Grand Prix 2012 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

After a Grand Prix in Valencia which was probably better than all the others put together it shows that F1 2012 is completely mad. For the first time this season there is a driver with 2 wins after Fernando Alonso benefited from a retirement from Vettel and any pressure from behind was gone when Grosjean lost drive not long after Vettel stopped. The big talking point came on the penultimate lap involving Maldonado and Hamilton which resulted in Hamilton being pitched into the wall and Maldonado lost a podium which seemed pretty certain as it was only a matter of time before he passed the McLaren who had fallen off the cliff.

Without the safety car it was likely that Vettel would have won at a canter as he was a long way ahead before the race changing event in the middle of the race, but he pulled up soon after the restart gifting Alonso the lead and he would keep this until the end of the race, and because of Hamilton's issues he inherited the lead of the Championship with Mark Webber's fourth place meaning he jumped up into second place. Perhaps the biggest shock of the weekend was a first podium for Michael Schumacher since his return to the sport in 2010. Both his and Webber's strategy meant they were able to come through the field and claim major points just like Alonso did as all three started outside the top 10.

Fernando Alonso's victory marks a dramatic turnaround in fortunes for Ferrari as he stormed to victory in a car which was barely faster than the midfield cars at the start of the season, but now the car is as consistently fast as the Lotuses and the McLarens, certainly in race trim anyway but not quite up to the level of the Red Bulls as shown in the early race but we've still yet to see a straight fight between Alonso and Vettel which would provide a true reflection of where the teams are at.

Once again Lotus had the pace for a victory and had Grosjean not have retired he could well have possibly claimed a maiden win for him and the team. Kimi Raikkonen spent most of the race stuck behind Hamilton which prevented him from having a shot at Alonso and by the time he got past there were just a few laps remaining and claimed a comfortable second place which he said underwhelmed him, although since when has he ever been anything but that!?

Looking ahead to the British Grand Prix the atmosphere will once again be fever pitch as McLaren could well be in their best position yet to compete for victory with the high speed corners suiting the MP4-27 and knowing the British summer it could well be a cool day which will suit the car even better and both Hamilton and Button will be fighting for the win. Jenson Button has had a horrid record at Silverstone with no podium finishes in the 12 years he has been driving in Formula One. Hamilton has a better record with podiums in 2007 and 2010 and a famous win in the wet in 2008 where he destroyed the competition.

I know that quite a few members from this site are going to the grand prix and I hope that you all have a great weekend, providing McLaren can nail down their pit stops there is a very good chance that a British driver could be at the top step of the podium, or who knows, if Lotus can finally find the sweetspot then perhaps an eighth winner can be on the cards!

For Galahad's brilliant circuit write up - http://cliptheapex.com/pages/silverstone-circuit/
 
Il_leone Whether or not Alonso (and Hamilton also described the conditions as undriveable) called for a red flag the fact is that the session was stopped on the ground of becoming unsafe for driving. If it hadn't been the case then it wouldn't have bben a problem for Ferrari to go and put on a set of full wets since there was more than 6 mins left. One thing that's certain is that the track was getting wetter and wetter.
 
in the wet lewis was very quick,but on intermediates he struggled.its very strange that he couldnt get his tyres upto temp.
mclaren need a wet race tomorrow.
 
FB
Sorry.... I think we are getting Macca quotes mixed up .....you quoted end of P1
It was end of Q1..... I was talking about....:thinking:
My fault.
 
F1ang-o, it was at the end of Q1. Here's a screen grab from the Macca website.

Mclaren screen grab.webp
 
FB
In your post 267 you say P1

I took the quote from BBC, that I was recording,.as I was watching on Sky, they don't always play all team radio messages on TV?
 
Sorry, mistake in the earlier post P, Q, R... they all start to look the same when you get to my age :embarrassed:
 
met office forecast for tomorrow says light rain - where does that leave McLaren? Struggling I fear.
Incubus if the track was getting wetter and wetter surely even with full wets the times would have been much slower than the 10 times already set.
If it weren't for an almost certainty of the race behind a safety car (are they allowed to have an entire race behind the safety car?) I'd hope for very wet weather tomorrow.
On the other hand I'd feel for the poor folk parked on the mudbath of fields...
 
Dizzi Yes I know but that's precisely what I meant. Either the session gets red-flagged and has to be re-started later, or it's not deemed to be dangerous enough and it goes on, and if those didn't set a competitive time early enough, then tough for them.
Fact is it was red-flagged and Ipersonally agree with that because it was getting impossible out there. Red flag comes on when the track becomes unsafe, absolutely nothing new there. Judging by the way Massa rejoined the track inches away from the two cars following at full speed behind with such poor visibility clearly none of them knew where the others were I personally think it was the right decision.
And the most important thing is, EVERYBODY in the last 6 mins had an equal chance.
 
I personally had no problem with the red flag and I must be missing something because I have absolutely know idea what all the fuss is about...:dunno:

I know that Jenson has obviously got the most amount of fresh tyres available (For the wet conditions that is.) but how do the other drivers fair, I didn't really keep an eye on tyre usage...
 
Mmm............. :/

Alonso on pole? Doesn't bode well for the championship if i'm honest, very lucky with the red flag as he, Massa and Schumacher were on the verge of going out. Judging by the big gaps, I think some cars have gambled on a wet setup, and the others on a dry (yeah stating the obvious really).

I thought Hulkenberg did a great job, but it's a shame that he has that 5 place grid drop due to a change in gearbox for tomorrow. Raikkonen aswell did a good job, with no KERS throughout qualifying, of course, the disadvantage in the wet would be less, but it's been mentioned it costs around 0.3 tenths in the wet around here. Plus, I think Lotus and Mercedes should have called their remaining drivers in early in Q3, they could have got an extra lap in on the intermediates, which surely would have improved their times as they would have had sufficient heat in their tyres with 2 laps on them.

As for the red flag situation, can't really do much about it, it's always been like this, but it isn't great for us viewers, and those that are paying for tickets watching the sessions.

Tip for the race? Well I would say Alonso as my firm favourite, the two outsiders for me are, Webber and Schumacher. That is of course if it's wet, if it's dry then :dizzy:
 
Some cars will have 4 wheels as well Sly! But Schumi was fastest on full wets at one point, but should have went out on inters straight away like Maldonado, if it rains, watch out for the German in P3!
 
Incubus - I should go to Specsavers, just re-read your post & I misread it the first time.
I just think the mad scramble in those 6 minutes made more lottery than strategy.
Lets see what the weather does to the race tomorrow...
 
What is most interesting to me will be Maldonado and Hamilton duking it out off the start from P7 and P8... and whether Lewis has learned anything from Valencia (....no... not suggesting that he was at fault 2 weeks ago... but let the hare go...there will be a bunch of laps available to sort him out)...
 
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