Several unscheduled changes to cars have resulted in five place drops for Sutil (gearbox) and Di Grassi (same). They had to try especially hard to make it as far as possible through the qualifying. Sutil's gearbox change comes after problems in practice 3, forcing him to spend most of the session in the pits, but after missing most of practice 2, Hamilton did well in practice 3.
With 14'30” left in qualifying 1, the session was red flagged after a terrible smash from Liuzzi on the home straight after going wide into a damp area of the track. He had already set a time, and seems to be fine, but his car front was completely smashed up. However, it benefited Timo Glock, whose car was still being worked on, giving Virgin more time to check things over and get him ready to set a time.
It seemed likely that Liuzzi and the three new teams would go out in Q1, unless something extraordinary happened. After yet another gearbox problem, Di Grassi failed to set a time at all, putting him at the back of the field. However, Sutil's problems seemed to be sorted as he did well and made it into Q2. In the end, only Hispania's Yamamoto failed to make Liuzzi's time set earlier in the race.
In Q2, Schumacher just failed to make it through to Q3 qualifying 11th, thanks to a great lap from Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, fastest-man-in-the-world Barrichello made it through along with Rosberg and Kubica, and Alonso set an incredibly fast time of 1.14.081. All through the practise and qualifying sessions he has been one of the fastest (and often the fastest) drivers, making up for his bad luck in the past three races. Sutil's five place drop from 14th to 19th boosts Kovalainen, Trulli, Buemi, Alguersuari and De La Rosa up a place each.
Q3 was Alonso's until the very end, when the drivers came out to take their final laps. In the end, Webber went wide on his flying lap, losing him time, but Vettel went first, placing Alonso second, but on the front of the grid for the first time this season. Vettel set a lap time of 1.13.791. Meanwhile, Massa was third and the other Red Bull in fourth. Button and Hamilton claim the third row.
24/07/2010
23/07/2010
Formula 1 Race Eleven: Preview
It was wet in Germany today (Friday), so testing was not going well for the tyres. If it rains tomorrow as well, but doesn't on Sunday, we could see an interesting race. It also meant a lot of drivers were spinning out.
Chandhok was not racing for Hispania this weekend, instead being replaced by Sakon Yamamoto. The team will be switching their drivers around for the rest of the season to give them all a chance to race (source: BBC Commentary). Instead of racing, Karun Chandhok was up in the commentary box with the BBC boys for practice 1 and 2, showing off his knowledge of F1 past and present.
In the soaking wet practice 1, extreme wet tyres were tested, but the teams had to be careful – there's only three sets available for the weekend, and four sets of intermediates. The extreme wets degrade very quickly compared to other tyres as well.
It was dryer in practice 2, but after a crash in practice 1, Hamilton only had about ten minutes on the track to start testing his 'prime' (or harder) tyres. He still got in some reasonable times, however. Tomorrow he'll have to test the 'option' (softer) tyres, but weather-permitting he'll get that done and not have too many race troubles.
Alonso was just fastest in practice 2, ahead of Vettel, Massa and Webber. If Mercedes can pull it together, qualifying should be interesting tomorrow. I'm hoping to see Ferrari do well. It's at 1pm BST (8am EST if any F1-loving Americans are reading).
Also of note: Glock in his Virgin Racing car was very close to Alguersuari's time. I'm getting a lot better at spelling Alguersuari without checking too!
Chandhok was not racing for Hispania this weekend, instead being replaced by Sakon Yamamoto. The team will be switching their drivers around for the rest of the season to give them all a chance to race (source: BBC Commentary). Instead of racing, Karun Chandhok was up in the commentary box with the BBC boys for practice 1 and 2, showing off his knowledge of F1 past and present.
In the soaking wet practice 1, extreme wet tyres were tested, but the teams had to be careful – there's only three sets available for the weekend, and four sets of intermediates. The extreme wets degrade very quickly compared to other tyres as well.
