German Grand Prix
Guten tag, willkommen in Deutschland. It’s off down the autobahn to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix this weekend in what should be a very organised affair.
It’s not exactly Monaco in terms of style or excitement, Hockenheim is one of those old-school tracks which from a spectator’s point of view is more like watching a marathon than a sprint. Still it’s been a mainstay of the Formula One calendar since the dawn of time.
Everyone knows what to expect from this circuit, it use to be a huge ring with a dink of a chicane at the start, but then in 2001 they revamped the whole thing, chipped off a large chunk of the leafy section and put in a concave curve, rather than a convex from turn three to four. This proved hugely unpopular with most Formula One fans, with the celebrated forest section where drivers could reach 200mph scrapped. With this gone many believe that the circuit has lost some of its charm and certainly a lot of its distance, as a result of these changes the endurance race has been pumped up from 45 laps to 67.
With the European Grand Prix moving, Hockenheim now alternates with Nuremberg as to the destination of the German GP and still gets a huge amount of support from local fans.
There will be six Germans on the grid and, of the local boys, Sebastian Vettel is the best hope of getting the black, red and orange flag raised on the podium. The Red Bull driver put in a good performance in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone two weeks ago. Having fallen to the back early he fought his way up the grid through the pack and eventually came seventh.
Vettel was of course outshone by his team mate and world’s greatest No.2 driver Mark Webber. With all the furore about the wing being swapped and those catty remarks over the radio all eyes will be on the energy drink team’s performance and any animosity hanging over between the pair or the management. Interestingly Webber took this race last year and he is on good enough form to take top spot again.
Elsewhere Lewis Hamilton will want to continue his excellent season with a win. This is the sort of track where Hamilton comes into his own and he will be hopping to replicate his 2008 triumph on the circuit.
McLaren team mate Jenson Button isn’t pulling up trees at the moment, but is still in contention with some solid drives in recent weeks. He could do with his third win of the season though to put more pressure on the others at the top of the driver’s championship.
As it is the German Grand Prix we may finally see the re-emergence of Michael Schumacher, if he can get something extra out of his car. The pointy-jawed former champion will be chasing his fifth win at this track, but his performances thus far suggest he will need a lot of luck to break past four. Mercedes have been poor this year, and "Schumi" has been out-driven by teammate Nico Rosberg, who will also want to impress on his home Grand Prix as well as he maintains his reasonable showing this season.
Outside of the obvious, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will want to put an awful British Grand Prix behind them and hope they can find some pace on the long roads of Hockenheim as the Ferrari continues to underwhelm. Robert Kubica is itching for a podium place with some decent driving in the Renault prior to Silverstone, while Rubens Barrichello will be hoping to take the form he showed on the Top Gear track to the F1 scene having broken the test lap record.
This is turning out to be an exciting season and hopefully this will continue, even though this is far from the most thrilling of tracks. With so much to race for and so many sub-plots it should be another rollercoaster of a race which could go any way.
In first practice, Hamilton crashed his McLaren, while Force India's Adrian Sutil went fastest in the rain (1:25.701seconds), ahead of Massa (1:26.850s) and Button (1:26.936s). In second practice, Alonso was first (1:16.265s) ahead of Vettel (1:16.294s) and Massa (1:16.438s).
So fill your steins, break out the schnitzels and settle back for a great race.
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