final two races of the European season, started with the one of the greatest of all - Spa Francorchamps.

Round 10: Hungary 2013 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

Well, if we could have set up a grid to combat the potential processional nature of the Hungaroring - what we have should do, a bit. Yes a Caterham front row would certainly mix it up a bit and then having Vettel start from the Austrian border would make for an interesting race, but what we have been dealt shall have to do. There are a couple of cars which are slightly out of position so will have to force their way through, one of those being Mr Di Resta who most of the time may as well not bother leaving the house on Saturdays. But Paul has made the most positions of all drivers this season, so hopefully the form that has earned so many bonus points thus far, can make the middle of the grid very interesting. The heat is not causing the extreme difficulties that had been potentially threatened... unless you happen to be an Australian in the main Red Bull team, in a car which seems to encounter every technical drama possible... none of which ever seem to transfer across to the other car... interesting.

The form guide from the first two practice sessions suggested that Red Bull would be so far ahead, off into the distance, I'd get lapped here at Blog HQ again, Lotus were the closest challengers and Hamilton claimed that the Mercedes pace was woeful. How things change from one day to the next, as the temperature increases, 34 degrees at the start of the session and a track temperature of over 50 degrees. But then again the temperature sensor here claimed that it was 39.6 degrees outside of blog HQ, but I imagine that it is lying, by a long margin. Back in Hungary they are claiming forecasts of 42 degrees air temperature, which is probably enough heat to warm the living room through the TV. We've often seen that masses of rain can completely rearrange a race, but how will the hottest race of all time, beating the previous record unsurprisingly set in the desert of Bahrain. But all that is for tomorrow today was qualifying.

Qualifying 

Getting people to leave the garage at the start of the Hungarian GP qualifying is traditionally an arduous process, because after morning practice and support series sessions the track is thoroughly messed up with debris and rubber. In the past the bigger teams would wait until the likes of Minardi, Tyrell and Stewart teams to go out first and clear the track, nowadays there isn't the time for that. We had been informed that the track had been swept and cleaned before qualifying to allow everyone an equal playing field, at least in the track conditions anyway...

While the likes of Alonso, Webber and Hamilton were sitting around doing bugger all as Q1 got underway Esteban Gutierrez left the inner sanctum of the pit lane to head out onto the track and record an uncontested fastest lap. The Mexican held the lead for a while, probably the longest time the Sauber driver has been anywhere respectable for a long time, since those few laps in the lead in China due to an alternate strategy. But it was all for nought as Williams started their laps on the softer tyres, which have a considerable time advantage over the medium compound - and took themselves to the front, joined momentarily by the Torro Rosso of Vergne on the faster tyres.

The main contenders didn't need to bother with the medium compound, or so we thought until Ferrari left the garage and were on the soft tyres, which triggered the rest of the grid to follow suit to avoid been shuffled down and into relegation.  Mercedes found some pace, and went 1-2 at the front of the field... while at the the back, early leader Gutierrez was now in relegation along with Force India's Paul Di Resta - but he put on a new set of soft tyres to escape, looking to relegate Perez out of Q1. However there was a problem, Di Resta's tyres did not agree with him or the car, and a lap of sliding round the track kept the Scot in 18th and in relegation.

Q2 was a Red Bull show for very different reasons, started off with that German Bloke setting a rather quick time in the high 1m 19s range, no surprises there frankly given the Friday pace, but Mercedes and their special qualifying pace were still there. It wasn't long before the silver cars were 1-2 with Rosberg the faster of the pair. But back with Red Bull and the other side of the garage things were not quite so rosy, as Mark Webber's car once more encountered technical dramas, first the quickshift system in the gearbox broke, only to be followed up with a KERs failure. The car was still drivable and could complete the session but was down on pace, falling into the relegation zone.

It was very close on the cusp of making into the top ten as teams and drivers started throwing new soft tyres at the car to find that extra few tenths. In this flurry of activity Williams had both cars in the top ten in 7th and 9th... the first time they've seen a place in single figures for a long time too, only to be demoted as Sutil, Perez and Hulkenberg improved. Yet more change was afoot as the latest batch of temporary qualifiers for Q3 were knocked down into relegation this time at the hands firstly of Daniel Ricciardo still vying for that seat at Red Bull, and then by Mark Webber hauling the ill car round the track into 7th place. One of the casulties of this process was the other McLaren of Jenson Button who was shuffled down to 13th place, a quarter of a second from safety.

Off into the final session of the day, and it was Webber who went out first, still without KERs on the car, and a less than pleased Australian behind the wheel, conveniently followed by a second Australian with an unnaturally sunny disposition spying on his potential 2014 car. Mark only completed a sighter lap to validate that the car was still ruined, oddly Ricciardo also pitted, not taking his eyes of that Red Bull drive. Instead it was left to Raikkonen to set the first time of the session, in the 20s, which so far that would seem like a solid time especially on used tyres. That German Bloke however had nice new tyres and Vettel completely and utterly demolished the times already set to create a monstrous 0.8s lead.

