News German Grand Prix 2016 : Hockenheim,

[Notebook]

Final Practice:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/formula1/36767690

N.

 

[BenSisko]

Q3 was interesting. The Silver Arrows have the pace and poise, a bit less so for Red Bull but what's up with Ferrari?

 

[Notebook]

Pos No Driver Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 6 Rosberg 1:15.485 1:14.839 1:14.363 12
2 44 Hamilton 1:15.243 1:14.748 1:14.470 12
3 3 Ricciardo 1:15.591 1:15.545 1:14.726 14
4 33 Verstappen 1:15.875 1:15.124 1:14.834 12
5 7 Räikkönen 1:15.752 1:15.242 1:15.142 12
6 5 Vettel 1:15.927 1:15.630 1:15.315 14
7 27 Hulkenberg 1:16.301 1:15.623 1:15.510 15
8 77 Bottas 1:15.952 1:15.490 1:15.530 12
9 11 Perez 1:16.169 1:15.500 1:15.537 17
10 19 Massa 1:16.503 1:15.699 1:15.615 13
11 21 Gutierrez 1:15.987 1:15.883 14
12 22 Button 1:16.172 1:15.909 14
13 55 Sainz 1:16.317 1:15.989 12
14 14 Alonso 1:16.338 1:16.041 11
15 8 Grosjean 1:16.328 1:16.086 14
16 30 Palmer 1:16.636 1:16.665 14
17 20 Magnussen 1:16.716 8
18 94 Wehrlein 1:16.717 10
19 26 Kvyat 1:16.876 6
20 88 Haryanto 1:16.977 9
21 12 Nasr 1:17.123 6
22 9 Ericsson 1:17.238 6

Qualifying - Last-gasp Rosberg grabs home pole

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2016/7/f1-germany-rosberg-pole-home.html

 

[ADSWNJ]

Very controlled and fast lap from Nico to grab pole. Lewis locked up and lost a couple of tenths, but still had enough for the front row.

---------- Post added 07-31-16 at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was 07-30-16 at 05:29 PM ----------

Result:
1. HAM (Merc)
2. RIC (RBR)
3. VES (RBR)
4. ROS (Merc)
5. VET (Fer)
6. RAI (Fer)

Report:
Race won before the first corner again. Nico spun his tires off the start, and Lewis plus the 2 Red Bulls got past him. Nico struggled the entire race, including a 5 second penalty for running Max off the track (same maneuver as he tried on Lewis in Austria, but even more blatant this time on Max).

The Hockenheim track looks old and tired. Much too narrow, and apparently they cannot afford to resurface it, so the drivers needed 4 sets of tires to get through the level of abrasion today.

Missing fans? Really sad to see lots of empty seats in the grandstands, especially in the front 10-20 rows in the stadium area. There were loads of people at the track, but visually it looked bad to see the best seats empty.

Driving styles (I captured them at lap 46 and lap 60 from Formula1.com):

          Thr          Str         Brk        Cor         Agg
HAM    7.9- 8.6     5.9- 6.7    7.2- 7.3   5.3- 5.1    2.8- 2.9   Mercedes
RIC    6.1- 6.9     6.4- 6.7    6.5- 6.9   6.4- 6.5    6.8- 6.9   Red Bull
VES    5.7- 6.8     6.2- 7.2    7.3- 7.3   6.7- 6.8    6.1- 6.2   Red Bull
ROS    7.4- 8.2     9.4-10.0    6.3- 6.9   5.8- 5.8    9.0- 9.1   Mercedes
VET    8.9- 8.3     8.0- 8.5    4.2- 4.2   3.8- 3.9    1.9- 1.8   Ferrari
RAI   10.0- 9.1     7.6- 7.7    5.8- 4.9  10.0-10.0    1.0- 1.0   Ferrari  

Thr: throttle inputs and top speed
Str: steering inputs
Brk: braking inputs
Cor: lateral G's
Agg: longitudinal G's

Still not quite sure how to interpret this steering style data, so I'll caputure a few races and see if there are consistent patterns. It looks like the 2 RBR's are driven the same, but the difference between VET/RAI in the same car and HAM/ROS is interesting.

 

[indy91]

Things you can't do in F1 in 2016:

-Attack
-Defend
-Exceed track limits
-Tell your driver how to operate the car

Things you can do in F1 in 2016:

-Exceed track limits
-Tell your driver how to operate the car
-Stay on the outside of your opponent to get him a penalty


But seriously, I'm not even complaining that much about this specific penalty for Rosberg. It just is the inconsistency of the penalties. Nico's move was a classic dive bomb. You will be first at the corner, but you risk missing the apex and your opponent can overtake you back on the inside. But I guess dive bombs in general are now outlawed in F1. At least for some drivers. Dangerously moving under braking long before the apex of a corner is no problem though, as shown by Verstappen last race on Raikonnen and this race during the incident with Rosberg.

If you are seriously trying to prevent drivers to force another driver off the track, then this was no different than the classic Hamilton move of running his opponents wide on the exit of a corner. But no, that move gets you an A+ for effort because you are turning your steering wheel. Waiting for having slowed down enough to turn in gets you a penalty. Penalize both or neither of it, if the goal is to enforce the rules.

I guess in the future everyone will just stay on the outside of Rosberg, no need to try anything fancy like moving to the inside.


EDIT: This analysis of the incident pretty much covers how I saw it: https://streamable.com/mh8i

 

[Notebook]

Didn't see it, only on SKY for this race, and I don't think Rupert M needs my money. Should be some highlights somewhere later.

N.

 

[ADSWNJ]

@Indy - I agree on consistency as this is critical for fairness across all teams. E.g. how much and for how long do you need to lift off at a double-waved yellow flag either in quali or in the race?

For this Max move ... I thought it lacked finesse and deserved a penalty. Nico knew exactly what he was doing, and intentionally gave Max zero room to compete. I would like to see that penalized every time, enough that the drivers know it's wrong and they give the place back by themselves.

To make the rules clear, I think the rules should say something like this: "In a challenge for position, whenever the front axle of the following car is alongside or ahead of the back axle of the leading car, the leading car is required to leave a full car width of space on track for the following car, on the side on which the following car is challenging. Penalty for failing to observe this: 5 sec penalty, 10-sec penalty, drive-through penalty, or disqualification, according to the severity or frequency of transgression. The leading car may at its discretion concede the place in lieu of a penalty."