Grand Prix 2019 German Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So onwards we got to what has become the annual Hamilton/Mercedes lap of honour. After victory in his home country was secured Lewis now turns his eyes to a nice bit of PR for his team at the Hockenheimring. The once great Hockenheim is not what it was and isn't the most exciting track in the world (the stadium section is alright I guess) but we should feel lucky to have a German Grand Prix at all really given recent history. Once again we are predicting this will the last race at this circuit and that it will drop off the calendar next year. But as with Silverstone this seems to be said every year. I wouldn't say I would miss the track but not having a German Grand Prix with such German involvement but going to Viet Nam would be beyond mental.

Compeating to come second to Lewis Hamilton this weekend will be Valteri Bottas -just starting his mid-season slump, Charles LeClerc - trying not to become Jean Alesi, Max Verstappen - got his sensational win for the season under his belt, and Sebastian Vettel - coming off the back of his worst run of results in a decade. I can't say I'm that excited about it all but it might be interesting I guess. Mercedes 1-2 all the way.

Midfield is interesting. Gasly needs to jump out of it. Sainz and Norris need to continue the Mclaren revival. Haas need a new car. Renault need some results and George Russell needs to just keep doing what he's doing.

Not the greatest write up I know but I'm afraid life has got in the way - over F1Brits_90 who has some stuff he'd like to add.
 
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We don't have to wait until Aug to see who will drive for Merc next season. It's Hamilton and Bottas. Why wouldn't it be? Consider the facts:

1) Every season the two have been teammates Merc have won the drivers title easily

2) Every season the two have been teammates they've won the constructors title at a canter

3) Lewis Hamilton is happy with Bottas as a team mate

4) Everytime Bottas signs a one year extension his management company gets a big fat percentage of the signing on fee. Toto Wolff owns his management company.
 
Grosjean has made too many major errors to move forward in F1 now - he’s on the way out. The only question is how long he can prolong his jettison - Kimi still making records there. Gasly I think has a bit more of a chance at redemption - he hasn’t junked it as badly as Grosjean (yet) and has Max as a team-mate which could almost act as a backhanded get-out-of-jail card.

Personally I’m in favour of driver turnover. Bring in the new kids early - find more Verstappens and Leclercs as quickly as possible.

But Vettel’s gonna have a good race on Sunday that’s for sure.
 
RasputinLives Its like the Vettel - Kimi partnership, everyone said replace Kimi but Ferrari did not have the balls to because they thought as long as Vettel is winning then why change? Except last year they got a serious hammering from the Italian media and finally made the changes . I suppose we could say the same for keeping Hamilton - Bottas partnership until one of the other teams do a better job
 
i think vettel v hamilton, mercedes should wipe the floor with the competition 2 of best drivers of the last decade & Il_leone sometimes you've got take a risk. look how great it turned out for leclerc & ferrari

also leclerc topping every session. is this just practice or is bahrain & Austria repeated
 
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Yea, just fast forwarded through FP3. Stopped to listen to the Steiner interview. He does not know why they are doing better, but it has something to do with the temperature.

Anyhow, the Ferrari's looked very comfortable, especially Leclerc. Vettel did not really look on and was constantly exceeding the track limit (and had some times thrown out). Mercedes did not look in reach. They may well end up on the second row in qualifying.

The controversy for the upcoming qualifying is going to be the track limits ruling. They exceed the track limited if they go off into the green. On the last corner the run-off curbs ends early, so you see lots of cars up on the curbs and before they can get back on track they drive through the green part. Vettel kept doing this. He got is times deleted. We may say a few significant qualifying times deleted.
 
Oh my goodness, what is wrong with Ferrari? Seriously? They don't just shoot themselves in one foot, now they've taken to shooting themselves in both feet at once!!! :givemestrength:

I suppose Vettel not setting a time saved Kubica from being last again but honestly. A better showing by Gasly, can he turn that quali result into a good result? I did see a prediction of an 80% chance of rain during the race, that should hopefully liven things up if it does end up getting dull, plus by watching only highlights there is no sitting around and waiting if th rain is heavy enough to force a red flag situation for a while.
 
Oh my goodness, what is wrong with Ferrari? Seriously? They don't just shoot themselves in one foot, now they've taken to shooting themselves in both feet at once!!! :givemestrength:

I suppose Vettel not setting a time saved Kubica from being last again but honestly. A better showing by Gasly, can he turn that quali result into a good result? I did see a prediction of an 80% chance of rain during the race, that should hopefully liven things up if it does end up getting dull, plus by watching only highlights there is no sitting around and waiting if th rain is heavy enough to force a red flag situation for a while.

Haven't heard what happened with Leclerc, but Vettel had turbo problems, and I suspect the same with Leclerc. So last race was Mercedes' turn to have gremlins, this race it was Ferrari's. The question is whether the problem will re-surface during the race.

Shame, Ferrari had a chance to take the front row.

Still, having Leclerc and Vettel moving up the pack could be exciting racing...although I think it will be Leclerc moving up the pack and Vettel on the radio complaining about slower cars in front of him. If there is rain, it could get very lively.

Good show by Kimi and Grosjean (and Gasly, Sainz, Perez and Hulkenberg). Bottas got beat by Verstappen and was almost 0.4 seconds slower than Hamilton. Are they really going to re-sign him for next year or is this the story they need to maintain for now?
 
Once again Mercedes show that not only are they very quick the are almost bulletproof reliable.Where as Ferrari are either fast and unreliable or slow and reliably.Looking forward to the start of the race with Hamilton and Verstappen on the front row.
 
Well I was not expecting that .. now some are suggestion Vettel should think about retiring ..he looks like a broken man. However tomorrow is another day, we will see just how his race will go but LeClerc was getting faster than him so that should not go unnoticed

Mercedes and Hamilton somehow when it mattered are top of the times.

The track is clearly favouring the Ferrari powered cars with the Alfas and Haas up there. Expect the race between the top 3 as Gasly will probably have to worry about LeClerc steaming through. If its raining then we might see people like Hulkenberg showing up impressively
 
Turning out to be a nightmare year for Ferrari. and me...
Kimi fifth !!!...WTH...yippeee

Pic: some proud team principle

Watch Alfa going on an upward trajectory, Kimi is a genius at feedback
 

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Kimi's birthday on Friday... i missed..

Happy belated Birthday Iceman!!
 

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