We headed into the mid session break accepting it might well have all been decided very early on, but there was an array of purple first sector times, because if the Red Bull had any vulnerability it was in the first sector. First Grosjean knocked three tenths off Vettel's seemingly unattainable time, but through the rest of the lap steadily fell back and behind the German, an identical story for Raikkonen in the sister Lotus. Rosberg had almost half a second up on the Red Bull but couldn't hold it through the final two sectors, but then there was Hamilton in what he had described as a 'shocking' car in practice held onto a sector one advantage throughout the lap, to go ever so slightly faster. Vettel responded with a very strong challenge, closing the gap in the middle of the lap, and at the end of the final sector lost out on taking pole by 0.038s. Grosjean held onto 3rd alongside Rosberg in the second Mercedes. Alonso and Raikkonen held control of the third row, ahead of Massa in 7th, the top seven covered by just over half a second. 1.2s back were Riccardo and Perez, while Webber did not set a time in his ruined Red Bull.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

Today has not necessarily been a day of drivers outperforming their cars and being massively out of position... not forwards anyway, but there were a lot people making cars that are already really fast maximising that potential.

• 10pts - Romain Grosjean - Actually managed to find the pace in the Lotus that we expected the heat to deliver for them 
• 8pts - Lewis Hamilton - After Vettel unleashed that lap to go out and then beat it 
• 6pts - Sebastien Vettel - That seemed like a very good lap at the time...
• 5pts - Daniel Riccardo - Still going well looking for that new drive in 2014
• 4pts - Sergio Perez - Dragged a McLaren into the final part of qualifying
• 3pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Wins some power sliding points for drifting the car on several occaions
• 2pts - Charles Pic - For winning the bottom division of cars
• 1pt - Williams - Were inside the top ten for a little while at least.

The Penalties Championship

Only a single fine was issued on Friday to Valtteri Bottas for speeding in the pit-lane and received a 1,000EUR fine for the achievement.

The Penalty Points Championship

There is also only one penalty point that needs to be added today, and although it seems a little unfair and things, but there is a precedent for this sort of business and that is to Webber for not setting a time in Q3.

Looking to Tomorrow

We all know that the Hungarian GP is not the most inspiring race of the season, famed for absolutely nothing happening for the duration, and everyone holding position for 90 minutes. Looking at the GP2 race this afternoon it is going to take a significant car advantage to complete a pass, made even worse by the sheer volume of discarded rubber that collected offline. On the exit of turn 11 for example the entire track was covered in rubber, because the racing line is out over the curbing, Oddly there was more passing (of the ones without contact) round the outside of turn 2, where the second DRS zone will be in the race tomorrow. With all this rubber, it does make you think there will be some tyre degradation issues tomorrow, naturally for some more than others.

Examining the grid the stereotype of a dull race could be countered by the fact there is a Mercedes on pole, if anyone is going to have tyre issues it is going to be them, creating a large queue of angry drivers lining up to capitalise on that. We'd assume that the actual race it would be between Vettel and immediately Grosjean and maybe Raikkonen and Alonso later on in the race. Further back we have Webber, Button and Di Resta hoping to make up for another poor Saturday afternoon. So until tomorrow this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.

 

Round 10: Hungary 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

Well it has been a while since out last outing, but the series is back from another odd break in a calendar which looks more like the proverbial swiss cheese than an actual season, in preparation for the polarising Hungarian GP. But before we get onto that, it is time for the news.

While I, and most other people probably have been sitting around for the past three weeks waiting for some racing, the grid spent the first weekend effectively on holiday at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and then most people went to the young driver test that involved most race drivers except Mercedes who were banned. Were any of the times from the test relevant probably not, but there were some interesting faces in the cars, several development drivers appeared including Suzie Wolf for Williams, and Robin Frjns for Sauber - the latter being an interesting prospect even though financial difficulties have relegated him from the GP2 series. On the second day, Daniel Ricciardo finished they day 1st and 3rd... having driven both the Torro Ross and the Red Bull, perhaps an early indication of Webbers replacement.

What else has been going on... well there are plans afoot for next season's calender, which is up for several changes if the rumours are to be believed. First up the track at Sochi in Russia has been inspected and approved for F1, our newest addition to the season. Next up Red Bull are up to something in Austria - remember the A1-Ring that went missing for a while as it fell into disrepair, but Red Bull bought it, and refurbished it and now they want it on the calendar and Bernie seems to think it's a good idea. On top of that there is the ongoing saga involving the New Jersey GP, which was delayed due to a combination of Hurricane Sandy and money issues, it has gone all quiet on that front, but with all those tracks - others are under threat. The internet believes that Korea is under threat of being culled, along with the Hungaroring, more worryingly Suzuka is out of contract.... it will be a very sad day if that goes missing. Also the Spa/Paul-Ricard deal also has gone a little quiet along with rumours of Thailand, Mexico and South Africa having their names thrown into the theoretical hat.

