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/
 
A lot of rumours at the moment with no official word from the FIA.

"One team source tells me that today the FIA ruling changed from 10% throttle to 68%, which he says is 'close to full cold blowing'"

http://twitter.com/#!/adamcooperf1/status/89332812150358016

What the hell? Why 68%!? Where would that come from? Why even bother having a change in the regs and cause all of this fuss. ... What about the teams that hot-blow and don't cold-blow so much? Are they allowed to do it? If not, this could majorly benefit Red Bull as they don't hot-blow, and only cold-blow.
 
K so Renault-Red Bull get their way. If they were going to end up limiting it to 50% then why didn't they just have that as the rule in the first place. It's just a complete joke after all this hype. Teams all wasted a lot of money and development time, if Red Bull already had it all there own way then I think there's no chance of anyone catching up now.
 
It seems Lewis is determined to break the record for most visits to the Stewards' room in a single season! What ever it is...
 
Yet Red Bull got all the accusations thrown at them :whistle:

Yes Sly because Renault supply Red Bull engines and it has actually been the Renault engineers that work directly with/for Red Bull that have been complaining about this to the FIA.

On the bbc website it says:-

"Talks between Red Bull-Renault and the FIA have been going on for some days, and are expected to continue through Friday."
 
ROFL. There is a fight going on between Whitmarsh and Horner.

Sarah Holt tweeting:-

"Whitmarsh claims Renault engines ie Red Bull still had the throttle open 50% when new rules says only 10% is allowed"

"Horner ignored that comment and chose to complain about Mercedes. Watch this space on this squabble I say"
 
Renault are the ones that sound down beat reading the articles, most of their car is based around this, so if either protests, not surprised the other team doesn't...

Lewis Hamilton has to go to see the stewards after practice. No news on why

lol nothing unusual there then.

Is that a joke? Because I can't find anything on it....
 
Haha Adam Cooper tweeting:-

"FIA press conference turning into heated Horner v Whitmarsh debate. Seconds away, round one!"

"This is brilliant stuff let's hope it ends in a punch-up then at least we'll have something to write about today"
 
The issue is from what I understand, you can't just write the software for engine maps overnight, it takes a while. If the Renault based teams, notably Red Bull and Renault have come to this grandprix with engine maps ready to be ran at 50% use, which the rule now dictates, whereas teams like Ferrari and McLaren have their original, which are likely higher than 50% and then the 10% ones, then it means they may be forced to run 10% for this race, whilst RB can run 50%... It isn't a coincidence to me that Whitmarsh seems very angry.
 
All of the teams knew several races ago it was going to be curtailed to 10%.
They've had more than enough time to adapt.

I don't think that's the issue though.
It's simply that due to the way the Mercedes engine works. Teams running that engine will ultimately end up benefiting more than the rest, as they won't be hit as hard as Renault and Ferrari.

Now the FIA have to reach a compromise deal which will see neither engine benefiting.

Typical bloody FIA farce as usual.
This is the third or fourth different ruling on this issue in as many weeks.
 
I think this mid season reg change is very unfair to the Renault teams.

It smacks of FIA favouritism towards the Mercedes teams as well as Ferrari.

The Renault teams created a car based on an already agreed upon Formula One going into 2011...so why should they suffer simply because Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren haven't built a fast enough car to beat Red Bull?
 
F1 has finally turned tragedy into farce

Its obvious that Red Bull have had their toys taken away by the FIA and are determined to resist till the last. The deals made behind the scenes are obviously no longer appealing to all parties.

Andrew Benson has said that the restriction to 10% only might not just hit RBR heavily but Seb particularly more than Webber.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/07/how_do_you_beat_vettel.html

Why would there be this much mid season angst about rule changes?

I suspect there is a lot to this that will be difficult to contain soon
 
I think this mid season reg change is very unfair to the Renault teams.

It smacks of FIA favouritism towards the Mercedes teams as well as Ferrari.

The Renault teams created a car based on an already agreed upon Formula One going into 2011...so why should they suffer simply because Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren haven't built a fast enough car to beat Red Bull?

Boo Hoo!

Favoritism me arse!

Horner's been crying about his "inferior" Renault engine for years.
 
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