Grand Prix 2010 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Well 60 years after it all began we are back at Silverstone for the 2010 British GP. This time last year most of us were contemplating how 80,000 people were going to use a park and ride scheme to reach Donington. This year the modified Silverstone circuit sees the addition of the Arena section which adds another 4 seconds per lap and in the sticky mitts of the BRDC, a 17 year contract to host the race.

Can anyone see past the RBRs and McLaren in a fight to the end for victory in this race. Will the RBRs magic "any weight" ride height suspension see them top the podium or will the sheer grunt of the Merc' engine shine through on this high speed circuit?

Merc' and Ferrari need to bounce back from a disappointing couple of races because the front two are starting to edge away. The race marks the mid-point of the season and at the moment it looks like a two horse race for the remainder of the season unless Ferrari can find something (6 10ths anyone?) and Ross Brawn manages to find that old magic.

Williams and Sauber were the surprise packages in Valencia and can they carry that on through to GB. Barrichello loves Silverstone so don't be surprised to see at least one Williams car in the points.

Lotus were talking of bringing another major upgrade to the car for this race so can they finally close the gap to the midfield pack. Expect further progress from HRT and Virgin now that they seem to have found some reliability and Virgin have a fuel tank capable of making it to the end of the race.

All in all we are in for a fascinating weekend.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The weather looks like it might be dry for the whole weekend so it's going to be flat out around the new circuit.

I presume during Friday practice we'll see McLaren running their new blown diffuser.
It will be interesting to see how it performs.
Let's hope it doesn't send them in the wrong direction just as the fight's getting interesting.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Can't wait mate,

Theres a pretty picture of the McLaren new front wing out as well
mcwing.png


Very intricate :goodday:

Looking forward to practise tomorrow to see what steps they have brought forward!
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

MajorDanby said:
Can't wait mate,

Theres a pretty picture of the McLaren new front wing out as well
mcwing.png


Very intricate :goodday:

Looking forward to practise tomorrow to see what steps they have brought forward!

Christ, look at the detail on that.

Especially that little 'tube' on the bottom 'lip'. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Looks to be a very aggressive update from McLaren, hopefully it'll improve their already strong front grip!
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

teabagyokel said:
Do they do any upgrades that are not agressive?

Passive upgrades?

"Yes we have an upgrade."
"Want to tell us any more about it?"
"Yes, now we get breakfast included."
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Enja said:
Christ, look at the detail on that.

Especially that little 'tube' on the bottom 'lip'. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

I know, what can that little nozzle be for? Must direct some airflow under the wing and floor, what for though I can't imagine. Can't wait until 10 am tomorrow.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

MajorDanby said:
Enja said:
Christ, look at the detail on that.

Especially that little 'tube' on the bottom 'lip'. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

I know, what can that little nozzle be for? Must direct some airflow under the wing and floor, what for though I can't imagine. Can't wait until 10 am tomorrow.

Well I think I've got it

It is an F-duct front wing stalling device operated by a tiny leprechaun from the McLaren Leprechaun Breeding Complex built in 1997.

The leprechauns are now ready to live in a McLaren front wing and block air, thus they have been 'installed'. The difficulty will be feeding them without Bernie finding out, which is why a driver-operated crumb duct has been installed. Lewis and Jenson will be expected, during pitstops to drop crumbs down a tube running to the leprechaun pen.

The leprechauns have not been told what will happen if the car crashes. =[. It is exploitation, pure and simple.

:dunno: :whistle: :moustache:
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Enja said:
teabagyokel said:
Do they do any upgrades that are not agressive?

Passive upgrades?

"Yes we have an upgrade."
"Want to tell us any more about it?"
"Yes, now we get breakfast included."

I wouldn't class a breakfast upgrade as passive! e.g. my FP muffins tomorrow are being upgraded, for the British Grand Prix, to "McZider Smoky Bacon with Egg Muffins"© and already my stomach is growling quite aggressively! LOL
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

teabagyokel said:
MajorDanby said:
Enja said:
Christ, look at the detail on that.

Especially that little 'tube' on the bottom 'lip'. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

I know, what can that little nozzle be for? Must direct some airflow under the wing and floor, what for though I can't imagine. Can't wait until 10 am tomorrow.

Well I think I've got it

It is an F-duct front wing stalling device operated by a tiny leprechaun from the McLaren Leprechaun Breeding Complex built in 1997.

The leprechauns are now ready to live in a McLaren front wing and block air, thus they have been 'installed'. The difficulty will be feeding them without Bernie finding out, which is why a driver-operated crumb duct has been installed. Lewis and Jenson will be expected, during pitstops to drop crumbs down a tube running to the leprechaun pen.