It was dryer in practice 2, but after a crash in practice 1, Hamilton only had about ten minutes on the track to start testing his 'prime' (or harder) tyres. He still got in some reasonable times, however. Tomorrow he'll have to test the 'option' (softer) tyres, but weather-permitting he'll get that done and not have too many race troubles.
Alonso was just fastest in practice 2, ahead of Vettel, Massa and Webber. If Mercedes can pull it together, qualifying should be interesting tomorrow. I'm hoping to see Ferrari do well. It's at 1pm BST (8am EST if any F1-loving Americans are reading).
Also of note: Glock in his Virgin Racing car was very close to Alguersuari's time. I'm getting a lot better at spelling Alguersuari without checking too!
Let's Look At: Fernando Alonso
This week, I'm looking at my favourite F1 driver this season. He's had such a lot of bad luck, but at least Spain won for him in the football two weeks ago!
Name: Fernando Alonso Diaz
Date of Birth: 29th July 1981
Place of Birth: Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Sport: Formula 1 racing
Car number: 8
Team: Ferrari
Number of F1 races so far: 150
Best finish this season: 1st (Bahrain)
Worst finish this season: 14 (Silverstone)
Average finish this season: 6.3
Average qualifier this season: 7.9
Points this season (up to Silverstone): 98
Points in whole career: 675
Best career finish: 1st (2005 – 133pts, 2006 - 134pts)
Fernando Alonso began his F1 career with Minardi, and came 23rd in his first season, in 2001. In 2002, he was a test driver for Renault, then became one of their best drivers, coming 6th in 2003, 4th in 2004, then winning the championship for them in 2005 and 2006! In 2007 – his one season with Hamilton (that didn't go down so well), he came third to the young driver. He returned to Renault for two more years, before going into Ferrari this year.
Unfortunately, Ferrari have been plagued with problems since Bahrain. Either Massa, Alonso or both have done badly, although a cunning move with the safety car in Monaco brought Alonso up from starting in the pits, to finishing sixth. He's always been determined, but frustrations with other drivers and car problems have held him back.
However, despite all that, Alonso is one of very few drivers this season to not retire – the others are Lewis Hamilton, teammate Filipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and one-race driver Yamamoto. This means that although the Ferraris have had some problems, they haven't been bad enough for retirements yet, making them the most reliable cars in Formula 1. In fact, Ferrari are still the third team in the championship this season, and Alonso is fifth.
Name: Fernando Alonso Diaz
Date of Birth: 29th July 1981
Place of Birth: Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Sport: Formula 1 racing
Car number: 8
Team: Ferrari
Number of F1 races so far: 150
Best finish this season: 1st (Bahrain)
Worst finish this season: 14 (Silverstone)
Average finish this season: 6.3
Average qualifier this season: 7.9
Points this season (up to Silverstone): 98
Points in whole career: 675
Best career finish: 1st (2005 – 133pts, 2006 - 134pts)
Fernando Alonso began his F1 career with Minardi, and came 23rd in his first season, in 2001. In 2002, he was a test driver for Renault, then became one of their best drivers, coming 6th in 2003, 4th in 2004, then winning the championship for them in 2005 and 2006! In 2007 – his one season with Hamilton (that didn't go down so well), he came third to the young driver. He returned to Renault for two more years, before going into Ferrari this year.
Unfortunately, Ferrari have been plagued with problems since Bahrain. Either Massa, Alonso or both have done badly, although a cunning move with the safety car in Monaco brought Alonso up from starting in the pits, to finishing sixth. He's always been determined, but frustrations with other drivers and car problems have held him back.
However, despite all that, Alonso is one of very few drivers this season to not retire – the others are Lewis Hamilton, teammate Filipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and one-race driver Yamamoto. This means that although the Ferraris have had some problems, they haven't been bad enough for retirements yet, making them the most reliable cars in Formula 1. In fact, Ferrari are still the third team in the championship this season, and Alonso is fifth.
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