.:: 2008 German GP Thread ::.

.:: 2008 German GP ::.

Welcome to the 2008 German GP thread, where you can discuss anything to do with this weekend's race. cjek will update the thread with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Kimi Raikkonen has always finished on the podium when he's taken the chequered flag here. That said, he's only ever finished this race once in his F1 career.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. Hamilton, Massa & Raikkonen now all lead the championship. Who is likely to be the successor of these three, or can Kubica still come back?
2. After the British GP, Lewis Hamilton has won three of the last 4 wet GP's he's competed in (Britain, Monaco & Japan). Is it safe to say the Brit is now F1's newest rainmaster?
3. Currently, who is the most impressive German on the field: Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel or Adrian Sutil?
4. If you had the choice, would you keep the current Hockenheimring or woul you revert back to the old one, and why?

ITV-F1 PRESENTS LIVE STREAMING OF THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX WEEKEND: FRIDAY PRACTICES, QUALIFYING & THE RACE

Yeah, it is. Strangely though, the F1 layout isn't on there, despite it being an '08 image apparently =/

In the meantime, let's go back to 2006. Now, we all knew Raikkonen would follow in Schumi's footsteps, by joining Ferrari and becoming World Champion. But I don't think we expected him to literally follow Schumi...

KIMI THE COPYCAT

Currently, who is the most impressive German on the field: Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel or Adrian Sutil?

All 5 are pretty impressive... I would say Vettel.

If you had the choice, would you keep the current Hockenheimring or would you revert back to the old one, and why?

I would keep this one since it's my favourite circuit to race on in GTR2!

1. Hamilton, Massa & Raikkonen now all lead the championship. Who is likely to be the successor of these three, or can Kubica still come back?

Kubica has had 2 poor back to back GP's, he could come back and he is not far off the lead but right now the BMW doesn't appear to have the pace relative to the Ferrari and McLaren.

2. After the British GP, Lewis Hamilton has won three of the last 4 wet GP's he's competed in (Britain, Monaco & Japan). Is it safe to say the Brit is now F1's newest rainmaster?

He has certainly shown his natural aptitude in the wet (Baring, of course, last year at the Nurburgring and China) he has good feel in the wet and has shown unreal pace in the wet so yes, he could be the next "Rainmaster"

2. Currently, who is the most impressive German on the field: Nick Heidfeld, Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel or Adrian Sutil?

Glock has been largely beaten by his teammate so to me he is not quite as impressive as his countrymen. Adrian Sutil too has seemed to have been found struggling against his teammate at times however a little less than Glock. Heidfeld too has largely been outpaced by the very impressive Kubica but that doesn't mean to say he is in any way "slow" he just hasn't race as well as Kubica lately. Sebastien Vettel who largely has the measure of his team mate has so often been bumped out in SO many GP's who know's how well he would have done? He can score points on a good day and has performed very well in quali (Britain where he went 3rd fastest in Q2 but did not really compete in Q3 and started 8th? 9th?) hopefully he won't get too caught up in the melee in the latter half of this season so we can see him shine! and lastly Nico Rosberg, obliterated Nakajima early in the season but Kazuki is coming back and very quickly! Nico has had trouble in the last few GP's and again like Vettel I hope he can hold his 2nd half of the season together.

The old Nurburgring would be an excellent showcase of F1 in this day and age but my fear would be the lack of slow bends to allow overtaking that is so difficult these days.

There is only 15 laps when racing in old Nurburgring. :P

Well, whaddyaknow? You'd never guess the weather prediction...

RAIN!

Friday currently looks like the heaviest, with Saturday & Sunday only having light showers, but temperatures on the 2 critical days are vastly different. Whilst Saturday will reach 23 deg. c, Sunday will only reach 18, which means vast performance differences from most come race day.

WHAT A SESSION!

I can't even recall how many times the lead changed hands there :lol:

Great work by all Germans, especially Glock, Rosberg, Heidfeld & Sutil for that mid-session tussle haha :P

And then even better by the Macca/Ferrari battle at the end!