We can assume more light will be shed on these matters this weekend... which is also presently lacking a contract for next season... for the Hungarian GP

The Track

When the thought of the Hungarian GP turns up it is traditionally responded to with an underwhelming sigh, and an excuse to take a nap on a Sunday afternoon, even the conventionally mental GP2 races have been dull at times. Which is a massive shame because the track is good, and quite entertaining to potter round in the simulator, the layout flows well and the middle sector is brilliant - so with a track that is such a decent place to drive around on, why is the racing so tiresome... Well it is quite narrow in places, most places - in the same manner that the Nurburgring is, therefore there it is hard to get two cars wide most of the way round. The second problem is ironically one of it's strengths as a track - it flows well with little in the way of straights, so there is one usable line that everyone uses, which leaves the track offline dusty, and exceptionally low grip. 

The powers that be have been rather aware of this predicament over the years and did make some changes to the track to make the track more race-able without compromising the nature of the layout. This meant re-profiling T1, making the apex sharper and the breaking zone longer, and hey presto we have passing - backed up in recent years with the DRS on the front straight. A second change was made on the other side of the circuit at turn 12, through the same process of sharpening the corner and lengthening the straight. However this adjustment hasn't been quite so successful, not in F1 anyway - Maldonado tried passing here and just biffed Hulkenberg out the way instead, but Maldonado likes biffing people in most corners. 

In this season of cramming as much DRS into each layout as possible, two zones have been added - one on the main straight, and the second on the exit of T1 before T2... which seems a little mad on the surface given how little space there is between the first two corners. But to make matters all kinds of worse is that there is a single detection zone... seriously, why... who makes up these things and what are they taking when making these decisions. It would make more sense to use the space after turn 11 to make use of the re-profiled T12, the hill up to turn four would be a decent straight but the idea of reaching the crest with the DRS open is frightening. The wing only closes automatically when the brakes are applied, which doesn't happen in turn four - Ralph Firman had a rear wing failure in a Jordan there and had a massive accident. An accident that gave Timo Glock his debut standing in for the injured Irishman. So there is a precedent for lack of rear downforce approaching that corner.

What to Expect

The forecast for this race is heat, a lot of it - in fact it may be the hottest race of all time approaching 38 degrees on Sunday, warmer than races in the Bahrani desert. So in essence Mercedes may as well not bother turning up as this is going to cripple their tyre conservation and race pace, it also may not be too helpful for Red Bull. It does however make the people at Lotus rather happy, having taken two thirds of all podium places in Bahrain since 2012 - their cars rather enjoy the heat. Ferrari also have a car that likes it hot, not as much as the Lotus team, but have more baseline pace. Meaning that the race looks like it could be unusually fun for a race at the Hungaroring, because Mercedes may be quick in Qualifying but may evaporate completely the day after falling into a long train of faster cars. 

Despite bringing new constructions and developments in the tyre department - no-one has tested in temperatures that we are expecting. How long will even the most conservative compounds fair on an abrasive surface in almost 40 degree heat - no-one has any idea, but the best guess is that whatever the results are Mercedes will not like it one bit. It will however potentially enhance Lotus' advantage on long run pace, especially with the race being the hottest part of the weekend. There is some potential for some odd results at the end of the race because Force India and Sauber are good on tyres... and if there is a chance of failures in the heat... who knows indeed. Hungary might not be famous for out and out excitement in the dry, but the variables involved this weekend may very well change that. So until then this is farewell from Blog HQ.

Round 9: Germany 2013 - Review

Greetings Internet,

Sometimes you have mad dynamic races, and sometimes you have dull processional races... but then there are the odd ones, and Germany has been odd this time around. The relative tyre performance bore no relationship to anything we've seen so far in the weekend due to a second sharp increase in tyres for raceday in as many race events. At Silverstone this caused things to explode, whereas this time round it granted Lotus super-powers and gave Mercedes a beating - while all this was going on we had possessed Marussias making a bid for freedom (I'm sure Alonso and his magician's beard may have had something to do with that) and we also had strange spins, questionable rules and possessed tyres - the second consecutive year at the Nurburgring that we've seen a loose wheel run down the pit lane. Last time it was tackled by a Williams Mechanic... this time it sent a bystander to hospital - and after the events of Canada and soon after that Le Mans, the dangerous nature of the sport was all too clear. We got luck this time and the guy involved has not been seriously injured and escaped with only a few broken bones from the impact.

Despite all the oddities that took place the result up at the sharpest end of the field was a rather familiar face and stretches the championship out a little further, because no matter how well the main rivals do in the race, a certain German bloke always ends up a little ahead. It all seems odd that despite having the last two races where the margin between the top two at the line is around a second (1.008 this afternoon 0.7s in Britain) and 0.4s separating 10 cars in Q2 - that we've had one bloke constantly edging further out front. But it has been an interesting season before we head off towards the half-way point next time in Hungary.

The Race

Before things kicked off today, we say several drivers practising their starts at the end of the pit-lane - because the change in surface temperatures altered the optimum traction values and clutch bite points. A process that Webber was going through more than others, likely on the back of the dodgy start last weekend which lead to being clipped by Grosjean in turn one.

