"Cato Batista" 21/07/2011 19:49:24 ID #88
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have back to back GPs for the 10th and 11th rounds of the 2011 season. The German GP at the Nurburgring this weekend followed by the Hungarian GP in Budapest on July 29-31. The next race after that will be the Belgium GP (28-28 Aug) 4 weeks later for the F1 summer break.
Even though it looks like the Championship has been already decided half through the season we are still enjoying one of the most entertaining years in F1. Look at this numbers: in 17 races in 2009 we had 244 overtakes; 547 in 2010 in 17 races, and now we’re up to 623 in only 9 races!. To put it into perspective we’d have to discount the 175 passes done to the 3 and still very slow new teams (Lotus, Hispania & Virgin) and 43 between teammates. That leaves 180 overtakes produced by the DRS and 225 (!) under real racing conditions. Of course this is the result of the time differentials produced by the Pirellis, and all the good for it. The races with the highest number of passes are Canada-136, Turkey-123, China-93, and the lowest Monaco with 22.
The question now is if all this wheel-to-wheel racing can be translated into different race winners, and it seems that this is possible now that Ferrari has their wind-tunnel program back on track...and if McLaren comes out of their slump. And of course if the ‘other’ faster car on the grid, driven by Mr Webber starts to show its full potential. Webber is the only of the top drivers yet to lead a lap this year, even though he’s been on pole twice.
The next thing to watch this race will be performance of the all-German Mercedes team on their home ground. So far Schumacher hasn’t been a challenge to Rosberg, but the old master doesn’t give up and he’s talking about a podium finish this weekend. Will he get his ego kicked by his younger peers once more? I bet he will need his usual pit-stop for bodywork repairs...
Our German GP winner last year was Joe with 14 points, the same tally we’d achieved 3 times this season. Let’s see if can break that barrier this time.
Until tomorrow
Cheers
Cato