German GP 2014: The build up thread

Which was longer? Spa or Hockenheim?

 

Thing is, they just wanted or someone wanted, to make money. Thats all. 

Spa is a longer circuit, but it is folded in on itself more and has more access roads around it. Hockenheim had hardly any access roads in the forest section and the Ostkurve was very far away from the Stadium in a straight line.

i hope theres alot of good battles on track,and hopefully lewis,ric,bottas or alonso will win.would be good if button got on the podium too.

It's been a hell of a week for Rosberg. He made the rookie mistake of chaining himself to one woman, showed the weakness of character required to take pride in other people's accomplishments, and got locked down for some extra years stuck in the festering rat's nest of Formula 1. All this and he still can't grow a moustache. At least if he beats Hamilton this weekend, something will have finally gone right for him.

 

Driver Press Conference line-up (Thursday 15.00 local time)

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Adrian Sutil (Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Kevin Magnussen (McLaren)

 

Team Press Conference (Friday 16.00 local time)

Toto Wolff (Mercedes), Christijan Albers (Caterham), John Booth (Marussia), Federico Gastaldi (Lotus), Cyril Abiteboul (Renault Sport), Paul Hembery (Pirelli)

 

Hasnt Sutil been sacked?

Hasnt Sutil been sacked?

Apparently we all were merely made to believe that. Ha! They got us.

Edited by Lights, 16 July 2014 - 17:26.

Hasnt Sutil been sacked?

I look forward to the conference and some journalist awkwardly trying to find a smooth way of asking 'Adrian, have you been sacked?'

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

I don't know whether I actually like it, but it is better than the old pointless thrash through the woods, punctuated by tedious chicanes.

http://www.f1fanatic...ckenheim-tilke/

The german grand prix used to be on my personal 'Trio' of tracks that I never wanted to miss as the races were always awesome.

Canada, Italy (Monza)  and Germany.

Sadly now germany I can watch or miss as the changed track does nothing for me.  I know the classic track will never come back but even now I still miss the cars roaring off through the forest at very high speed. 

I guess this is going to be another Merc cruise? 

Edited by Longtimefan, 16 July 2014 - 21:08.

Edited by Exb, 16 July 2014 - 21:15.

I look forward to the conference and some journalist awkwardly trying to find a smooth way of asking 'Adrian, have you been sacked?'

To be followed of course the next day with a question to Albers: "Why haven't you sacked Sutil yet?" 

To be followed of course the next day with a question to Albers: "Why haven't you sacked Sutil yet?" 

OK, I have my stupid brain in - I don't get it?

OK, I have my stupid brain in - I don't get it?

Try this thread and all may become clear: http://forums.autosp...-out-at-sauber/

Hmmmm - I have read the rumours about Sutil so I get Sophie's initial post but I don't understand where Albers comes into this - isn't he Caterhams new TP so what does he have to do with sacking Sutil? (or am I way off track)

 My mistake! 

 My mistake!

 ah OK - thought I may have missed a joke involving Sutil and Albers from the past or something.
(and to be fair its still not as stupid as some of the questions asked at those press conferences)

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

It's okay, but the old circuit was much more different than the others in the calendar. It had its own powerhouse top speed character. It was different enough to allow other cars/teams/drivers to have good results. The new one is just another Tilke-o-dome with no memorable corners or sections.

The new Nurburgring isn't terrific either.

Edited by Atreiu, 16 July 2014 - 22:23.

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

 ah OK - thought I may have missed a joke involving Sutil and Albers from the past or something.

Well, it's not Formula E with Trulli GP!

Spa is a longer circuit, but it is folded in on itself more and has more access roads around it. Hockenheim had hardly any access roads in the forest section and the Ostkurve was very far away from the Stadium in a straight line.

But i'm sure they would have constructed roads if they wanted too. Someone just wanted a fresh circuit i think. And it was spoilt. 

Its not that bad really. Better than the nurburgring.

I've always preferred the 'Ring

I guess i'm in the minority of people that actually likes the new Hockenheim.

Because, no doubt only in games, the track has no flow at all. It's only in the stadium section where there's flow and actual challenge. The first part of the circuit is just long straights, brake, hairpin. 

Which was longer? Spa or Hockenheim?

 

Thing is, they just wanted or someone wanted, to make money. Thats all. 

IIRC, Spa was a 44 lap race whereas Hockenheim was a 45 lap race.

