2008 Formula One German Grand Prix

[Kitdy]

Well, I don't know where J_B is so I guess I shall make the thread.

McLaren appears to have the edge coming into this weekend and it seems as though Ferrari is caught a bit on the back foot.

The first practice session started wet, but later on in the session the track dried and the drivers could get some fast times. Alonos managed a good 4th, faster than Kimi. Vettel even managed a faster time than the BMWs in first practice.

In practice 2, Lewis was nearly 7 tenths ahead of 2nd placed Felipe Massa, this is pretty remarkable considering that not even 7 tenths separated 5th place from 14th. BMW continues to have trouble after their first win at Canada with Nico's Williams managing to get the better of both BMW's in both sessions.

Practice 1

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.537 21 laps
02 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:15.666 18 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.796 22 laps
04 F. Alonso Renault 1:16.163 22 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.327 22 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.606 27 laps
07 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.618 24 laps
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.719 20 laps
09 K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.821 26 laps
10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:17.063 26 laps
11 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.108 18 laps
12 J. Button Honda 1:17.131 28 laps
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:17.185 28 laps
14 M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.268 11 laps
15 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.471 30 laps
16 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.500 24 laps
17 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.556 29 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.784 29 laps
19 R. Kubica BMW 1:18.779 8 laps
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:21.506 16 laps

Practice 2

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.025 37 laps
02 F. Massa Ferrari 1:15.722 31 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:15.760 34 laps
04 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:15.990 37 laps
05 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.017 25 laps
06 F. Alonso Renault 1:16.230 38 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.355 41 laps
08 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.363 36 laps
09 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.377 40 laps
10 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:16.378 35 laps
11 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.422 41 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:16.530 45 laps
13 J. Button Honda 1:16.542 38 laps
14 R. Barrichello Honda 1:16.677 28 laps
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:16.734 42 laps
16 T. Glock Toyota 1:16.781 44 laps
17 K. Nakajima Williams 1:16.829 21 laps
18 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.860 14 laps
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.008 39 laps
20 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.047 37 laps

[f6fhellcat13]

I might be the only (non finn) in the world who wants Heikki to get some wins. For some reason I just really like the guy. He seems to always be able to change bad situatinos into good ones, but pure unluckiness always seesm to make it go back to bad for him. Hoep he wins.
edit:Nice job by webber in practice 2
ediot: I looked on the f1 website and sutil is actually behind sato and davidson in the drivers championship????

[Jack_Bauer]

Fisi, Sutil, Barrichello, Piquet, Nakajima out in Q1. Ferraris and McLarens looking very even on pace so far.

Apologies for not being on the thread earlier, that pesky business of work has gotten in the way these past few days.

[cmcpokey]

Fisi, Sutil, Barrichello, Piquet, Nakajima out in Q1. Ferraris and McLarens looking very even on pace so far.

Apologies for not being on the thread earlier, that pesky business of work has gotten in the way these past few days.

you need to be like me... at work, watching qualifying, and on UCP.

[Kitdy]

Bourdais, Rosberg, Button, Heidfeld, Glock out.

Poor showing I'd say form Nick again, and Bourdais. Will Bourdais be back next year?

Alonso in an amazing 4th place - he can really drive.

[Jack_Bauer]

you need to be like me... at work, watching qualifying, and on UCP.

No thanks, I get sea sick.

Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Button, Bourdais all out in Q2.

Alonso put in a great lap to go fourth this time out. It'll be interesting to see if he can match that in the final session. It might be a wake up call to Kimi, who has looked the slowest of the championship contenders so far all weekend.

[Jack_Bauer]

Lewis Hamilton scored a last gasp pole position for McLaren-Mercedes right in the heartland of Mecedes-Benz at Hockenheim today. He will start tomorrow's German Grand Prix alongside one of the men with whom he currently shares the World Championship lead, Ferrari's Felipe Massa. It was a very poor day for the other man vying for the title though, as Kimi Raikkonen could only manage sixth place in a very competitive Ferrari. He was edged out by compatriot Heikki Kovalainen, as well as a couple of superb laps from Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso.

The session got underway under slightly overcast but warm and dry conditions. A swirling wind had a few drivers on their pit radios complaining of struggling with balance early on in the first session, but otherwise the conditions were pretty good for driving race cars. At the top of the timesheets it was the expected Ferrari vs McLaren battle ensuing, with Felipe Massa leading the top four drivers. He badly needed a good performance after his horror show at Silverstone last time out, and it was the perfect start to his day's work.

Massa's fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello came back to earth with a bump after his brilliant podium in Britain by getting knocked out in the very first session. He will start 18th, ahead of the two Force India cars on the back row. Nelson Piquet had a very poor session finishing 17th. After seemingly having a bit of a recovery in this very troubled debut season of his, he now seems to have gone backwards again. His misery was to be compounded later in the day when team mate Alonso showed just what the Renault car is capable of in expert hands. Nakajima was the final man to miss out, being squeezed out very narrowly by Jenson Button.

