German GP 2010 - Hockenheimring

[ringo]

For every mistake that Vettel has made this year you can find two or three by Alonso. I don't see where ringo gets his conviction that it will be a cake walk for the Spaniard. In any case we will not have long to see how it goes and who will deliver the better performance tomorrow. We have the advantage to see two equally well defined packages with Red Bull/Vettel and Ferrari/Alonso. The better man will win.

Alonso's mistakes were not necessarily racing mistakes. He doesn't usually set a foot wrong when defending or attacking. His last mistakes were regulations based such as jump starting or passing off track.
While Vettel's have all been car control mistakes. We have seen these in silverstone, turkey; this year and last, and generally he's not proven to be a guy that can defend under pressure for many laps. He's been too fast lately to be in that situation, but now we get to see it, ie if all goes well for him and alonso in the first lap.
The better or faster man wont necessarily win. The man who blinks first under the pressure will lose.

We have Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Webber, Button, Hamilton, all in competitive cars, that's a lot of tension form such a short lap around, factor in back markers and things get more interesting.

I predict Alonso outbraking Vettel into the hair pin on lap 3, Vettel coming over and touching, loses a little ground then has to defend from Webber who passed Massa on lap 2. Vettel under pressure for his Home GP.

[WhiteBlue]

Let's wait and see. The way you perceive drivers may not necessarily be the way they are. I look forward to go over this again after the race.

[godlameroso]

massa is a true number 2

[Greg_OR]

Was it just me or did Alonso not take the straight line to the finish line? It looked like he went on a bit of a diagonal run from the last corner. I haven't got a screen shot though, might be good if someone has a chance to have a look. Don't know if it'd make enough difference though!

lets estimate: if speed at finish is 200 kph then in 0.002s car travels about 11cm
distance from exit of T17 to the line is about 200m in straight line so if he went more than about 7m off line he could miss P1 by this (200x7 diagonal is 200.12cm).

[mr moda]

Let's wait and see. The way you perceive drivers may not necessarily be the way they are. I look forward to go over this again after the race.

I dont.

[ringo]

Was it just me or did Alonso not take the straight line to the finish line? It looked like he went on a bit of a diagonal run from the last corner. I haven't got a screen shot though, might be good if someone has a chance to have a look. Don't know if it'd make enough difference though!

lets estimate: if speed at finish is 200 kph then in 0.002s car travels about 11cm
distance from exit of T17 to the line is about 200m in straight line so if he went more than about 7m off line he could miss P1 by this (200x7 diagonal is 200.12cm).

speed tv calculated the gap at 0.06 inches. Pretty close, but i think the redbull had more while the ferrari was near the limit in the hands of alonso.

Interesting to see if the ferrari treats the hards better than the RB.

[volarchico]

speed tv calculated the gap at 0.06 inches. Pretty close, but i think the redbull had more while the ferrari was near the limit in the hands of alonso.

Interesting to see if the ferrari treats the hards better than the RB.

After the commercial break, SpeedTV came back on and said they had done the calculation wrong and it was actually about 5 inches.

[siskue2005]

For every mistake that Vettel has made this year you can find two or three by Alonso. I don't see where ringo gets his conviction that it will be a cake walk for the Spaniard. In any case we will not have long to see how it goes and who will deliver the better performance tomorrow. We have the advantage to see two equally well defined packages with Red Bull/Vettel and Ferrari/Alonso. The better man will win.

Alonso's mistakes were not necessarily racing mistakes. He doesn't usually set a foot wrong when defending or attacking.

Did you even watch the 2010 season

[marcush.]

massa is a true number 2

still he was closer to be World drivers Champion than most of the other drivers in f1 ever..with Hamilton overtaking glock in the last corner..

[myurr]

[speed tv calculated the gap at 0.06 inches. Pretty close, but i think the redbull had more while the ferrari was near the limit in the hands of alonso.

Interesting to see if the ferrari treats the hards better than the RB.

I think this is where we could see a bit of a fight back from McLaren. My theory (which is as much founded on hope as evidence) is that McLaren knew they did not have the Q3 fuel map like Red Bull and now Ferrari have, and knew that 3rd row was probably all they could realistically aim for in qualifying because of this. Instead they've gone for a better race package - lower downforce, much higher top speed, setup more biased towards the hard tyre than the soft, etc. This should be a circuit where you can pass down into the hairpin so they will be looking to fight their way to the podium.

Given recent form I would expect at least one of the top 6 to make a mistake off the line or into turn 1, but presuming they all get away cleanly I would expect Hamilton to pass Button on the first lap and to then trouble Massa and Webber (purely because he is better at warming his tyres and driving closer to the limit on relatively cold tyres). Again presuming they both get a clean get away cleanly I expect Alonso to try and bully his way past Vettel (he has more to gain, less to lose) and for there to be contact from Vettel trying to shut the door.

I'm not expecting Massa to fare particularly well and could easily see him finishing 6th - both Hamilton and Webber should have been ahead of him in Q3 but made mistakes on their laps, and he doesn't seem to be anything like the driver he was before his accident. Hopefully next years car will suit him a lot more.

[Darknight]

Given the huge difference in compounds between tires, which driver is starting on what tire? Are all top 10 cars on the softs?

[komninosm]

Did Lewis actually make a mistake somewhere in his last flying lap, or was he dead slow ?

His time q3 time was slower than his q2. It could be because he was too close to button in dirty air, or he just didn't put it together like webber.
He had the potential to be 3rd on the grid though. Button improved by about 3 tenths, hamilton could have done the same.
But we'll see tommorow, it's good that he is far from Webber and Vettel. He has button and Kubica around him, those guys wont cause an accident.

I still think he can podium on this track, the 2008 race was very racy. Lots of overtakes and fights, so i expect a lot of tussling this weekend.

Did Hamilton or McLaren actually say that he screwed up on his last lap? I'm just curious.

[ecapox]

Whats the weather like you local people?

[Goran2812]

dry race!

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/ ... rcuit.aspx

[marcush.]

weather should be fine ,around 20°C not sure about the clouds at this time .so the track temp can be anything between 26°C and 32°C ,I´d say as this is not completely overcast the conditions are close to qualy yesterday but the track not as green anymore.