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

The German GP marks the half way point in this strangest of seasons.

There have been seven different winners, with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber the only two able to notch up more than one win.

From having a car which looked to be well off the pace at the start of the season, Fernando Alonso is still leading by 13 points, from Mark Webber of all people. Can he and Ferrari maintain the momentum going forward?

Indeed, in a drastic reverse of fortunes from last season, Mark is comfortably winning the head to head over his double world champion team mate, Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull car appears to suit both drivers though and is the class of the field so expect things to change between the top three before the summer break.

It's a different tale at McLaren. Button has gone from winning the first race to only scoring seven points in the last six races. His team mate, Lewis Hamilton has fared better, despite multiple team errors and the best efforts of certain other drivers. He is however languishing in fourth place in the standings, as are McLaren who have been overtaken by Lotus.

What is clear, is the McLaren is no longer in the top three and some (including Button) are even claiming it is behind several of the mid-field teams. This after the results of both McLaren drivers at Silverstone, where they barely scraped 8th and 10th place finishes.
It's a big change from just a few races ago when Hamilton was leading the Drivers' Championship and McLaren were second behind Red Bull in the Constructors'.

Lotus appear to be getting stronger with every race. Surely it's just a matter of time before one of their drivers is on the top step. Which one though? Romain Grosjean looks every bit as good as Kimi Räikkönen and if not for some unfortunate collisions earlier in the season would most likely be ahead of him in the standings.

Mercedes are consistently inconsistent. Michael Schumacher appears to have broken his dreadful run of results and bad luck but Nico Rosberg had a very poor race last time out, finishing a lowly 15th.

Likewise for Williams; the car appears to have the pace, if only the drivers were capable of exploiting it.

It has been two years since F1 last raced at the Hockenheimring, due to the alternating calendar with the Nürburgring. As a result the teams will have no data concerning the Pirelli tyres, so expect lots of running in the free practice sessions, weather permitting.

Will we see the eighth different winner of the season? Will this race finally reveal the pecking order and see things settling down?
Will McLaren be able to recover their position amongst the top three with their much vaunted upgrade package they are planning to bring?

All these questions and more will be answered soon.

For the circuit write up, stat's, map and videos, see here: http://cliptheapex.com/pages/hockenheimring/
 
Actually i thought this should be done with more ruthless penalties, using tennis style white lines determining which cars have had all four wheels off the track!
 
I enjoyed the race but with ten laps to go I was expecting a titanic tussle for the win and it ended a tad flat and also in controversy. Seems that in dry conditions McLaren have made up the gap to the front again. Fair to say Alonso is a class act, best all round F1 driver on the grid in my opinion
 
Oh my good god.

The same Christian Horner that when asked about the engine mapping said there is nothing in the technical regulations about the 'intent' of the rule, has just said, despite there being no rule at all to say a driver can't unlap themselves, that it doesn't matter whether there is a rule and that what Hamilton did to Vettel was 'unsporting'!

:rolleyes:
 
Great stuff @Brogan and he should have been punished for that as well. Don't know if he was actually punished. But knowing it was Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari in 2003, I guess am absolutely sure he was not.
 
Alonso was faultless & unflappable today & a well deserved win.
Not the best race but not the worst & at least I don't feel cheated like in the 2010(?) FIFTY farce.
Oh dear Lewis, not a 100th GP to remember, yet again caught out by something out of his contrl. You have to think this year if the lad has any luck it's bad.
I did like the bit where they gave up showing him blue flags as he was so much faster than the cars lapping him :snigger:
Well done Jenson for getting on a podium again, a tad too late IMO but at least he's up there again.
I didn't have any idea about the 'illegal' RB car until I logged on just now but the move Seb made on Jenson definitely looked 'gaining an advantage' to me, far more than Lewis in Spa 2008 <ducks>...
I really hope McLaren have gained something even if it's in the dry, they're wasting opportunities left, right & centre.
Still perhaps it's better to lose in a legal car than win in an illegal one....:no:
 
Not a very satisfying race for some reason.

Hamilton got unlucky and I think his comment about retiring was absolutely pathetic and not at all what I'd expect to hear from an F1 driver. Does anyone know why he retired? We don't get any interviews after or during the race here.

Good to see McLaren's updates have worked and it was great to see Button fighting in the top 3 again :)

Alonso had another great drive, I think he'll definitely become world champ this year, his driving has been excellent all season.

Vettel, well, good drive but not spectacular.

I'm disappointed for Grosjean, I actually missed what happened to him, can anyone tell?

Some pretty good fights in the midfield though, that was great to see :) Raikkonen's tussle with di Resta was great, some fair, hard racing from both of them :)

Sergio I thought was driving like a madman sometimes on the onboard shots, he had some pretty good overtakes too.


So anyway... Vettel's overtake on Button. I think I may be the only one but I don't think he should be penalised. We've seen before that an overtake off track was allowed, and if Vettel was penalised it would be more inconsistency from the stewards imo. If he does get penalised they should merely swap Button's and Vettel's positions around imo.
 
GermanF1, I understand that but am at a loss to know why everyone is up in arms when a perceived favourite team prevails - the system isn't perfect and probably never will be.

I was appalled that RBR were allowed to race from their qualifying positions today and am sure that they will have to conform before next week - not a victory for the average fan, maybe a move in the right direction though.

Like others, I would like to see fair, competitive racing and an unbiased FIA, as fronted by their panel of stewards and backed up by an easy to interpret rule book. However, too much regulation and a curb on what drivers are allowed to do just leads to dull racing and unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Given that this has been the norm for some years, I do wonder why some keep watching!
 
Porceliamone
That off roading by Vettel at Australia last year..wasn't challenged by McLaren because they were too busy arguing about another incident..........that Button was ahead of Massa, when JB was forced to to the escape route....but Button was in the wrong.
But....... if Button had kept Vettel behind him in the above vid,,,, ...& McLaren had argued that Seb was off he road...it would have helped Lewis to maybe win the race...but hey.....who at McLaren was bothered about LH?
 
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