Ladies and Gentlemen:
Another Red Bull front row, but this time it was Webber a of Vettel. It was a crazy Q3 session with constantly changing conditions, and it was even crazier in Q2 when showers wetted only parts of the track, a complete lottery. In the end the Status Quo prevailed at the front with Ferrari taking the second row to confirm their upward form. McLaren is lost for words to explain the huge 1.5 seconds margin that separated their best runner Button in 5th to the pole; all Hamilton could do was 10th. And there were more surprises in the top ten: Renault didn’t make the cut, neither Schumacher, instead rookies DiResta is 6th, Maldonado 7th, and Kobayashi’s Sauber is a of Rosberg’s Mercedes. A very interesting looking grid. It’s expected to be partly cloudy and dry with temperatures around 17c (low for the hard compound).
Our QF results were a total disaster. Fourteen members (that’s 14!) didn’t score any points, we had only one 4-point plenum (me), two more -Joe, (leading the QF department) and Fredrik- with 2 points, and 2 more with one point! -Rocco & Erik-. Curro scored a perfect 1-2-3 as well, but it was disallowed for submitting late (what a shame). No big changes atop of the standings as all the leaders went blank (!)
The grid for tomorrow:
WEB VET ALO MAS BUT DIR MAL KOB ROS HAM
DRS detection zone has been set for corner 3, with activation allowed in the short straight to corner 4 and the longer straight after that. DRS wasn’t a factor last GP in Valencia, but this is a very fast circuit where it could make an impact on the 52 lap ...
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British GP - Qualifying
by Cato Batista, 09/07/2011 13:52:40
Ladies and Gentlemen:
There was no relevant information coming out of Friday’s sessions. If this day is usually dedicated mostly to race set-up and less QF prepping, intermittent heavy rain left the teams without any significant data to assess their upgrades, particularly McLaren’s new rear wing and Ferrari’s new aero kit. Actually, the big news came from the political scene, were a last minute change in FIA’s ruling on the blowing diffusers saga overshadowed the action on the track.
Late Friday, the FIA backpedal the restrictions on off-throttle exhaust gasses because Renault –engine providers to 3 teams including Red Bull- argued their engines are designed to operate with a constant flow of gasses and this constraint will damage the motor’s reliability. The French manufacturer dispute was based on Mercedes using a similar process (cutting from 8 to 4 cylinders off-throttle). The end result was the FIA now allows 50% gas flow off-throttle, effectively preserving Red Bull aero design advantage.
On track action was limited because it is optimistically expected that QF and race will be dry affairs. Most of the running was done on intermediate rubber and the only noteworthy times were set at the end of P2 when the dry line started to appear.
P1- WEB SCH BAR PER MAS ROS ALO HAM HUL ALG
P2- MAS ROS KOB HAM BUT SUT DIR BAR PER BUE
On the few occasions when Red Bull sent their cars out they looked clearly like the fastest ones. On the wet conditions Schumacher and the Mercedes were in good form, same as Barrichelo in the Williams and Perez in the Sauber.
With its fast, ...
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British GP 2011 - Preview
by Cato Batista, 09/07/2011 13:48:56
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Hard to believe but we’re getting to the half way point of the season. The British GP is the 9th of the 19 rounds at Silverstone this weekend.
Will this be another Vettel / Red Bull-steamroller show? probably, but no doubt the gap to his pursuers is closing. Adrian Newey has gone public saying that the new regulations starting with this GP to restrict the flow of exhaust gasses ‘off-throttle’ into the diffuser will diminish their downforce advantage. He reckons his cars (and Renault’s) were the only ones specifically designed with this purpose, something the rest of the top teams tried to copy without results. How much time this may represent? He doesn’t say, but it could as much as .5 seconds per lap.
It’s clear that Alonso and Webber are getting closer to Vettel. Ferrari keeps improving by the hand of Alonso, and now Webber admits his recent improved form comes from his understanding of the Pirellis (it only took him 8 races...) The questions mark is McLaren, this is their race (team & driver’s) and they have several upgrades and a lot of pep-talk for the weekend.
Pirelli will bring hard & soft compounds for this race, which could be bad news for Ferrari. The last time the hard compound was used (Spain) the Italians finished the race a lap behind, but their chassis is the best of the lot on race trim on the soft compound. We shall see.
In last year’s British GP our illustrious association had the worst results of the season. Tim won it with 6 points, the average was a disastrous 3.2 and 4 members scored only 2 points! ouch! But let’s not ...
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