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/
 
how about this one.

Capture qually.webp
 
Again, if that is from another site and is copyrighted, then you shouldn't be posting it.

Posting copyrighted content could (in the worst case scenario) result in the site being closed.
 
No surprises there Greenlantern, typically they dragged Lewis down with him. This is what happens when you insist on establishling parity at the expense of the faster driver and better skilled under these conditions. Lewis had a genuine chance at a top 3 slot today and to be denied the opportunity because he run out of time is just typical of the strategic errors McLaren are very good at making.
 
Hamilton summary:
Shame Hamilton had to abandon his last lap.
Shame Hamilton didn't have time to complete another lap.
Shame Hamilton didn't come in for a new set of wets.
Shame Hamilton had the pace in Q1 and Q2 then missed out in Q3.
Shame Hamilton won't be winning the race tomorrow.

Everyone else:
Schumacher's still got in the wet, Alonso and Ferrari on the pace again but he has to hold off both Red Bulls tomorrow. Also, congrats to Hulkenberg in P5 and Ricciardo in P11.
 
sushifiesta... Everyone else:
Schumacher's still got in the wet, Alonso and Ferrari on the pace again but he has to hold off both Red Bulls tomorrow. Also, congrats to Hulkenberg in P5 and Ricciardo in P11.[/quote]

I don't think Webber will trouble Alonso. With his grid drop he will be off P8. I also think the Ferrari will be quicker than Vettel's Red Bull. Time will tell but my moneys on Alonso. The start will be critical as always and Alonso hasn't missed a beat with his starts all season. I hope he stays true to form.
 
It's worth pointing out that Alonso and Schumacher set their times with new tyres, whereas Vettel and Webber were using used tyres.

I'm not sure quite how much difference that makes in the wet but it underlines the speed of the Red Bull.
 
It's worth pointing out that Alonso and Schumacher set their times with new tyres, whereas Vettel and Webber were using used tyres.

I'm not sure quite how much difference that makes in the wet but it underlines the speed of the Red Bull.

I see what you're saying Brogan but to be honest, I think no sort of real genuine dry pace can be taken from what happened during Q3. It was a bit of a lottery and as we saw with McLaren, after having looked potentially fastest in the dry, they were 3 seconds off the pace. Yes the RB tyres were older but they could have been in a better operating window or a different one relatively to those who took new tyres. I don't think it shows any kind of superiority. Although, they may be very good tomorrow. Then again I actually expect Alonso to walk away with this one. The Bull's have not looked that comfortable all weekend and interestingly both Alonso and Vettel have said they're concerned about the McLaren pace in the race tomorrow.
 
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