Sven
Norm Smith Medallist
The tenth GP of the year takes us to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix. The German Grand Prix swaps between the Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring and therefore the last time F1 was at the circuit was in 2010.
Here's Mark Webber's analysis of the track:
Circuit Name: Hockenheimring
Number of Laps: 67
Circuit Length: 4.574 km
Race Distance: 306.458 km
Lap Record: 1:13.780 - K Raikkonen (2004)
Drivers Championship
Webber's win at Silverstone has tightened the gap to Alonso at the top of the standings to 13 points, with Vettel now 16 points behind Webber and 29 behind Alonso. Yet another shocker from McLaren has Hamilton's 2012 campaign in serious trouble and, barring a major turn-around by the Woking squad, it looks like a battle between the top three for the drivers title. Hamilton is now 37 points behind Alonso, and Button's memorable 2011 campaign is but a memory with the Brit struggling mid pack in 8th position on 50 points and over 3 race wins behind Alonso. Renault drivers Räikkönen and Grosjean feature prominantly in 5th and 7th place respectively, sandwiching Rosberg in 6th position. All the drivers in top 8 (except Alonso) need race wins to move up the standings but it looks like only Ferrari and Red Bull are serious threats at this stage of the season.
1 Fernando Alonso 129
2 Mark Webber 116
3 Sebastian Vettel 100
4 Lewis Hamilton 92
5 Kimi Räikkönen 83
6 Nico Rosberg 75
7 Romain Grosjean 61
8 Jenson Button 50
9 Sergio Perez 39
10 Pastor Maldonado 29
11 Paul di Resta 27
12 Michael Schumacher 23
13 Felipe Massa 23
14 Kamui Kobayashi 21
15 Bruno Senna 18
16 Nico Hulkenberg 17
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 4
18 Daniel Ricciardo 2
Constructors Championship
Alonso's 2nd coupled with Massas's 4th placing at Silverstone has seen Ferrari vault up to 2nd in the Constructors title from 4th, but yet again Red Bull have increased their lead in the Championship (now 64 points ahead of Ferrari, whereas prior to Silverstone it was 39 points over McLaren). Lotus Renault have maintained 3rd position and McLaren have slipped to 4th. The battle for the Constructors title now looks to be in the hands of Felipe Massa as he is key to making Ferrari competitve with Red Bull. Honestly, the title looks to be Red Bull's to lose, and I don't expect them to faulter in the second half of the season.
1 Red Bull Racing-Renault 216
2 Ferrari 152
3 Lotus-Renault 144
4 McLaren-Mercedes 142
5 Mercedes 98
6 Sauber-Ferrari 60
7 Williams-Renault 47
8 Force India-Mercedes 44
9 STR-Ferrari 6
As mentioned previously, Formula 1 was last at the Hockenheim in 2010, so I'll put the qualifying and race results from that weekend here.
2010 Qualifying
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:13.791
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.793
3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:14.290
4 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:14.347
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.427
6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.566
7 Robert Kubica Renault 1:15.079
8 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:15.109
9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.179 9
10 Nico Hülkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:15.339
2010 Race
The 2010 race was notable because of team orders from Ferrari that allowed Fernando Alonso to overtake Massa whilst he was leading the race. Race engineer Rob Smedley famously said "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" after which Massa slowed at the chicane and allowed Alonso to pass. Ferrari was subsequently fined $100,000 for breaching the rules on team orders, although this was likely the catalst that lead to rule changes that allowed team orders. The move by Ferrari overshadowed a dominant race by them with Red Bull and McLaren battling for the scraps behind the two scarlet Ferraris.
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:27:38.864
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari +4.196
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +5.121
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +26.896
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +29.482
6 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +43.606
7 Robert Kubica Renault +1 Lap
8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +1 Lap
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +1 Lap
10 Vitaly Petrov Renault +1 Lap
IMO, Hockenheim is a shadown of it's former self, and what used to be a long, high speed circuit is today much shorter, slower, and of course, safer. The forest section of the old track didn't allow most of the fans to see much of the circuit and this was the main reason for the current re-design in 2001 that saw the removal of most of the long high speed portions.
The tyre choices for the German Grand Prix feature the soft and medium compounds. Due to the two year gap to the last race at Hockenheim, this year's race mark the debut for Pirelli at the track.
With the 2012 season increasingly looking like a battle between Ferrari and Red Bull I'd expect Alonso, Webber, Vettel and Massa to feature highly, again, in Germany. Lotus Renault are unveiling "interesting new updates" for the cars in Germany and it will be interesting to see if these will allow them to close the gap to the front two teams. Also looking for a change of fortune will be McLaren, as their season may be over sooner rather than later unless they can return to form. You would aso expect Schumacher and Rosberg to be strong at their home Grand Prix.
The weather forecast for the German Grand is reasonably favourable with some rain on Friday followed by a fine weekend.
