Tried to post this on Sunday but I guess there were technical difficulties.
I'm going to stop this thread at the end of the season. I do have an extensive email list that I send this out to. I will be attending more races in the coming seasons because my children want to attend and are getting a little older. The German GP was a great race. I'll try to post inside intel on ones I attend. Not sure I will be able to make it to Taxas for ROA because it's during Halloween which is a major holiday in my house. Will e in Abu Dhabi for at least 5 days at end of season.
Just a note after the British GP at Silverstone Kimi R. went home with sore ribs and bruised ankle from his crash and did not take part in the testing that took place at Silverstone. Pirelli did some testing on some prototype tires for 2016 season.
F1 has used 13 inch rims for decades and these were 18 inch rims. However the diameter of the tire remained the same at 26 inches. So the wall of the tire is much smaller than the ones being used now. Also all the constructors failed to unanimously vote to ban the fric suspension. I still don't understand the logic to ban a component mid-season but all teams that had this system have altered their cars and removed these components because in a race another team may try to issue a penalty on another team that uses the fric system.
Also Ferrari continues to clean house with it's personnel. Caterham F1 team(just the F1 team sold) was sold and new ownership is cleaning house with redundant positions. About 50 people were let go with their last paycheck and day at work for Caterham F1 on Friday. I understand there were about 300 employees in Great Britain and now about 250 and it's projected another 50 will be let go. Caterham-Renault & Sauber-Ferrari are the only two teams to have zero points so far in the season. They must get some to obtain the bonuses at seasons end or it might be a financial disaster for them.
Friday's practice sessions at Hockenheimring went well. Weather was 90F and track temp about 130F which gives a hot track and soft rubber for racing, a great combination! Pirelli choice for this race was the soft & supersoft compounds. I understand there was blistering on the tires from the track temps.
Saturdays temps were similar to the previous day. In the beginning of Q1 Hamilton had the fastest time but things were just getting started. Through this first round of qualifying Hamilton's racer had a brake failure going into a corner and he went off track into the tire barriers. His car had to be hauled off the track. As the rules state if your car is hauled off you can not continue in the next qualifying round even if it can be repaired. Soon after Mercedes AMG put a car cover over the damaged silver arrow. This I did not know is that this is the only time a race car can be covered up if it is wrecked, otherwise it must remain uncovered for the entire three days at the track. Time clock was halted until his car was removed from the track.
Eventually Rosberg(Mercedes-AMG) secured the pole with Bottas and Massa in Williams right behind in second and third on the grid. First two rows on the grid all powered by Mercedes AMG engines with Magnussen's McLaren in fourth. Red Bull filled the third row with Ricciardo & Vettel.
Interesting part with Hamilton's time from Q1 he was placed 15 on the grid, however because of a change in the gearbox he was hit with a 5 place penalty and ended on the 20th spot on the grid. Another interesting point with Hamilton was that Mercedes AMG changed the disc manufacturer on his car(Brembo & Carbon Industry) and because of this he could have started the race from pit row. I guess the two parts are so exact in size that it was judged to be only marginal differences so a penalty was not issued.
Earlier on race day the track did receive some rain and air temp was 79F at 2pm and track was at 93F a big difference between the two previous days. On the grid one car might have stalled or started slow and the announcements skipped who this was because a few turns from the start Massa(yes again!) and Magnussen bumped into each other. It was later ruled no penalty would be issued to either driver. There is just so much room on the track and I think Massa was at fault if there was one. Massa's Williams actually flipped upside down and skidded off track and when it hit the sand flipped back over with huge thud I image. Massa was fine and Magnussen did receive some damage but was able to continue. Unfortunately for Ricciardo he had to go off track to avoid this mess and lost many positions but was fine. Safety car was called and I think in just those first few corners Hamilton was in15th place. By the way Hamilton started with the soft compound and I believe everyone else had the supersofts on so he was able to stay on the track longer before coming in and changing tires the first time.
Lewis seemed to drive the wheels off his silver arrow and at one point reached second place before he had to change his first set of tires and dropped back. Try to watch the highlights for this race because there was some fine racing going on. At one point three cars were side by side going into a corner. Hamilton was trying to pass Ricciardo and another but couldn't pass both. Eventually he passed Ricciardo but you need to keep an eye on this guy. Shortly after this going down a straightaway Kimi R in his Ferrari was like a ping pong ball bouncing between Alonso(Ferrari) and Vettel(Red Bull). The small side piece of Kimi's front wing went flying but all was good. Later in the race Alonso had new tires and tried to pass Ricciardo for awhile. He eventually did but Ricciardo quickly took the position back. This back and forth went on again until Alonso's great advantage on tires took over. Ricciardo did a fine bit of racing here and no slouch!
At one point Lewis thought Button was allowing him to pass in the corner and part of his front wing was damaged. Lewis stated it was his fault because in the previous race Button allowed him to pass. It was decided at his next tire change not to take the time to change the wing but change the load on it. Because of the wing damage that tire suffered more wear than usual. Eventually race strategy changed for Lewis to three pit stops because of tire wear and he was on supersofts now. He was gaining 3 seconds a lap for about 6 laps until the tires I guess reached a point that he could no longer advance. He was in third place behind Bottas for the final few laps. Rosberg won the race with Bottas in second and Hamilton in third. At one point near the end it began to lightly rain and I believe if it did Lewis may have won the race because his timing in pit stops.
Well this makes it Bottas's third in a row podium finish for Williams. Just think what may have happened if Massa hadn't dropped out in the last two races on the first lap. Williams is coming on strong and just built a new technology center. Now they are in third place in the constructors race having just passed Ferrari!
Mercedes AMG has just about twice the amount of points than second place Red Bull. What a change in just half a season.
Drivers point race Rosberg-190 is now 14 points ahead of his teammate Lewis-176(end of last race Lewis was 4 behind) and Ricciardo-106 followed by Alonso-97, Bottas-91 & Vettel-82. Nice fight going on for third place in total poinst now that we are at the midpoint of the season.
Sorry this was a lot longer than usually but a great race....next week Hungarian GP
