FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2016

[J.Clark]

Back to the HOCKENHEIMRING 

Only a week after Budapest, we are racing one more time before the summer break.  This is a race I would like to attend someday.  It seems like an interesting area of Germany to see as tourist as well.  My son was stationed in Kitzingen and I visited him there - not too far away.  I have seen a good bit of Germany, but not much of it around the Rhine.

Racing began there in 1932, on country roads, just like a number of "tracks" back then.  After a few years, Mercedes-Benz took it as their test track.  After WW-II, the circuit became know for the motorcycle racing that took place on it.  It was still basically a country road, through the forest circuit with long straights and few turns.  It was, at that time, about 8 km in length.

For roughly 40 years, from 1960 - 2001, it was more or less unchanged, except for the two chicanes added after Jim Clark was killed in 1968.  Changes were then necessitated by a few significant issues in the race in 2000.  A crash involving Diniz and Alesi at a chicane, in bad conditions, most of the action was taking place at the chicanes in the forested sectors - out of view of the majority of the fans, and a disgruntled, recently fired Mercedes employee ran across the track (I remember that like it was yesterday).  That was a race in which Rubens Barrichello won it (his first win) from P-18 on the grid - a very memorable race.


After that, with competition from other circuits mounting, and the threat of being taken off of the list of venues, a major revamp of it took place.  It was reduced from almost 7 km to about 4.5 km.  No longer does it go off into the forest.  No longer does it have those long, full throttle, straights.  Now it has 17 turns, but some very high speed sections.  For a true sense of how much shorter it is today, the revamp changed the number of laps from 45 to 67.

The current layout is fairly high speed, with two straights, neither of which is terribly long, but turn 5 is essentially a straight, as it is flat out from turn 4 to the speed trap just before the braking zone for turn 6.  There are two DRS zones, one between turns 1 & 2, and the other carries through turn 5.  There are two short straights - from turn 6 to 7, and turn 11 to 12.  There is a "stadium" section from turn 12 through 17 and onto the start/finish straight.

I have seen nothing yet regarding the use of the "loops" being used at the exit of any turns to monitor the track limits.

The lap record of 1:13.780 was set by Kimi in 2004, driving for McLaren (MP4 I think). 
Previous race winners on the current grid include: Alonso (3), Hamilton (2),  Rosberg, and Vettel.  Teams among those drivers were Renault, McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.  Williams did win this, as sort of a side note with Montoya back in the early 2000s.

I'm not sure, with the obvious progress of Red Bull and Ferrari, if the fact that the circuit design should be good for Williams, but it should help them a bit.  Force India and Toro Roso could well exceed expectations here as well.  Ferrari and Red Bull should be pushing Mercedes I think, and hopefully Williams will be in that mix, even if a bit behind.

[J.Clark]

FFP-1 results:
1.  Rosberg   GER   Mercedes   1m 15.517
2.  Hamilton      Mercedes   1m 15.843
3.  Vettel      Ferrari   1m 16.667
4.  Raikkonen      Ferrari   1m 16.852
5.  Verstappen    Red Bull   1m 16.927
6.  Ricciardo      Red Bull   1m 17.089
7.  Alonso      McLaren   1m 17.183
8.  Button      McLaren   1m 17.612
9.  Kvyat      Toro Rosso   1m 18.008
10. Sainz      Toro Rosso   1m 18.044
11. Ericsson      Sauber   1m 18.198
12. Bottas      Williams   1m 18.210
13. Massa      Williams   1m 18.322
14. Grosjean      Haas   1m 18.589
15. Hulkenberg      Force India   1m 18.591
16. Perez      Force India    1m 18.628
17. Leclerc      Haas   1m 18.882
18. Magnussen      Renault   1m 18.933
19. Nasr      Sauber   1m 18.961
20. Ocon      Renault   1m 18.981
21. Haryanto      Manor   1m 19.167
22. Wehrlein      Manor   1m 19.975

Looks like McLaren and Williams have swapped places.

