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/
 
Yes, apparently the new rear wing wasn't satisfactory.

Haha, no suprise there. Not many of their upgrades get put on the car these days huh?

With regards the race. I think that if it is dry, Ferrari could get a 1 - 2. I feel they could be faster on race pace and they are also kinder on their tyres, which could be a big factor here.
 
Well to be fair it's a bit difficult bringing in upgraded versions of current specs that work when technical rules are changing by the hour...
 
Off topic, but in response to the questions asked, as far as I am aware, periscopic exhausts have already been confirmed for 2012, which will completely remove any form of EBD.
Indeed they have.But after the last couple of days who knows.

http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/category/f1-2012/ Following the meeting of the Technical Working Group, the FIA have agreed to mandate periscope style exhausts from 2012. This has been in an effort to rid the sport of exhaust blown diffusers, a trend that has dominated aero development in 2010 & 2011. While initially it was the FIA’s intention to move exhausts to the rear of the diffuser, the teams preferred to route the exhaust out of the top of the sidepods “periscope” style. This solution is far more aero neutral and prevents teams developing new complex exhaust routing to gain what little aero advantage there is from the rear exit. Also it benefits the engine suppliers who don’t have to retune their engines for long secondary exhaust pipe lengths.
 
Of course he has the self control. He's a former world champion. Self control is recovering from Canada and finishing 4th, splitting a very competitive Ferrari and ahead of a team mate who was supposed to be on a high. But some will conveniently ignore this to pursue their hidden agendas.

Button is still ahead, though. Jenson will beat Hamilton because he is more consistent, if it goes on like this. I realise Hamilton has better racecraft and is faster than Jenson (most of the time) but he needs to be more consistent.
But I guess I'm on a hidden agenda :(

Anyway, I'm off to watch the telly now. Hope it's a good one. Enjoy people!
 
Red Bull should hang their heads in shame.
Clear team orders against Mark on the last lap.

Great drive by Alonso, I predicted him to win.

No doubt Hamilton will be penalised for that last corner contact with Massa.
 
To be honest they allowed Webber to have a go until the last lap when he started to look very clumsy. I can understand why he was called off.

Alonso can thank Hamilton for helping him build that healthy lead.
 
Team orders are allowed now. I'm pretty sure every team would have done the same.They don't want a repeat of Turkey...

Great drive from Hamilton, too bad Mclaren screwed things up for both their drivers, especially Jenson. Well deserved victory for Fernando, it's great to see someone else up there every once in a while :P.
I feel sorry for Felipe though... He was doing very well but Ferrari screwed him over with the pit stops.

I hope Hamilton won't get penalised, though seeing how they penalised Schumacher for essentially a racing incident I fear that they will...
 
Mark didn't, the radio messages are usually delayed. Horner said that Webber kept pushing. It was only the last lap when he stopped pushing.
 
Alonso can thank Hamilton for helping him build that healthy lead.[/quote]

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Really? I thought I saw FA double his lead pretty quickly once Seb got into second place...
 
I have been waiting all season for today. I have held back judgement on Seb because of the advantages he has had which have meant that we haven't really got to see him race much up to now. Today is the day we saw Vettel tested as a racer rather than just a quick driver. Today is the day we saw that he cannot beat a faster car in normal conditions and today is the day that we saw that he cannot overtake a slower car with a decent driver in it. Today is the day that I am finally comfortable in passing judgement on Vettel.

My judgement is that he is very quick and if you give him the fastest car he will disappear into the distance. If you give him a competitive car and bundle him in amongst the other top drivers in equal or nearly as competitive cars he will likely not come out on top. Fernando and Lewis are still shades ahead of Seb in my opinion.
 
Button is still ahead, though. Jenson will beat Hamilton because he is more consistent, if it goes on like this. I realise Hamilton has better racecraft and is faster than Jenson (most of the time) but he needs to be more consistent.
But I guess I'm on a hidden agenda :(

Anyway, I'm off to watch the telly now. Hope it's a good one. Enjoy people!

button was more consistent than lewis last year,but lewis still got more points.if lewis has a good race he will walk away with more points than button most of the time.this is the reason why lewis was able to get 4 dnf's to jensons 2 last season and still finished 26 points ahead of button.
 
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