F1 Round 11 : Silverstone - UK

[Homem de Gelo]

What an amazing lap by Raikkonen, and it's so good to see McLaren running strong again.

Now if only somehow things could happen so Schumacher doesn't win tomorrow... Who knows? He's starting from the dirty side with Trulli behind him. Hopefully Trulli will jump to 3rd at the start, behind Raikkonen and Button and then he'll hold the Ferraris while Raikkonen and Button run away opening an imense gap after 10 laps..

[Ferrari Tifosi]

Yes, it is good to see Raikkonen and McLaren on pole, it seems that the testing in Silverstone about a month ago paid off. However, I think Raikkonen is probably carrying less fuel than the others, he drove through his cooling lap very slowly to conserve fuel. But, hey, I could be wrong and that could have a just been a very good lap. After all Raikkonen did set fast lap in 3 out of the 4 practice sessions.

[fpv_gtho]

yeah i think Raikkonens pace is genuine and its great to see McLaren back at the front with the new car, but i still think Schumacher should be closely watched. After Magny Cours the teams will probably be trying to come up with a bullet proof strategy

[stratos]

1. shumi
2. kimi raikonen
3. rubens barrichello

[DarkPhenix]

Panasonic Toyota Racing drivers Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis will start the British Grand Prix, round 11 of this year's Formula 1 World Championship, from 12th and 19th positions on the Silverstone grid respectively. Panis actually qualified 12th fastest overall but was adjudged to have impeded Sauber driver Felipe Massa's qualifying lap. The outcome is that the FIA stewards decided to delete the Frenchman's qualifying lap. He will still start ahead of the Sauber of Giancarlo Fisichella after the Italian failed to set a lap time in the second qualifying session.

Panis was adjudged to have breached article 120 of the FIA F1 sporting regulations as he came slowly back to the pits after setting his time.

"I am obviously very disappointed and upset that my time in qualifying was cancelled. I pushed very hard and did the best that I could with the car. With the strategy we have in place for tomorrow, I think we performed well. A mistake in communication from the team meant that I only saw Massa late, but I immediately moved over and offline. I am sorry for the Sauber team because it was not intentional and I did all I could not to impede his lap. I am very annoyed at the decision from the stewards. Tomorrow's race will now be very hard, but I will push all the way as I always do."

Entirely separately and unrelated, Silverstone's pre-qualifying session, which determines the order that the cars run for the all-important qualifying lap, saw a bizarre situation, with a number of drivers purposely going slowly in order to be among the first to run in the qualifying period, when rain was widely expected. Some even ran wide and spun deliberately, in case they were adjudged to have infringed article 151c of the international sporting code, which outlaws "any act prejudicial to the interests of motor sport generally."

At the end of one of the season's most confusing qualifying periods, Da Matta said: "In the final analysis everyone got their qualifying laps in without interruption from any rain and we were able to make the best of a lot of hard work we did analysing the data after the first day's free practice. The car felt a lot better but the competition is stiff and I think we are in for another tough race tomorrow. On the plus side, we can look forward to the debut of our revised car at Hockenheim."

As Da Matta pointed out, the anticipated rain held off and it was Kimi Raikkonen (1m18.233s) who claimed pole position for West McLaren Mercedes, his and the team's first since the US Grand Prix last year. Rubens Barrichello (1m18.305s) was second quickest for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, ahead of home hero Jenson Button (1m18.580s), who was last out and had a nail-biting time waiting to see if he was going to get a lap on a dry track. Nine-time 2004 winner Michael Schumacher (1m18.710s) was fourth quickest in the second Ferrari, ahead of Jarno Trulli (1m18.715s) and Mild Seven Renault team mate Fernando Alonso (1m18.811s), who will start 10 places further back on the grid after needing an engine change following Saturday morning free practice.

Mike Gascoyne summed up a bizarre qualifying day: "The team has to apologise to Olivier for not ensuring that he was fully informed of Massa's position on the track, however he immediately moved offline and having reviewed the evidence in the stewards meeting we were sure that Massa could take the racing line and not be held up in any way. We are therefore very disappointed in the stewards' decision to disallow Olivier's time and we feel that the penalty is both too harsh and undeserved. I personally think this is true given what happened in the first qualifying session where teams clearly deceived the public by not ensuring their drivers pushed to the limit. I hope the crowd was entertained by the second qualifying session because the first one was a disgrace in front the huge numbers of people who have turned up at Silverstone today. It is unbelievable that the fans are let down in such a way and then such a penalty was given to one of the few drivers who pushed hard and entertained the crowds in both qualifying sessions. I only hope Olivier can have a good race and score points tomorrow to make up for what was an extremely disappointing decision."