[Scott]

In a way these times illustrate what I was talking about on the other thread with regards to yellow flags (granted these are laps, not sectors, but still).  For a single yellow, Rosberg wouldn't even have to lift enough for Hamilton to catch up.  How much safer is that?  For double yellows, Hamilton wouldn't have to lift enough for Vettel to catch up, surely he couldn't possibly come to a complete stop if necessary.

 

[cosworth151]

It's great to have F1 back in Germany again. The crowd for FP2 seems a bit sparse. I hope it picks up for the rest of the week-end.

[Irisado]

I agree that it's good to have a race in Germany once more.

The old flat out blasts through the forest are sadly missing these days.  The old circuit had atmosphere that the new one just cannot compete with.  By modern standards though, it's still a pretty impressive circuit, which can be quite challenging.  I just hope that it produces a better race than the Hungaroring did.

[J.Clark]

That is so true.   

FP-2 times are a matter of record:
1.  Rosberg      Mercedes   1m 15.614
2.  Hamilton      Mercedes   1m 16.008
3.  Vettel      Ferrari   1m 16.208
4.  Verstappen    Red Bull   1m 16.456
5.  Ricciardo      Red Bull   1m 16.490
6.  Raikkonen      Ferrari   1m 16.512
7.  Hulkenberg      Force India   1m 16.781
8.  Button      McLaren   1m 17.087
9.  Perez      Force India   1m 17.148
10. Alonso      McLaren   1m 17.225
11. Sainz    Toro Rosso    1m 17.342
12. Kvyat      Toro Rosso   1m 17.367
13. Bottas      Williams   1m 17.425
14. Grosjean      Haas   1m 17.602
15. Massa      Williams   1m 17.686
16. Gutierrez      Haas     1m 18.005
17. Magnussen      Renault   1m 18.056
18. Ericsson      Sauber   1m 18.130
19. Wehrlein      Manor   1m 18.193
20. Palmer      Renault   1m 18.313
21. Haryanto      Manor   1m 18.591
22. Nasr      Sauber   1m 19.295

[J.Clark]

Following yesterday's free practice sessions, Bottas said Williams was having trouble with the tires.  I thought that they said they had believed to have figured it out in the testing a few weeks ago.  I guess not completely, but they were more respectable on this morning's time sheet.

1.  Rosberg      Mercedes   1m 15.738
2.  Hamilton      Mercedes   1m 15.795
3.  Ricciardo      Red Bull   1m 15.837
4.  Raikkonen      Ferrari   1m 15.902
5.  Vettel      Ferrari   1m 16.104
6.  Verstappen    Red Bull   1m 16.182
7.  Bottas      Williams   1m 16.400
8.  Massa      Williams   1m 16.630
9.  Alonso      McLaren   1m 16.916
10. Hulkenberg      Force India   1m 19.972
11. Sainz       Toro Rosso    1m 17.028
12. Perez      Force India    1m 17.066
13. Gutierrez      Haas     1m 17.160
14. Kvyat      Toro Rosso   1m 17.227
15. Magnussen   Renault   1m 17.351
16. Palmer      Renault   1m 17.473
17. Ericsson   Sauber   1m 17.685
18. Nasr      Sauber   1m 18.057
19. Button      McLaren   1m 18.093
20. Wehrlein      Manor   1m 18.270
21. Haryanto      Manor   1m 18.272
22. Grosjean      Haas     1m 25.160

Qualifying just an hour away

[J.Clark]

The grid for tomorrow seems set.  I know there was an incident involving Massa and Sainz (I think), which has yielded nothing as of yet, for Sainz blocking Massa.  It looked like a very dangerous move.
UPDATE: Sainz will receive a three grid spot penalty, putting him back to P-16.   That will certainly help Grosjean and Alonso a lot, and to some extent, Palmer.

Grosjean will take a five spot penalty for a transmission issue.  That will move him back to P-20, which is a shame as Haas looked fairly good this weekend.

