Alternative on track travel for the 2009 IndyLights Champion. © http://www.jrhildebrandracing.com/
This weekend 2009 IndyLights Champion, JR Hildebrand finally gets to make his IndyCar début at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
The 22-year-old is the next in line to replace the injured Mike Conway – who is expecting a return in a few weeks at Sonoma; a role that has also been filled by Tomas Scheckter, Graham Rahal and Paul Tracy.
So with this first drive fast approaching, I decided to check in with “Captain America” to see what he has been up to in the long wait for an IndyCar ride.
Formula 1 Archive: Since I was last in contact with you, you have been on the sidelines for much of the year – I can imagine the frustration must be immense?
JR Hildebrand: It’s definitely frustrating, but I figured there’s no use being bitter about it because it’s just how things go sometimes. I’ve seen it happen to enough other people that I tried to just keep my head down and work at making something happen rather than stressing about what was going to be next.F1A: You have taken part in two ALMS races at Sebring and Long Beach, finishing 2nd and 3rd in your classes respectively with Genoa Racing. Although it’s not IndyCars, how much of a boost to your confidence are results like that? Will you be competing in any more ALMS races before season end?
JRH: There are definitely some other tracks on the ALMS schedule that are on my list of places to race at, but I don’t have any immediate plans of racing in the series this year. Doing the two races with Genoa early in the season was a great way to keep fresh, and I actually learned an immense amount about sportscar and endurance racing in my experiences with them. It’s an area of motorsport that I most certainly want to continue to be involved in as my career progresses.F1A: Recently you drove John Watson’s 1976 Penske Formula 1 car at the Montreal Grand Prix Exhibition- how does it feel stepping into those vintage cars? Is it like a bit of a time warp?
JRH: It’s awesome, there’s no other way to describe it. The cars are so raw, so unrefined; I think I have more fun driving them than almost anything else purely from the standpoint of the physical and emotional driving experience. They have so much character, and they really allow you to express yourself behind the wheel. I’ve tended to like driving oversteering racecars, but modern cars are really meant to be hung out like those things were. The grip goes down, the slip angles go up, and so does the excitement.F1A: I must admit, as someone that has a great love of the sport’s history, I’m quite jealous. Are vintage racing cars something you have a passion for?
JRH: Absolutely. Vintage racing is where I first got the bug. My dad had a vintage Trans Am car, a ’68 Camaro, so we were always at the races. It’s strange to say, but I almost feel like I grew up appreciating the cars and drivers from the ’50’s, ’60’s, and ’70’s as much as those from the modern day because I spent so much time around the sights and sounds of historic racing.The young American tested for Force India last December. © http://www.jrhildebrandracing.com/
F1A: You have secured a seat with Dreyer & Reinbold for the upcoming IZOD IndyCar races at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, sitting in for the injured Mike Conway. Obviously replacing Conway in this manner is probably not the most ideal of situations, how do you prepare for a relatively sudden call up?
JRH: Well, I guess I would say that I’ve been preparing for this kind of thing since the end of last year. I’ve had a lot of deals nearly come together or slip through the cracks at the last minute, so I’ve made sure that I’m as prepared as I can possibly be for any situation. I train in Indy with PitFit Training along with Scott Dixon and Will Power, so from a fitness perspective I’ve always felt like I’ll be ready. More specifically for this, something that I think will help quite a bit was spending the weekend in Toronto with the team to really understand how things go throughout a race weekend. I learned a lot of little things by standing on the pit stand each session and listening to exactly what was going on.F1A: Will you get to spend much briefing time with the team and engineers prior to the event?
JRH: I think that I will. I’ve already spent a bit of time one-on-one with the engineer I’ll be working with, and I also have a test day prior to the event, so my hope is certainly that we’ll have had enough time to be sorted.F1A: Have you any prospects or aims for the two IndyCar events?
JRH: It’s hard to say, really. I obviously have aspirations, but I’ve learned not to focus on attaining specific results at the same time. In a general sense, my aim will be to operate at my maximum level amidst a fairly different environment. I feel like if I can achieve that, then it’s quite possible that we can put together some strong performances.F1A: Has there been any movement for a more permanent or even a part-time seat for 2011 yet or is it something that you are still being working on?
JRH: For sure it’s a work in progress. There are some things that have looked promising over the last couple of months for next year, but there hasn’t been anything that I can take to the bank yet. Surely a couple of good races wouldn’t hurt my chances.
My thanks to JR Hildebrand.
Personally I can’t wait to finally see JR in a seat this weekend. The 2010 IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio is on live on Sky Sports 4 at 8pm (BST) this Sunday. Both qualifying and the race for the IndyCar and IndyLights events will be shown on indycar.com.
Those that have read this blog a lot will have probably noticed my enthusiasm for classic circuits, old racing seasons, motor races and the characters therein. However when it comes to cars, I could probably tell you that they have four wheels, a steering column, an accelerator and a brake – but that’s about it.
Here at The Formula 1 and Motorsports Archive, I am looking for someone that is keen to write about the machines that make the sport possible – the cars themselves.
Ideally, a guest writer would be knowledgeable about the subject, informative, funny with an ability to shape a good story. There’s no barrier to formulae either – guest writers can choose any machine they care to write about, whether it be pre-World Championship, Formula 1, IndyCar, NASCAR, Sportscars or even golf buggy’s – it’s all go here.
Should this peak interest, please e-mail me here or DM me on Twitter and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Sweet,
Leigh
Michael Schumacher, Hungary 2010. ©Keith Sutton
It was just the sheer arrogant nature of it all. One car weakened by ageing tyres vying with another machine on superior rubber; one driver – at a time retired – back with questionable motivation against another veteran, refreshed and reinvigorated by a fresh challenge.
When Michael Schumacher moved his Mercedes across the Williams of Rubens Barrichello, pushing the popular Brazilian to within centimetres of the concrete wall, we witnessed some of the ruthless Schumacher of old appear paired with the desperation of the new Schumacher. Today, the seven-time World Champion was badly exposed.
It has happened before of course – there was Adelaide 1994, when Schumacher drove into the side of Damon Hill (also in a Williams car) to claim his first title. Then there was his clash with (yet another) Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve at the tail end of the 1997 season at Jerez – on that occasion the German lost the title on the track. He was excluded from the Championship on that occasion; the only driver in Formula 1 history to have that “honour.”
Both of those incidents were for the World Championship at their most vital points when the stakes were at their highest; however the move on Barrichello was single-point scoring 10th place, halfway through a long lost title hunt.
As the Williams was edged ever closer to the wall, the tell tale signs of off-line racing dutifully became apparent. Plumes of dust and dirt rose to attention, disturbed from their race long slumber, before once again settling upon the hot Budapest tarmac. The move was also against an ex-team mate still holding a bitter grudge following years of contractual servitude – it’s visible to see that every time Barrichello beats Schumacher, his smile grows wider and under his anger earlier today, sat that even more satisfied smile. Schumacher tried very hard to hang Barrichello out to dry, but the Brazilian still won out.
We have seen this kind of disintegration before – Rene Arnoux’s decline from a driver of a good standing to also-ran was there for all to see in his post-Ferrari days; whereas former Williams man Ricardo Patrese gained momentum and confidence as his career progressed. While Arnoux would eventually be unceremoniously dumped from the sport that made his name, Patrese went on to have the longest career in Formula 1 – a record eventually broken by Barrichello two years ago.
Ironically enough, it was the force of a much younger Schumacher that hastened Patrese’s exit from Formula 1 in 1993 and with Nico Rosberg sitting opposite in the Mercedes garage, the German is now under mounting pressure as his younger team mate assumes the vital points for the squad. Schumacher’s killer raw pace has clearly dissipated and yet while Rosberg is definitely a good driver, he would never have gotten close to his older team mate in his prime.
Justice was delivered twice in quick succession thereafter – Schumacher, so determined to defend the position, still lost out as Barrichello retaliated by edging the Mercedes driver wide approaching turn one and forcing Schumacher into 11th place. Later in the Grand Prix post mortem, Schumacher also found that he is to be docked ten position following qualifying in Belgium in four weeks time.
Both Norbert Haug and Ross Brawn would later attempt to deflect the blame away from the German driver in a limp manner, but no amount of excuses could clear the Mercedes pilot. That Schumacher himself was bold enough to suggest that Barrichello should have avoided the situation altogether by not attempting a move displayed the worst kind of arrogance; his ignorance of such dangers that he posed to Barrichello and others on the pitwall in that moment was just rank stupidity.
Michael Schumacher’s time in Formula 1 may end sooner than he wants – ‘many’ say that he should have stayed retired, leaving his reputation set at the end of 2006 with that stunning drive at Interlagos.
I am one of that ‘many.’
Hungaroring track layout. ©FIA
In the 150th Grand Prix of his career, Webber became the first driver of the 2010 season to secure four victories – Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and both McLaren drivers all trapped on two wins each – and thus the Australian leads the Championship as Formula 1 hits the summer break, but it was far from easy. Far from easy…
If anything, Webber made it as difficult as possible for himself early on – a poor getaway from 2nd on the grid and Alonso was through, locking the Red Bull driver. Meanwhile poleman Vettel finally got off the line well, launching the German into a commanding lead, but not until he fought off a feisty Alonso in the first two corners.
As the pair headed into turn 1, the Ferrari was slightly ahead, but on the outside around the bend – with the turn in advantage, Vettel kept the lead and maximised his position. The young German then showed his true advantage over Alonso’s Ferrari – with each passing lap, the Red Bull driver extended his lead by around one second per lap and was ten seconds up by lap 12; a frightening show of strength.
Behind the leading trio came the deliberately second Ferrari (Felipe Massa) and the leading McLaren (Lewis Hamilton); neither of whom were having classic weekends. While the McLaren car seemed genuinely slower than the leading contenders up ahead, Massa was simply having a quiet weekend at the track where he nearly lost his life – today it was just his title hopes that were extinguished.
Hamilton started the race with other things on his mind; the Englishman was having his brake discs checked while sitting on the grid, as he felt vibrations on the way to the start / finish straight pre-race. The 2008 World Champion had a bit of a shock off the line too as the Russian Vitaly Petrov beat him into the first corner. His advantage would only last just over one lap, as the McLaren driver dispensed with the Renault soon into lap 2; however Petrov would hold his own and more importantly hold off 6th place Nico Rosberg and even pull away in the opening stint.
Another monster start came from the very rear of the grid – a fired up Kamui Kobayashi lashed his Sauber from 23rd to 16th on the first lap. Admittedly, the Japanese rookie was not in that position through lack of pace – he was penalised five grid spots after qualifying for driving through a red light in the pit lane. Ahead of the Sauber toured the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari, but not for long unfortunately – on the anniversary of his Grand Prix début, the Ferrari engine in the back of his car gave way and blew itself to bits; two laps over and out.
After five laps, Vettel led from Alonso, Webber, Massa and Hamilton with Petrov, Rosberg (Mercedes), Robert Kubica (Renault) and both Williams (led by fast starting Rubens Barrichello) and that was how it would stay until the 15th tour of the course… then in a flash the race changed its face again.
The camera shot changed, the focus cleared, pinpointing a large clump of debris – for the second consecutive week, Vitantonio Liuzzi damaged his front in first lap contact, yet the broken material clung on for dear life until lap 15, at which point it was finally deposited into the middle of the circuit. Safety car.
One by one, the field rolled into the pitlane – all notions of strategy and intricate mind games deposed in favour of a rush for new tyres and track position. It was too much of a rush for some – as Kubica finished his stop, his lollipop man fed back into traffic, specifically that of Adrian Sutil; there was a sickening crunch as the Force India and Renault locked together sending both into retirement.
The Mercedes garage also had its fair share of calamities – as Rosberg exited his stall, his right rear tyre loosened its grip on the hub and flew into a sea of mechanics. As a number of Sauber personnel jumped away from the errant wheel, Williams crewman Nigel Hope was not as lucky and was struck by the flying tyre – Hope escaped with lots of bruising and cuts, but was otherwise unhurt and was back in the pitlane later in the race.