When the lights went it out it was clear that this recalibration worked out rather well, as both Red Bulls swarmed past Hamilton off the line pushing the Mercedes down to 3rd, that almost became 4th as Raikkonen came close to making it down the inside of turn 3. Considering that all of yesterday's support races ended up in a lap one safety car, this was comparatively rather clean, it got a little close in the back of the field - some cars running three wide at the apex of turn one but there was no contact. Saving all the oddities for later on. A series of alternate strategies saw some early place shuffling, as Rosberg dropped a couple of places, and Perez made it down the inside of his team-mate in turn one, making sure to edge Jenson off wide on the exit... making friends once more inside the McLaren garage.

Then the first of the oddities began and Massa somehow managed to spin the car in the opposite direction to the turn in to the first corner, stopped the car and buggered off... turns out the anti-stall may have kicked in and stalled the car, which from an outside perspective seems counter productive. Anyway the Ferrari was towed away and Felipe's German GP lasted a grand total of three complete laps and the 600 odd metres down to the first corner. It might be worth noting that at the time he was ahead of Alonso - some magical superpowers later and the situation had been resolved, could be considered as a little suspicious. These powers didn't seem to affect Ricciardo who managed to stay ahead of the remaining Ferrari.

With a large amount of drivers starting on the softer compound the first round of stops came early into the race with Di Resta coming in first on lap five, the Force India team then released the car back into the path of Jean-Eric Vergne's Torro Rosso. The only two cars in the pit lane and they almost hit each other - the unsafe release despite happening at the start of the race was to be investigated afterwards. At the time this seemed like lunacy, plenty of time to issue a penalty - but a fine was eventually imposed of 5,000 EUR which makes more sense as it was a team balls up not Di Restas. It that wasn't bad enough the Red Bull team released Webber without putting the rear wheel on properly, it promptly detached and sped down the pit-lane. Like the 2011 incident it went straight through the Mercedes garage before bouncing and hitting a cameraman in the shoulder knocking him severely to the floor. The cameraman was airlifted to hospital and has a broken collar bone and several broken ribs, as of this point there is no news on what penalty Red Bull are facing for the incident, but i'd imagine it will be a severe one.

Webber was pulled back to the garage and given a new tyre and released - albeit one lap and 67s behind Vettel out front. But the German bloke himself surrendered the lead as it was his turn for some new tyres, and rather helpfully Red Bull decided that the German Bloke deserved four tyres, I'm not sure if that counts as favouritism or not but it meant that Grosjean inherited the lead of the race still driving around on the softer tyres. What was most interesting is that Romain was still setting fast times on the supposedly less durable tyres while Alonso on the harder compound had to stop for a newer set - Lotus exploiting their conservation superpowers to double the expected life of the softer tyres. The other side of the Lotus garage was a more frustrated affair as Raikkonen had came out from his stop behind Hamilton and Rosberg who were in the middle of a little intra-team tiff. Rosberg was informed that Lewis was faster on newer tyres and instructed not to hold him up... which is not so secret code for 'get out of the way'. Naturally Nico disagreed and wanted to stay in front. In the process costing both Lewis and Raikkonen time in their respective races allowing Vettel and Grosjean to have their own race at the front.

Eventually Hamilton was released from behind his team-mate and disappeared off into the middle distance before he found himself behind Hulkenberg running long in the Sauber. Without Hamilton in the way Raikkonen made short work of Rosberg round the outside into the final corner - and in a matter of a few laps was on the back of Hamilton and Hulkenberg. It was the same problem for Raikkonen his DRS was cancelled out because Hamilton also had DRS on the car in front and was unable to make any progress. Once Hulkenberg pitted Lewis had to defend from the Finn and the Mercedes was eating it's tyres making that defence ever harder - Kimi was able to repeat the move he made on the other silver car round the outside and off into the distance.

More oddities now as Jules Bianchi's car imploded in a massive plume of smoke and then some fire for good measure, but the fire extinguisher worked and Jules fled the car with plenty of time. All seemed normal a generic abandoned car recovery job for the marshals... except the Marissia was not co-operating and had a sudden phobia of green tractors. So it ran away, all by itself reversing down the hill - we had a tractor on the edge of the track and a fleeing race car rolling back into oncoming traffic, inevitably the safety car had to be called even though the Marussia had parked itself in a much safer place of it's own volition, after reversing through an advertising board. The safety car brought about a very interesting situation with Mr Webber, through some odd loophole in the regulations he was allowed to pass the safety car and rejoin the back of the queue. Traditionally this rule is to get lapped cars to get out of the flow of traffic for the restarts - but Webber was already at the back of the train and thus was in no-one's way and effectively got his lap back for free. Very like the free-pass given to the first car one lap down in NASCAR races.

The restart was also good for Raikkonen who recouped the damage caused by being trapped with Hamilton behind Rosberg and brought him back up to Grosjean and Vettel at the front. The safety car however was bad for Hamilton because he'd stopped before it came out and as a result was trapped in the mid-field back behind Hulkenberg again. Now on the back of the field Webber was now able to pass people for position being on the same lap again, scything past the Caterhams, Chilton and Bottas - Williams dropping down the grid due to wheel-gun issues in the pits. But Webber's charge was halted when he encountered the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez, because the Sauber refused to surrender to the charging Australian. Several times Webber was able to get alongside only to find the door firmly shut eased wide on the exits of turns one and three on different laps.

