German Grand Prix Results Thread (spoilers within)

[bigC]

the 12th race of the season, the German GP at Hockenheim! :beer:

McLaren Mercedes dominates Friday practice, with Kimi fastest. but Alonso is near the top, so his chances for a win, or merely scoring valuable championship points, is good. Ferrari? Schumie is way down in 10th, Barrichello even further back, as the team that has dominated the sport for years continues to be a non-contender. all those hundreds of millions spent for nothing. two Toyotas in the top 10 (although one is Zonta, the test driver) whilst Liuzzi gets 8th for Redbull (DC had no time) and Massa had 7th (JV was back in 17th)

story:http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=131097
and:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3345/743.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/743/10.html

[mikechai]

Qualifying results:-
1 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.320
2 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:14.759
3 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.904
4 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:14.927
5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:15.006
6 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:15.070
7 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:15.403
8 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:15.501
9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:15.532
10 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1:15.635

I kinda relief because this time Trulli not in front of other big boyz, no more held up, hooray!

[bigC]

that McLaren is one fast car, if it can be kept on the track, which JPM didn't manage to do. good news for Kimi, who will actually start in the position that he earned, the pole. Schumie in 5th is not too bad, but what's up with Barrichello in 15th, behind both Saubers? is he trying to drive his way off the Ferrari team? and Ralf S--the $22 mill he's "earning" is really paying off, with his 12th place start. re mikechai's comment about Trulli: thank the maker that he isn't too far up the grid to cause too much damage. no one wants to watch him go for his Sunday drive and slow down the race to a crawl. he should leave the sport, nobody cheers for him. both Williams in the top 10, a case of too little too late for the team. Button's BAR in 2nd and Alonso in 3rd: it should be a really good start.

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3353/743.html
qualifying results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/743/22.html

[NAZCA M12]

I'll add a bit of news that happened during that 2-week break since most of you just watch qualifying and the race itself. Straight after the British GP, many teams flew to Spain for a three-day test. In that test, the first '06 V8 engines were run at the back of an F1 car for the first time (BMW and Toyota). There were plenty of problems for both teams and their cars would halt on the track with various issues. That is to be expected of course since these engines are pretty much babies atm. Of course, the "first" manufacturers to announce that their '06 engines were ready were Honda and Mercedes and that was quite a long time ago. The reason was none other than trying to make an impression since their engines were actually on the dyno (and still are), but so was everybody elses' back then. "So their engines were ready?" some people thought, "let's see them on the ****ing track then". Of course we didn't see **** but while they were trumpeting their "breakthrough", two other manufacturers were silently closer to actually test them for real. I mentioned that just to show how misleading some times such glowing "firsts" can be :p

Since i mentioned my "favourite" company, i previously touched on McLaren's reliability and how they always run into problems on tests or on a Friday of a race weekend but never on the race. Well, on the Sunday of the British GP Montoya finished the race, now guess who's piece of junk of an engine burst into flames on Monday morning at the test :mad: On the third day of the test, De La Rosa lost the whole morning due to a gearbox problem. The pattern continues for them, and when it counts, they almost never have an issue. With that luck they may as well continue like that throughout the season. Whatever, that Spanish test felt like a cursed one as almost all top teams had problems, including Renault with both its cars, Williams and Toyota both with their V8 powerplants however. Speaking of Toyota, they've brought in Germany an improved chassis although they seem to be lost once more. That new aero package was supposed to be introduced earlier than the German GP actually and Trulli when asked about that delay, answered that a truly top team is always bang on regarding their schedule of updates, a delay is simply out of the question. Ouch! Also, Toyota and one more team (can't remember which one) violated the testing rules by running an additional car in the test. Williams on the other hand had a very productive test and showed a small improvement in speed but further opening the gap to the Minardis and the Jordans are hardly their target. They have a lot of work to do. Note that the Summer testing ban has already started so no more tests for the teams until after the Turkish GP iirc. Don't know what Ferrari are going to do of course but just for the record, Schumacher flew to Italy just a couple of days ago to further test the car (out of schedule). They too have an updated chassis for this race remember.

Of course, thanks to the ****ed up qualifying system and the ****tard who had the bright idea of introducing pit stops (hance small fuel tanks and the ensuing strategic "games" that go with them), one can't tell for sure who's pace is genuine in qualifying. Button for example, sitting on 2nd looks again to be on a light fuel load. We will have to see in the race if his pace will drop big time again. Speaking of "the best driver in the world", Mansell recently expressed his anger at F1 and its stupid rules and said he could probably write better rules in half an hour :rofl I believe him. Button attacked Mansell saying that he shouldn't be critisizing the sport since it's been quite some time since he last drove an F1 car. Well, someone tell him that "our Nige" is not exactly whoever driver, and his opinion should be respected just a bit more, especially by guys who know nothing about the words F1 and winning put together. Of course JB could win the race today for all we know but he should be more concerned about JV's characterisation (from their early BAR days) that he looked more of a boy band member than a serious F1 driver, a statement that was spot on imo. For the record, Mansell did drive a two seater Minardi about a year or two a few times and tested a Jordan too a few years ago, i wouldn't exactly say he is completely alien to that generation of cars.