Two drivers to take immediate advantage were Vettel and Jenson Button – the Englishman had pitted from 14th place not long before the safety rolled out, while the race leader dived very late into the slow lane before he could be picked up.
Curiously, both Webber and Rubens Barrichello stayed out – risky strategies for both… the Australian at this point heading up Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa as Barrichello lead Petrov, Nico Hulkenberg, Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) and Button behind him.
This should have been easy for Vettel – stay behind his yet to stop team mate and swallow the lead when he goes for tyres, but in a year when the Red Bulls seem determined to make life hard, Vettel blundered once again. On the lap when the safety car was about to pull, Vettel dropped well behind his team mate – too far in fact and incurred a drive through penalty as a result; as the green flag flew again on lap 18, both Red Bull’s needed to extend their wings.
Out front, Webber instantly gets on it and begins pulling away by one second per lap – even Vettel can’t get close to the pace of his team mate and so began one of the most stunning drives since… well, Mark Webber at Silverstone…
By lap 21, the Australian veteran led by 5.7 seconds and the Red Bull driver continued to pull out a gap over the second place man; a lead that would extend even further when Vettel took his penalty on the 32nd lap. As a clearly seething Vettel emerged from his drive through, he had built up enough of a gap to beat the second Ferrari out – showcasing both the phenomenal speed of the Red Bull, as well as the rather lacklustre race Massa was enduring.
Thankfully for Vettel, one of his potential obstacles had been removed a couple of laps previously. After jumping the delayed Felipe Massa during the frantic pit stops, Lewis Hamilton was holding a solid fourth spot until his gear box gave way, retiring the Briton at one-third distance. This had become a damage limitation exercise for the McLaren squad and now all attention was to focus on the struggling Button – still in 9th spot and sandwiched by both Sauber’s.
Up front, with Vettel no longer a factor Webber was running away, but he still had one pit stop to do and ould need at least twenty seconds on Alonso to do it safely. The gap was already 14.3 seconds by lap 33, then 16 seconds a lap later, and then 17.5 two laps later.
With a clear road ahead, this was game on for the Australian. A series of fastest laps saw his lead extend to 20.6 seconds by the lap 40 and with Vettel still stuck behind the Ferrari, the job was very nearly complete. The Red Bull veteran squeezed another four laps out of his soft compound tyres – with backmarkers now faintly in the distance and Alonso 23.7 seconds behind, the time was now and with a smooth stop and a change to Bridgestone’s hard compound tyre, Webber fed back on track with a six second lead on the Spaniard and his red Ferrari. Perfect.
Behind the leading battle – a long way behind in fact, Rubens Barrichello still commanded 5th position having still not pitted and while the Brazilian would ultimately lose a large chunk of positions following his tyre change, the focus was changing to the young man on his tail.
Renault’s Vitaly Petrov had been coming under pressure on the lead-up to the race, with team boss Eric Boullier insisting the Russian driver needed better results if he wanted to keep his seat and in Hungary, Petrov was clearly getting the job done. Nico Hulkenberg was also impressing with his 7th spot for Williams; however the stand out driver (apart from Webber) was that of Kamui Kobayashi. Following his superb start (and a little luck with the safety car), the Sauber driver had made it into the top ten and was matching Button for pace while he was at it – a marvellous job.
However the race was not done yet and with new tyres, Webber simply ran away up front, building a seventeen-second cushion over Alonso by the 53rd lap around; Vettel though refused to give up and pushed the Ferrari non-stop, even to the point that he was running wide off the corners. Nothing was going to stop Webber though – this was his.
While the Alonso and Vettel battle settled into a stalemate, Barrichello found himself with a rather more tasty battle further down the field. As the Williams finally pitted for tyres on lap 56, the Brazilian emerged a couple of seconds shy of the virtually invisible Michael Schumacher. The Mercedes driver, slowing on ageing rubber was reeled in by the Williams driver. From 3 seconds, the gap dropped initially to 2.4 seconds, then 1.9 seconds on lap 61, but then only three-tenths a lap later – game on.
As the old Ferrari team mates sized one another up into the Hungaroring’s only real passing place, Schumacher slammed the door hard again and again; each lap by the seven-times World Champion was unforgiving. Then as the pair crossed the line with five laps to go, Barrichello got a great tow – a fantastic tow in fact and slid down the inside line of the Mercedes; however Schumacher wasn’t done quite yet.
In one of the most shocking displays of poor driving, the former master of Formula 1 squeezed Barrichello closer and closer to the wall until the walls of Barrichello’s Bridgestone’s scrapped the outer pit wall – it was simply one of the most horribly dangerous moves in recent history; a move that would garner Schumacher a ten place grid penalty for Belgium after the race. Not much penance, when some appeared to be calling for a race ban. Defensive driving simply does not get more cynical or disgusting than what Michael Schumacher tried on track today.
It is doubtful that Webber knew anything about it though… or cared for that matter. When lapping the German some laps earlier, his radio message to his crew was “that felt good.”
This race was all about the dominance of both the RB6 and Mark Webber and with another win in the bag, both jumped to top of their respective Championships. Last year, Webber had a brief glance at the title race behind the Brawn’s and Sebastian Vettel; now the Australian truly is in the driving seat. There were huge celebrations for Red Bull – not often do teams celebrate their 100th Grand Prix with a victory.
Behind Webber, Fernando Alonso picked up an excellent 2nd place, only 1.4 seconds ahead of Vettel who managed to register the fastest lap on the final tour around. Felipe Massa secured a silent 4th a long way ahead of the fantastic Vitaly Petrov and Nico Hulkenberg.
Pedro de la Rosa scored his first points of the season with a seventh place finish, while team mate Kamui Kobayashi crossed the line in 9th spot – the two Sauber’s sandwiched the disappointing Jenson Button in his Mercedes-powered McLaren. The ultra brave Rubens Barrichello picked up the final points position.
Schumacher would finish in 11th position, one lap down on the race winner and not far ahead of Sebastien Buemi and the luckless Vitantonio Liuzzi. All three new teams registered double finishes – the first time that has happened this season.
In the Drivers Championship, Mark Webber has jumped both McLaren’s to lead the title hunt by only four points, while reigning Champion Jenson Button sinks further away from his title retention. Red Bull leapfrog McLaren and remain a long way ahead of Ferrari with Mercedes sitting in 4th in no mans land.
In the end, the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix was a decent race; more about drivers getting the hammer down as opposed to lots of on track overtaking, but from that aspect it was still fascinating to watch – however it still needed the safety car to kick the race into action. Now Formula 1 takes a much needed four week holiday, but I can see the Schumacher incident rumbling on and on…
Race Rating: 3 out of 5
——–
Hungaroring, Hungarian Grand Prix (Round 12, August 1st)
1 WEBBER Red Bull 70 laps
2 ALONSO Ferrari +17.8s
3 VETTEL Red Bull +19.2s
4 MASSA Ferrari +27.4s
5 PETROV Renault +1m13.1s
6 HULKENBERG Williams +1m16.7s
7 DE LA ROSA Sauber +1 lap
8 BUTTON McLaren +1 lap
9 KOBAYASHI Sauber +1 lap
10 BARRICHELLO Williams +1 lap
11 SCHUMACHER Mercedes +1 lap
12 BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
13 LIUZZI Force India +1 lap
14 KOVALAINEN Lotus +3 laps
15 TRULLI Lotus +3 laps
16 GLOCK Virgin +3 laps
17 SENNA HRT +3 laps
18 DI GRASSI Virgin +4 laps
19 YAMAMOTO HRT +4 laps
20 HAMILTON McLaren +47 laps
21 KUBICA Renault +47 laps
22 ROSBERG Mercedes +55 laps
23 SUTIL Force India +55 laps
24 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +69 laps
| Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 161 |
| 2. Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 157 |
| 3. Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 151 |
| 4. Jenson Button | McLaren | 147 |
| 5. Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 141 |
| 6. Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 97 |
| 7. Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 94 |
| 8. Robert Kubica | Renault | 89 |
| 9. Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 38 |
| 10. Adrian Sutil | Force India | 35 |
| 11. Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 30 |
| 12. Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 17 |
| 13. Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 17 |
| 14. Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India | 12 |
| 15. Nico Hulkenberg | Williams | 10 |
| 16. Sebastien Buemi | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 7 |
| 17. Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber | 6 |
| 18. Jaime Alguersuari | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 3 |
| Constructor Team | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Red Bull Racing | 312 |
| 2. McLaren | 304 |
| 3. Ferrari | 238 |
| 4. Mercedes GP | 132 |
| 5. Renault | 106 |
| 6. Force India | 47 |
| 7. Williams | 40 |
| 8. Sauber | 23 |
| 9. Scuderia Toro Rosso | 10 |
Hungaroring track layout. © FIA
3rd Free Practice
Having rained heavily overnight, the tight and twisty Hungaroring regained its green and gripless nature, but that did not stop the Red Bull’s from once again romping away at the top of the time sheets. With such incredible ease, both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber lead the way with the Australian out on top by 0.5 of-a-second, while Fernando Alonso was next up over 1 second behind – a phenomenal performance and a worrying indication of what might be in store for qualifying.
The McLaren pair struggled during the session for grip and found themselves on the leaning edge of the fast drivers – the British team now the only squad using the F-duct on one of the slowest circuits of the season. There were other issues for teams as well – a blown engine in an early morning Formula BMW race left a huge trail of oil and concrete dust down through the turn 4/5 section, thereby making even the faster turns difficult. Mercedes suffered stability issues with their new rear wing – particularly on Michael Schumacher’s car and Force India’s hard weekend continued when Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car was pulled in early following a driveshaft failure.
Qualifying
This was a foregone conclusion long before qualifying even started. The Red Bull’s were easily the fastest cars on track, but it was a question as to which one would be on top – no one else was even close. Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets, well up on front row compatriot Mark Webber, while the young German was a full 1.2 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in 3rd place. Felipe Massa didn’t quite make it ahead of his controversial Spanish team mate, but still did enough to line up on the second row.
It was an all Mercedes-powered third row as Lewis Hamilton secured 5th spot ahead of the Mercedes work driver of Nico Rosberg. The Renaults locked out the fourth row, but it was Vitaly Petrov heading the yellow machines this time around – a first for the Russian driver. Pedro de la Rosa and Nico Hulkenberg line up 9th and 10th respectively.
Behind the top ten, it was probably no real shock that both Force India’s and Toro Rosso’s dropped out of Q2, but few could have foreseen Jenson Button not make the final session – the McLaren driver fell only 0.017 of-a-second shy of Hulkenberg. The second Williams was not able to proceed through; Rubens Barrichello secured a row six spot beside the reigning champion and his former team mate. Michael Schumacher failed to make the final session once again, as fellow Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg comprehensively beat his time.
The three new teams fell short again at the very back; however the real battle was focussed on 18th place – the final drop position. Both Toro Rosso’s and Force India’s ran exclusion close, but it was the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi that did not go through. The Japanese driver found himself baulked very badly by the Hispania of Bruno Senna on his final lap, an act that ruined any chance of going through to the second session – Kobayashi also broke the red light on the way back to the pits; a penalty awaits.