Cristiano da Matta (Car 16, Chassis TF104/04)

Pre-Qualifying: 8th
Lap Time: 1m22.507s (+3.635s)
Qualifying: 14th
Lap Time: 1m20.545s (+2.312s)
Grid Position: 12th

"I think we should be quite content with the results of my qualifying today. The pace we had this afternoon is more or less what we have had all weekend. I had a bit more understeer and struggled more on the slower speed parts of the track, but on the other hand, the car handled better on the high speed compared to this morning's practice. The weather in Britain is very changeable and unpredictable, but I hope it stays dry for the race. If we have some luck, I think we could pick up a couple of points."

Olivier Panis (Car 17, Chassis TF104/03)

Pre-Qualifying: 3rd
Lap Time: 1m19.697s (+0.825s)
Qualifying: 12th
Lap Time: 1m20.335s (+2.102s)
Grid Position: 19th

"I am obviously very disappointed and upset that my time in qualifying was cancelled. I pushed very hard and did the best that I could with the car. With the strategy we have in place for tomorrow, I think we performed well. A mistake in communication from the team meant that I only saw Massa late, but I immediately moved over and offline. I am sorry for the Sauber team because it was not intentional and I did all I could not to impede his lap. I am very annoyed at the decision from the stewards. Tomorrow's race will now be very hard, but I will push all the way as I always do."

Mike Gascoyne - Technical Director Chassis

"The team has to apologise to Olivier for not ensuring that he was fully informed of Massa's position on the track, however he immediately moved offline and having reviewed the evidence in the stewards meeting we were sure that Massa could take the racing line and not be held up in any way. We are therefore very disappointed in the stewards' decision to disallow Olivier's time and we feel that the penalty is both too harsh and undeserved. I personally think this is true given what happened in the first qualifying session where teams clearly deceived the public by not ensuring their drivers pushed to the limit. I hope the crowd was entertained by the second qualifying session because the first one was a disgrace in front the huge numbers of people who have turned up at Silverstone today. It is unbelievable that the fans are let down in such a way and then such a penalty was given to one of the few drivers who pushed hard and entertained the crowds in both qualifying sessions. I only hope Olivier can have a good race and score points tomorrow to make up for what was an extremely disappointing decision."

Tsutomu Tomita - Team Principal

"On behalf of all the Panasonic Toyota Racing team, I would like to express our sorrow to learn of the recent and unexpected death of John Walton. We offer our condolences and sincere sympathy to the entire Minardi team and John's family at this traumatic time."

Grand Prix of Great Britain - Qualifying 1

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps Speed
1 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:18.872 3 234.653
2 F. Massa Sauber Petronas 1:19.317 0.445 3 233.337
3 O. Panis Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:19.697 0.825 3 232.224
4 G. Pantano Jordan Ford 1:21.350 2.478 3 227.505
5 J. Trulli Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:21.496 2.624 3 227.098
6 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes 1:21.639 2.767 3 226.700
7 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:21.923 3.051 3 225.914
8 C. da Matta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:22.507 3.635 3 224.315
9 G. Bruni Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:22.529 3.657 3 224.255
10 Z. Baumgartner Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:23.116 4.244 3 222.671
11 D. Coulthard West McLaren Mercedes 1:23.521 4.649 3 221.592
12 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:24.817 5.945 3 218.206
13 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:28.910 10.038 3 208.161
14 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:30.293 11.421 3 204.972
15 J. Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:34.386 15.514 3 196.084
16 M. Gene BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:34.981 16.109 3 194.855
17 M. Webber Jaguar Racing 1:35.853 16.981 3 193.083
18 C. Klien Jaguar Racing 1:38.648 19.776 3 187.612
19 G. Fisichella Sauber Petronas 2
20 N. Heidfeld Jordan Ford 2