Friday Practice 1 results:

PRACTICE 2

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:15.025            37
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:15.722  + 0.697   31
 3.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:15.760  + 0.735   34
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:15.990  + 0.965   37
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.017  + 0.992   25
 6.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:16.230  + 1.205   38
 7.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.355  + 1.330   41
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:16.363  + 1.338   36
 9.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:16.377  + 1.352   40
10.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:16.378  + 1.353   35
11.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:16.422  + 1.397   41
12.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:16.530  + 1.505   45
13.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:16.542  + 1.517   38
14.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:16.677  + 1.652   28
15.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:16.734  + 1.709   42
16.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:16.781  + 1.756   44
17.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:16.829  + 1.804   21
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:16.860  + 1.835   14
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.008  + 1.983   39
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:17.047  + 2.022   37

Autosport

Saturday Practice Results:

Looks like Macca have this in the bag, already... which kinda messes up my predictions with Kimi in them :lol:

UPDATE: Heavy Showers in Hockenheim at the moment, and rain predicted for tomorrow as well... then again, this is now the 5th consecutive weekend rain has been predicted and the target's been on/off so far...

UPDATE 2: Looks dry at Hockenheim right now, doesn't look like it'll bother the guys, but you never know...

Qualifying Results:

Goodness, Kimi's car looked TERRIBLE today! That's gonna be a 4th place finish, at best!

Hopefully Vettel doesn't have another weekend ruined by a penalty, but Sutil may have something too with holding up Kubica in Q1 (although who really cares? He's 19th anyways :lol: )

KOVALAINEN FINED FOR RULES BREACH:

Heikki Kovalainen has been fined 5,000 euros for a breach of the refuelling regulations during German Grand Prix qualifying.

The stewards ruled that McLaren did not follow the proper procedure when it refuelled Kovalainen's car during Q2, breaching Article 29.2 of the sporting regulations.

"Car 23 was refuelled during Q2 using equipment that was not an FIA-approved race refuelling system, and therefore the engine should have been stopped during the refuelling process," the stewards said in a statement.

The penalty is purely financial and Kovalainen's third place on the grid is not affected.

SOURCE: ITV-F1

ITV predicts a "high risk of showers sometime during the afternoon" (so maybe not specifically during the race) but BBC is much more reliable, and it states a very sunny day with highs of 22 (so not exactly perfect for Ferrari, unless the track temperature reaches much higher).

Therefore my prediction is that Massa will be virtually spot-on with Hamilton, if not slightly faster than the Macca. Expect a difficult day for both, but one of these two to take the flag. Kovalainen should take 3rd, but the fact he's still only made the podium twice in his career despite now have 9 races in a car clearly capable of pulling a podium position (and one of those podiums actually being last year), it could be nip and tuck between him and Kimi. Raikkonen himself should aim no higher than 4th, with anything higher being a bonus for him. His car is handling horribly this weekend and he has to step off to keep control. Add to the fact Frau Luck hates him here and the odds are against Kimi. I feel he will be able to finish this race though (making for only his 4th finish in Germany, two at each track), and therefore he should aim for that 4th (or 3rd if Heikki can't hold on). Gunning for 2nd or 1st could cause Kimi to overdrive, have issues and possibly end up ending another German GP in a DNF.

EDIT: So there's clouds above the circuit, cooling the temperature... Ferrari may not be stronger then, it'll be status quo. Still, it'll be a close battle for Massa/Hamilton but I don't see Kimi pushing those guys up front.

German Grand Prix Result:

Well.. If I had any doubts about Hamilton's abilities before today, they have certainly been wiped out completely. Piquet was a massive surprise; he managed to hold on to that podium after taking advantage of the tactical lottery we like to call the Safety Car. Amazing race.

An update on Timo Glock; all his precautionary tests in hospital are clear, and he'll be staying overnight as a further precaution (Source: Autosport). The rear right suspension appeared to fail for whatever reason, but the reason is unknown.

Finally Piquet comes through!!! :D:D

Poor Glock though ): that was a nasty accident!