It was getting close up at the front as Vettel was not able to lose Grosjean and Raikkonen as the two Lotus cars were ganging up on the German... which mysteriously in the background Alonso was sneaking gently closer to the top three. Hamilton was also getting close - this time with Di Resta as the two were almost three wide with Maldonado's Williams which was in the points for the first time all season. But Pastor had to pit again, and there was a faulty wheelgun waiting there for when he did, which inevitably cost the Venezuelan a lot of time and any hope of the first points for the team. But at least Williams ensured that all four wheels were attached to the car before sending it back out onto the track... This signalled the phase of the race where drivers needed to come in for their final stops of the day, except for Raikkonen who decided not to come in. This inspired the thought that the car was going to the end of the race, which would involve a really long final stint. Raikkonen may not be the most conversational driver on team radio, but communications were hampered by radio problems - as discussions intensified on intended tyre life.

Raikkonen's stampede out front depended on how quickly Vettel and Grosjean who had pitted, made it through other cars staying out and struggling on older worn tyres, the first of these was the Mercedes of Hamilton in fourth place. That battle bought Raikkonen some time but not enough to stop and rejoin in the lead, neither did the next car of Jenson Button as the McLaren pitted just as Vettel caught up. Realising that making to the end may not be plausible, and considering the amount of time Kimi was losing to the other podium contenders justified making a final stop, followed in by Alonso from second. Both drivers played a final trump card and placed Raikkonen and Alonso onto the softer compound for a final charge to the flag. With ten laps to go the top four had formed a breakaway pack, where Vettel had the very close attentions of both Lotus drivers, all three exchanging fastest laps at will - only to have their pace annihilated by Alonso closing from fourth.

Grosjean's side of the garage demonstrated that his radio was working as he was asked to move over for Raikkonen on the softer tyres to allow him to attack Vettel. Once Kimi was released the difference in pace was evident and started stripping tenths per sector from The German Bloke's lead. But the gap was just a little too big - Raikkonen managed to eke his way into the DRS zone at which point the chequered flag was thrown declaring Vettel the victor on home turf from Raikkonen, and Grosjean held off Alonso for the final step on the podium. Hamilton fell from pole to fifth, illustrating that the tyre wear issues at Mercedes are not quite resolved and won't be on account of being banned from the next test. Jenson Button scored some valuable points for McLaren by bringing the car home in 6th despite being considerably less than complimentary about the Caterham drivers late in the race. Blaming them for allowing Hamilton to catch and pass him in the final few laps. Somehow, flukey rules and all Webber went from being a lap and a minute down to taking points in 7th place for Red Bull. More points for McLaren with Perez in 8th, while Rosberg and Hulkenberg made it three Germans inside the points at the Nurburgring.

The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners

In a race containing all kinds of oddities and strangeness there has to be some points awarded for the performances today and are awarded as follows:

• 25pts - Mark Webber - From 1 lap and 67s down to scoring points by the end of the race deserves some mega points
• 18pts - Romain Grosjean - Some major pace today, and found some impressive tyre life on those softer compound tyres in the first stint
• 15pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Should have won the race today if he wasn't impeded behind Rosberg
• 12pts - Jenson Button - Finally a decent race for a McLaren
• 10pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Spent most of the day in the points for Sauber but was caught out by the safety car
• 8pts - Bianchi's Marussia - A car that tows itself way and runs from recovery tractors definately deserves some points
• 6pts - Sebastien Vettel - Survived some intense Lotus based pressure today and still won on home turf
• 4pts - Esteban Gutierrez - Gets points for resisting the challenges of a charging Webber
• 2pts - Jean-Eric Vergne - Gets points for the evasive action performed in the pits when avoiding Di Resta's unsafe release
• 1pt - Ted Kravitz - Somebody on the SKY team that actually knows what is going on in the pit lane

The Penalties Championship

The pit lane was the source of our penalty problems today and here are the penalties following the German GP:

• Force India - 5,000 EUR for releasing Paul Di Resta into the path of Vergne at the first stops
• Red Bull - 30,000 EUR for not putting a wheel on properly and wiping out the cameraman

The Penalty Points Championship

While the official powers that be have doled out their penalties time for the blog to finish things off:

• Red Bull - for their pit lane indiscretion causing injury
• Safety Car Procedure - Was out way too long considering Bianchi's car cleared itself away

Looking forward to Hungary

Well the Hungarian GP is traditionally only ever famous for being dull and uneventful, often compared to Monaco in terms of how difficult it is to overtake. Due to lack of seasonal use the track is often dusty  as well as it being narrow, twisty and with very few opportunities for conventional overtaking. That bad press is a bit of a shame because the track itself is very good - the middle sector flows very nicely from one corner to the next - but that is the very characteristic that makes the racing a little lacklustre at times because there is one useful racing line. Preventing drivers from venturing offline to try something a little different.