With a crystal ball firmly in hand, I'm tipping Vettel to win in Germany, from Webber and Alonso.
Here's Mark Webber's analysis of the track:
Circuit Name: Hockenheimring
Number of Laps: 67
Circuit Length: 4.574 km
Race Distance: 306.458 km
Lap Record: 1:13.780 - K Raikkonen (2004)
Drivers Championship
Webber's win at Silverstone has tightened the gap to Alonso at the top of the standings to 13 points, with Vettel now 16 points behind Webber and 29 behind Alonso. Yet another shocker from McLaren has Hamilton's 2012 campaign in serious trouble and, barring a major turn-around by the Woking squad, it looks like a battle between the top three for the drivers title. Hamilton is now 37 points behind Alonso, and Button's memorable 2011 campaign is but a memory with the Brit struggling mid pack in 8th position on 50 points and over 3 race wins behind Alonso. Renault drivers Räikkönen and Grosjean feature prominantly in 5th and 7th place respectively, sandwiching Rosberg in 6th position. All the drivers in top 8 (except Alonso) need race wins to move up the standings but it looks like only Ferrari and Red Bull are serious threats at this stage of the season.
1 Fernando Alonso 129
2 Mark Webber 116
3 Sebastian Vettel 100
4 Lewis Hamilton 92
5 Kimi Räikkönen 83
6 Nico Rosberg 75
7 Romain Grosjean 61
8 Jenson Button 50
9 Sergio Perez 39
10 Pastor Maldonado 29
11 Paul di Resta 27
12 Michael Schumacher 23
13 Felipe Massa 23
14 Kamui Kobayashi 21
15 Bruno Senna 18
16 Nico Hulkenberg 17
17 Jean-Eric Vergne 4
18 Daniel Ricciardo 2
Constructors Championship
Alonso's 2nd coupled with Massas's 4th placing at Silverstone has seen Ferrari vault up to 2nd in the Constructors title from 4th, but yet again Red Bull have increased their lead in the Championship (now 64 points ahead of Ferrari, whereas prior to Silverstone it was 39 points over McLaren). Lotus Renault have maintained 3rd position and McLaren have slipped to 4th. The battle for the Constructors title now looks to be in the hands of Felipe Massa as he is key to making Ferrari competitve with Red Bull. Honestly, the title looks to be Red Bull's to lose, and I don't expect them to faulter in the second half of the season.
1 Red Bull Racing-Renault 216
2 Ferrari 152
3 Lotus-Renault 144
4 McLaren-Mercedes 142
5 Mercedes 98
6 Sauber-Ferrari 60
7 Williams-Renault 47
8 Force India-Mercedes 44
9 STR-Ferrari 6
As mentioned previously, Formula 1 was last at the Hockenheim in 2010, so I'll put the qualifying and race results from that weekend here.
2010 Qualifying
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:13.791
2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:13.793
3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:14.290
4 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:14.347
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.427
6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.566
7 Robert Kubica Renault 1:15.079
8 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:15.109
9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:15.179 9
10 Nico Hülkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:15.339
2010 Race
The 2010 race was notable because of team orders from Ferrari that allowed Fernando Alonso to overtake Massa whilst he was leading the race. Race engineer Rob Smedley famously said "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" after which Massa slowed at the chicane and allowed Alonso to pass. Ferrari was subsequently fined $100,000 for breaching the rules on team orders, although this was likely the catalst that lead to rule changes that allowed team orders. The move by Ferrari overshadowed a dominant race by them with Red Bull and McLaren battling for the scraps behind the two scarlet Ferraris.
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:27:38.864
2 Felipe Massa Ferrari +4.196
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +5.121
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +26.896
5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +29.482
6 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +43.606
7 Robert Kubica Renault +1 Lap
8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +1 Lap
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +1 Lap
10 Vitaly Petrov Renault +1 Lap
IMO, Hockenheim is a shadown of it's former self, and what used to be a long, high speed circuit is today much shorter, slower, and of course, safer. The forest section of the old track didn't allow most of the fans to see much of the circuit and this was the main reason for the current re-design in 2001 that saw the removal of most of the long high speed portions.
The tyre choices for the German Grand Prix feature the soft and medium compounds. Due to the two year gap to the last race at Hockenheim, this year's race mark the debut for Pirelli at the track.
With the 2012 season increasingly looking like a battle between Ferrari and Red Bull I'd expect Alonso, Webber, Vettel and Massa to feature highly, again, in Germany. Lotus Renault are unveiling "interesting new updates" for the cars in Germany and it will be interesting to see if these will allow them to close the gap to the front two teams. Also looking for a change of fortune will be McLaren, as their season may be over sooner rather than later unless they can return to form. You would aso expect Schumacher and Rosberg to be strong at their home Grand Prix.
The weather forecast for the German Grand is reasonably favourable with some rain on Friday followed by a fine weekend.
With a crystal ball firmly in hand, I'm tipping Vettel to win in Germany, from Webber and Alonso.
