So after an exciting British GP we move on to Germany. The Hockenheimring, where hopefully the excitement will continue.
It really is the home race of Mercedes, as the original circuit was used by Mercedes Benz to test their cars, but that was a very long time ago and the circuit then was nothing like the current, and in my opinion, strangely shaped circuit of today. Seen from the air it's a sort of square shape with a protuberance shaped like" Pinnochio's nose" coming off one side. Much has changed since the large triangular circuit that Mercedes Benz used. At one point the circuit became a large oval shape and ran through the forrest, and the race could be dry in the Stadium section and wet through the trees, which was always an interesting situation. However Herman Tilk got his hands on the place, and now the circuit is 4.75Km long and the forrest section is gone for ever.
It 's not a track with a lot of fast corners and it's quite slow through the twisty stadium section which is one of the original parts of the track that remains, and, where they have built a large number of grandstands. Obviously a good place to watch the race from.
The last race here was in 2016, and it was won by Lewis Hamilton in ... A Mercedes...But they haven't had it all their own way. Ferrari have had the most wins at Hockenheim over the years, so both teams will be going there with Huge expectations. I'm not about to pretend that I have any idea which car will be well suited to the track, or indeed which tyres should do well, the tyre choices are, I believe, Soft, Ultrasoft and Medium. But our CTA tyre expert will reveal all, I'm sure.
Qualifying at Hockenheim is quite important, as in, you qualify well, you do well. Although some of our younger drivers may not have got that point, I'm Sure Max will give it a go wherever he qualifies. Vettel now has 171 points to Hamilton's 163. Raikkonen is on 116 and Bottas is on 104. Obviously Ferrari are ahead, 287 to 267. Red Bull are doing their best but on 199 points total they are really going to have to hope for a miracle. The race is between the top two teams at the moment, and for once it really is a race. Lets hope it remains exciting in Germany. Lets hope Romain has a weekend where he doesn't hit anything or anyone. And lets hope for a miracle for McLaren as well as for Red Bull.
For anyone who is going to the race, if you walk through the old forrest section you will find a wooden cross a memorial to Jim Clark. There is a plaque behind turn 2 of todays circuit for him, but it's only there because the forrest section is no longer part of the circuit. One of the F1 greats.
It really is the home race of Mercedes, as the original circuit was used by Mercedes Benz to test their cars, but that was a very long time ago and the circuit then was nothing like the current, and in my opinion, strangely shaped circuit of today. Seen from the air it's a sort of square shape with a protuberance shaped like" Pinnochio's nose" coming off one side. Much has changed since the large triangular circuit that Mercedes Benz used. At one point the circuit became a large oval shape and ran through the forrest, and the race could be dry in the Stadium section and wet through the trees, which was always an interesting situation. However Herman Tilk got his hands on the place, and now the circuit is 4.75Km long and the forrest section is gone for ever.
It 's not a track with a lot of fast corners and it's quite slow through the twisty stadium section which is one of the original parts of the track that remains, and, where they have built a large number of grandstands. Obviously a good place to watch the race from.
The last race here was in 2016, and it was won by Lewis Hamilton in ... A Mercedes...But they haven't had it all their own way. Ferrari have had the most wins at Hockenheim over the years, so both teams will be going there with Huge expectations. I'm not about to pretend that I have any idea which car will be well suited to the track, or indeed which tyres should do well, the tyre choices are, I believe, Soft, Ultrasoft and Medium. But our CTA tyre expert will reveal all, I'm sure.
Qualifying at Hockenheim is quite important, as in, you qualify well, you do well. Although some of our younger drivers may not have got that point, I'm Sure Max will give it a go wherever he qualifies. Vettel now has 171 points to Hamilton's 163. Raikkonen is on 116 and Bottas is on 104. Obviously Ferrari are ahead, 287 to 267. Red Bull are doing their best but on 199 points total they are really going to have to hope for a miracle. The race is between the top two teams at the moment, and for once it really is a race. Lets hope it remains exciting in Germany. Lets hope Romain has a weekend where he doesn't hit anything or anyone. And lets hope for a miracle for McLaren as well as for Red Bull.
For anyone who is going to the race, if you walk through the old forrest section you will find a wooden cross a memorial to Jim Clark. There is a plaque behind turn 2 of todays circuit for him, but it's only there because the forrest section is no longer part of the circuit. One of the F1 greats.
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the point is that on that lap the rain was harder than before, and that is a significant change in itself (witness the fact that there was quite some action moments before he went off at other parts of the track), you have to add to that the fact that once the track had become wet, and that happened short before he went off, he lost all grip for the reason that I have highlighted in my previous post. So I'm sure that he was on the edge, and he was on the edge because we know that he's generally seriously good in the wet, the point I'm trying to make is that IMHO he didn't think carefully at what was happening because he couldn't have the feel on how the track would be on that corner and on those cold tyres. Misjudging the braking point is all a bit vague as an explanation, he misjudged it for the conditions of the track at that point in time and for the conditions of his car. Having said that I'm sure that he'll do well in Hungary
