German GP discussion etc.

amacachi

God I hate Jake Humphry so much.

Anyone love how excited the BBC are gettin about Hamilton topping the practise times? Wonder if this means he might make it through to Q2 or even Q3!?

amacachi

I'll get this thread started so. :P

Missed the very start of the session, is rain expected? Great seeing everyone having to rush out.

dor83

Great quali so far, you have to love the way the rain shakes things up so much. There were a couple of moments were it looked like a race there was that many cars close to each other.

amacachi

dor83 wrote: »

Great quali so far, you have to love the way the rain shakes things up so much. There were a couple of moments were it looked like a race there was that many cars close to each other.

Too right, they should cancel races where it doesn't rain.

quarryman

amacachi wrote: »

God I hate Jake Humphry so much.

what's so bad about him?

amacachi

quarryman wrote: »

what's so bad about him?

Not a great presenter and a bit overeager. Remember first seein him on kids' TV and thinking he was quite poor even at that.

dor83

amacachi wrote: »

Not a great presenter and a bit overeager. Remember first seein him on kids' TV and thinking he was quite poor even at that.

At least we don't have to put up with ITV any more, Humphry is a lot more bearable than that lot were.

amacachi

Expecting Hamilton on pole, the low temperature suits his overdriving style down to a T.

amacachi

Gwan Webber!

dor83

Well done Webber and Red Bull, I really hope they can take the fight to Brawn for the rest of the season. Well done Sutil too, 7th in a Force India isn't easy.

amacachi

Mystified as to why Hamilton didn't go out for a last flying lap.

bennyx_o

Delighted Webbers on pole

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

Mystified as to why Hamilton didn't go out for a last flying lap.

Needs the extra fuel for the race?? we will see when the weights are published.

Good job by Webber, nice to see sutil in q3
Start of q2 was funny with all the cars all over the place.

Slutmonkey57b

amacachi wrote: »

God I hate Jake Humphry so much.

Good presenter, well prepared, knows how to keep things moving, did an excellent job interviewing Max - find me someone else who could get Max to talk himself into a hole so easily.

Anyone love how excited the BBC are gettin about Hamilton topping the practise times? Wonder if this means he might make it through to Q2 or even Q3!?

The current champion and one of the Grand Marque teams in a massive last minute reversal of form, posting times at the top of the grid, as the season gets more unpredictable with Brawn's weaknesses and Red Bull's second test of their improved car, who would be excited or interested to hear about that?
For the german GP, BBC have interviewed german drivers, done features on both old and new tracks, given a long interview to a reserve driver to see what it's like behind the scenes, and given a lot of airtime to kids driving karts.

From Humphrey's twitter: "SO chuffed for mark. Just saw his right hand man Roger...he was beaming from ear to ear. What a session eh?? "

But yes, the BBC are totally Hamilton-centric, it's all a big british bias, not interested in what's going on down the field, blah blah blah.....

Slutmonkey57b

Back to the qualifying: I don't see how anyone can dislike the current qualifying system, apart from big name drivers getting caught out of course! Excellent watching today. Imagine it had been 1 hour of waiting followed by 5 minutes of chaos like it was before.

Heikki did a great job to finish one place behind Hamilton with none of the upgrades on the car. Be very interested to see what happens with the KERS off the line here, if Button chickens his start like he did in Silverstone, the McLarens will be all over him.

vectra

Fuel weights

Brawns and Hamilton running light
Could be interesting for Ferrari if the Kers gets them a good run down to turn one :cool:

Slutmonkey57b

Heiki is 10 kilos heavier and only one place behind Hamilton without all the upgrades on the car. And some people claim he's underperformed for McLaren?

amacachi

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

But yes, the BBC are totally Hamilton-centric, it's all a big british bias, not interested in what's going on down the field, blah blah blah.....

*yawn*

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Needs the extra fuel for the race?? we will see when the weights are published.

They get the lap of fuel back.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Heiki is 10 kilos heavier and only one place behind Hamilton without all the upgrades on the car. And some people claim he's underperformed for McLaren?

One good performance means he hasn't underperformed for the last season and a half? He's one position behind, but by 1.2 seconds. Anyone behind him in the top ten behind him is heavier on fuel.

Slutmonkey57b

He beat his World championship-winning teammate 6 times last season. Clearly not trying hard enough, replace the guy. I hear Bourdais will be looking for a drive and has championship-winning form too.

amacachi

And Heidfeld beat Kubica 7 times last season and still came in for heavy criticism.

Slutmonkey57b

All of which tells you that armchair pundits like us know nothing really.

amacachi

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

All of which tells you that armchair pundits like us know nothing really.

I don't think anyone can say that Kovalainen hasn't underperformed, but how much is purely down to him is the question. For example at last year's German GP is looked fairly obvious to me that he was pretty much letting Lewis past, but Hamilton didn't read it and almost outbraked into the back of him.
Again, how much it's from the team or him is questionable, or even how much he questions his position in the team himself. IMO he hasn't shown what he can do, the reasons are the debatable part.

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

They get the lap of fuel back.

Are you sure? Well then its just a mistake by McLaren.

