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.
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