Button also recently informed his team that a win this season looks unlikely, probably to shut up Fry who keeps saying every two weeks how BAR are still going to win this year. While their pace is not bad, it will need luck (read problems for at least 4 cars) for them to win. Plus they only have one "good" driver, Sato is there courtesy of Honda plain and simple. Nick Fry must be probably hanging out with McLaren's Whitmarsh otherwise his bullish (and bull****) mood cannot be explained. Whitmarsh recently just like Raikonnen, said how he hoped other top teams would start winning soon in order to take points off Renault and that they certainly were capable of doing that (nice blandishment after the indirect insult). In short, he said "you guys start winning so that it will work for us". He also said that McLaren Should have won all previous 8 races of the season!! Jesus, then win them all or stfu, see now why i hate this team and their pretentious, stuck-up, tough-talking arrogant arseholes? I bet after the season's end he'll be saying sth like "and we SHOULD have won all 20 races goddamnit" (Note: the season only has 19 races)

As for this,

Schumie in 5th is not too bad, but what's up with Barrichello in 15th, behind both Saubers? is he trying to drive his way off the Ferrari team?

Initially i thought the same, but there is a chance that Barichello is on a two stopper while Schumacher is going for three stops. But yeah, even if that was the case, his lap was not a very good one.

And let me tell you something about "the mobile chicane" and R. Schumacher. For sure Ralf is overpayed, and he is not a complete driver, but he also happens to be a much better tester than Trulli and that should be invaluable for a team like Toyota. The "problem" with Trulli is that he is a very good qualifier, unlike Ralf. That he usually qualifies high up the grid and his pace drops in the race is only natural. If there was a proper Formula 1, whoever was behind him thanks to qualifying but was much faster in the race would simply pass him on the track, but it is hardly his fault if it isn't happening is it not? Granted if the driver in front wants to make it tough for the others behind, they will never pass, on the other hand, half the drivers are thinking the usual ****: "lets wait for the pit stops, then when he enters them, i'll try to make a string of fast laps on clear track and get by him when after i make mine". Blame the sport more than the Trulli. Anyhow, if there's one guy who's going to bring forward Toyota, that will be Ralf or Olivier Panis, not Trulli, not Zonta.

You want an example of how an awesome test driver can make a difference in a team? Just look at Jaguar's No. 1 driver in the past few years (Webber). What did the team do with him having all the attention and testing duties? Pretty much nothing. In '05 though, RBR are racing an evolution of last years chassis, but a guy named David Coulthard tested extensively with them in the winter, and look how much better that team is. A classic case of a strong tester dragging the whole team with him.

Back to Trulli now, even if he is off the front two rows this weekend, no problem. We still have Button to **** up whoever slots behind him at the start (though i might be wrong and his pace could be genuine) and allow the drivers in front of him to disappear.

Of course everybody is talking about JPM's blunder on the last corner. Dennis most certainly didn't look happy. Weird, because whenever Raikonnen would screw up his qualifying laps (which he did many times last year), Ron wouldn't even blink. Just look at the front page of the site the story with a smiling Montoya admitting that he just lost it:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/formula1/ :udawg:

and then he decides to take it all back, throw some "Ronspeak" language in it for good measure and Raikonnen trying to speak like a true team player but ending up once again talking about how it would have helped HIM and you get this:

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/index.html?http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/050723170447.shtml

Williams looks a bit better this time but who knows? Maybe they are on 4 stops? Funny thing is the German television is showing plenty of Sauber in that race. I bet BMW buying it out has nothing to do with it. Heh, somebody tell them "not yet mofos". What i'm mostly interested to see is the fight between the two Renault cars. What if Fisichella is faster than Alonso again with the latter in front?

There is a chance of rain at todays race which could make things interesting for some drivers depending on their tyres:

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/index.html?http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/050724090144.shtml

Don't forget, we've got the Donington Park Moto GP race to look for as well.

[mikechai]

I am so so so disappointed.... DAMN!!!

[bigC]

Kimi and McLaren are just throwing away the driver's and constructor's titles to Renault and Alonso, as Kimi's car yet again suffered from a mechanical problem that forced him out of the race from the lead, giving the win to Alonso. he must be really pissed. JPM, starting 20th, got a 2nd place, with Button in 3rd. Ferrari continues it's freefall: Schumie finishes 5th, and was as high as 2nd, but he has to be disappointed with the performance of his car, and again with his bad tires (the right rear tire almost looked like a slick by the end of the race, as the rubber was worn away). he was easily passed by Button and Fisichella. Ralf in 6th, followed by DC and Massa.

again, no Williams BMWs in the points, with Heidfeld managing only an 11th. who's to blame: BMW or the Williams engineers? as it stands now, they are without an engine supplier for next year. Barrichello, seemingly uninterested in racing for Ferrari, finished 10th, whilst JV was in 15th (he had two collisions in the race, and lost a front wing, so he had an interesting time). Sato was 12th, and may be on the way out of BAR.

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/3360/743.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/743/8.html

[Sazar]

Nice going Alonso. He's been the most consistent.

Schumi will likely be back for one more season coz he is not gonna want to be 2nd best when he retires :D

[FlyVomit]

Go DC, keep squeezing those points out