Hungary, Qualifying (July 31st)
3rd Session
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m18.773s
2 WEBBER Red Bull 1m19.184s
3 ALONSO Ferrari 1m19.987s
4 MASSA Ferrari 1m20.331s
5 HAMILTON McLaren 1m20.499s
6 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m21.082s
7 PETROV Renault 1m21.229s
8 KUBICA Renault 1m21.328s
9 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m21.411s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m21.710s
2nd Session
11 BUTTON McLaren 1m21.292s
12 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m21.331s
13 SUTIL Force India 1m21.517s
14 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m21.630s
15 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m21.897s
16 LIUZZI Force India 1m21.927s
17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m21.998s
1st Session
18 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m22.222s
19 GLOCK Virgin 1m24.050s
20 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m24.120s
21 TRULLI Lotus 1m24.199s
22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m25.118s
23 SENNA HRT 1m26.391s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m26.453s
Hungary, 3rd Free Practice (July 31st)
1 WEBBER Red Bull 1m19.574s
2 VETTEL Red Bull 1m20.058s
3 ALONSO Ferrari 1m20.724s
4 KUBICA Renault 1m21.066s
5 MASSA Ferrari 1m21.264s
6 HAMILTON McLaren 1m21.376s
7 PETROV Renault 1m21.399s
8 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m21.422s
9 BUTTON McLaren 1m21.473s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m21.513s
11 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m21.705s
12 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m21.939s
13 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m22.151s
14 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m22.337s
15 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m22.427s
16 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m22.508s
17 SUTIL Force India 1m22.918s
18 LIUZZI Force India 1m23.708s
19 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m24.547s
20 TRULLI Lotus 1m24.576s
21 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m24.623s
22 GLOCK Virgin 1m24.805s
23 SENNA HRT 1m26.479s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m27.176s
Hungaroring circuit layout. ©FIA
1st Free Practice
Hungaroring has a reputation for being incredibly dusty and dirty as it sits in a huge heat bowl with not much racing through the year. The ultra low grip nature of the circuit can, during first practice, give a somewhat false impression of the comparative pace of the field; however when both Red Bull’s registered laps entire second faster than anyone else, brow’s creased with worry and heads burrowed. It was Sebastian Vettel on top with the fastest lap, just ahead of Mark Webber – the “rest” were headed by Robert Kubica’s Renault. While the Red Bull is simply the best car in the field at the moment, their flexible front wing has recently come under sharper focus as rival squads question its legality. The Red Bull has been running this part all year, but it seems recent developments for the part have given the red and blue car an extra confidence on corner exit not previously seen so far this year.
This morning program was also Felipe Massa’s first time driving at the circuit since his near-fatal accident one year ago – remarkably, the tyres marks from the crash still remain burned into the run off area at turn 4. Yesterday, the Brazilian met up with the marshal’s and safety crew that saved his life to thank them personally, but all this good couldn’t help Massa on the time sheets – he was 2 seconds off in his red machine. In fact, neither he nor his Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso got anywhere near the front in the 90-minute practice, as Alonso was only 0.3 of-a-second faster than Massa
An under pressure Vitaly Petrov spun near session end while exiting the final corner, prompting the Russian to attempt a three-point turn on the driving – probably not the high point of the his racing career; however there are growing rumours that if he does not perform, his career could be short-lived beyond Abu Dhabi.
Mercedes went back to the floor they used pre-Hockenheim, but the German squad were also testing a new rear wing package. At Force India, Paul di Resta once again stepped in for Vitantonio Liuzzi, but missed much of the session due to an administrative error – the team were garage bound due to a tyre mix-up that would also see them fined $5,000. Di Resta tested the old diffuser, while team mate Adrian Sutil lapped the new blown diffuser – a car element that would later be dropped from the car.
2nd Free Practice
Once again a Renault-powered Red Bull topped the timing sheets at the end of second practice (Vettel); however this time Alonso split the pair, albeit 0.5 of-a-second down. Massa set the 4th fastest time, a long way behind the front three runners.
Just behind the leading teams, it is not shaping up to be a good weekend for McLaren of Jenson Button – an inability to negotiate traffic and get sufficient heat in the soft tyres saw the reigning champion down some four-tenths down on McLaren partner, Lewis Hamilton – both of the silver and red cars found themselves a long way off the Red Bull’s.
Toro Rosso had installed new front rear wings onto their machines – it was, in fact their first big aero update of the season; however both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari struggled to get the best out of the upgrades and leaving them mired down in the second-half of the order. Adrian Sutil missed much of the session while his engineers worked feverishly on his floor as they tried to maximise the new diffuser on the Force India; his practice was done early on.
Heikki Kovalainen also got next to no running due to a hydraulic problem on his Lotus, leaving the Finn in last position behind both Hispania cars. Something that is becoming more and more apparent that as the season goes on is that the Hispania cars with their lack of money and updates, are falling further behind the head of the pack.
Both Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov had positive runs during the session, getting a nod ahead of their more experience team mates on high fuel runs.
Hungary, 2nd Free Practice (July 30th)
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m20.087s
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m20.584s
3 WEBBER Red Bull 1m20.597s
4 MASSA Ferrari 1m20.986s
5 PETROV Renault 1m21.195s
6 HAMILTON McLaren 1m21.308s
7 KUBICA Renault 1m21.375s
8 HULKENBERG Williams 1m21.623s
9 BUTTON McLaren 1m21.730s
10 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m21.773s
11 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m21.809s
12 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m21.844s
13 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m22.039s
14 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m22.212s
15 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m22.469s
16 SUTIL Force India 1m22.507s
17 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m22.602s
18 LIUZZI Force India 1m23.138s
19 TRULLI Lotus 1m24.553s
20 GLOCK Virgin 1m25.376s
21 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m25.669s
22 SENNA HRT 1m26.745s
23 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m26.798s
24 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m27.705s
Hungary, 1st Free Practice (July 30th)
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m20.976s
2 WEBBER Red Bull 1m21.106s
3 KUBICA Renault 1m22.072s
4 BUTTON McLaren 1m22.444s
5 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m22.601s
6 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m22.764s
7 ALONSO Ferrari 1m22.772s
8 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m22.777s
9 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m22.792s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m22.966s
11 SUTIL Force India 1m23.003s
12 MASSA Ferrari 1m23.007s
13 PETROV Renault 1m23.249s
14 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m23.327s
15 DI RESTA Force India 1m23.520s
16 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m23.780s
17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m23.868s
18 HAMILTON McLaren 1m24.075s
19 TRULLI Lotus 1m25.032s
20 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m25.210s
21 GLOCK Virgin 1m25.990s
22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m26.686s
23 SENNA HRT 1m26.990s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m28.157s
Formula 1 has a huge job on its hands. Following the disastrous unfolding of last week’s German Grand Prix, the sport is under scrutiny from fans, experts and the media with regards to its often poor attitude to the paying customer – whether that be money or time. The sport has once again touched rivers of controversy and may need to start swimming for it to recapture the love of the audience.
Apart from the lead swap from the Ferrari’s, it was not an awfully good race, but it wasn’t hugely bad either and with a Ferrari 1-2, followed by Vettel, the two McLaren’s and Webber, the state of the Championship was altered too much either.
The Hungaroring has hardly been known for the best racing in the world, due it’s mostly straights that are more reminiscent of short chutes and a long series of 2nd and 3rd gear corners; although the main straight was lengthened several years ago to allow for better opportunities to overtake.
Over the years, there have been some fantastic moments. Nelson Piquet provided one of the most audacious moves in modern Formula 1 history when he power-slid past Ayrton Senna in turn 1 at the 1987 event, while two years later Senna also fell victim to a wonderful opportunistic move from Nigel Mansell on the back half of the circuit as they attempted moves on a backmarker.
More recent memorable moments include Damon Hill’s slide down the inside of Michael Schumacher in his vastly underpowered Arrows, while the Ferrari driver could only look on and there was of course Jenson Button’s sensational début win in changeable conditions in 2006. Current Lotus driver, Heikki Kovalainen picked up his only Formula 1 victory when Massa retired three laps from the end in 2008.
As for Massa, he has tended to go well at the Hungarian circuit and this weekend he needs to beat Fernando Alonso – if only to save his career and to try and rebuild some of the respect lost when he let the Spaniard passed in turn 6 last Sunday.
Bitterness (bit|ter|ness)Pronunciation: :/bɪtənəs/
Noun
- Sharpness of taste; lack of sweetness.
“The lime juice imparts a slight bitterness”
- Anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly; resentment
“The 2010 German Grand Prix”
Massa on the podium in Germany.
Long term fans of the sport will have seen yesterday’s race before, specifically the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix. The callous nature by which Ferrari “guided” Fernando Alonso to victory at the Hockenheimring was a sharp reminder that team orders are alive and well in Formula 1; however we need to ask ourselves why we thought they ever went away.
There does not need to be a position swap for there to be team orders – team orders may also mean telling drivers to hold station (McLaren, Istanbul; although that was hardly successful); team orders may also imply driver’s getting equipment over their team mates (Red Bull, Silverstone).
The revelation of the order at Ferrari yesterday was also quite telling for several reasons; mainly it reduced Felipe Massa, Rob Smedley and their respective engineers subservient to Alonso’s half of the garage, but it was also interesting that FOM chose to broadcast it. Those that remember the debacle of Austria 2002 will also recall that pit reporter Ted Kravitz spoke of little notes of paper being passed around the Ferrari pitwall and of buttons being pressed in an ominous fashion, unlike yesterday. On lap 48, the order was loud and clear, even if it was not “direct.” Unlike eight years ago, the viewer could only assume what the message was, whereas yesterday we were silent witnesses to the discussion – partners in our own deception.
On the back of a rather dull race – and for the most part, this was the first dud Grand Prix after several attempts – FOM managed to drum up the perfect controversy with the perfect protagonists.
At the forefront are Ferrari; with all their passion and history leaning over a volatile and inconsistent former-World Champion and a deeply respected Brazilian charger, leading the Grand Prix with grace and skill, exactly one year after an accident that very nearly killed him.
Ferrari have shown bursts of speed in the last few races, but arrogance and silly mistakes had left them adrift of both McLaren’s and Red Bull’s in both the Driver’s and Constructor’s Championships, but not so far adrift that the titles had evaporated from their grasp. Also, it is questionable that Alonso was far enough ahead of Massa to warrant such favouritism – not this early at least.
There will always be team orders – they are a sad part of the sport and an unlikeable relic of the days when gentlemen drivers would hand over their car’s to a team’s lead; but what happened yesterday was far from gentlemanly and was as far removed from dignified as humanly possible.
Until the sport can come up with a way to realistically quash team orders and let drivers race for the good of the fans, then we will simply see this strategy play a part again and again and the sport will continue to receive very public black eyes as a result.
Hockenheimring track layout. © FIA
When Rubens Barrichello gifted Michael Schumacher victory at the A-1 Ring at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, the national anthems could barely be heard for the sound of booing from the crowd. It was not just that Ferrari swapped their drivers, thereby altering the result of the race, but that the Italian squad were so blatant about it.
By now, every Formula 1 fan should know that team orders are an ugly part of the sport that may never go away; however fans do not want to be treated like idiots and today Ferrari managed to do just that. The telling radio message came on lap 48, when Felipe Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley informed the Brazilian that “Fernando [Alonso] is faster than you . Do you understand that message?”
Alonso was at this point five seconds ahead of 3rd place Sebastian Vettel and 0.9 behind his team mate and as the pair came exited turn 6, Massa clearly lifted to let the double-World Champion through into the lead. Smedley would be back on his charger’s radio moments later: “that’s a good lad. Stay with him… sorry.” The pang of regret in Smedley’s voice obvious, the message clear – Alonso would win unchallenged, too fast for the opposition, his team mate nullified.Coming a year to the day of Massa’s near fatal accident during qualifying at Hungary, this should have been Massa’s day. Starting from 3rd on the grid, the Brazilian jumped the front pair via the turn 1 run off area – Vettel on pole (Red Bull), more concerned about Alonso, squeezed the lead Ferrari toward the pit wall, completely ignorant of the second red car. It was a great start that gave Massa a fantastic advantage over the pack; an advantage that he only lost when he pitted for new tyres – not counting the last 18 laps of course.
There were other great opening laps runs too – Lewis Hamilton jumped his McLaren team mate off the line and then forced a way by the Red Bull of Mark Webber into turn 6 to climb into fourth spot and behind him. Michael Schumacher also made a monumental start; the veteran was in 8th by the end of the first lap after starting 11th.
Sadly the Toro Rosso drivers went in the opposite direction. In the pack going through the hairpin at turn 6, Jaime Alguersuari swiped the rear of his team mate Sebastien Buemi; an incident that would catch out both Force India’s. The accident saw Buemi pull directly into his garage in retirement, while Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi all pitted for new wings and tyres. An error in their pitstops would see both Force India’s in again a lap later; both cars had tyres incorrectly fitted. In the Lotus garage, glum faces dropped as Jarno Trulli lost power of track, this time a broken gearbox ending the Italian’s day on the eight tour of the course.
As the field settled down Massa held a small (but legitimate) lead over Alonso of 1.5 seconds, with Vettel 1onesecond behind the Spaniard; the rest of the top ten was made by Hamilton, Webber, Button, Robert Kubica (Renault), Schumacher and Rosberg (both Mercedes) and the Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi.