But that all goes out of the window if it rains, damp Hungarian GPs have been brilliant competitions - 2006 instantly springs to mind where Jenson Button claimed victory from 14th on the grid weathering safety cars and very changeable conditions. I am more than willing to be proven wrong, and with new experimental tyres it is entirely plausible, but the Hungarian GP is traditionally one of the weakest races of the season with very little going on. So until next time this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.

Round 9: Germany 2013 - Qualifying

Greetings Internet,

Well, as expected today was going to be all about tyres, so much so that the actual event of qualifying seemed to be a mere hindrance to an ongoing argument - but to settle that down for a bit Pirrelli have brought the hybrid spec constructions. These new tyres are lined with kevlar instead of metal, which SKY pointed out is the same material bullet proof vests and things are made of - so perfect for any races Bernie wants to hold in gangland territories. Also it does render the prospect of any theoretical boycott of the race rather moot, because there are no signs of failure despite the European heatwave causing some high temperatures at the track. In fairness nobody realistically expected things to be as dramatic as they were in Silverstone because that was an anomaly in extreme conditions. Furthermore an investigation into the explosions has revealed that the practice of swapping tyres from the right side onto the left side of the car to extend tyre life increased their vulnerability. So as a result Pirelli have banned that practice as well as setting limitations on camber and minimum pressure.

All that stuff about tyres is not terribly interesting despite how much coverage the issue has received  in the past week - so time to refocus on the fact that there is a race weekend underneath it all. The most amusing development so far is that Alonso seems to have arrived disguised as a magician - or a circus ringmaster, the difference is negligible. I personally was not aware that the Ferrari team had employed a spontaneous fancy dress policy - but a little levity every now and again can't hurt. On the whole the balance of power seems very changeable this weekend, as temperatures changed due to cloud cover, different cars seemed to have more or less pace - but in the end it's the two teams that have benefited from the tyre debarcle that retain the final stranglehold on the top positions when the final flag waved.

Qualifying 

Rather uncharacteristically the scene opened to a nurburgring bathed in sun, with only patchy cloud hovering around the mountains famed for rain and spontaneous showers, no such threat this time round. A slight shame as a little rain would be entertaining, and of course, there would be much less complaining about tyres is it did. Down in the garages most of the teams were just sitting around watching some allegedly important rugby match... which in itself sounds a little like an oxymoron, almost as if other sports matter - but what to I know. I assumed Alonso had used the power of illusion and suggestion to hypnotise everyone into thinking the session hadn't started. For the first few minutes it seemed to have worked.

The first man to break free from Fernando's magical hypnosis was Paul Di Resta for Force India and current bonus points leader who, sky revealed, made a total of 38 places this season from grid position - might explain where all those bonus points came from. But the scotsman's time was not particularly quick as was easily beaten - and for the first time in a very long time Williams were leading something, in fact it was a 1-2. The struggling team spent almost three minutes holding onto the top two places until Ricciardo still eyeing up Webber's 2014 seat used the softer compound to go fastest, even faster than the Mercedes of Rosberg on the medium tyres.

Some of the main contenders decided that the medium tyre wasn't worth using in this session - considering how well it was working for Mercedes losing time to the Torro Rosso. Ferrari and Lotus went to the softs and automatically went to the front, firstly the resident magician took Q1 pole before Raikkonen, who being unphased by bits of exploding tyres bouncing off his head in Britain was not going be influenced by Fernando's questionable facial hair - and stole the lead away. Down at the bottom of the field we found McLaren waiting until the end to set their times - when they did it dropped Williams into the relegation zone - from leading the session to seeing both cars knocked out with the smaller teams.

Straight into Q2 and Di Resta and Vergne opened the session with a middling pair of times, times that did not stand up to the challenge of the two Mercedes cars finding over a second on Vergne's opening effort. Hamilton now lead from Rosberg two just under two tenths down. While Red Bull sat in the garage waiting for the track to clear as the rest of the grid came in for new tyres. That window inevitable arrived with the Mercedes cars locking out the front of the time sheets... until of course the Red Bulls got the clear track they were looking for - and Vettel went fastest. At this point the session seemed a little too methodical with everyone running to form, so much so that Mercedes shut up shop on the basis of the second half of Q2 following the same pattern... or was it more Alonso trickery...

On track the temperature had started to rise, playing into the hands of Lotus and Ferrari, increasing the competitiveness of their machines - immediately illustrated by Grosjean setting purple sectors but losing a little by the end of the lap. Alonso then went fastest, only to be pipped by the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa - might have been a good time for Mercedes to leave the garage and defend their position... apparently not. Rosberg began to fall down the order as Ricciardo and Hulkenberg found more pace getting ever closer to relegation. A decent lap from Button placed the German in 10th the final qualification place for Q3... almost safe with only one more car left to set a time. The problem being that the remaining car belonged to Raikkonen, and he was in 11th at the time - which promptly became 2nd... and 11th for Rosberg and the pole contender was relegated. An audible sinister laugh was heard from Alonso's cabin, along with the sound of a rabbit being placed back into a top hat.

