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/
 
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Hamberg

That would be opening a bottomless can of worms. Every team pushed the envelope of legality to gain advantage--that is at the very core of motorsport. Interpreting the "spirit" could all revolve around the interpreters biases towards a given team.
 
That FIA report is infuriating. Getting off on a technicality to the extreme! So they need to re write the rule pretty damn quickly to ensure that car IS illegal according the to precise wording before the next race. Just ridiculous.
 
The FIA will be very annoyed at the intent of its regulations being abused. You can be sure they will rewrite them to force Red Bulls compliance and I doubt very much that they will listen to Red Bull protests as they did last year. The best answer of course is for Alonso to beat them consistently and become a three time champion in a legal car. :)
 
Has anyone ever worked over the FIA the way that RBR has?

They obviously know that they're breaking the regulations, but they're always prepared to make an argument that will inevitably push back the issue for one or more GP, allowing them to race a clearly illegal setup.
 
I agree that the lap shouldn't have stood Enja but he'd still be on pole so I suppose it doesn't really matter, apart from the historical record.
 
Yep, I'm well aware! Just curious as to why the rules weren't implemented.

Nothing big, just wondering.
 
Explanation of the engine mapping issue:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101407

F1 technical regulations state that: "The maximum accelerator pedal travel position must correspond to an engine torque demand equal to or greater than the maximum engine torque at the measured engine speed. The minimum pedal travel position must correspond to an engine torque demand equal to or lower than 0Nm."

i.e. "there must be a linear relationship between the throttle pedal position and the torque demand on the engine"

Bauer: "the maximum torque output of both engines is significantly less in the mid rpm range than previously seen for these engines at other Events. In my opinion this it is therefore in breach of Article 5.5.3 of the 2012 Formula One Technical Regulations as the engines are able to deliver more torque at a given engine speed in the mid rpm range."

Implies that the maximum torque demand in the middle of the rev range appears to be lower than the engine is known to be capable of. If so, then the relationship between throttle pedal position and torque demand is not linear resulting in a means of traction control.

Bauer also suspects that "this new torque map will artificially alter the aerodynamic characteristics of both cars" which suggests now illegal "off-throttle exhaust blowing".

The Stewards' problem is that they don't understand it, apparently, so have ducked out of taking a stand. If they had read some of the excellent technical debate on CTA from members like tranquility2k9 or pieces by Scarbs with regard to blown diffusers, aerodynamics, etc. then they would know that RBR are absolutely in breach of the tech reg's.
 
I'd love to see exactly what their argument was. Red Bull have traditionally been cock sure that they aren't breaking the regs - this time we had Horner saying they can't alter the grid and their spokesman refusing to comment. The stewards didn't accept Red Bulls arguments and the FIA said they were in breach of the regulations. How this outcome is fair is beyond me.

Totally tainted the race for me and I hope the others teams launch an appeal. There have been so many examples of interpretation that haven't gone the same way for other teams. At the end of the day - Red Bull as with all other teams, know what the rule meant. It's incredibly unsporting.
 
The FIA are trying to make the sport greener which is why they have this regulation in the first place. Red Bull don't appear to give a damn about the spirit of the regulations. I said some time ago, and got crucified for suggesting that Vettels second title was won more by the car than the driver, tweaking engine mapping to give him a qualifying advantage, then going back to its gentler settings so as to not affect reliability. They make me sick. How many more tainted titles do they want to add to their history. >:(
 
Horner: There is nothing in there about the intent of the rule - it either complies or it doesn't. Nice.
 
Please, let's not get into the 'tainted titles' arguments again, whether it be driver or constructor - they have all had their moments over the years.

It would seem that it is inherent in the sport and that will never change, despite the FIA attempts.
 
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