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/
 
Name me any F1 circuit (particularly any one of those that have been in use since the 1950's) that hasn't changed over the years.
Monza?
Monaco?
Spa?
Nurburgring?
Hockenheim?

Let's face it, all circuits change and the majority of those changes are forced on the circuits for safety reasons. If Silverstone had kept to, say, the pre-1991 layout, they would certainly not be hosting Grands Prix now.
Donington never had a chance and it's a pity that those involved didn't see that sooner, rather than clinging to the false hope Bernie kept giving them right up until the last minute. It's way too small a venue for a modern GP, the proposed infrastructure was woefully inadequate (from mundane things like not nearly enough toilet blocks, to having far too many corporate boxes and suites at the expense of too few grandstands) as well as being architecturally drab and unimaginative, and has transport links that never would have coped with the 70-80,000 or so that turn up on Friday, let alone a typical British GP race day crowd of 110-120,000.

I say well done to Silverstone for keeping up to date and for having the determination to make the necessary changes even while the Donington affair was being played out (we nearly lost the British GP completely for Heaven's sake, due in no small part to the greed and intransigence of one small man).

Ok, I was never a fan of the Luffield complex, and Stowe corner should be made more of a corner again rather than a bend, but it's still exhilarating to watch the cars on the limit round Copse or through Maggots/Becketts, and the new section with Abbey becoming a fast right-hander and the Wellington straight into the new Brooklands left-hander has been pretty successful, adding good overtaking opportunities and even making more sense of Luffield. And the Silverstone Wing is a fantastic new addition by any measure.
Also there are excellent viewing places most of the way round the circuit, even for those without grandstand seats; and you can't say that for some other venues, such as Monza or Spa.

I for one like Silverstone very much and I can hardly wait till Thursday, when I'll be at Woodlands setting up camp.
Go Lewis! Go Jenson! Go Paul!
(That reminds me, I must go and check I have enough gas for the airhorns)
 
I've been thinking about the Ferrari situation - if they are so terrible on the hard tyres like they were before is it worth at least one of their drivers sacrificing a grid position and saving softs and then just doing the 1 lap on the hards to get the tyre usage out the way. Either the first lap of the race(which makes more sense to me) or the last lap of the race. No rule against it and even if this means a few more pitstops for them surely it would work out quicker?

just an idea.
 
Either the first lap of the race(which makes more sense to me) or the last lap of the race. No rule against it and even if this means a few more pitstops for them surely it would work out quicker?

just an idea.[/quote]

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I can't be bothered to check the rules on this (although I suspect it may been outlawed now), but when you say the last last lap, do you actually mean changing tyres with one lap to go, or actually... on the last lap, meaning the car would finish the race in the pit-lane and run a total distance of about, say fifty yards on the hard tyre, from pit to finishing line? Now THAT would be a winning tactic surely? :D although as I said I'm sure someone will have already banned that.
If not my salary demands as genius tactician are open for negotiations.
Macca, Red Bull, Ferrari please form an orderly queue.
All applications will be considered.
 
on the last lap, meaning the car would finish the race in the pit-lane and run a total distance of about, say fifty yards on the hard tyre, from pit to finishing line? Now THAT would be a winning tactic surely? :D

It was a winning tactic! I think Schumi did it with his ten second stop and go pen in 98 didn't he?

I was meaning do one lap on the tyres but your way sounds better!
 
Yeah that's what I was thinking of but I think they banned finishing in the pits since didn't they? I can't remember to be honest.
 
I seem to remember Vettel only doing one lap on one type of tyre last season so don't think its outlawed. But then again you would have expected someone to give it a go this season so far. If one lap is ooutlawed how about 2?
 
There wouldn't be a lot of point changing tyres at the end of lap 1; with the cars still quite tightly bunched you'd end up right at the back.
Here's the rule on tyre use during the race:
25.4 (f):
Unless he has used intermediate or wet-weather tyres during the race, each driver must use at least
one set of each specification of dry-weather tyres during the race
So it would seem that pitting at the end of the penultimate lap would be fine.
 
So it would seem that pitting at the end of the penultimate lap would be fine.

What would happen if the race was red flagged due to an accident 2 or 3 laps before the end and race directors chose not to restart for the last couple of laps meaning he did not get the chance to change to the other set of tyres.

I say accident as a weather related red flag would mean both compounds would not need to be used.
 
What would happen if the race was red flagged due to an accident 2 or 3 laps before the end and race directors chose not to restart for the last couple of laps meaning he did not get the chance to change to the other set of tyres.

I say accident as a weather related red flag would mean both compounds would not need to be used.
30 seconds would get added to the driver's time. Here's the rest of paragraph 25.4(f):
If the race is suspended and cannot be re-started, thirty seconds will be added to the elapsed time of
any driver who was unable to use both specifications of dry-weather tyre during the race. However,
any driver who completes the race without using both specifications of dry-weather tyre will be
excluded from the race results
 
In reality though, I guess that almost invariably when races are abandoned it is because of persistent, heavy rain, which would mean that everyone would have already changed to wet tyres at some point anyway.
 
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