Despite a quick scare and an off for Button at the beginning of lap 8, the order stayed exactly like this until the initiation of the pitstops on lap 13. Hoping to gain a spot on the hard charging Ferrari’s, Vettel pitted for new tyres, emerging ahead of Kubica’s Renault; however it would not be a successful tactic for the German – Alonso stopped for tyres just a lap later, but had more than enough of a gap ahead of Vettel to stay comfortably ahead. Massa, mindful of Alonso’s new rubber, pitted on lap 15 and maintained his position ahead of the 2005 and 2006 World Champion.
Webber – eager to try and jump Hamilton – came in on the same lap as Alonso, but instead of clear air the Aussie emerged behind Rosberg; Webber was not going anywhere. For a brief moment, Webber – still on cold tyres- found himself under pressure from Kobayashi; the Japanese driver desperate to find a way by pressurised the Red Bull driver into a mistake approaching the stadium, but Webber forcefully stayed ahead, eventually pulling away from the Sauber. As this happened in the pack, Hamilton stopped for new Bridgestone’s and beat Webber out – easy.
The cost of not clearing Rosberg after his stop became clear when Button finally pitted some eight laps later, the reigning World Champion leapfrogged the Australian and dropped in just behind his team mate and settled into a good pace on his new Bridgestone’s.
Massa on the other hand, was finding life far from easy on hard tyres. While the Brazilian struggled to get friction into his new rubber, Alonso was already up to speed and pushing; however with each corner Massa was gaining in confidence and gaining pace – the position was his.
With 18 laps down, those on an aggressive strategy included Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber), Nico Hulkenberg (Williams), Vitaly Petrov (Renault) and Kubica. The leading Renault changed to hard tyres at the beginning of the 19th tour and landed in a battle with Schumacher – for the rest of the lap, the pair battled (hard), yet the Renault driver came out on top.
The second Mercedes car, with Rosberg at the wheel stopped a lap later and beat out his more illustrious partner – the famed German would remain virtually silent for the rest of the day.
Petrov finally stopped for tyres on lap 25, coming out in 14th to battle with Kobayashi – whereas Schumacher could not get by Kubica, Petrov made quick work of the Sauber driver, instantly taking a spot away from the Japanese driver.
With 26 laps in the books Massa still lead from Alonso, but the Spaniard was still applying the pressure. Soon a period would unfold that saw both Ferrari’s set fastest lap after fastest – the race was on. Vettel would occasionally light up the screens, but not consistently enough to truly challenge the red cars. Behind the leading trio, a status quo had developed – from 4th to 10th, it was Hamilton, Button, Webber, Hulkenberg and de la Rosa (both still to pit), Kubica and Rosberg.
Of the top ten, Hulkenberg was trying something truly outlandish – starting the race on the more fragile soft tyres, the Williams driver had still not pitted. It would eventually cost him – de la Rosa was taking lumps out of Hulkenberg, slicing by the German on the 35th lap. Williams brought him in instantly, but the risky strategy did not work – Hulkenberg came out in 14th spot; race over. Hulkenberg’s stop would promote Schumacher into the points; it is unlikely to have been much comfort to the former Champion as Massa put a lap on him.
Not far behind the Williams car was Adrian Sutil; the Force India’s bad day would only get worse on lap 36 – the Force India spun in the stadium section in front of the baying fans. It would require a third stop for the German, who probably wanted to go home at this stage.
Pedro de la Rosa was the final stopper on the 53rd lap; his strategy failing like Hulkenberg’s as the Sauber exited behind the Williams. Rather than settle for 14th, the Spaniard on soft tyres caught Hulkenberg and forced his way inside the German rookie into the turn six hairpin – next up was the second Williams of Rubens Barrichello, but as the Sauber drew up on the veteran, they hit traffic.
Ahead of the battle for 12th, Heikki Kovalainen was touring around in his Lotus – the Finn let Barrichello through at turn six, but closed in on de la Rosa as the Sauber attempted a move. The pair collided, relieving de la Rosa of his front wing and damaging Kovalainen’s suspension – de la Rosa pitted for a new nose, but the Lotus was done for the day.
Lucas di Grassi would also drop out of the running late on with a damaged suspension. With 15 laps remaining, the Virgin driver lost his red and black machine on the exit of turn one – the rookie parked his Virgin Racing machine in the pits next time by.
As the fuel continued to drain, the times kept on dropping with fastest laps coming repeatedly; Vettel 77.1 seconds (lap 44), Alonso 77 seconds (lap 48), before Vettel finally dipped into the 76 second bracket on the 52nd lap.
In the midst of this fast running, the switch happened and the race win was sealed. Red Bull and Vettel anticipating a heavily demotivated Massa began to reel in the Brazilian with fastest lap after fastest lap. From six seconds, Vettel pulled the gap down to one second as the chequered flag approached.
Vettel set the fastest on the final tour setting a 1.15.8 lap, but despite his best efforts, the German could not produce enough to take 2nd place off of the Ferrari, crossing the finish line one second shy of Massa.
Alonso would take the chequered flag first by 4.1 seconds, but it was not a popular victory in any shape or form. Hamilton and Button took a quiet 4th and 5th place respectively, with Webber following in the second Red Bull. Both Renaults and Mercedes also made it into the points, headed by Kubica – Rosberg, Schumacher and Petrov sealed 8th to 10th places. Both Sauber’s and Williams’ took the first four non-scoring spots, ahead of Alguersuari and the luckless Force India’s with Timo Glock and Bruno Senna bringing up the rear. Senna easily had the beating of his temporary team mate, Sakon Yamamoto who retired after accidentally switching off his own engine.
McLaren’s steady run sees Hamilton maintain his Championship lead ahead of Button by 14 points, with the two Red Bulls tied on 136 points. Alonso reigned in the leading four, but until he can win races by himself, a title will not be deserving.
Cries of cheap would spread along social networks and forums; even the BBC were bombarded by disenchanted fans who felt as if they were cheated by Ferrari… and they would be absolutely right. It was a race ruined by Ferrari’s antics. This was Massa’s race, cruelly taken away from him by his own team and while Alonso may have the points, this win is a sour one and not deserving of a Word Champion.
There were sullen embraces in Parc Ferme between the Ferrari pair, as no one seemed to be happy – there were no handshakes and barely a word spoken. On the podium, the differences between the Ferrari driver’s were stark.
Race Rating: 1 out of 5
——–
Hockenheimring, German Grand Prix (Round 11, July 25th)
1 ALONSO Ferrari 1h27m38.864s
2 MASSA Ferrari +4.1s
3 VETTEL Red Bull +5.1s
4 HAMILTON McLaren +26.8s
5 BUTTON McLaren +29.4s
6 WEBBER Red Bull +43.6
7 KUBICA Renault +1 lap
8 ROSBERG Mercedes +1 lap
9 SCHUMACHER Mercedes +1 lap
10 PETROV Renault +1 lap
11 KOBAYASHI Sauber +1 lap
12 BARRICHELLO Williams +1 lap
13 HULKENBERG Williams +1 lap
14 DE LA ROSA Sauber +1 lap
15 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +1 lap
16 LIUZZI Force India +2 laps
17 SUTIL Force India +2 laps
18 GLOCK Virgin +3 laps
19 SENNA HRT +4 laps
R KOVALAINEN Lotus +11 laps
R DI GRASSI Virgin +17 laps
R YAMAMOTO HRT +48 laps
R TRULLI Lotus +64 laps
R BUEMI Toro Rosso +66 laps
| Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 157 |
| 2. Jenson Button | McLaren | 143 |
| 3. Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 136 |
| 4. Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 136 |
| 5. Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 123 |
| 6. Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 94 |
| 7. Robert Kubica | Renault | 89 |
| 8. Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 85 |
| 9. Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 38 |
| 10. Adrian Sutil | Force India | 35 |
| 11. Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 29 |
| 12. Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 15 |
| 13. Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India | 12 |
| 14. Sebastien Buemi | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 7 |
| 15. Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 7 |
| 16. Jaime Alguersuari | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 3 |
| 17. Nico Hulkenberg | Williams | 2 |
| Constructor Team | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. McLaren | 300 |
| 2. Red Bull Racing | 272 |
| 3. Ferrari | 208 |
| 4. Mercedes GP | 132 |
| 5. Renault | 96 |
| 6. Force India | 47 |
| 7. Williams | 31 |
| 8. Sauber | 15 |
| 9. Scuderia Toro Rosso | 10 |
Hockenheimring track layout. © FIA
3rd Practice
As with yesterday, Saturday was looking like a battle between the Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s and once again, despite their updates, the McLaren pair do not look likely to get a look in; yet whereas Fernando Alonso finished Friday afternoon on top of the time sheets, by the end of third practice Sebastian Vettel had turned that particular table around.
Following a (mostly) wet Friday, the teams were hoping for some dry running, but as the clock struck the hour and the green lights in the pitlane flashed brightly, droplets of rain tumbled down one again. It was especially difficult for the Virgin squad who arrived on the second day with front wing updates, only to have their running interrupted.
Another driver that had a poor morning was Adrian Sutil in his Force India – a drive shaft failure killing his car halfway around the track. Sutil did get his car back to the pitlane, but it would take over four minutes as the German crawled around at a snails pace.In what was quite an exciting session for the front runner’s, Felipe Massa was fastest early on, but as the session ran down, the track dried and the times came down significantly – the Ferrari driver would spend the latter part of the session swapping fastest laps with Jenson Button Button, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton; as well as the aforementioned Vettel and Alonso.
Qualifying
Qualifying sessions rarely come this close. There are the occasional races where times run extremely close – and of course there is the famous qualifying at Jerez for the 1997 European Grand Prix, where Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all scored identical times at the front end of the grid in their respective Williams’ and Ferrari machines.
Nearly thirteen years on and while Ferrari remain close to the top, it was the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel that claimed pole position for the 2010 German Grand Prix, with a margin of only 0.002 of a second ahead of Fernando Alonso. As both duelled for the front of the grid, other competitors fell backward. Felipe Massa and Mark Webber looked good and while both lined up on the second row, they were over half-a-second slower than the leading German.
Behind the Red Bull’s and Ferrari’s, there was not much to hope for the rest of the grid. Jenson Button beat his team mate Lewis Hamilton in the battle for row 3, while the rest of the top 10 was filled out by Robert Kubica, Rubens Barrichello and the two Nico’s of Rosberg and Hulkenberg.
One could easily see the irony in Hulkenberg being the driver that would deny Schumacher a place in the final qualifying session at Hockenheimring; as the original Willi Weber creation lost out by 0.008 of a second to Weber’s latest prodigy in the Williams. To be fair, both Mercedes struggled and Rosberg was also lucky to get through – as he found speed on his final run in Q2, Michael lost some. Both Sauber’s and Toro Rosso’s would unsurprisingly join Schumacher exiting qualifying at this point, as did Vitaly Petrov – the young Russian losing out for the 11th consecutive race to his Polish team mate at Renault. A frustrated Adrian Sutil had the 14th best time, but a 5-place grid penalty for a changed gearbox will leave him 19th for tomorrow’s race.
Timo Glock would also suffer from a 5-place penalty as the German also needed a gearbox change. Indeed, it was a dire session for the Virgin-branded Manor squad, as Lucas di Grassi did not even set a time due to a brake failure – both Virgin’s will line up at the back. With them will be the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi – the Force India suffered a terrible crash five minutes into the first stint as the Italian went wide exiting the final corner, was catapulted across the track and into the pitwall, destroying the front right and forcefully removing a wheel, a nose and chunk of carbon fibre.
Trulli lead the new teams at the end of Q1 – a good performance by the Italian, getting his Lotus to within 9-tenths of Alguersuari and 2.7 seconds behind the fastest Q1 runner, Alonso. The difference in talent was once again on display at Hispania as Bruno Senna easily out-qualified Sakon Yamamoto with 1.3 seconds to spare.