The leprechauns have not been told what will happen if the car crashes. =[. It is exploitation, pure and simple.

:dunno: :whistle: :moustache:

Surely Bernie is the leprechaun?

:moustache:
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Enja said:
teabagyokel said:
MajorDanby said:
Enja said:
Christ, look at the detail on that.

Especially that little 'tube' on the bottom 'lip'. Don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

I know, what can that little nozzle be for? Must direct some airflow under the wing and floor, what for though I can't imagine. Can't wait until 10 am tomorrow.

Well I think I've got it

It is an F-duct front wing stalling device operated by a tiny leprechaun from the McLaren Leprechaun Breeding Complex built in 1997.

The leprechauns are now ready to live in a McLaren front wing and block air, thus they have been 'installed'. The difficulty will be feeding them without Bernie finding out, which is why a driver-operated crumb duct has been installed. Lewis and Jenson will be expected, during pitstops to drop crumbs down a tube running to the leprechaun pen.

The leprechauns have not been told what will happen if the car crashes. =[. It is exploitation, pure and simple.

:dunno: :whistle: :moustache:

Surely Bernie is the leprechaun?

:moustache:

Though Martin Whitmarsh considered leaving a cheque made out to "Formula One Management" down there to bait him, it transpires he's just too darn small to operate the device.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

teabagyokel said:
Though Martin Whitmarsh considered leaving a cheque made out to "Formula One Management" down there to bait him, it transpires he's just too darn small to operate the device.
rofl
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Hamilton does it again.
The safety car rules, as expected, have been "tweaked" after Valencia.

Instead of operating to a 'delta' time of 120% of a regular F1 lap before the cars form up behind the safety car, as under the old regulations, drivers will instead be forced to slow down to the actual estimated speed of the safety car itself.

The idea of slowing cars this much will be to ensure there is no possibility of a driver overtaking the safety car – as Lewis Hamilton did on the run out of the first corner at Valencia.

Drivers are due to conduct experiments with the new delta time after free practice at Silverstone on Friday and Saturday, with the new delta time being used for the first time in the race on Sunday unless any unforeseen major problems after thrown up beforehand.

The slower delta time will prevent drivers getting a benefit by being ahead of the safety car on road.

The FIA has also reacted to the problems drivers had of breaking the delta time in Valencia, after only finding out about the safety car towards the end of the lap, by making it clear that they will be exempt from the new safety car speed limit for the final 200 metres of the lap.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85072

Could they make the safety car rules any more complicated if they tried?

More here.

In the meeting, Whiting also promised the teams that efforts will be made to issue penalties like Hamilton's faster in the future. In Valencia, Hamilton's penalty was delayed because the race director did not request the stewards' investigation until after the Mark Webber crash was dealt with. But in future, potential penalties will be passed immediately to the attention of the stewards, while the race director can continue to focus on a Webber-like incident.

Moreover, because the arrival of crucial evidence about the Hamilton incident also slowed down the in-race investigation, there will now be cameras constantly monitoring the safety car lines 1 and 2. There will also be trackside markings that show the location of the safety car lines, so that a driver cannot argue he did not notice the lines from his driving position.
http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/22537.html
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Surely the new SC rules will prevent the cars from quickly bunching up behind the SC? I'm sure this one of the important aspects of the SC rules, to allow time for marshals to clear the track?
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I think I read somewhere that Nigel Mansell will be the ex-driver advising the stewards. There have been a lot of British drivers taking up this role - Hill, Herbert (twice), Warwick and now Mansell. Anyone any idea why the Brits seem to be preferred, maybe it's our natural sense of "fair play". LOL Let's hope he has boned up on all the new rules brought in recently.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Thankfully, "our" Nige won't be the only Steward. He's just providing a driver's view point. Otherwise, we'd just be hearing a lot of moaning about 'there was a problem with the cars....' LOL
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Isn't that 'tube' from the stand that the front wing is resting on...? Looks a bit of rough and ready welding to be an aero part...

As for the race, should be a Red Bull benefit, unless something very odd happens (IMO). Hamilton will be interesting - as far as I'm concerned he's only had one decent British GP, and that only happened because it rained. In 2007 Alonso was much quicker throughout - Lewis only got pole with a much lighter fuel load. And the past two years Kovalainen outqualified him. So we'll see...Button hasn't had much more luck, it must be said.
 
Re: 2010 British GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Ha, oh yeah. Thats exactly what it will be Galahad :embarrassed:
 
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