2012 British GP - Silverstone Circuit

[raymondu999]

Ah... but perhaps those were cars that are actually quick in slightly-warmer-than-cold conditions? So the long lateral, allied to the cold, was actually the right temperature? If you catch what I'm saying that is.

Maybe it's because Catalunya is so one sided? Just about every heavy duty corner is a right hander. Fast trail braking into T1 and T4? Right hander. Turn 3? Right hander. Turn 9? Right hander. Long, slow T12, right hander. heavy traction from slow, and flat out acceleration zone, right hander.

Maybe the rights didn't get enough loading to balance it out. Suzuka (my example) is very balanced in terms of left/right front loadings.

Silverstone is still biased on the left-front, but there are a few good right-front loadings to balance it out too.

[kiev the great]

The Williams looks good at higher downforce, but still slow on the straights. I'd fancy a good chunk of points from the Mad-danaldo a podium if he can switch the tyres on. Especially as he avoided his penalty. And with Mclaren's pitstops, the only thing I can tell you is Lewis won't win.

[Guisson]

Quali :
HAM
ALO
MAL
Race:
ALO
HAM
WEB / MAL

[Nando]

And with Mclaren's pitstops, the only thing I can tell you is Lewis won't win.

First one was good in Valencia, i believe it was 2.9s and i assume the quickest on that day but yes, having two front jacks fail at the same time is unheard of.

[myurr]

And with Mclaren's pitstops, the only thing I can tell you is Lewis won't win.

First one was good in Valencia, i believe it was 2.9s and i assume the quickest on that day but yes, having two front jacks fail at the same time is unheard of.

Silverstone is going to be a three stop race - there's plenty of scope for the team to ruin Hamilton's chances.

[zztopless]

Really looking forward to this one, of dry, will be the first track since Spain where medium and high speed corner performance matters most. Will be a good indicator imo, as there are a lot of tracks in the remaining races that are more about medium to highspeed, then we have seen so far.

Tracks that reward favour cars with efficient downforce:

Silverstone
Hockenheim
Budapest
Spa
Suzuka
Korea
India
Austin
Brazil

I would also add that Monza also rewards cars that produce efficient downforce, which is why Redbull were finally able to do so well there last year, as they could take off all that wing and still get the more efficient downforce by having the best EBD (which I assume produces less drag from downforce produced compared to increased wing angle?).

So that's 10 out of 12 of the remaining races, whereas in the first eight races, only three or four (Bahrain is sort of inbetween) of the first eight races have been high-speed tracks, so again, we could see teams like Williams and McLaren comign back and if Red Bull have finally sorted their tunnel/exhaust, it's hard to see them not being fast through the high-speed stuff, given it was their strength even before the EBD.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I think many are overlooking the F2012 at Silverstone. I personally think it's at it's strongest in cooler weather. But even more, high speed stuff has been it's strong point from day one and even that has been improved upon. I expect the F2012 to go pretty well there, so much so that Massa could be in the mix for a top 5 spot.

That said I expect McLaren to have a very strong comeback and assert that they're indeed still in the running. I think Lotus will struggle a bit with the expected cooler temperatures. The two question marks in my book are RB & Mercedes. I think Merc is hit or miss in the race but think if they can get heat into the tyres will have a strong Quali.

RB, who knows. One would think they'll have a strong weekend. The question will be, do they have 0.3s or more gap on the rest of the field? Remains to be seen.

Then there's Sauber & Williams who may end up be fairly strong. I don't see SFI repeating their Valencia form but I could be wrong. Will be a hell of an interesting weekend with many sub-plots to watch.

[raymondu999]

Crucial - I don't think anyone is "overlooking" the F2012. It's just that at this point, the F2012 and the RB8, in their current, latest iteration, is too much of an unknown, especially in high speed corners.

Silverstone should be a great race. Considering the characteristics of the Pirellis, the quicker cars could burn the tyres quicker; as the downforce you need for a quick lap around Silverstone will also burn your tyres quicker

[Gridlock]

Weird not seeing Copse labelled as T1. Going to be an interesting start.

I've bet on Webber.

[Red Schneider]

Alonso has scored points in the last twenty races, and of those he has finished in the top five 18 times. That is beyond impressive.

I'm sure what he's really aiming for is a podium roll like in 2005. That will probably make him champion.

[raymondu999]

I had my mind initially set that the teams would use OPPP in Silverstone - but after looking at the Valencia race, I think a revision may be in order. I daresay 2-stop and 3-stop will cover the field, either OPP or OOPP. Same as what happened in Bahrain. Perhaps a brave Lotus (if their tyre preservation still works in the cold) could go on OOOP, or OPP.

It's clear that the tyres are now lasting longer, most likely due to teams being better able to tailor their setups to the tyres now. (Please, if you have any conspiracy theories on tyres, don't carry it on this thread - carry the conversation somewhere else)

[Gerhard Berger]

Alonso has scored points in the last twenty races, and of those he has finished in the top five 18 times. That is beyond impressive.

I'm sure what he's really aiming for is a podium roll like in 2005. That will probably make him champion.

In 2005, kimi had quite a few reliability problems. Maybe the same will happen with Vettel, but if it doesn't, and Vettel keeps winning he can make up the gap very quickly, even if Alonso is consistently on the podium.

[beelsebob]

Alonso has scored points in the last twenty races, and of those he has finished in the top five 18 times. That is beyond impressive.

I'm sure what he's really aiming for is a podium roll like in 2005. That will probably make him champion.

In 2005, kimi had quite a few reliability problems. Maybe the same will happen with Vettel, but if it doesn't, and Vettel keeps winning he can make up the gap very quickly, even if Alonso is consistently on the podium.

Sure – the problem is there's no evidence to suggest Vettel will keep winning any more than Alonso or Hamilton.

[Crucial_Xtreme]

I had my mind initially set that the teams would use OPPP in Silverstone - but after looking at the Valencia race, I think a revision may be in order. I daresay 2-stop and 3-stop will cover the field, either OPP or OOPP. Same as what happened in Bahrain. Perhaps a brave Lotus (if their tyre preservation still works in the cold) could go on OOOP, or OPP.

It's clear that the tyres are now lasting longer, most likely due to teams being better able to tailor their setups to the tyres now. (Please, if you have any conspiracy theories on tyres, don't carry it on this thread - carry the conversation somewhere else)

Isn't Pirelli supposed to introduce a slightly different tyre compound in Silverstone? Yes, I looked it up before posting. It says they'll introduce a new hard compound in practice. Which I suppose will make it's way into Sat & Sun. Will be interesting to see how this plays out on top of everything else.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/100318

[raymondu999]

I thought they were using the new tyre only on Friday for testing purposes. I remember Paul Hembery specifically said he was wary of bringing any changes to the tyres mid-season as it would make teams say that they were performing favoritism for a particular team (which that new tyre construction would favor)