1.  Rosberg      Mercedes   1m 14.363
2. Hamilton      Mercedes   1m 14.470
3.  Ricciardo      Red Bull   1m 14.726
4.  Verstappen    Red Bull   1m 14.834
5.  Raikkonen      Ferrari   1m 15.142
6.  Vettel      Ferrari   1m 15.315
7.  Hulkenberg   Force India   1m 15.510
8.  Bottas      Williams   1m 15.530
9.  Perez      Force India   1m 15.537
10. Massa      Williams   1m 15.615

11. Gutierrez      Haas   1m 15.883
12  Button      McLaren   1m 15.909
13. Sainz       Toro Rosso   1m 15.989
14. Alonso      McLaren   1m 16.041
15. Grosjean      Haas   1m 16.086
16. Palmer      Renault   1m 16.665
17. Magnussen      Renault   1m 16.716
18. Wehrlein      Manor   1m 16.717
19. Kvyat      Toro Rosso   1m 16.876
20. Haryanto      Manor   1m 16.977
21. Nasr      Sauber   1m 17.123
22. Ericsson      Sauber   1m 17.238

Kimi, maybe because of the new contract, seems to be on fire again.

[J.Clark]

Certainly not very exciting as races go, and rather predictable start other than Rosberg losing out to both Red Bulls.

Not a good race for Nico.  That move at the hair pin was stupid and I'm surprised his penalty wasn't a drive through.  It is basically the same thing he did to Lewis earlier in the year and I am frankly glad to see the stewards send a message that you can't drive like that.  He certainly can't blame his brakes this time.

[cosworth151]

Lewis ran away with it for the win, but there were some good battles down through the field. I was glad to see Jenson end up with points. I was also glad to see Hico Rosberg get called for forcing Max off the corner.

[Alianora La Canta]

On the upside, Radio 5 Live did a good job of calling this race. Better than the TV efforts I've seen from Channel 4 and Sky this year.

[Irisado]

Slightly more interesting than Hungary, but not much.  Hardly a great way to go into the summer break, unfortunately.  A great drive from Hamilton and some fun midfield dicing between the McLarens, Perez, Massa, and Sainz, but precious little else.

[lkjohnson1950]

Hamilton is thoroughly up in Rosberg's head and probably clinched the WDC with this race. F1 over the last decade has become incredibly boring. First Schumacher, then Vettel, then Hamilton dominating. UGH! All self involved little punks in my view. Verstappen seems the next big thing and if anything he is worse. Makes me question my involvement with racing.

[J.Clark]

Having had some time to think it all over, I too am ready for the break.  The season began with the promise of a much more exciting year than some of the past few.  I didn't really expect to see anyone challenge the Mercedes, but I did rather hope that there would be a bit more going on right behind them.

We have Red Bull and Ferrari battling each other, so hopefully that will continue for the rest of the season.  Force India and Williams, with perhaps McLaren joining that battle, and other than the occasional insurgence of Toro Roso, little else is going on that the cameras show.  Haas continues to be impressive, but primarily because it is quite an accomplishment for a team in their first year.

It was the right decision I think to end the ban on radio communications between the drivers and pit wall.  It made things more interesting for us watching.

Back to the race:
Hamilton had it easy with Rosberg blowing his start, even though Ricciardo was catching him in the closing laps.  I think there was more pace in the Merc in reserve.

Great seeing Ricciardo on the podium with a second place finish.  Max too, to some degree.

Rosberg ended up better that he deserved after his move on Max.  I think a drive through would have been a more appropriate penalty for what was such an obvious and calculated move.

Both Ferrari did well, but they may have little chance going forward with the loss of the tech engineer.

The McLaren's are coming.  This race, while with regard to points didn't show them as well as a couple of other races; however, both cars finished again - one with some points and the other not far out of them.

Williams is truly struggling and this race was just one more half-step to the rear sadly.  i don't know (would like to think it possible) if Massa had not been rear-ended if he could have scored points, probably a yes, but Bottas ended up down the grid from his starting position.

[Irisado]

F1 over the last decade has become incredibly boring. First Schumacher, then Vettel, then Hamilton dominating.

A bit inaccurate to say that, I feel.  The last decade goes back to 2006, when Alonso beat Schumacher, Raikkonen won in 2007, Hamilton in 2008, and Button in 2009.  That was all pretty varied and was a close fight every year too.  I agree about Vettel's domination though.  That was tedious in the extreme.