F1 Madness

Tag: germany

  • 2013 German GP: Raikkonen wonders about final pitstop

    Kimi Raikkonen in Spain 2013Kimi Raikkonen suspects that a late pitstop during the German grand prix may not have been neccesary.

    The Lotus driver was leading the race by 15 seconds over Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and felt that the tyres and the car were, possibly, performing well enough to hold on to the lead. However, communication problems between the pitwall and Raikkonen ultimately led to a late pitstop for the Finn.

    “I could run longer and we had to think about if we should try to run until the end,” said Raikkonen. “But I had massive problem with the radio. I could hear the team but they couldn’t hear me, apart from at two corners.

    Raikkonen last pitstop switched him to the soft compound Pirelli tyres and left him roughy three seconds adrift of the Red Bull. Despite closing down Vettel in the closing stages of the race and getting to within the DRS zone, the Finn was unable to regain the lead of the grand prix. Raikkonen finished one second behind race winner Sebastian Vettel.

  • F1 2013: Qualifying Report – German GP

    F1 2013: Qualifying Report – German GP

    Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished a tenth clear of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to take pole position for the German grand prix.

    Briton Lewis Hamilton has taken his second consecutive pole position and twenty-ninth of his Formula 1 career at the home grand prix for his team, Mercedes.

    The biggest casualty of the day was teammate and British grand prix race winner, Nico Rosberg. An initial run in the second part of Saturday’s qualifying appeared to be enough for the German to advance to the top ten shoot-out. However, a late flurry of flying laps in the closing stages of the second session of quali pushed Rosberg down to eleventh and out of contention for the front row of the grid. The German commented that the team had “underestimated the pace of the track.”

    Ever dependable Jenson Button managed to drag his McLaren into the top ten and continually impressive Daniel Ricciardo and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg advanced to the final part of qualifying.

    The gap between the soft and medium compound tyres this weekend has been anything from one to one and a half seconds – a run for pole, or anywhere near the sharp-end would require the yellow marked tyres, no doubt. However, the medium compound tyres have also proven, through long run stints in qualifying, to have a much better wear rate than their softer counterparts. As ever Ferrari chose to play the long run and focus on race day by choosing to run only the medium compound tyres in the final ten minute session of qualifying. The result was seventh for Felipe Massa and eighth for Fernando Alonso. Barring any incidents in the first corners the Ferrari’s should bring themselves nicely in to play in Sunday’s race.

    But Saturday once again belonged to Lewis Hamilton. The 2008 champion pipped championship leader Sebastian Vettel to pole position but a tenth of a second. Former German grand prix winner Mark Webber will start third and Kimi Raikkonen, in the Lotus, fourth.

    Romain Grosjean and Daniel Ricciardo will start fifth and sixth ahead of Massa, Alonso and Button.

  • F1 2013 Tyre Update: Pirelli ringing the changes

    F1 2013 Tyre Update: Pirelli ringing the changes

    Pirelli will introduce completely new tyres for the 2013 Hungarian grand prix.

    The announcement comes after the Italian tyre manufacturer was put in the spotlight with several tyre failures during the Silverstone grand prix. The all new tyres, which will feature 2012 construction combined with 2013 compounds, will be introduced for Hungarian grand prix. These new tyres will be tested at the young driver’s test at Silverstone in mid-July.

    For the immediate future, and this weekend’s German grand prix, teams will be provided with the kevlar-belted rear tyres that were tested at the Canadian grand prix. Teams will also be banned from swapping left and right tyres and strict limitations will be placed on camber and tyre pressures. Pirelli believe that a combination of these factors were to blame for the spectacular failures at the British grand prix.

    Pirelli motorsport director, Paul Hembery.To prevent a repeat of the failures Pirelli have requested that their engineers be allowed access to real time tyre data, including pressures and cambers, during a race. “What happened at Silverstone was completely unexpected and it was the first time that anything like this has ever occurred in more than a century of Pirelli in motorsport,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery.

    “These incidents, which have upset us greatly, have stressed the urgency of the changes that we already suggested – which will be introduced for free practice in Germany on Friday.

    “We would like to acknowledge the willingness of the FIA, FOM, teams, and drivers to act quickly to find an immediate solution to the problem.

    “In particular, the adoption of winter tests, arranged with the FIA, that are more suitable for tyre development, and the possibility of carrying out in-season testing will contribute to the realisation of tyres with increasingly improved standards of safety and performance.”

    Hembery went on to stress that the Pirelli tyres are safe for use. “I’d like to re-emphasise the fact that the 2013 range of tyres, used in the correct way, is completely safe,” he said.