Germany, Qualifying (July 24th)
3rd Session
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m13.791s
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m13.793s
3 MASSA Ferrari 1m14.290s
4 WEBBER Red Bull 1m14.347s
5 BUTTON McLaren 1m14.427s
6 HAMILTON McLaren 1m14.566s
7 KUBICA Renault 1m15.079s
8 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m15.109s
9 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m15.179s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m15.339s
2nd Session
11 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m15.026s
12 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m15.084s
13 PETROV Renault 1m15.307s
14 SUTIL Force India 1m15.467s
15 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m15.550s
16 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m15.588s
17 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m15.974s
1st Session
18 TRULLI Lotus 1m17.583s
19 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m18.300s
20 GLOCK Virgin 1m18.343s
21 SENNA HRT 1m18.592s
22 LIUZZI Force India 1m18.952s
23 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m19.844s
24 DI GRASSI Virgin no time
Germany, 3rd Free Practice (July 24th)
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m15.103s
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m15.387s
3 WEBBER Red Bull 1m15.708s
4 MASSA Ferrari 1m15.854s
5 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m16.046s
6 HAMILTON McLaren 1m16.207s
7 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m16.473s
8 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m16.481s
9 KUBICA Renault 1m16.646s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m16.743s
11 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m16.882s
12 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m16.990s
13 BUTTON McLaren 1m17.037s
14 PETROV Renault 1m17.148s
15 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m17.220s
16 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m17.341s
17 LIUZZI Force India 1m17.538s
18 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m19.193s
19 TRULLI Lotus 1m19.607s
20 SENNA HRT 1m20.533s
21 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m21.538s
22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m23.444s
23 GLOCK Virgin 1m23.873s
24 SUTIL Force India no time
See also 2010 German Grand Prix (Hockenheimring, Round 11, July 23rd)
Preparing for a run in his Dallara built GP2 machine. © http://www.gravitysportmanagement.com
When Christian Vietoris stormed to victory in only his second GP2 Asia race at Abu Dhabi last November, cautious attention flowed the way of the then 20-year-old German driver. Questions as to whether the young man could bring his natural speed to the tougher main series were inevitably raised, but while the ability has been there, his luck has often been absent as witnessed with a number of mechanical failures so far this year.
So as the German Grand Prix weekend fast approaches, I had a brief Q&A with the now 21-year-old Racing Engineering driver to garner his views on the year so far, thoughts for the future and everything else in between.
F1 Archive: The first half of the GP2 season is now complete and while it’s been a fairly difficult year, there has definitely been pace in your performances. How do you see the rest of the season panning out and what do you feel you need to do to get the optimum results?
Christian Vietoris: Of course it has been a very hard season so far – after the good pre season tests where we have been always in the top 3 and never had just one technical problem we haven’t expected that. But we can’t chance it we have to deal with that. The positive point is still that we are very fast even on tracks I have no experience on – so that still keeps my motivation up and I’m sure we will fight for poles and races wins.
F1A: You had a decent points score at Silverstone, tell me about that.
CV: Well. Silverstone was a good weekend. We qualified 3rd for the first race – so again we have been fast but unfortunately we took over a [ten place grid] penalty from Valencia. But still we scored point and overtook the most cars in the race.
F1A: You were also running a very solid 2nd place at the Sprint race in Istanbul earlier this year when you retired with a mechanical issue. Do you find situations like that frustrating or are you encouraged because the fundamental speed is there?
CV: Of course it`s frustrating – especially because it was not the first time – but all this problems were not in the hands of the team, this I want to make sure. We know that we have a strong team – I feel very well in the team and as well in the car.
F1A: Of course, this weekend you find yourself at Hockenheim – what are your thoughts of the circuit and what expectations do you have of the weekend?
CV: Hockenheim is a track I know very well – which is the first time that we go to a track I know – and it’s as well my home race so I’m looking forward to that and hope we can fight for the race win.
F1A: On a weekend where you are back racing in Germany, how do you prepare for a race? Do yo have rituals in the days building up to a race weekend or at this level, is it all briefings and meetings?
CV: I’m in contact with my team all the time and if there is time we have meetings before the races at the workshop. On the other hand I try to be as fit as possible for the weekends so I prepare myself for that.
F1A: Although you are the only German driver in GP2, there are currently six of your countrymen in Formula 1 – including the great Michael Schumacher. Does this make it difficult to attract sponsors and break through?
CV: It’s a very hard time to find sponsors and this is not affected by the situation that Michael Schumacher is back in F1.
F1A: Like a majority of drivers today, you got into karting at a very young age – could you tell me about your road through the ranks of the sport since then?
CV: Well. I started in karting with the age of 5 – after very good and successful years I moved up into the Formula BMW, which I won in my second year as a price I tested the Formula 1 car of BMW in Valencia. From there on I spend two years in the Formula 3 Euro series where I finished 2nd overall. And now I’m in the GP2..
Vietoris the driver's seat for Racing Engineering in 2010. © http://www.gravitysportmanagement.com
F1A: After your spells in the F3 EuroSeries and in GP2 Asia, how much of a step up has the main GP2 Series been in terms of both machinery and competition?
CV: GP2 Asia was good to learn how to drive the car, how to push the tires etc. And to be honest in driving point of view it`s not a big difference just everything around you is more professional.
F1A: During the Asia series, there was some three months in between the first two rounds; when you’re not racing for such a long period, how do you keep yourself occupied? What hobbies do you have that keep you ticking over during quiet times?
CV: I like to do a lot of sports – playing football, basketball, badminton so you can use this time to prepare yourself for the next races or the next season.
F1A: With 2010 already half-over, have you achieved what you had set out to do and what are your goals for the rest of the season?
CV: With a few technical problems – not in hands of the team – we had this season, we are not there where we are expected to be. But we have to deal with the situation as good as possible and keep pushing. We have the speed to still turn it around!
My thanks to both Christian Vietoris and Brigitte Schmitz of Gravity Sport Management. Best of luck to Christian at his home race.
Christian Vietoris
Gravity Sport Management
Although the announcement of a driver steward is not something that I post on this blog, this weekend’s German Grand Prix will see former-Tyrrell pilot and 1985 Indy 500 winner, Danny Sullivan take the to the seat. While Sullivan’s solitary season in Formula 1 in 1983 was not spectacular, the American still garnered respect from peers with decent performances in an underpowered car; however it is for his Indianapolis victory that he is best known.
As Sullivan fought with rival Mario Andretti (Newman-Haas Racing) for the lead of the race on lap 120, he passed Andretti into turn 1, but lost control of his Penske in the short chute towards the second turn. During the incident, Sullivan spun around 360 degrees while also lighting up his rear tyres, making sure his engine remained engaged, however he also partially blinded Andretti in the process with tyre smoke.
With Andretti only a few short meter’s behind Sullivan, the 1978 World Champion veered sharply left, narrowly avoiding Sullivan, who regained control of his car as it turned toward the correct direction.
Unperturbed by the incident, Sullivan caught the famed Newman-Haas driver and eventually beat him to the flag by little over two seconds to claim his sole Indianapolis crown. Sullivan has since garnered the nickname ‘Spin & Win Sullivan’ for one of the greatest saves – and consequent victory’s – in motorsports history.
Hockenheimring track layout. © FIA
1st Practice
A wet and miserable Hockenheim circuit on Friday morning produced a surprising amount of on track running during the first session as teams clambered to pick up as much data as possible during the sodden opening practice. The rain had actually arrived during the week as even the medical and safety cars had offs in the wet as they examined the perimeter of the track on Thursday evening.
It should have been a morning of evaluation for the top teams, as McLaren once again brought their new blown diffuser and Mercedes had a new rear wing design to test, yet in the wet both squad struggled with poor rear balance. Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher proved to be the main victims, with Schumacher trundling around with no grip and slow times and Hamilton crashing at the long turn three kink, eliminating much of the McLaren’s outer extremities in the process. On the other hand, Red Bull reverted back to their old front wing for practice – somewhat ironic considering the PR disaster at Silverstone concerning the updated front element.
Further down the timesheet, Sakon Yamamoto replaces Karun Chandhok at Hispania for the weekend, while Fairuz Fauzy gets another go at Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus for the first practice.
The track dried slowly throughout the session as the rain drifted away, with most of the field reverting to intermediate tyres as opposed to the overheating full wets as the minutes ticked; although Jaime Alguersuari proved to be the only brave soul to try a slick tyre run at the tail end of the session, but only succeeded in spinning repeatedly on the wet surface.
Sutil was fastest at the session end in his Force India, while Timo Glock managed the wet conditions well enough to clock a surprise 12th spot for the Virgin team, with Jarno Trulli in 15th in the second Lotus. It was an odd start to the weekend for Ferrari – Fernando Alonso showed that the car has definite speed, but Felipe Massa was unable to get any heat into the tyres on the damp track, only notching up his best time in the dry as practice ended.
2nd Practice
Unlike the morning practice, the rain stayed away for the afternoon, leaving a relatively dry circuit for the second session. However with the track still relatively wet off line, it was unsurprising that some were caught out – including spectacular tank-slapping moments from both Kamui Kobayashi and Vitaly Petrov in their Sauber and Renault machines, although both escaped with no damage, bar some wounded pride.
In the Mercedes camp, Nico Rosberg garnered some damage across his front wing as he swiped one of the plastic bollards in turn one – an incident that would leave him garage bound for a significant chunk of the session. It would not stop the German picking up 5th in the session, just ahead of his illustrious team mate, Schumacher recovering slightly following a dire time in the morning.
Sadly for Lewis Hamilton, his Mercedes powered McLaren was still being rebuilt as the afternoon session began and the former World Champion would eventually only get to run in the final ten minutes, although he still pulled a 7th best time in his short run.
Alonso topped the session in his Ferrari, confirming a renewed confidence within the Italian squad – in fact the red cars were much faster than the field in the final sector, something that gave the Spaniard a huge advantage over his rivals. His team mate clocked the 3rd fastest time, the Brazilian was sandwiched by both Red Bull’s headed by Sebastian Vettel. The session ended, however, with Trulli’s Lotus parked ominously by the side of the road, as a fuel pump failure ended the Italian’s run.
German, 2nd Free Practice (July 23rd)
1 ALONSO Ferrari 1m16.265s
2 VETTEL Red Bull 1m16.294s
3 MASSA Ferrari 1m16.438s
4 WEBBER Red Bull 1m16.585s
5 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m16.827s
6 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m16.971s
7 HAMILTON McLaren 1m17.004s
8 KUBICA Renault 1m17.009s
9 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m17.056s
10 HULKENBERG Williams 1m17.204s
11 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m17.336s
12 PETROV Renault 1m17.547s
13 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m17.573s
14 SUTIL Force India 1m17.701s
15 BUTTON McLaren 1m17.739s
16 LIUZZI Force India 1m17.871s
17 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m18.147s
18 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m19.327s
19 GLOCK Virgin 1m19.553s
20 TRULLI Lotus 1m20.008s
21 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m20.106s
22 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m20.377s
23 SENNA HRT 1m21.988s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m23.066s
German, 1st Free Practice (July 23rd)
1 SUTIL Force India 1m25.701s
2 MASSA Ferrari 1m26.850s
3 BUTTON McLaren 1m26.936s
4 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m26.947s
5 PETROV Renault 1m26.948s
6 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m27.448s
7 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m28.114s
8 HULKENBERG Williams 1m28.193s
9 LIUZZI Force India 1m28.300s
10 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m28.486s
11 VETTEL Red Bull 1m28.735s
12 GLOCK Virgin 1m28.735s
13 KUBICA Renault 1m28.903s
14 WEBBER Red Bull 1m29.048s
15 TRULLI Lotus 1m29.280s
16 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m29.366s
17 HAMILTON McLaren 1m29.429s
18 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m29.500s
19 ALONSO Ferrari 1m29.684s
20 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m29.690s
21 FAUZY Lotus 1m30.938s
22 SENNA HRT 1m31.720s
23 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m32.450s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m32.791s
With its three long straights penetrated by quick chicanes, followed the tight and twisty stadium section, the German Grand Prix would often be one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, slowed only by the extremely nervous machines as they tiptoed around the stadium with next-to-no downforce.