I think once its wet/damp Hamilton's car upgrades/extra performance goes out the window. I dont think he will finish near Hamilton.

I think Heiki is criticised for not scoring more consistently in the points last year. Thats what cost McLaren the constructors title.
This year he has done ok with the car he has.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Are you sure? Well then its just a mistake by McLaren.

I think once its wet/damp Hamilton's car upgrades/extra performance goes out the window. I dont think he will finish near Hamilton.

I think Heiki is criticised for not scoring more consistently in the points last year. Thats what cost McLaren the constructors title.
This year he has done ok with the car he has.

Yup, they get a fuel credit for each lap they do.(Unless it's been quietly changed recently) With the cold temperatures I'd've thought the second lap would be faster, though the way Hamilton drives I doubt getting temperature into the tyres would be a problem.

What ya mean by the second paragraph?
Hard to call with the upgrades, all depends on what kind of downforce it's providing, but I'd say it's above all our heads.

Again it's hard to judge when the cars are poor. This year's regulations don't suit Hamilton at all I don't think. In an even team I have no doubt that Heikki would be no more than a tenth or two off Hamilton, but we both know that won't be happening any time soon.:)

Slutmonkey57b

Back to the race at hand, it's shaping up to be another interesting season, contrary to what the first half results suggested. I always said the Red Bull's results didn't reflect their speed. The test for the rest of the year is going to be seeing whether Brawn can pull in he upgrades to bring back the advantage.

Revealing comment from Ross was that the main heating/grip problem is in the front tyres - and pretty much all their updates have focused on tweaking the front wing. All down to having to bolt a different engine into the car to the one it was designed for?

Button looked like he let his nerves get to him in Silverstone, and Rubens is all over him again this weekend. Can he claw back the confidence or will he let the season fall apart on him and fritter away his lead?

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

What ya mean by the second paragraph?

Just that once its wet the cars performance isn't as important.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Back to the race at hand, it's shaping up to be another interesting season, contrary to what the first half results suggested. I always said the Red Bull's results didn't reflect their speed. The test for the rest of the year is going to be seeing whether Brawn can pull in he upgrades to bring back the advantage.

Revealing comment from Ross was that the main heating/grip problem is in the front tyres - and pretty much all their updates have focused on tweaking the front wing. All down to having to bolt a different engine into the car to the one it was designed for?

There is more hot races than cold ones though.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Button looked like he let his nerves get to him in Silverstone, and Rubens is all over him again this weekend. Can he claw back the confidence or will he let the season fall apart on him and fritter away his lead?

This is the interesting bit and where we learn if he has world champion ability to grind out results when the car is not performing.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

There is more hot races than cold ones though.

In the rest of the season?
Hungary - Probably hot.
Valencia - Probably hot.
Spa - God knows.
Monza - God knows.
Singapore - Night.
Fuji - Mountains/God knows.
China - Should be warm, but rain would negate the heat.
Brazil - God knows.

Slutmonkey57b

What impressed about Button up to Silverstone was his calmness though - he was excitable when winning, but he was utterly methodical and balanced when it came to races. The car being good under him must have been a factor, but I don't think it was entirely so - in Silverstone, where he had massive problems all weekend with it, he was suddenly able to put in massive results in the last few laps, when shovelin persuaded him he could do it. I really think the pressure of Home GP got to him, as Brundle commented he was negative about the result going into it, and that's before he stepped into the car. Very strange mental turnabout, and he showed no signs of it at all until the week of the british GP.

He has some mind work to do and Brawn have some development work to do to get back into it now. The only advantage is that their drivers are fighting each other a lot closer than Button/Barrichello.

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

In the rest of the season?
Hungary - Probably hot.
Valencia - Probably hot.
Spa - God knows.
Monza - God knows.
Singapore - Night.
Fuji - Mountains/God knows.
China - Should be warm, but rain would negate the heat.
Brazil - God knows.

Is Japan not Suzuka this year? cos I've been looking forward to it.
Interesting i was taking over a whole season but it looks like it could be half warm half cool for the rest of the season, still gives brawn the advantage especially if Webber and Vettel keep taking points off each other.

Did anyone catch the Ari Vatanen interview before qualifying, sounded like he was making allot of sense to me, could be a good president of the FIA if he gets the chance.

Slutmonkey57b

Yes, he was thinking clearly, talking sense, had no axe to grind, wanted to solve problems, thought everyone had equal rights.

He's got no chance in the FIA.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Is Japan not Suzuka this year? cos I've been looking forward to it.

Wikipedia says Fuji anyway.

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

Wikipedia says Fuji anyway.

Suzuka

edgy

amacachi wrote: »

In the rest of the season?
Hungary - Probably hot.
Valencia - Probably hot.
Spa - God knows.
Monza - God knows.
Singapore - Night.
Fuji - Mountains/God knows.
China - Should be warm, but rain would negate the heat.
Brazil - God knows.

