Formula 1 CFA Comments
German GP 2012 - Qualifying
by Cato Batista, 21/07/2012 4:21:28
Get ready to play “Qualifying Tombola”.
Yet another weather-compromised Friday has left us with no clues as who’s got a good car in Hockenheim. The times from both sessions do not reflect their relative performance; it was more the result of who was out at the right time in the ever changing conditions.
McLaren was the team most affected by the lack of dry testing since they have so much at stake with their heavily revised MP4-27. BUT & HAM were quickest in P1 setting the best time of the day in the only opportunity under full dry conditions, but they admitted they are still having problems getting the tyres to work at the right temperature.
The rest of the sessions where run under either intermediate or full wet tyres.
P1- BUT (1.16.595) HAM ALO SCH PER HUL ROS MAS MAL GRO (VET 12th RAI 15th WEB 20th)
P2- MAL (1.27.476) ROS VET PER GRO HUL RIC BUT WEB RAI (HAM 19TH ALO 20TH)
There are smiling faces at the Ferrari camp, their car was quick on dry, inters or wets, the opposite of Mercedes: SCH damaged his car and could be extensive by the looks of the accident (they are tight-lipped on how bad it really is) and ROS has a new gearbox and will have to take a 5-grid penalty. Lotus was trying on RAI’s car their new ‘double DRS’ rear wing but the wet conditions didn’t allow for a convincing evaluation. Their RS27 has been consistently the best on race trim, it’s just a matter of time before the victories start to come. The biggest question mark is Red Bull, they didn’t get any serious running but the track’s combination of slow ...
German GP 2012 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 20/07/2012 5:38:24
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are fast closing on the first half of the season with consecutive races in Germany and Hungary, the 10th and 11th rounds followed by the 4-week summer break during the month of August. This is the FIA-imposed holiday for all F1 personnel including factories and all development work.
The most interesting news in the last 2 weeks was the intent to clarify the rules when drivers are fighting for track position. With racing so tight this season we’d seen controversial incidents and drivers are asking what’s exactly allowed when attempting overtaking. FIA’s Charlie Whiting response has brought a new perspective into this critical issue, he said: “any driver defending his position on a straight and before any braking area may use the full width of the track during his first move provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is alongside his”. To be more specific in regards to ‘significant potion’ he added: “...if any part of the front wing of the car attempting to pass is alongside the rear wheel of the car in front this will be deemed to be a 'significant portion'”.
So all you need to stop the driver in front from blocking you is your front wing alongside his rear tyres. It sounds like another advantage point for the attacker, this when we already have lots of passing (and that’s got little to do the DRS). We’ll hear a lot about this whole thing, just wait and see....
The last GP in Hockenhein ...
British GP 2012 - Race
by Cato Batista, 07/07/2012 22:09:45
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We were treated to typical
British weather and despite the difficult conditions and the guessing game
between the 2 types of rain tyres in the end qualifying was decided by drivers’
skill. It looks like the race tomorrow will be more of the same.
The correct code ALO-WEB-SCH
was as elusive as always. Five members
scored single points (notably Manbos and Ricky for picking Alonso in first), the
other 3 coming from Schumacher’s third place (Ian, Joe & Rocco).
The weather will take
the leading role tomorrow. The forecast is for rain throughout the day although
not as intense as today. From the top 10 in Q3 only Grosjean sat out the session to
save sets of both intermediates and full wets, and advantage that could prove
crucial especially compared to Ferrari, Red Bull and Hamilton that have no new
rubber left for tomorrow. And those new tyres could come into play for
wet-weather expert Button (starting 18th) and both Sauber cars; the Swiss
team did another of their notorious strategy mistakes leaving Kobayashi and Perez (12th
& 17th) out in Q2 with perhaps the best chassis suited for this
track and in this conditions.
The top 10 for
tomorrow: ALO WEB
SCH VET MAS
RAI MAL HAM HUL GRO
As we have seen this
season the starting grid has ...
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