The current layout cuts across the forest and links up not far from the stadium, whereby a couple of short chutes make up the link to the old circuit and while it occasionally delivers some decent racing in its latest format, it is impossible to ignore that the once great circuit has lost a good deal of charm in its modernisation. If anything, the Hockenheimring was the closest Formula 1 had to Le Mans and it leaves Monza as the last truly fast circuit on the Formula 1 schedule.
Suitably the last German Grand Prix at the old Hockenheimring was won by a Schumacher; albeit Ralf, not Michael and after a year break, Formula 1 returns to the Baden-Württemberg circuit for the eleventh round of the 2010 season. However it is not the latest German wunderkind that is leading the way, but 2008 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel lost out at the previous round in Silverstone following on from some front shenanigans within the Red Bull camp, leaving his Australian teammate, Mark Webber suitably and publicly irritated. Losing out to a first lap puncture, Vettel secured seventh place, but it dropped him behind Webber in the title hunt. Two top four finishes for Hamilton and Jenson Button in the McLaren’s shored up their lead in the Driver’s Championship, but with Webber once again on a roll and full of confidence, he may be difficult to beat. However, it is best not to count out Vettel – will his home crowd lift the young Red Bull driver to victory or will the pressure see him drop the ball?
Expect also support for the other German drivers too, especially Michael Schumacher – taking part in his first race at the circuit since he won there in 2006. It is highly unlikely that he repeat that result in his “difficult” Mercedes; however at this rate, the veteran may well be happy with just some points.
Just for this race, here’s the Hockenheimring circuit in German from a bedraggled Mr Vettel.
Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Henry Surtees in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch. The teenager was fatally injured when an errant wheel from Jack Clarke’s Motorsport Vision machine hit Surtees in the head as he approached Sheene Curve.
This weekend just passed saw the junior formula return to the circuit for the for time since the accident as it supported the WTCC. In what should have been a day of celebration of both Surtees’ life and of motorsport in Britain, was marred on Sunday afternoon by yet another dreadful accident, this time during the SEAT Leon Eurocup race.
Poleman Francisco Carvalho fell to 4th position early and found himself in a battle with Stian Paulsen. The pair had contact just beyond Sheene Curve, sending Carvalho spiralling toward the barrier. The Portuguese driver slammed into the barrier hard and began to barrel roll, at which point his Monlau-Competition machine somersaulted over the barrier and into the marshal area.
Thankfully in this instance no one was hurt, but it once again points to yet another huge smash at Brands Hatch and with the circuit being as fast as it is, its features most definitely need some reconsideration. The race was red flagged and a result classified after 7 of the 16 laps, with Pepe Oriola claiming the win and only half points.
Just as he replaced Bruno senna at Silverstone last weekend, Hispania Racing reserve driver Sakon Yamamoto will be sitting in for Karun Chandhok at Hockenheimring next week. A statement from the Spanish squad said that “after Sakon [Yamamoto] gave a very positive performance in Silverstone, the team has decided to give the Japanese driver another opportunity to drive the car alongside Bruno Senna”; however there are loud rumours that this may just be another issue regarding the team’s poor finances.
Chandhok is one of the most popular drivers in Formula 1 amongst fans and this is not a move that will endear the team to the public, but if they are about to go under…
Morning alarms are not my friends. I have spent a great deal of my life being nocturnal and I do love that – a ringing endorsement of morning light while at war with the fleeing night sky is not something that sides easily with me.
It’s Friday July 9th and the first day of the 2010 British Grand Prix and all notions of organisational theory have been dismissed in favour of firing my “what to do” list out the window – who needs that anyway? There’s a living, breathing, pumping brain in my head box and it deserves more attention than it normally receives – this was, of course, a painfully bad move; almost akin to the time I dared myself to cycle without a saddle for a laugh. It wasn’t funny and medical costs in Ireland can be rather high.
Once dollops of cheap suntan lotion was poured over my paper-white skin, the capped bottle was thrown into my bag ready for later use. See that!? I can do preparation… A breakfast consisting of tea… then another cup… and in fact several more thereafter made me feel lopsided like a bowling pin – one tip and I was going over. A walk was needed; thankfully the ten minutes trip to the station was enough to get the airflow going to my head again.
Tube station. Tube station.
Like many people I love hearing the sound of Whitney Houston being blasted non-stop for 25 minutes; especially if it’s the same song on repeat… as much as I’m sure “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” was a perfectly acceptable song in its day, its day is not today and most certainly not at 6.35am. The gentleman (for it was indeed a balding gentlemen of a rather nervous disposition) seemed almost impervious to the collective glaring from fellow passengers, no doubt basking in the glory of an imagined disco inferno. Yeah, brilliant. Love that. Cheers. Run for your life.
Train station. Train station. Train. What a breeze – except possibly for the screeching young teenage girls across from me as we travelled up to Milton Keynes. It’s an odd spot that might as well be Skegness; it reminds me of those “two days in sunny Milton Keynes” holiday prizes handed out on radio stations some years ago, until the Ibiza revolution arrived and the British booze holiday fodder went to “sunnier” places. However, I will say that Milton Keynes train station has some very, very nice toilets, although they may need a paint job – the blue on the walls was beginning to run pale. Anyway, a quick hop to Northamptonshire reveals a town I’ve seen before – or it looks like a lot of towns; I lose track quite often, which explains why I lose myself regularly.
Bus.
The bus journey would have made for interesting tales had it not been for the guy behind determined to inform us all that in the “good ol’ days, thing’s were better”. Maybe you should ask Martin Donnelly, Ayrton Senna or Elio de Angelis and see what they say; perhaps an explanation from Gerhard as to where he got his burn marks per chance..? Anyway, I digress – thoughts collect feverishly and ears sweep forward to the sound of a guy loving his own voice, taking the time to regale all with stories of every single race he has ever been to. Oh the faint look of the poor lady beside him, desperately wanting to run for her life. When the maverick begins to talk of Thierry Boutsen, you can see her eyes glaze over in ignorance… or maybe she was drunk? Possibly both. Probably both.
To be honest, the stage where I could make an honest judgement had passed several miles back, especially seeing as how I had been headbutting the balance pole for quite some time – not only quell the storyteller’s drone, but also to try and numb and block out the sound of the belching child beside me. What billowing depth; indeed such a course noise, partnered by the slow motion replay of broken crisps launching themselves out of his mouth in sympathy – it was ballet-like, as the projectiles painted the pole and forefingers of the sleeping tourists ahead.
Just as the end was in sight, calamity decided to pick himself back up and beat me with a stick. The local bus driver – presumably knowing the roads – engaged in taking several wrong turns and rather than ending up in Silverstone Village ready for a brisk walk, the chap delivered us directly to West Gate 15 just outside Stowe. “Brilliant” says I, while wiping the lobotomy-related dribble from my double-chin. “Go back” says a jumped up Silverstone steward, demanding that the driver turn back to Silverstone Village and make us walk back to the point at which we’re already standing. “Oh bugger” went the collective mutter.
Realising immediately that we were surrounded by a few thousand other cars, it was fairly obvious that if we tried back for the village, we would miss First Practice – there was simply too much traffic to get out and back in with time to spare. Suddenly it began to get hot as the morning sun tore through the windows of the bus and the thoughts of crawling along the sardine can-packed road did not make for a pleasant affair.
After ten minutes of snail pace tourism and vociferous noises from a very determined fan, a sensible steward was found who let us out onto hallowed ground. Suddenly I was like Steve McQueen in the Great Escape – not because I can act, but because I was free… I’m also a twentieth century icon – really. I’m just not as sexy.
By now the sun was ripping through me like my old Irish teacher on a Monday morning, as her hangover shifted from one side of her head to the other. Granted, this only happened occasionally, as every other Monday her time would be spent spewing out the previous evenings contents, while next to her the maths teacher applied several layers of lip gloss before the 6th year boys sauntered into room 11; the windswept and cool near the back dominating attention, the boring farts up front simply a distraction. I’m a fart by the way. Flirtations with lust and the law, while only teetering on the tip of mind and tongue revealed to all on a daily basis – still, my hair has gotten better since, as I prepare to steal vague representations of “cool”.
Damn – distractions – apologies.
A traipse, a wander, a desire to familiarise. Through the gates, a coffee, a croissant and a man covered in flies telling me where to go. Welcome to Silverstone. My ticket – General Admission with Roving Grandstand; loosely translated means “any grass patch and a stand that doesn’t have a roof.” A spot near the end of the pit straight, slightly up from Woodcote; the crowd stood and gave Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton a standing ovation each – pottering just behind, Timo Glock received tumbleweed.
10.30am – time for more tear inducing suntan lotion. No, wait. Backtrack…
Once dollops of cheap suntan lotion was poured over my paper-white skin, the capped bottle was thrown into my bag ready for later use left on my kitchen table, whereupon I forgot to take it with me.
Oh bugger. As one might imagine, my body is now known from afar as ‘Red City’, where the sunspot touched citizens live on my lower face, arms and neck – all of which now resembling a desperate lobster, scuttling away from determined chef, eager to trap a raw body in a stainless steal pot bubbling to the boil. Grabbing what little shade was possible I watched stuff fly by, but without Kangaroo TV, it was impossible to follow what was going down; although judging from the large number of thumbs-down being waved, there was not much love for Sakon Yamamoto. Practice done, no idea who came where, knock back a gallon of water and don’t ask anyone for a spot of lotion if you dare – I’m a chap after all and admitting I screwed up in the lotion stakes. Will. Never. Happen.
Some sneaky Grandstand seat hogging during GP2 and Formula BMW practices was enough to cure my mood a little and at least guarantee a sweet spot for the second free practice. No one’s going to keep me out of shelter when I’m already here… nice. Several bottles of water and a delectable 99 later and I’m sorted for the afternoon. But it was still hot. So hot in fact that I sweated out most of my body weight. At the beginning of Friday, I was shaped like a potato, but I finished it looking like a Peperami – thin and red. Yeah, sexy.
Needing to split after second practice, the circuit was ditched for Northampton, clear in the knowledge that my clothes were sticking to me like Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination charges. A walk through Silverstone Village took me to the pick up point, whereby I ended up being smelly and sweaty on a bus, with a bunch of horizontally challenged men. We sweated together – it wasn’t attractive by any means, but it was a peculiar sort of community bonding. I didn’t hug any of them.
In the searing heat, we pulled away collectively groaning and pining for cooler climates. Come 5pm and I was ready to bask in the joys of Northampton. Thankfully some shops were still open – being in a somewhat disgusting state I found myself a new (cheap) shirt and deodorant (both very, very necessary) and set off for Towcester for “An Audience with Joe Saward“. With it being about 9 miles down the road, a taxi could easily be doable – found the taxi rank, no taxi’s… anywhere – brilliant!!
To my delight, I found what I thought to be a better solution – the local bus service; “how could this possibly go wrong?” says me in my heavily cushioned head. Excellent ride and probably pennies compared to the cost of a taxi. Upon getting on the red single-deck contraption, I informed the driver where I was looking to go (Plum Park Hotel) and the kindly chap said fine – he’d drop me off as close as he could go. Sweet!! Approximately half-past-five in the evening and as the sun still reigned ahead, the heat collected in the metal tube, while trundling through various passageways and roads. Pulling down to the far end of Towcester, the driver clued me into directions to the hotel; with a swift hash of details, the hotel was:
“…just down the road and over the hill passed the racecourse…”
In this instance, the driver failed to inform me that “just down the road” meant three miles and “over the hill” actually meant several. As the sun bore down on the back of my head, I could feel my neck superheat and redden as some real damage was done to some already harmed skin.
Upon arrival, the hotel owner took one look at my shattered frame and poured me several glasses of very necessary water. It was a good thing I was not drinking as early evening destruction would come my way; but the air cooled, clothes were changed and freshness prevailed. An evening picking the brain of a Formula 1 journalist was indeed great fun (and something that is highly recommended) and meeting up with the lovely Mr and Mrs C from Sidepodcast as well as Naoise Holohan from ManipeF1 was a bonus.
Me at 5am Saturday morning, as I finally crash...
