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/
 
Well what a surprise. Red Bull get away with it again, somehow. So the FIA technical delegates think they have an illegal car and then a bunch of stewards disagree? I hope all the other teams protest the result.
 
Confirmed on Sky - no further action.

It looks like they have escaped on a technicality/the wording of the article.

When have we heard that before? :rolleyes:
 
Can someone expplain to me how the torque variance could alter the car's aero. I was under the impression that EBDs were banned and the exhaust was rerouted to eliminate any aero effect from that quarter.
 
It seems to be the wording of the regs (theres a shock) so I would expect a clarification to come out, so other teams cannot take advantage. Interesting to know how many races this has been happening at.
 
I think it's more to do with the fact that Red Bull have a very clever legal adviser that knows how to find and exploit every loophole and can provide the team with the right lines when it comes to enquiries. F1 needs to start looking at 'the spirit of the rules' in addition to precise wording.
 
What it does mean is that there will be a clarification before Hungary and Red Bull will be forced to change what they're doing.
Which may mean them slipping back slightly from Ferrari Alonso.
 
I'm trying to summon some outrage for this latest example of FIA/Steward inconsistency, but I simply cannot.

This is the same song and dance we've been seeing from Red Bull for 3 years. Push the boundaries, circumvent the regulations, basically do anything you can to make a fast car, then worry about the ramifications later.

It's just a pity that other teams aren't allowed to operate in such a manner. McLaren get called up on a minor splitter issue and the setup is banned before anybody even knows what happened. Red Bull flout the regulations for race after race and the repercussions come at an absolute snails pace.
 
Back
Top Bottom