They raced in China already this year, it was the third race I think. Anyway we still have Abu Dhabi to look forward to, which looks set to be a warm race too.

ctrl-alt-delete

Put a little bit on lewis to lead after 1st lap

not much of a chance i know, but will be interesting to see what kers does off the start for him, he reckons at least 2 places

...........Couldn't hold it on the corner.

ahh well

ctrl-alt-delete

Webber's race seems to be ruined by a Drive through,

Causing a collision the reason,

Very harsh on him in fairness.

amacachi

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Webber's race seems to be ruined by a Drive through,

Causing a collision the reason,

Very harsh on him in fairness.

Webber will still win it.

amacachi

edgy wrote: »

They raced in China already this year, it was the third race I think. Anyway we still have Abu Dhabi to look forward to, which looks set to be a warm race too.

Yep, I am an idiot.

ctrl-alt-delete

amacachi wrote: »

Webber will still win it.

Looking more and more like you might be right.

He is on fire now.

amacachi

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Looking more and more like you might be right.

He is on fire now.

I just heard "3 stops" mentioned and remembered Ross Brawn's ridiculous fetish for taking more stops than necessary this year.

Would love to see Sutil get a good set of tyres now and really push for some serious points.

amacachi

I had to say it didn't I? Just goes to show, ya don't mess with Kimi. :pac:

EDIT: Button or Vettel for second, really silly from Brawn, blew Barrichello's chances.

EDIT AGAIN: Forgot Button would be on a silly 3-stop, ugh.

EDIT ONE MORE TIME: Filling Barrichello to the end, too late for changing strategy to make any real difference I'd say. Nope, fuel rig problem anyway.

afatbollix

well my pickems was totally wrong...

EvilMonkey

Hamilton you muppet, not the first time he ****ed his race up in the first corner.
Barrichello is a whiny little bottler, heres a tip if you want to win, when your stuck behind a slower car PASS it.
Congratulations to Webber
Pity Sutil didn't get some good points.

leeroybrown

Barrichello is lucky that the team need him to guarantee them some constructors points between now and the end of the season otherwise he'd be retiring now rather than at the end of the season. After this latest rant I reckon that the outside chance he had of a drive elsewhere has probably gone too.

In fairness to Hamilton, he was just unlucky in the first corner this time. With the extra power from KERS he had to take a chance off the line. If Webber hadn't bounced back in his direction he'd have made it through turn one without a puncture, with great track position and with a small bit of KERS left to defend his position.

enzo7

leeroybrown wrote: »

Barrichello is lucky that the team need him to guarantee them some constructors points between now and the end of the season otherwise he'd be retiring now rather than at the end of the season. After this latest rant I reckon that the outside chance he had of a drive elsewhere has probably gone too.

they dont need him. get rid now!!!

well done webber:D

EvilMonkey

leeroybrown wrote: »

In fairness to Hamilton, he was just unlucky in the first corner this time. With the extra power from KERS he had to take a chance off the line. If Webber hadn't bounced back in his direction he'd have made it through turn one without a puncture, with great track position and with a small bit of KERS left to defend his position.

He still would have went off and lost all the places he made up because he went into the first corner way too quick trying to get first. The puncture just made his mistake a total disaster.

mickdw

There are making a dick out of rubens imo. He is right to call them on it. He is nearing the end of career and it must be very frustrating to have this sh1t going on. Refueler problem.... ya right. They took a very good result away from him just to give button an extra point or two. Rubens was never going to finish in front of button once they were together on track.
I have a feeling if button came in and had a refueling problem, the backup rig would have the correct volume programed in and not the crap that went on with rubens. It was obviously just a very underhand way to mess up rubens day. Rubens was calling to get the hard tyres on and to fill to the end as this was his only hope of staying ahead of webber. It might not have worked but he would still have been ahead of button and that wouldnt do.

leeroybrown

They did prefer Button today but only on one occasion. It was pretty obvious that whoever got the second pit-stop window would have the chance to put in one good lap in and take the position. That opportunity was given to Button. If anyone genuinely think that Ross Brawn would deliberately orchestrate a refuelling rig problem in the middle of a race where constructors points were as big an issue as drivers points, I think they're barking up the wrong tree.

Ultimately, Ross Brawn will analyse the situation and decide what's best for the team but I reckon that there are at probably two or three team principals in the pit lane who'd already have decided to get rid of him after this latest outburst.

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

He still would have went off and lost all the places he made up because he went into the first corner way too quick trying to get first. The puncture just made his mistake a total disaster.

If he hadn't had the puncture he wouldn't have run as wide though. He was unlucky for once.


I dunno, I can't see where Brawn really preferred Button over Barichello, I think it was just a case of a team picking a ridiculously ****e strategy.
Also does Rubens really think he ever had a chance today?

RayM

leeroybrown wrote: »

Ultimately, Ross Brawn will analyse the situation and decide what's best for the team but I reckon that there are at probably two or three team principals in the pit lane who'd already have decided to get rid of him after this latest outburst.

And unfortunately for Barrichello, at least one of them would have been a potential 2010 employer.

vectra

amacachi wrote: »

If he hadn't had the puncture he wouldn't have run as wide though. He was unlucky for once.

I would say he still would have lost his places.At the point where he ran wide he seemed to be in "No mans land"
he would have been hung out to dry by the following cars.
And again Hamilton's Ego messed up his race and someone else gets the blame :rolleyes: