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/
 
Very similar but actually quite different. Schumacher was the faster driver coming up the inside and Kobayashi was well ahead and had already turned into the corner whereas this year Perez was the quicker driver coming round the outside and slightly ahead and they turned in together. There was room for Maldonado to back out or control his car. There was no room for Schumacher to even be attempting that move. the thing that makes both those incidents similar is the misjudgement of grip and car controller by the driver on the inside and the fact that they were both very reckless. Schumacher's is worse in my opinion as he was the attacking driver wheras Maldonado was the defending driver.
 
Schumi was left a lot of room, Maldonado had a moment (apparently) on entry and they both made contact, Schumi got a drive through, Maldonado got a reprimand
 
Certainly. For his own sake and Perez's. He just went in too hot trying to defend. His explaination of cold tyres and losing the rear end makes a lot of sense. The problem is that, knowing that he had cold tyres, he should have been more cautious and not expected the grip to be there. If it were not for his history, I think he would have got away with it.

That's my full take on it.

He's going to have to watch himself from here on in as he is on two reprimands.
 
I thought at the time that the Mclaren radio messages were patronising but also rather desperate, as if they knew they were done for and were pretending that everything was tickety-boo. Is this Sam Michael's signature?

It appears that Lewis needs to be mollycoddled a little more than other drivers during a race... some drivers just get the no BS assessment...others need some positive affirmation... some need a lot of positive affirmation...
 
I reckon that these days he's a bit more mature than that. He lacks some faith in his teams decision making following a series of costly cockups and so is more vocal on the radio. The team have to "reassure" him rather than "mollycoddle" him. Unfortunately, it is generally false reassurance at the moment. I feel sorry for the fella. He is doing everything right at the moment and deserves to be in a much stronger position.
 
All up, an interesting race... over in the US we have are at our 3rd or 4 races "delayed" to get a better TV audience... 11am Central time start (I whittled a twig into a javelin whilst watching the 6am recording of the German MotoGP at 10am with my cornflakes waiting for the lights to go out)...

For me what we learned was:

* Some cars seem to have a lot more flexibility in their set-up (ala Ferrari / RB / Lotus) vs the others (ala McLaren / Mercedes)... by that I mean I doubt any of the cars were set up for a purely dry race... and the cars that were found severely lacking seem to be more "touchy" or sensitive than others who seem to have a baseline of pace inherently contained within their four Pirelli's...

* Following on from the above, I still think the McLaren in LH hands right now has top 5 pace... the abomination that they still call "Hockenheim" awaits...

* Qually is still extremely important... aka MW can do to SV what he has done to MW 20 times before... amazing what 'appens by the end of the race when you get stuck behind a wide Mercedes or Ferrari after a compromised start and lose several seconds... though I have to hand it to SV... every time MW qual's ahead of him, or finishes a race ahead of him his body language oozes fire and pain... that boy is a competitor...

* Maldonado found another mobile armco in Perez... I don't know the FIA reg's and haven't read any press this a.m.... but does the reprimand he received double down to something more serious if he has another moment ?

* Alonso is going to win the WDC... Pat Fry has that aero and mechanical engineering group firing like 12 screaming banshee pots on a V12... RBR are the obvious challenger right now... and LH is clearly not out of the hunt... this guy is in his prime and never misses a trick...

Now what to do for the next 13 days...
 
EN

I was searching for words at 6am this morning in the office ... mollycoddled sounds a little too childish... I agree he has learned from last season and has grown up quite a lot... LH certainly wears his heart upon his his overalls when he is strapped in and is not backward in coming forward with his feelings over the radio... in my other post... I don't think this race was indicative of the McLaren pace (even though their fastest laps of the race were only better than the new three teams at that back of the field)... but it is a concern that they don't seem to have a top 4-6 platform of inherent pace they can leverage from each race...
 
ExtremeNinja I too think Lewis could do with a bit of truth or he'll trust the team even less.
Telling him white lies of everything's okay when it's obvious to most people it isn't won't encourage confidence (in the team not himself).
He needs to know when the team says 'things are going to plan' it's true, not to wonder if it's bull to kid him.
 
It's odd that they chose not to penalise Schumacher in Valencia and then clarified the rule after, when they were still well within thier power to apply a penalty at the time. In the past they have applied a penalty and then amended the written rule so as that there is no ambiguity henceforth.
 
If the bbc crew didn't even know about the ban on DRS under yellows what is the point in them even being at the track they may as well commentate from a studio in Manchester somewhere and save even more money, what a bunch of muppets
I just want the FOM feed. After watching Wimbledon i realized that I only care about the additional info that the guys in the pit lane can give. That's it, periods of commentator silence would be appreciated.
 
I don't think the Sky commentators knew that much about the DRS ban under yellows either until the caption came on screen; which makes me wonder if the FIA actually told anyone about it in advance, or whether they just made it up on the fly.

What I was also wondering was this (and excuse me if this has already been discussed, but I don't remember seeing any posts on the subject);
What do people think of the new 'ruling' by Charlie Whiting about attacking drivers being effectively deemed alongside if they managed to get any part of their front wing level with the rear wheel of the opponent? It sounded crazy to me, and my initial reaction was that it was another reactive piece of legislation following a Hamilton incident, a la Spa 2008 or the 'weaving to break a tow' at Malaysia 2010 etc. Martin Brundle certainly didn't think much of the new rule.
 
Apparently it's front wing level with the front tyres (I'm sure I heard it as rear tyres too); perhaps a subject for a new thread?
 
Back
Top Bottom