Front Runners
Today's race saw few retirements, and one big controversy: Ferrari. The two Ferraris qualified second and third, but as Vettel tried to force Alonso into the wall, he forgot about Massa and the Brazillian was able to come flying through. Alonso fell in behind Massa, and Vettel went third. Webber was fourth, and Button and Hamilton were fifth and sixth.
Vettel was first to pit, followed by Alonso, Webber and Hamilton. Button was last of the front runners to pit, gaining a reasonable lead that put him into the race ahead of his teammate – who was ahead of Webber.
For the most part, this formation didn't change for the rest of the race, except at the front. Massa was, at some points, going slower than Alonso, and eventually Alonso caught up with his teammate. This is where the controversy comes in. While everyone would have loved to see a battle between the two Ferraris, instead, engineer Rob Smedley was told to tell Massa that Alonso was faster than him – a 'coded' message that anyone could interpret: let Alonso overtake.
But in the end, they didn't finish so far apart, and it ruined a good race without any safety cars. It marred Alonso's victory, and will probably put a lot of tension within the team too. It is illegal to manipulate race standings in this way in the FIA regulations, and has been since Ferrari did the same thing in 2002. It remains to be seen what, if any, penalty will arise.
De La Rosa
De La Rosa, second-oldest man on track, had a great race at first. His team, BMW Sauber, seemed to be doing the same thing that they'd done for Kobayashi in Valencia. He did pit in lap 53, but a tap with Kovalainen near the end meant that he had to take a second stop. But Kovalainen didn't come off so well, being forced to retire in lap 63 – four laps before the end of the race.
Force India
Both Force India drivers had five place penalties because of unscheduled gearbox changes. Sutil started 19th, and Liuzzi started 23rd (Di Grassi was last for the same reason). They did well enough, but had some bad pit stops right at the start of the race after getting the two cars mixed up. Each driver was given tyres for the others' cars, which was against FIA regulations, so they had to stop again to get the right tyres. In the end, Sutil finished 17th because he had a third pit stop, and Liuzzi finished 16th.
New Teams
None of the new teams did fantastically – in fact, all six drivers came almost last, with only Buemi having a worse position thanks to losing his wing in the first lap. Trulli was next out with car problems, and although Lotus got him going again initially, he only made one more lap before retiring properly. Senna (Hispania) and Glock (Virgin) were the only two drivers from the new teams to finish.
The next race is in Hungary, in just one week's time. See you then!
Showing posts with label race 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race 11. Show all posts
25/07/2010
24/07/2010
Formula 1 Race Eleven: Qualifying
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.
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.
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)