Grand Prix of Great Britain - Qualifying 2

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps kph
1 K. Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes 1:18.233 3 236.570
2 R. Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:18.305 0.072 3 236.352
3 J. Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:13.995 0.347 3 250.119
4 M. Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 1:18.710 0.477 3 235.136
5 J. Trulli Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:18.715 0.482 3 235.121
6 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 1:18.811 0.578 3 234.835
7 D. Coulthard West McLaren Mercedes 1:19.148 0.915 3 233.835
8 J. Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:19.378 1.145 3 233.157
9 T. Sato Lucky Strike BAR Honda 1:19.688 1.455 3 232.250
10 M. Webber Jaguar Racing 1:20.004 1.771 3 231.333
11 F. Massa Sauber Petronas 1:20.202 1.969 3 230.762
12 O. Panis Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:20.335 2.102 3 230.380
13 M. Gene BMW WilliamsF1 Team 1:20.335 2.102 3 230.380
14 C. da Matta Panasonic Toyota Racing 1:20.545 2.312 3 229.779
15 C. Klien Jaguar Racing 1:21.559 3.326 3 226.922
16 G. Pantano Jordan Ford 1:22.458 4.225 3 224.448
17 N. Heidfeld Jordan Ford 1:22.677 4.444 3 223.854
18 G. Bruni Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:23.437 5.204 3 221.815
19 Z. Baumgartner Wilux Minardi Cosworth 1:24.117 5.884 3 220.022
20 G. Fisichella Sauber Petronas no time

[DarkPhenix]

For me the result will be:

1 K. Raikkonen
2 R. Barrichello
3 J. Button

[Coventrysucks]

I'm just watching the highlights now.

Very impressive performance from McLaren, faster than Williams and BAR.
They are staying on at Silverstone to test some more new parts, so they might be even faster at Hockenheim.

I think that McLaren were slightly surprised by their performance this weekend.
From what a few team bods were saying Saturday, they were seeming to think that if they were lucky they might have grabbed a podium position, I really don't think they expected to be challenging for the lead.

David Coulthard threatening to let down the tyres on Ruben's motorhome
Kimi being "enthusiastic" about getting his first pole of the season
Ron, it didn't dare rain whilst he was there, being quietly confident about the GP

[Homem de Gelo]

Like I said in the Magny-Cours thread. No matter what happens, Ferrari and Schumacher just can't lose. They are just too good.

At least Raikkonen drove a great race and now it seems McLaren is back on track.

[fpv_gtho]

It was a great battle between Alonso and Webber in the middle bit there, but i dunno if you'd outwrightly say Webber was holding Alonso up. Down the straights, Alonso obviously had more speed, but through the more twistier bits, Webber seemed to always be able to pull a slight gap on him, just for it to be lost on the straights again.

[Ferrari Tifosi]

Good race, it was great to see Raikkonen challenging for the lead. This shows that the McLaren is geniunely fast. Good race also for Button, although I think he was dissapointed with his finish, being his home race. Very dissapointing race for Sato as he was very much off pace. Word is that Honda decreased the revs/hp to increase reliability after his engine blew up 6 of the first 10 races. Other good news for BAR is that neither Renault finished in the points, so they have closed down the lead to 2nd place in the manufacturing title.

All in all, at least Schumacher had to work for his win this weekend, and its very good to see McLaren challenging for race wins and podiums again.

[r1ckst4]

yeah... gud on Kimi for doing a gud fight.
to be honest.. i'm just tired of seeing Michael Schumacher wining the race all the time. The guy is a great racer no doubt, he's prob the best fomula 1 racer in history... but he's just too gud and other drivers are just no competition for him and the ferrari team...
i find dat formula 1 is becoming a bit boring actually coz michael has won every single race this year accept in Monaco. The guy shouldnt race anymore... he's alredy good and filthy rich...no need to comtinue racing and let the younger drivers hav a go.

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Ferrari Tifosi

Good race, it was great to see Raikkonen challenging for the lead. This shows that the McLaren is geniunely fast.

Schumi on 2 stop strategy so all stints on heavier fuel load.
Kimi on 3 stop and even on the 'bad' out laps for Schumi wasn't able to put the hammer down.
McLaren have still got a bit to go.
Unfortunately they can't 'engineer' a Ross Brawn, the man is superb on tactics !!!

[fpv_gtho]

whats the actual advantage in going for a 2 stop strategy? the only thing i can come up with is if the pit lane is very long and takes a while to do a pitstop

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

whats the actual advantage in going for a 2 stop strategy? the only thing i can come up with is if the pit lane is very long and takes a while to do a pitstop

First, as you say , timing. If a lighter car can go faster than oppoenets by the time it takes to pit then you shoudl go for the more stops option. In theory with very short pit in-out times you could see 5 or 6 stops !!
second, where you come BACK on track. If after a stop you come out in slow traffic then that's bad. You WANT to come out into clear track. Ross Brawn has shown Ferrari ability to CHANGE strategy to take advantage of this !!
Coming out into mid-pack means having to race slower cars and in todays hard-to-overtake tracks that is bad.
Kimi lost 4 seconds on one of his stints.

[fpv_gtho]

i suppose they also take into account if the time penalty per lap from having a heavier car outweighs the advantage of 1 less pitstop.

was it at the nurburgring the pitstops were only taking about 15-20 seconds all up from entry to exit?