Grand Prix 2011 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

In a case of after the lord Mayor's show, we are back to square one after Valencia served up another placid race with the same result - A Sebastian Vettel victory. Some people reckon that the championship will be decided at Silverstone as if Red Bull still win despite the EBD ban, that is the championship over and done with for this season, and it's hard to argue with that considering Vettel has only dropped 14 points so far this season after 6 wins and 2 second places, not even Schumacher in his 2002/2004 pomp started a season like that.

So we go to a circuit where 3 drivers hold as their home grand prix, lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Paul Di Resta, but the Mclaren pair go into their home race in low spirits after their update package failed to get them closer to Red Bull on a circuit where Red Bull were supposedly weaker at than other tracks, a feeling that has been reflected across the paddock with Alonso admitting that the championship was virtually over and it would be more productive to focus on 2012 and 2013.

Silverstone has recieved a massive redevelopment as part of the 17 year contract it recieved when Donnington couldn't come up with the goods to stage a British Grand Prix and the new addition this year is the pit lane complex which looks stunning and has really elevated Silverstone into the 21st century as one of the elite grand prix facilities, (and certainly one to show off to the other countries when they come here ;) )

With the rule changes this could be the most unpredictable race of the season however, as we saw in Valencia, if anyone can adapt to rule changes, it's Red Bull, Adrian Newey has often been able to pull a rabbit out of a hat when the chips are down so don't be surprised to see Vettel take his seventh win of what has been a remarkable season for the young German who has swept all before him and is now walking towards his second World Championships and joining the select few who have won back to back Championships.

It's been a curious couple of weeks for Ferrari, off the pace and then suddenly back on it in Valencia and once again (like Turkey) they are the second fastest team again when the car is in the hands of Alonso (although Massa didn't exactly have a bad race himself)

Further down the grid at Toro Rosso, Alguesari has proven a point to his critics after a points finish at his home race and his second points finish in a row, and if he wants to keep his race seat there, he needs more of where that came from as Ricciardo is no slouch and will want the second seat at Toro Rosso next year. Even Sutil in the Force India shrugged off his critics to beat his team mate to claim a handful of points to relieve the pressure on his shoulders, albiet for only a short while.

For Galahads superb circuit write up see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/silverstone-circuit/
 
It seems the OTD ban brought Ferrari right up close to RedBull and left McLaren about a second and a half behind.

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Correct me if I'm wrong but Jenson qualified 4tenth behind pole sitter Webber.

It would be nice if the Beeb commentary team stopped acting daft at times. Coulthard, EJ et al conviently forgot Kravitz's earlier report that Hamilton was out on used tyres and then resorted to the usual cliches to explain his poor qualifying time.
 
Does anyone know if Di Resta used softs in Q1? His time was nearly 2 seconds slower than Maldonado who did. He could be the only driver in the top 10 with a set of new tyres to play with.
 
Great performance from Di Resta, terrible performance by Hamilton/McLaren. Was Button sent out on used tyres as well?

Red Bull still the fastest car, but Seb seems to have lost his Q3 dominance along with the new restrictions

Does this mean he won't pull away at the first lap tomorrow?

Why has the restriction seemed to put Webber and Seb back on equal pace?

Not sure if it has anything to do with the restriction... Could be the conditions. We'll have to wait and see.
 
The only difference for Red Bull has been Seb in Q3,
Q1 and 2 have been the same, close to Webber

But no more surprise Q3 magic extra 5/10ths

Maybe in the race tomorrow we won't see one or two magic laps either
 
They could probably punt on this GP and still be fine. As far as I know, they have never run with the 10% setting.
I guess they could run the risk if getting DQ'd this race if they can get the concession reinstated for the rest if the season
They ran with the 10% setting.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92959 Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says he can accept his squad running at a 'disadvantage' this weekend but wants a compromise deal for the future - or for the FIA to backtrack on its clampdown over off-throttle exhaust blowing settings and return to the pre-Silverstone situation.
After an extraordinary meeting of Formula 1's Technical Working Group was held this morning at Silverstone to try and find a resolution to the growing controversy, Horner said he would accept Red Bull running at what he feels is a 'disadvantage' this weekend if the situation was changed for the following race in Germany and beyond.
Concessions were made to both Mercedes and Renault on reliability grounds, but after disputes yesterday, the FIA decided first thing this morning that the Renault submissions had come too late, so withdrew the allowance to retain 50 per cent throttle opening under braking, while Mercedes kept its over-run firing concession.
 
It did slow them a bit.But by the time they get to Germany and Newey has optimised the aero for this set up (unless it is rescinded) they will recover more performance.
 
The BBC have just confirmed that it will be back to how it was at Valencia from Germany onwards.

So once again Red Bull will recover their half second advantage.
 
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