2012 German GP - Hockenheim

[Mr Alcatraz]

Changing engine maps would requie them starting from the pitlane. Parc ferme regs and all.

At the fear of sounding really stupid: could they just not engage that map. On my Aprilia (which is probably not a good example) I have to erngage my different engine maps manually on the fly or stationary. Certainly telemetry would show if they used it or not!

The car can only have 3 engine maps I believe, wet, dry and intermediate. If you run a wet or intermediate map your rainlight will start blinking.

I do remember though a few races back that Vettel used his rain map in Brazil 2011 - to reduce the torque going through his broken gearbox.

It raises an interesting issue. Could this perhaps be an option? Load your maps (as long as the map is within the rules as some teams are doing, as it will be checked by the FIA anyways) onto the rain or inter maps, then use it for the purpose of changing engine maps, no?

That is interesting because I know (and this is my own exsperience) I can wind the --- out of the revs on my bike on my rain map and still have a comepletely different torque curve and if I was using the exhast to blow an aero device it would have plenty of exhaust energy. Terrible waste of gas though

[NowyszRacing6]

I was pretty annoyed to see vettel get that penalty for his pass on button. how can they consider the painted (and very slippery and marble-covered) run off area to be an advantage out of that corner? i could go into a separate rant that they shouldn't pave that part of the track if they don't want drivers using it, but there are other forum topics for that . i thought it was a great move to get around on the outside like he did, and keep the car ahead of button when you need a lot of acceleration out of that corner. i'd think button had the better line. i was also thinking he should have given the place back if the team thought there'd be a penalty, wouldn't the fia tell red bull that his pass didn't count before the race is over?

[Kiril Varbanov]

Nice race with some good real racing moments. It was even more emotional for me, being a guest TV commentator on the national TV.
Laughed hard, again, at Stella and Alonso's Italian-English mix with Spanish accent: "ultimi giri, use KERS, Button è 0,9 secondi dietro".

The soft compound is really strange when touching it:


This one is too old, studio exhibit, still, it was heavy, very soft, and too wide

[mx_tifoso]

Nice race with some good real racing moments. It was even more emotional for me, being a guest TV commentator on the national TV.
Laughed hard, again, at Stella and Alonso's Italian-English mix with Spanish accent: "ultimi giri, use KERS, Button è 0,9 secondi dietro".

...

Congrats on taking part in that! Must have been amazing.

And about the language mix, Stella could have been saying "usa KERS", which sounds a lot like the english version, and identical to Spanish. Try saying it fast.

[raymondu999]

Kiril - you were the summariser/expert, or the main announcer?

[Chuckjr]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

[Jackles-UK]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I think that says more about Alonso himself than the Ferrari he happens to be in!

I think Hungary will be about fully optimising the Silverstone/Hockenheim updates. With such little dry running lately getting the most out of them rather than bringing more bits has to be priority. Plus would they really bring updates a week after a major package at the last race before the summer break? Probably hold off until Spa/ Monza before the fly-aways.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Congrats on taking part in that! Must have been amazing.

And about the language mix, Stella could have been saying "usa KERS", which sounds a lot like the english version, and identical to Spanish. Try saying it fast.

Thank you, it was my second appearance with chance to be there again - next installment should be really different (professional photo analysis, etc), if things go as planned (just like Mark Slade told Kimi). It was a nice intense and adrenaline afternoon
For the race itself - Alonso and Stella both sounded pretty calm during the race and essentially, Ferrari were the strategy setters, unlike previous races, where they matched the strategy of the rivals. The Soft-Medium-Medium was not a surprise, too.

Kiril - you were the summariser/expert, or the main announcer?

Rather the first one. There were three of us in the studio: myself, talking mostly about technical stuff and overseeing strategy calls made during the race, as well as general commentary, the main host - the editor in chief of F1 Racing (local issue) and a professional racing driver, Rumen Dunev (Lancer Evo 9), who shared lots of insights on racing lines, tire management (sliding, skidding), the driver's mentality, fitness and many others.

In general, the feedback I got was positive, but most of all people told me: "Don't assume that every viewer knows what slip-stream is (KV: I was speculating that VET should have returned the position to JB and overtake him later using his slip-stream)- you should be explaining a bit more about what that is" - which I fully agree with, it's just usually there's not much time to talk about those things, as the next significant event is already happening on the track.

The hard part is to pull up the correct block of data, speaking in computer terms, from your hard drive (the long-term memory) on time when commenting - you really need to be prepared to know what Red Bull or Sauber have done couple of races ago - with no interruption of your speech flow.
Overall, I think it went really well.

[raymondu999]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I think that says more about Alonso himself than the Ferrari he happens to be in!

Yes, but it also talks about the relative strengths of the Ferrari compared to the McLaren. Clearly then the Ferrari was quicker through the straight - either by entering it better via better traction, exiting it better through better braking or just being able to hold a higher non-DRS top speed

[raymondu999]

How though? As in, for you to be invited there you have to be someone that the station can trust will do a good job, and is at least from a position of authority that can understand better than normal people, and explain it to normal viewers.

Are you, say, a tyre engineer? Ex-driver? Something else?

[Pierce89]

How though? As in, for you to be invited there you have to be someone that the station can trust will do a good job, and is at least from a position of authority that can understand better than normal people, and explain it to normal viewers.

Are you, say, a tyre engineer? Ex-driver? Something else?

Is Scarbs?

[raymondu999]

My point is - Scarbs is a recognised technical analyst, which obviously immediately puts him in the category of "authority." Authority in terms of knowing something viewers don't, and as such, in a position to explain it. For you to actually be invited to do the gig you'll have to either fall under "authority" or "been there, done that"

[Cam]

Yes, I think Ray was clearly trying to determine the level he is at.

[CjC]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I think that says more about Alonso himself than the Ferrari he happens to be in!

Yes, but it also talks about the relative strengths of the Ferrari compared to the McLaren. Clearly then the Ferrari was quicker through the straight - either by entering it better via better traction, exiting it better through better braking or just being able to hold a higher non-DRS top speed

Personally I think Alonso was just giving it everything in the first sector and using what he had left of his kers and a really good exit out of turn 3. You have to admire the man really, I think his kers strategy was better than jensons.

[CjC]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I think that says more about Alonso himself than the Ferrari he happens to be in!

I think Hungary will be about fully optimising the Silverstone/Hockenheim updates. With such little dry running lately getting the most out of them rather than bringing more bits has to be priority. Plus would they really bring updates a week after a major package at the last race before the summer break? Probably hold off until Spa/ Monza before the fly-aways.

Looks like the team disagree with you

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/101464

I'm kind of glad they are bringing more, just hoping for a fully dry weekend now