The second session saw much of the same up at the front of the grid, with Lewis Hamilton this time narrowly edging out Massa's Ferrari for top spot. The top four drivers were through safely, but Fernando Alonso was able to squeeze into the top four st the expense of Raikkonen, who wasn't really impressing so far.

The battle for the final spots in the shoot out was between the likes of all four Red Bull drivers, the BMW cars, and the Toyota of Glock. In the end there was disappointment for two of the German drivers as Glock and Heidfeld missed out by the narrowest of margins, with compatriot Rosberg a little further back. However, Germany's new favourite son Sebastien Vettel restored some pride as he put in an excellent performance to get into the top 10. Toro Rosso team mate Bourdais looked like he could be in with a shout of getting into the final session, but after setting a very good first sector he looked up hugely going into the hairpin and disappeared off onto the run off zone; his day was over. Both Red Bull Racing drivers did well to get through into the final session.

The final session saw a real split between the top 7 drivers and the next three. Webber, Coulthard and Vettel were having their own miniature battle for 8th, 9th and 10th, but were at least a full half a second adrift of the rest of the field. Webber was eventually 'victorious', with Vettel getting into 9th ahead of the man he will replace at Red Bull, David Coulthard. Kubica will start alongside Webber after a decent session. He seemed to drive pretty strongly and cleanly, but the BMW just seems to have lost the edge they had over the rest of the mid field. Perhaps they are focusing more towards their 2009 challenge?

Going into the final minutes of the session Massa was quickest. Raikkonen seemed to have found a bit of pace at last and went second fastest behind Massa. However, his team mate then increase his advantage to a full half second, really showing just how much quicker he is than his team mate this weekend. The two McLarens were the next cars to enter the Stadium sector with Kovalainen heading for the line first. He went bouncing through the grass on the exit of the final turn, but still had enough pace in hand to get ahead of Raikkonen. Hamilton was next through and kept things much more tidy through the final corners to snatch a brilliant pole position by nearly 2 tenths of a second. The action wasn't over yet though, as Fernando Alonso and qualifying specialist Jarno Trulli were both still out on track. Both drivers caused a real upset by getting ahead of World Champion Kimi Raikkonen. Clearly they are quite light on fuel, but brilliant laps from the two former Renault team mates nonetheless.

So going into tomorrow's race, the first of the second half of the season, it is advantage Hamilton. However, the start will be as crucial as ever with Felipe Massa breathing right down his neck. One of the key points of interest will be how long it takes Kimi Raikkonen to get ahead of the two cars in front of him on the grid. If he gets bottle-necked for more than a few laps then the top three cars may well have disappeared down the road and left him with no chance of a race win. He will be desperate to keep in touch though, as if Massa starts to edge out something of a lead over these next couple of races Ferrari may consider putting more effort behind the Brazilian's title push, at the expense of the current champ.

Provisional Starting Grid

1. Hamilton
2. Massa
3. Kovalainen
4. Trulli
5. Alonso
6. Raikkonen
7. Kubica
8. Webber
9. Vettel
10. Coulthard
11. Glock
12. Heidfeld
13. Rosberg
14. Button
15. Bourdais
16. Nakajima
17 Piquet
18. Barrichello
19. Sutil
20. Fisichella

[Kitdy]

No thanks, I get sea sick.

What do you do?

Anyways, I wanna see Kimi battle Alonso into turn one - that should be amusing.

[Ferrer]

Vettel is superb. I wonder what he'll be able to do when they give him a fast car.

[cmcpokey]

Vettel is superb. I wonder what he'll be able to do when they give him a fast car.

correct me if i'm wong, but wasnt there talk this week of him moving next season to McLaren? if so that should be good for him.

[Kitdy]

correct me if i'm wong, but wasnt there talk this week of him moving next season to McLaren? if so that should be good for him.

He got signed as Coulthard's replacement at RBR next year.

If he was in a top car, he could probably challenge for the title.

Will he be Germany's next Schumacher?

[cmcpokey]

He got signed as Coulthard's replacement at RBR next year.

If he was in a top car, he could probably challenge for the title.

Will he be Germany's next Schumacher?

thats right.. my bad. kind of a shame he isnt going to a better team.

[Jack_Bauer]

Vettel is superb. I wonder what he'll be able to do when they give him a fast car.

To be fair, the new Toro Rosso car they've been using the last few races isn't half bad by the looks of things. They aren't the perennial back markers they have been in the past.

correct me if i'm wong, but wasnt there talk this week of him moving next season to McLaren? if so that should be good for him.

Vettel has already signed to replace Coulthard at Red Bull next season.

[kingofthering]

you need to be like me... at work, watching qualifying, and on UCP.

Thank you for protecting our nation's borders so well...

Anyway, it's odd that Nakajima did so well in Q1, yet disappoints in Q2.

[cmcpokey]

Thank you for protecting our nation's borders so well...

sitting on duty on a saturday in homeport. there's not really a whole lot to do. 20 days left on this ship though prior to me transferring out to Monterey. Laguna Seca here I come.