As the night drew in and thoughts of getting back to Milton Keynes for the last train settled, things were looking a little grim until one of the other guests at meet-up drove me to the station – how sweet is that? As with various night trains, the sounds of drunks and manic teens excited to be out late filled the carriage and I was far too tired to sleep as the countrysides, villages and darkened towns drifted endlessly by; fading into busier scenery as London approached.
Oh to be caressed by the number 205 as the pubs and night clubs throw out their drinking machines; some of which vanish into thin air, while others disappear into unconsciousness on the pavement and a chosen few fight in the corner, all the time stepping over fresh vomit from the mouthpiece below.
The music of Friday night substance abuse played loud and with this being London, a drunken girl delighted in pouring herself onto the carriage and in the heat of the moment, fell on me breast first – she squeaked an intoxicated squeal, I yelped an muffled yelp; even-stevens I thought, as her heavily diluted and cock-eyed friend pulled her off of me.
As the red wagon pulled up and shifted away, even I disappear into a night vaguely beginning to brighten into weakened sunlight. Right now more than ever, what I need more than anything now is a box of salt and vinegar Pringles and several cups of tea.
But first sleep, most definitely sleep.
The revised Silverstone layout. © FIA
It was hot and it was humid for the first day of the British Grand Prix at the revamped Silverstone circuit. As the 2010 Formula 1 season crosses the halfway point, the battle up front is just as hot, if not more so than the oppressive sun above.
Friday
As with most sessions this season, Paul di Resta stepped into the Force India in place of Vitantonio Liuzzi, while Fairuz Fauzy assumed Jarno Trulli’s Lotus seat… or he would have had his car not had an engine failure just after fire-up – Fauzy would eventually miss the first sixty minutes of the sessions, before breaking down again as the chequered flag came put. Both Virgin’s also had reliability issues; Glock (fuel pick up problem) and di Grassi (sensor failure) had tough starts to the weekend that would only gradually improve. With Sakon Yamamoto in Bruno Senna’s seat at Hispania at short notice, one can imagine a tough weekend for the Spanish team – Yamamoto finished the first session a full second slower than teammate, Karun Chandhok, but was also showing signs of severe tiredness from a lack of running.
Friday morning was the first session on the new track for the drivers and it was Jenson Button that had the honour of putting in the first timed lap in an Formula 1 car on the layout; however a 1.37.994 would not him get him near the top of the timing sheets. Ferrari and McLaren worked on some long runs as they brought new developments, while Red Bull concentrated on some short runs and a reworked wing for Sebastian Vettel. The German would eventually top the session, but a late quick run from Lewis Hamilton gave him second spot ahead of Robert Kubica, Mark Webber and Adrian Sutil. As expected, there were a number of offs during the session as the drivers pushed the limits on the new section, particular from Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, as the dust of the run-off area was raised many times.
A clearer rubber track graced the racing line as the second 90 minute session commenced, following stints by the GP2 and Formula BMW machines. A shame therefore that the returning Trulli could not take advantage; the Italian found his session finished after three laps with a gearbox problem. It was far from ideal for Lotus who brought their final 2010 updates to Silverstone – an update that saw them drop up to 40 kilo’s from the car, yet they were unable to take advantage. Trulli’s teammate, Heikki Kovalainen would also stop on circuit late in the session as a power steering failure made his Lotus undriveable.
Liuzzi also returned to his Force India seat; however some light offs and a fast half spin at Abbey made for a difficult session and the Italian spent the session over one second slower than the second Force India driver, Adrian Sutil. The German has been gaining in confidence and has had a fairly decent season with points scored in six of the last seven races. Although early stages, the Ferrari’s have picked up speeds with their upgrades and another team having a decent day were Renault; Vitaly Petrov finally penetrated the top ten during the afternoon, with Kubica not far behind.
Saturday
A cloudy, but very warm Saturday morning welcomed the third practice session and the fans were met with the news that McLaren had dropped their blown rear diffuser – the addition had cause the McLaren to become very unstable; however the all-British team still found themselves struggling despite reverting to the more reliable Valencia parts and settings. The pace once again came from the Red Bull’s, Ferrari’s and one of the Renault’s, although the front runners had their own share of problems; Fernando Alonso stopped early with a broken water pipe and Vettel’s front nose box collapsed approaching Village corner. The German was the first to get under 91 seconds on the new track, but had the advantage of the latest front wing development from Red Bull. Following the practice session, the new front wing wing was removed from Webber’s car and given to Vettel, while the Australian had to settle for the old configuration – moments like this will surely only serve to make the Webber fan base suspicious. Meanwhile Webber himself lined up behind Vettel and ahead of Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa and Kubica.
Further in the pack, Sutil suffered a driveshaft failure requiring an engine change, Trulli and Liuzzi both had hydraulic issues and Glock stopped early with a throttle problem. Both Williams cars featured well during the 60-minute practice with Rubens Barrichello running in the top ten and Nico Hulkenberg just outside the leading pack. Sauber’s Pedro de la Rosa was also quick during his practice-qualifying run; something that the veteran would reproduce in qualifying later on.
Webber may have been the first driver to break the 90 seconds barrier at the revised Northamptonshire circuit, but it would be his teammate that secured the all-important pole. It seems that the only thing that can get in Red Bull’s way might be themselves – something that has already been seen this year. The lack of parity in equipment continues to be touchy subject and while friction and tension may be becoming permanent ingredients in the Red Bull garage, it was temporarily being matched by the heat faced by Liuzzi and Alguersuari. Having spent most of the first stint of qualifying in 18th, the Toro Rosso slotted ahead of Liuzzi before the Italian banged in a faster lap with moments to spare – Alguersuari out and joining the three new teams (headed by Kovalainen) at the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race; however sadly for Lotus, their updates have not quite helped as the gap to Kovalainen ramps back up to two seconds.
Liuzzi ruined it all in Q2 though as he baulked Hulkenberg very badly through the Maggots / Becketts complex , resulting in a 5-place penalty after the session and putting the Italian a long way behind his teammate. A clearly nervous McLaren sent both their drivers out early in the second part of qualifying on the grippier soft tyres as they struggled on the new Silverstone circuit, with Button having an especially difficult time of it. The reigning Champion never got his car to work and found himself 14th on the grid – Button has never been on the podium at Silverstone and his pain may continue tomorrow. To rub salt onto the wound, both Webber and Vettel – still on the hard tyres – continued to edge their Red Bull’s further and further away from the pack. Barrichello, De la Rosa and Kubica just made it into the final session, but also squeezed out their teammates in the process – Kubica has in fact out-qualified Petrov in every race this year and this would be no different; although the Russian would suffer a car failure with five minutes remaining, curtailing his chances.
Immediately in the third session, the Red Bull’s claimed the fastest times and such is the ferocity of the inter team battle, that the pair fought again with Vettel pulling out even further and Webber’s time remaining static. The other eight runner’s were virtually anonymous – Alonso leading the charge to row 2 alongside Hamilton; Rosberg and Kubica just behind them. Massa qualified a disappointing seventh, while his fellow Brazilian, Barrichello takes up the other spot on the fourth row. The Williams driver decided on only one run, as did the pair behind him – one flying lap was enough for ninth place de la Rosa and tenth place Schumacher; a result that pleased the Sauber driver, but irritate the German.
Sunday
A cloud and drizzly morning opened Sunday’s festivities at Silverstone – it was almost as if Northamptonshire was preparing itself for a storm and after all the suspicious noises being raised in the Webber camp following the Saturday morning wing swap at Red Bull, the Australian answered the challenge with a dominant, almost crushing victory at Silverstone.
In a move that displayed a perfect balance between skill and aggression, Webber surged down the inside of turn one at the green flag, forcing his teammate out wide through Copse. Vettel, searching for the racing line was touched by Hamilton on the approach to Becketts, leaving the German with a right rear tyre puncture and Webber with a clear track. Three corners and the race was won. Sounds boring, doesn’t it?
It wasn’t. There were worries that the reworked Silverstone would not deliver, but it did – and then some. The record books will tell us that Webber led from start to finish, but they may forget to include an early fight from Hamilton, a disastrous race for Ferrari and a Sebastian Vettel fight back – admittedly helped by a timely safety car. In Hamilton’s favour, the touch between he and Vettel was innocuous, but it was enough to see the German fall to the back and pit on the opening lap. The Red Bull driver was not alone though; the two Ferrari’s also collided as Massa battered a slow starting Alonso – another puncture, Massa pitted in; two races ruined early on. It must have been particularly galling for Alonso – his former McLaren peer, Hamilton jumped him at the start and while the 2008 World Champion fired off into the distance to chase Webber, the Spaniard found himself locked behind Kubica. Not far behind the lead Ferrari, the second McLaren of Jensen Button also discovered a burst of pace off the line, jumping from 14th to 8th by the end of lap one.
At the front, Hamilton stayed close across the line after a lap darting around in Webber’s rear view mirror, but today he was not budging – the top eight were Webber, Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg, a shellshocked Alonso, Barrichello, Schumacher and Button and that was how it stayed for the opening stint. While not getting by, Button pressed Schumacher, as Rosberg challenged Kubica and Alonso stalked both of them; however further down Liuzzi – desperate to make up for a poor weekend – proved that passing could be done. From his row ten start, the Force India dispensed with Glock off the line, and later a good starting Trulli and Kovalainen – 10 laps and and 16th place for the Italian.
Lucas di Grassi was the first to pit, but a lack of action from his crew suggested his day was over early; it was indeed – hydraulic pressure stopping the Virgin. The first of the regular stops came on lap 12 as Schumacher dived into the slow lane in his Mercedes. Hoping to send Michael out on fresh rubber in clear air didn’t come off for the German team and he dropped behind Kobayashi upon the Sauber driver’s stop a lap later. Rosberg enjoyed rather opposing fortunes though, as “Britney” emerged ahead of Kubica’s slower Renault – sadly for the Mercedes driver, the early stint behind the Pole saw him a full twenty seconds behind the leaders, both of whom had error free stops.
This left a fuming Alonso trapped under the rear wing of Kubica by the 17th lap around and after nearly two laps of pressure, Alonso pushed and battered his way around the outside of Kubica at Vale corner; however unwilling to give way, the Krakow native neatly shoved pushed the Ferrari off the circuit. Alonso took to the run off area and gained a place from Kubica in the process, keeping the position thereafter – something that raised the ire of the Renault team and would earn the Ferrari driver a drive through penalty soon afterward. Not that it mattered too much to Kubica – it would be only two laps before his Renault retired with a differential problem, capping a disappointing end to what was looking like a promising weekend.
Ahead, Rosberg found himself fighting with the yet-to-pit with Alguersuari – another tough Spaniard in an Italian car. Whereas Alonso was clumsy in his move on Kubica, Rosberg was inch perfect in taking the Toro Rosso man; a perfect exit from Village followed by a great run down the Wellington straight, gaining enough momentum to force a way around the outside of Alguersuari in the tight Luffield section and into Woodcote – a move that also allowed Alonso through and onto the rear of Rosberg. Button, meanwhile stayed out until the 22nd lap – a good stop from his McLaren crew dropped him to 6th, just behind the Rosberg / Alonso fight.
The face of the race began to distort on the 26th lap – chasing de la Rosa on the edge of the points, Sutil suddenly rubbed into the back of the Sauber on the start / finish straight. With the rear points weakened, one side of de la Rosa’s rear wing shattered on the Hangar Straight, littering the circuit with huge clumps of carbon fibre. De la Rosa pitted, but the damage was too severe. Game over – safety car.
In a moment, two opposing fortunes played their hands; Vettel, left behind by his early puncture was brought back into the frame; while Alonso’s drive through was to be taken upon the withdrawl of the safety car, essentially ending his race. With the pitted Hulkenberg and Petrov out of the way, the race restarted on lap 31 with the stalemate once again in order at the front – Webber wasn’t going to lose this. Behind the leading two, Button pressed Rosberg, but the German driver held both his line and position – another stalemate slowly forming for 3rd and 4th. However battle lines were drawn in the pack – Sutil barged passed Schumacher into Brooklands for 7th as Hulkenberg, Petrov and Alguersuari all fight for 9th, while the lapped Kovalainen lingered.