The predicted four way battle for the lead was now down to three contenders with Rosberg out -  Ferrari went out on track first but only completed an installation lap each, only Raikkonen was really pushing the car at the very start of the session to set a decent opening benchmark. A benchmark that was not quite decent enough as Vettel knocked a third of a second off it to go fastest... but even that wasn't enough because the only remaining Mercedes went even faster to claim provisional pole position in the hands of Lewis Hamilton.

After a visit to the pits, it was time for round two - where interestingly Ferrari and Jenson had decided to compete for position on the slower, more durable tyre - sacrificing ultimate pace for an alternate race strategy. A plan which didn't last long for Button, who informed the team that he could not beat the Ferraris and gave up the qualifying effort and failed to set a time... haven't had one of those in a while. For a brief moment it seemed we would have a non-Mercedes on pole for once when Vettel reclaimed the top spot from Hamilton - that position came under-threat from Webber who set two really quick opening sectors but came across Alonso on the slower tyres in the final couple of corners and lost a couple of tenths to go third. But Hamilton was going even faster behind the lot of them and claimed another pole for Mercedes and his second in a row.

The bonus points championship points winners

Todays session may not have been particularly action packed, but the closeness of the times in Q2 was very impressive - 10 cars inside 0.4s of each other, and there is always room for bonus points.

• 10pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Another very impressive qualifying performance beating Ferrari and leading mid-field class
• 8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - For his strong Q2 performance, when things were so close to place 6th in that part of the session
• 6pts - Lewis Hamilton - Because that was a rather quick performace despite being off pace in the final practice sessions
• 5pts - Kimi Raikkonen - The only car to stick with the top two teams in Q3
• 4pts - Williams - For leading something for a bit, even if it was a tiny fraction of Q1
• 3pts - Romain Grosjean - Another strong display from the Frenchman
• 2pts - Fernando Alonso - For the very suspicious disguise carved into his face this weekend
• 1pt - Charles Pic - For winning the bottom division

The Penalty Points championship points winners

It has been a while since I've needed to penalise people for not taking part in the last phase of qualifying but there are two of those points to go out this time around

• Jenson Button - for not playing in Q3
• Nico Hulkenberg - for not playing in Q3

Looking to Tomorrow

Now we may not have any threat of rain, or a massively jumbled grid  - but what we do have is a series of cars with vastly differing race and qualifying speeds, meaning that although the grid may have formed for the most part in a respective order, that order may not be the one on raceday. For example Mercedes might fall back towards Red Bull and Ferrari may move forwards on their alternate strategy of starting on the mediums, and of course there is the small matter of Rosberg and potentially the Force Indias being out of place. We know how much Di Resta likes coming through the field after a challenging Saturday, the allure of bonus points is a powerful force. 

Looking at the GP2 and GP3 support races there seems to be a high change of an opening lap safety car, as both their races featured one - in GP2 that was due to a car being flipped on the main straight and rolling into another stalled car. While in GP3 it was deployed to cover a series of accidents - one of which almost lead to another upside down race car in the final chicane. Therefore the prospect of a simple lights to flag drive for Hamilton and a simple, calm, and uneventful race is definitely not an inevitability. It may not be an immediate season highlight with the threat of rain completely removed,, but this years German GP could be a very interesting affair indeed. So until tomorrow this is farewell from blog HQ.

Round 9: Germany 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

Normal service should resume this week, after Wales did rather compromise my approach to the weekend - that said, it was completely worth it... sorry internet. Anyway despite there only being a very short gap between leaving our little island and heading back out onto the continent there has been enough discussions and arguments to fill and entire season. Obviously all the controversy has slipped away from Mercedes and that 'secret' test session - and onto even less well concealed problem of exploding tyres... can't really hide that little issue can we. But since that weekend with rubber shrapnel scattered pretty much everywhere - there have been a lot of sporadic decisions that from the corner of my sofa, or Blog HQ as it is occasionally defined, may considered a little bit of a kneejerk reaction. The most severe of which is that drivers within the driver's association are threatening to boycott the weekend if the failures re-occur... which is a bit of a silly statement because we know what happened at Silverstone is a perfect storm of events. We had a sharp increase in temperature Saturday to Sunday on a really high load circuit and a tyre vulnerable to the inner edges of the curbs - yes the tyres are to blame but will the events repeat themselves in Germany... I think not. However a solution is needed, especially before the end of the European season because we have Monza - where curb hopping is essential and then Spa with more extreme speeds and corner loads.

So what has been the solution - well it is a series of interim ideas, the first of which is to use a hybrid tyre. This tyre has the compound of the present ones, with all the questionable wear rates and complaints they generate - but replacing the inner construction with the 2012 version. Meaning instead of a metal belt, the tyres will be running with a kevlar one, whether that helps remains to be seen but the idea is that the tyres should be more resilient and less likely to fail or explode. After that there is the updated compound that Lotus and Ferrari were displeased about has been brought back into the equation - the one that was thought about after everyone didn't like the way the Spanish GP worked out. But in the mean-time we do have the next instalment of F1 2013's continual tyre based argument in the Eiffel Mountains in preparation for the German GP.