Edited by TomNokoe, 17 July 2014 - 02:21.

the 'Rose tinted glass' brigade is at full force before the GP i see. the same old ' things were better in the past' argument. ...please, do carry on. 

Yes. Old Hockenheim had personality, since was different. 

This one is just bland.

Of the new circuits the only one that escapes of being a meta-circuit or a bland-circuit is the Circuit of Americas with that straight and curve sequence. Unique.

It's okay, but the old circuit was much more different than the others in the calendar. It had its own powerhouse top speed character. It was different enough to allow other cars/teams/drivers to have good results. The new one is just another Tilke-o-dome with no memorable corners or sections.

 

The new Nurburgring isn't terrific either.

That didn't happen as often as you'd think. In general the best teams had the most powerful engines, and would do best at Hockenheim. It was never really a circuit for giant killing performances.

the 'Rose tinted glass' brigade is at full force before the GP i see. the same old ' things were better in the past' argument. ...please, do carry on. 

Well there isn't much to support an argument that the newer layout we have in the present is much to write home about.

2 DRS zones for the first time here (with separate detection zones at least).
The first is between turn 1 and 2 and the 2nd between turns 4 and 6

http://www.formula1....il/germany_925/

I imagine defending will be impossible.

I think part of the allure of the old Hockenheim was that sense of cars going out and getting lost in the forest before the blast through the stadium. Having trees close to the track always gives an awesome impression of speed, and it just looks good on TV. 

If they had replicated that effect with the new long backstraight (i.e. not cut down the trees all around it) then it could have been nicer, but everything around the new cirucit got flattened. 

Anyway, the old Hockenheim was nothing in terms of mad speed on a German track compared to AVUS: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVUS

I imagine defending will be impossible.

Edited by TomNokoe, 17 July 2014 - 10:53.

Do they have separate detections zones? If they do, it could be interesting. If not, it stinks.

2 DRS zones for the first time here (with separate detection zones at least).
The first is between turn 1 and 2 and the 2nd between turns 4 and 6

http://www.formula1....il/germany_925/

Rosberg has upset FIFA... 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rmula1/28344335

Rosberg has upset FIFA... 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...rmula1/28344335

makes sense TBH. it'd be better to use faces of all the players instead. the gold cup looks hideous on the helmet anyway. 

So where are we on weather for Sunday?

So where are we on weather for Sunday?

So far a bigger chance of rain

http://www.bbc.co.uk...atures/28355583

Basically the long and short of it is Fri/Sat increasingly hot (30+ both days) and Sunday is going to be a total lottery. With storms/showers they could be unlucky and get a massive hit with major downpour rain leading to a red flag, lightning, hail etc, or get lucky and have a storm passing by a mile or 2 to the south for example. Very much going to be a radar watching day on Sunday, but also worth noting that with storms, they can pop up out of nowhere, so we could see rain falling in front of our eyes before it even registers properly on the radar if 1 pops up and dumps rain on the track from right above it.

Either way, it'll be very warm still, so if it rains at any point, I'd expect it to dry relatively quickly once it stops, particularly once they get back running (though obviously the SC would stay out far too long, to the point where it's basically too dry for wets by the time they bring the SC in)

That didn't happen as often as you'd think. In general the best teams had the most powerful engines, and would do best at Hockenheim. It was never really a circuit for giant killing performances.

I just looked through the stats for all races there from 1980 onward (until 2001 which was the last on the long layout).

21 races, NONE of which were won by an underdog.

18 of the 21 races were won by the constructor who came first or second in the championship. The other 3 races were won by the constructor who came third in the championship.

But I liked it anyway.

I just looked through the stats for all races there from 1980 onward (until 2001 which was the last on the long layout).
 
21 races, NONE of which were won by an underdog.
 
18 of the 21 races were won by the constructor who came first or second in the championship. The other 3 races were won by the constructor who came third in the championship.
 
But I liked it anyway.

The old one had arugably one of the great wet weather drives of all time.... Rubens Barrichello's first win on July 30, 2000.

Watch out for Force India this weekend

Have a V12 instead ;)

 

Yes!!  I absolutely loved the Lambo-V12s that were in the Lotus & Larrousse that year (1990).  Fabulous sound!

The more impressive what Fisichella did in 1997 then, with an underdog car. First-row starting position and absolutely fighting for the victory during the race...

Those Jordans were competing for podiums all year, from fast stuff like Hockenheim to slow stuff like Buenos Aires. The Peugeot was a powerful engine too. Not exactly all that surprising.