Within three laps, Vettel, now sensing points picked off Massa for 12th position, before charging passed Alguersuari, Petrov (lap 37) and Hulkenberg (lap 38). It would be a further two tours before Schumacher was in Vettel’s sights – the veteran unwilling to let the Red Bull by, fought through the new section, but as with Sutil, Brooklands proved to be Schumacher’s weak spot – the Red Bull driver now found himself in 8th place. Convinced that more was on offer, Vettel found himself with Sutil by the 43rd lap, but with more power the German was not going to be easy to pass, but Vettel’s attack was relentless and the Red Bull was clearly demonstrating better cornering speeds each lap around. Vettel remained forceful and kept the pressure on and had a number of serious looks down the inside of Brooklands – laps 44 and 45 he didn’t have enough and on 46, he half spun; however on the 47th time around, Vettel recaught Sutil and forcefully shoved his way passed the German – leaving Sutil both bemused and annoyed.
Having a race to forget Alonso picked off Buemi for 15th spot, but hit an Italian brick wall in the shape of Liuzzi – Alonso just could not pass the Force India. he battle continued onward with Alonso gaining a short term advantage only to fall further back and as a final insult, the double-world champion would slice his front tyre following contact with the Force India with two laps remaining – another pitstop. It was a poor day for the Spaniard’s at the British Grand Prix – with de la Rosa out and Alonso struggling, some eyes reverted to Alguersuari for a decent result. Unfortunately the Toro Rosso suffered a spin at Luffield, digging himself into the gravel trap and into retirement. Massa in the second Ferrari was having yet another dire Silverstone race – the Brazilian mysteriously managed to spin on the exit of Luffield and into the pitlane itself. With his Bridgestone’s flat-spotted and destroyed, Massa made for new rubber.
Almost unseen by all, Kamui Kobayashi drifted into an excellent sixth place, while Rubens Barrichello picked up a well earned fifth position; the Sutil / Vettel battle behind them, gave the pair enough room to feel comfortable in their respective top 6 spots, rewarding their teams with hard earned points.
At the front, Webber had no excitement whatsoever – an untroubled run from flag-to-flag was simply the best answer he could give to his critics within the team and with that, the Australian became the first driver in 2010 to pick up three victories. Hamilton and Button crossed the line in 2nd and 4th respectively, giving the home crowd two more great performances; especially from Button following his dreadful qualifying. The McLaren duo sandwiched Rosberg, who picked up his third podium of the season; something that may not be of much comfort to Schumacher – the veteran finishing a lowly 9th. More points for Kobayashi may not jump Sauber up the Constructor’s Championship, but with team looking to rebuild a solid base for the following season, all points are welcome. A double points finish for Williams is also a bonus for the Didcot based team – Barrichello’s 5th place and Hulkenberg’s 10th, giving the team a rare double-points score, that got them a little closer to Force India – Adrian Sutil managing to get his car home in 8th place.
Vettel’s seventh place seems him drop to fourth in the World Championship behind his teammate – something he may wish to fix quickly at the next race in Germany in two weeks. Hamilton and Button may still lead the title hunt, but Webber sent out a message today that the Red Bull is still the best car out there.
As Webber put it on the slow down lap “not bad for a number two”. Not bad at all Mark, not bad at all.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
——–
Silverstone, British Grand Prix (Round 10, July 11th)
1 WEBBER Red Bull 52 laps
2 HAMILTON McLaren +1.3s
3 ROSBERG Mercedes +21.3s
4 BUTTON McLaren +21.9s
5 BARRICHELLO Williams +31.4s
6 KOBAYASHI Sauber +32.1s
7 VETTEL Red Bull +36.7s
8 SUTIL Force India +40.9s
9 SCHUMACHER Mercedes +41.5s
10 HULKENBERG Williams +42.0s
11 LIUZZI Force India +42.4s
12 BUEMI Toro Rosso +47.6s
13 PETROV Renault +59.3s
14 ALONSO Ferrari +62.3s
15 MASSA Ferrari +67.4s
16 TRULLI Lotus +1 lap
17 KOVALAINEN Lotus +1 lap
18 GLOCK Virgin +2 laps
19 CHANDHOK HRT +2 laps
20 YAMAMOTO HRT +2 laps
R ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso +8 laps
R DE LA ROSA Sauber +23 laps
R KUBICA Renault +33 laps
R DI GRASSI Virgin +43 laps
Britain, Qualifying (July 10th)
3rd Session
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m29.615s
2 WEBBER Red Bull 1m29.758s
3 ALONSO Ferrari 1m30.426s
4 HAMILTON McLaren 1m30.556s
5 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m30.625s
6 KUBICA Renault 1m31.040s
7 MASSA Ferrari 1m31.172s
8 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m31.175s
9 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m31.274s
10 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m31.430s
2nd Session
11 SUTIL Force India 1m31.399s
12 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m31.421s
13 HULKENBERG Williams 1m31.635s
14 BUTTON McLaren 1m31.699s
15 PETROV Renault 1m31.796s
16 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m32.012s
1st Session
17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m32.430s
18 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m34.405s
19 GLOCK Virgin 1m34.775s
20 LIUZZI Force India 1m31.708s (*5 place grid penalty, originally qualified 15th)
21 TRULLI Lotus 1m34.864s
22 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m35.212s
23 CHANDHOK HRT 1m36.576s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m36.968s
Britain, 3rd Free Practice (July 10th)
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m30.958s
2 WEBBER Red Bull 1m30.992s
3 ALONSO Ferrari 1m31.101s
4 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m31.188s
5 MASSA Ferrari 1m31.240s
6 KUBICA Renault 1m31.519s
7 HAMILTON McLaren 1m31.549s
8 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m31.555s
9 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m31.559s
10 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m31.581s
11 PETROV Renault 1m31.698s
12 BUTTON McLaren 1m31.703s
13 HULKENBERG Williams 1m31.867s
14 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m31.947s
15 SUTIL Force India 1m31.994s
16 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m32.235s
17 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m32.331s
18 LIUZZI Force India 1m32.723s
19 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m34.339s
20 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m35.479s
21 TRULLI Lotus 1m36.098s
22 CHANDHOK HRT 1m36.286s
23 GLOCK Virgin 1m36.640s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m37.178s
Britain, 2nd Free Practice (July 9th)
1 WEBBER Red Bull 1m31.234s
2 ALONSO Ferrari 1m31.626s
3 VETTEL Red Bull 1m31.875s
4 MASSA Ferrari 1m32.099s
5 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m32.166s
6 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m32.660s
7 PETROV Renault 1m32.745s
8 HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.757s
9 SUTIL Force India 1m32.787s
10 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m32.967s
11 KUBICA Renault 1m33.019s
12 HULKENBERG Williams 1m33.164s
13 BUTTON McLaren 1m33.200s
14 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m33.402s
15 LIUZZI Force India 1m33.728s
16 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m33.836s
17 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m34.051s
18 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m34.643s
19 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m35.465s
20 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m36.237s
21 GLOCK Virgin 1m36.553s
22 CHANDHOK HRT 1m37.019s
23 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m38.303s
24 TRULLI Lotus 1m42.901s
Britain, 1st Free Practice (July 9th)
1 VETTEL Red Bull 1m32.280s
2 HAMILTON McLaren 1m32.614s
3 KUBICA Renault 1m32.725s
4 WEBBER Red Bull 1m32.747s
5 SUTIL Force India 1m32.968s
6 ROSBERG Mercedes 1m33.318s
7 HULKENBERG Williams 1m33.377s
8 BUTTON McLaren 1m33.519s
9 SCHUMACHER Mercedes 1m33.955s
10 BARRICHELLO Williams 1m34.016s
11 BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m34.132s
12 PETROV Renault 1m34.365s
13 ALONSO Ferrari 1m34.490s
14 DI RESTA Force India 1m34.580s
15 KOBAYASHI Sauber 1m34.710s
16 DE LA ROSA Sauber 1m34.901s
17 MASSA Ferrari 1m35.037s
18 ALGUERSUARI Toro Rosso 1m35.318s
19 KOVALAINEN Lotus 1m36.747s
20 GLOCK Virgin 1m37.330s
21 DI GRASSI Virgin 1m37.518s
22 CHANDHOK HRT 1m38.735s
23 FAUZY Lotus 1m39.510s
24 YAMAMOTO HRT 1m39.673s
| Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | 145 |
| 2. Jenson Button | McLaren | 133 |
| 3. Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing | 128 |
| 4. Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing | 121 |
| 5. Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 98 |
| 6. Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 90 |
| 7. Robert Kubica | Renault | 83 |
| 8. Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 67 |
| 9. Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 36 |
| 10. Adrian Sutil | Force India | 35 |
| 11. Rubens Barrichello | Williams | 29 |
| 12. Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber | 15 |
| 13. Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India | 12 |
| 14. Sebastien Buemi | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 7 |
| 15. Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 6 |
| 16. Jaime Alguersuari | Scuderia Toro Rosso | 3 |
| 17. Nico Hulkenberg | Williams | 2 |
| Constructor Team | Points |
|---|---|
| 1. McLaren | 278 |
| 2. Red Bull Racing | 249 |
| 3. Ferrari | 165 |
| 4. Mercedes GP | 126 |
| 5. Renault | 89 |
| 6. Force India | 47 |
| 7. Williams | 31 |
| 8. Sauber | 15 |
| 9. Scuderia Toro Rosso | 10 |
Sakon Yamamoto making a return to racing. © planet-f1.com
Pay drivers in motorsport is perhaps not a subject that has come up too often in modern Formula 1. While the quality of these entrants is rarely of note, there have been occasional surprises in the history of the sport that defy such generalisations, such as Niki Lauda’s becoming a three-time World Champion after he bought his first seat at March and Pedro Diniz earning a modicum of respect when he became a decent racer at Arrows and Sauber in the late-nineties.
For the most-part, pay drivers have spent their careers having their talents derided – and often with good reason. Pay drivers often find themselves in the situation of buying their own seat, simply because the talent to earn it does not lie with them; whether it be Taki Inoue, Giovanni Lavaggi, Jean-Denis Deletraz or Yuji Ide. Normally, this batch of “talent” find their way onto the books of teams that are struggling financially and the money or sponsorship that they bring will often prop up not only their own seat, but the seat of their more capable partner.
Back of the grid squads are not the only ones that fall into this trap either. In 1995, Martin Brundle shared his Ligier seat with lamentable Aguri Suzuki – the Japanese driver brought money, while Brundle and his permanent teammate Olivier Panis secured valuable points. Ironically, with nothing better to do during some of his off-races during the season, Brundle would join the ‘Legendary Murray Walker™’ and Jonathan Palmer in the commentary booth; something that would lead to him becoming Walker’s full-time side kick from 1997 onwards.
Grid swapping reached its height in the early-mid 1990’s, as squads like Andrea Moda, Pacific, Forti and Coloni regularly changing drivers as the accounts ran bare and it peaked during the 1994 season when forty-two drivers took part in the Formula 1 campaign at some point. Forty-two. Early in its life, the Andrea Moda squad was reprimanded for attempting to change their drivers repeatedly early in the season – a decision that forced the squad to stick with Roberto Moreno and Perry McCarthy for the remainder of their existence; although few would know this – the team were often of the race by 10 o’clock Friday morning when the team regularly failed to pre-qualify.
In recent years, pay-driving has taken a slightly different form. As economies around the world strengthened, the large manufacturer’s, such as Toyota, would place the likes of Kazuki Nakajima at the Williams team in exchange for giving the British squad cheaper engines. The practice was the same, but the consideration had changed dramatically.
This evening, news emerged that Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto is to replace Bruno Senna at the Hispania team for the British Grand Prix as the Spanish squad find themselves in a monetary hole. Sadly for Senna, talent doesn’t pay when the car is so poor to only achieve 22nd place or lower on the grid and even worse for Hispania, Yamamoto brings little in the way of top-level skill. Whereas Nakajima was unpredictable, accident-prone, yet fast, his countryman is unpredictable, accident-prone, but slow.
I look forward to seeing Bruno back on the grid in Germany in two weeks, but with Hispania against the wall and Dr Colin Kolles making an announcement in the morning, one is not holding his breath.
TheMotorsportArchive.com 