The Track

As soon as the Nurburgring is mentioned the mind automatically draws up the images of hurtling through the forests on the old and exceptionally challenging Nordschleife - made even more popular by its inclusion in modern racing games. But it has been a long time since the series wound its way through the 'green hell' as it was so eloquently nicknamed, replaced on the calendar by a much smaller and definitely easier modern version. Yes the new layout is more compact but that doesn't make it a poor layout by any means - because new is only a relative term in the compact lap has been around since the 80's when tracks still flowed well and corners existed for the purpose of being challenging and at the same time fun. Something that the new fangled Tilke tracks have not been able to emulate, although they did try hard with Austin.

Over it's lifetime there have been few changes to the lap - the only real modifications have been added to the first section of the lap. Originally this was a simple yet effective chicane which once saw Ralf Schumacher drive his Jordan over his brother's Ferrari - and Pedro Diniz being flipped in the Sauber two years later... ah the nostalgia. Then in 2004 it all changed and we good a weird hairpin and some other debatable corners - brought in to improve overtaking, which unlike other such changes around the world has worked wonders. Also because the track doubles back on itself there is room for cars to run two-wide for several corners. So the adjustment has made the racing better but is less of a driving corner.

Like Montreal the lap contains mostly chicanes, and like the Canadian circuit these are chicanes done very well indeed, the majority of which are fast and enticing, designed to be attacked whereas some corners reward patience and caution. The first of these sequences is the Ford-Kurve, because almost all the corners are sponsored here, a lot less confusing as Magny-Cours where all corners are named after other circuits. Interestingly the Nurburgring chicane there is a brilliant reflection of the nature of it's namesake, because the second phase of the corner is tighter than the first as most of the German chicanes are. Even the hairpin at the bottom of the track - Dunlop Kurve - has a gentle positive camber to it to hug the cars into the racing line.

Two DRS zones will be in action again this weekend - only two tracks all season are reported to only have the one (Monaco and Suzuka) - now most of the time there are complaints as to where these are cited. But in the case of the Nurburgring the options are limited, most of the track is a curve so the only two straights have been used for the special button, and both of these are conventionally decent overtaking places as is. The first is on the main straight, leading into the turn one hairpin, the most commonly used overtaking zone on the track, while the second zone is on the back straight leading into the NGK chicane... the other most popular overtaking area. All in all I can foresee another race where all of the passes are DRS assisted but I am certainly prepared to be proven wrong.

What to expect

Well, if we ever hear or see anything that isn't related to the ongoing tyre debarcle then a race weekend might actually break out - one thing we are not expecting is a continuation of the spree of explosions and disintegrating rubber. The teams and drivers may fear the potential for such a development but an actual realisation of that inherent paranoia is a different matter. Firstly because of the differences in the conditions and the track - but additionally because in the Eiffel Mountains rain is never too far away - a mad storm in the 2007 race saw virtually everyone spin off into the gravel - including Hamilton, and Liuzzi span almost wiping out the safety car and hit a recovery forklift. All of which was a shame as one off Spyker driver Marcus Winklhock had a 30s lead before the rain hit. Then 2008 saw a fantastic duel between Massa and Hamilton in continually changing conditions - at times it rained and others it dried up with some brilliant racing.

Will things be as fun in 2013, perhaps, the field has started to split a little - Red Bull and Mercedes had eked out a tiny advantage from Lotus and Ferrari... that secret test seemed to do them good being constantly on pole since. While the teams who initially got a grip of the tyres in the first part of the season are now being disadvantaged by the way the arguments and responses that have been made - note that off the top of my head Lotus have had no tyre failures and neither has Alonso in his Ferrari. As a result they've fallen back behind Red Bull and Mercedes.

Speaking of falling back - McLaren are on a dismal run of form, failing to score in the last two races and being comprehensibly beaten by Force India. The last time the team started a season with a dodgy car in 2009, they made a sizeable comeback and dramatically improved the performance to race winning levels... this is not happening this time. Is it a co-incidence that this is a the first season in a while without Hamilton, well who am I to speculate, but maybe it isn't either way there is a lot of room for improvement. It is a similar situation at Williams, horrifically under-performing - the only person they can compete with at the moment is Gutierrez in the slowest side of the Sauber garage (missing Kobayashi now are we....). Williams have still failed to score a point this season - part of that is that attrition is lower this season, but to have their worst season in history cannot be down to a single factor.

Overall the German GP at the Nurburgring is an enticing prospect mostly due to the potential for some intriguing weather, but with the inclusion of some hybrid and largely unknown tyres which may not retain or gain heat in the same manner as the originals. Whether the wet and intermediates have been treated to the same updates as the slicks is a matter which hasn't been covered, but I'd imagine for the sake of continuity they have been. Blog HQ is looking forward to this weekend especially considering it will be the first race since Wales that I intend to be compus mentus enough to have a decent grasp of what is going on in this phase of tyre confusion and unpredictability. So until next time this is farewell from this corner of the internet.