The Official 2018 German Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**

[Dr Z]

Date(s): Friday 20 July 2018 - Sunday 22 July 2018

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1 and highlights on Channel 4.

Session	Day	Sky F1	Channel 4	Session Start	Local Time
Practice 1	Fri	0945		1000	1100
Practice 2	Fri	1345		1400	1500
Practice 3	Sat	1045		1100	1200
Qualifying	Sat	1300	1730	1400	1500
Race	Sun	1230	1845	1410	1510

Hockenheimring



Live timing for all sessions available here:

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Weather forecast:

http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Germany/Hoc...

The tyre choices:



2016 Qualifying



2016 Race

---

Ferrari winning at the British GP is possibly the most significant event in the last 5 years of F1, why? The Mercedes winning streak has been the longest at Silverstone and dates back to 2013, the last year of the hybrid V8 era continuing on to the hybrid V6T era. By winning at Silverstone, Ferrari have also prevented Mercedes from winning a sixth consecutive time at a Grand Prix and thus allowed McLaren to have that record for themselves (Monaco, 1988-1993). Go Seb!

At Ferrari, the narrative seems to be about gaining new territory in ‘killing their [Mercedes] magic’, and Vettel seems to revel in waving the Ferrari flag about in parc fermé as he also did in Montreal after winning. The ‘finger’ doesn’t come out often as much as the Ferrari flag these days. Can Mercedes respond and return the favour in the German’s home race at Hockenheim, which he has never won?

It’s a nice little technical track with an equal mix of low, medium and high speed corners, with the emphasis on tuning and setting up the car to work well for the wide range of corner speeds it will see over the course of a lap and not getting ragged in the driving. As Button would say, ‘smooth and precise’. We can expect the fast corners to not be easy flat and I particularly like watching the drivers at Mobil (T12) and Nord Kurve (T1). The corner preceding the long 1.14km straight is an awkward medium speed corner and is key to get right as it is possible to leave a lot of time on the table if the driver messes up the entry or of course, the exit.

It’s a short lap, full throttle per lap is about 10% less than Silverstone, but fuel consumption is still on the high side owing to more acceleration from low/medium speed. The FIA are continuing with the theme of three DRS zones (but two detection points), the DRS zone in the longest straight has been extended further than the last time.

Tyre talk. Pirelli have skipped a compound for the second time this year and are bringing the ultrasoft as the qualifying tyre. The pace gap over a single lap will probably be too big between ultra soft and soft, however if the ultras are durable, teams may well use it as a part of their race strategy. The same tyre sets were brought to China and we saw the top teams except RB opting to go through Q2 with the soft, and we saw how the RB cars were hanging on well to the others on the softer compound in the 1st stint. We could expect a different strategy like that here too.

It's the first time for these wider faster cars to visit this track, and I estimate the qualifying times to improve by about 2 sec this year.

On another note, it's scary to think that 9 drivers who raced here two years are ago are no longer racing now!

Edited by Dr Z on Friday 13th July 15:07

[Sam993]

Can you include this image, just to show people what Hockenheim used to be about please?

[HustleRussell]

I wonder how Renault’s aggressive tyre selection will work out for them considering their rampant blistering issues. They were the only team to resort to the Hards at Silverstone and they arrive at Hockenheim with basically nothing but Ultra softs.

[Salamura]

HustleRussell said:

I wonder how Renault’s aggressive tyre selection will work out for them considering their rampant blistering issues. They were the only team to resort to the Hards at Silverstone and they arrive at Hockenheim with basically nothing but Ultra softs.

I'm worried about that too. In Austria they struggled as well. It looks like their car does not work in the hot temperatures and just overheats the tyres.

[Matthen]

Rain forecast for Saturday; potentially a wet qualy session. Should be an interesting weekend!

[majordad]

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

[DanielSan]

majordad said:

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

It’d take a fair bit of work to be able to race on it again...

[telecat]

DanielSan said:

majordad said:

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

It’d take a fair bit of work to be able to race on it again...

All Bernie's work as well. Rather Like Alan Gow he "preferred" a shorter lap to make sure the Sponsors go better coverage/Fans saw the cars more often(delete as appropriate)

[suffolk009]

I'm hoping for a Kimi win. But it's likely to be his team mate or Lewis.

[Dr Z]

I'm thinking RB will be going much better here. Lots of corners for the Best Chassis of the field to flex its muscles.

I'm going for a Red Bull win. Anyone with me?

[sandman77]

Dr Z said:

I'm thinking RB will be going much better here. Lots of corners for the Best Chassis of the field to flex its muscles.

I'm going for a Red Bull win. Anyone with me?

I'm with you on this one. RB weren't far away last time they were here and they are closed to the the top two teams then they have been in the hybrid era so far.

[Car-Matt]

telecat said:

DanielSan said:

majordad said:

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

It’d take a fair bit of work to be able to race on it again...

All Bernie's work as well. Rather Like Alan Gow he "preferred" a shorter lap to make sure the Sponsors go better coverage/Fans saw the cars more often(delete as appropriate)

Damn him for making sure the sport remained well supported by sponsors and fans and not the unsafe, poorly presented, variable quality and sometimes unwatchable rubbish it was before he took it on..........

If the sponsors and fans didnt show up there wouldnt be a hockenheim........

[Deesee]

If the sponsors and fans didnt show up there wouldnt be a hockenheim........
[/quote]

Unfortunately it’s now normal there is not a Hockenheim/German GP.

Hosting fees, ticket pricing, lack of sponsorship etc.

[Sam993]

Car-Matt said:

telecat said:

DanielSan said:

majordad said:

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

It’d take a fair bit of work to be able to race on it again...

All Bernie's work as well. Rather Like Alan Gow he "preferred" a shorter lap to make sure the Sponsors go better coverage/Fans saw the cars more often(delete as appropriate)

Damn him for making sure the sport remained well supported by sponsors and fans and not the unsafe, poorly presented, variable quality and sometimes unwatchable rubbish it was before he took it on..........

If the sponsors and fans didnt show up there wouldnt be a hockenheim........

a) since redesign Hockenheim has never been profitable and always required heavy subsidies from local government, hence why it's not an annual event. I.e. the promise of redesign didn't materialise and the redesign killed one of the most unique tracks.
b) fans were always there, it was one of those venues that always managed to look packed. It's character, before it was butchered, was one it's strongest selling points.

So what you're basically saying is that if we knocked down St. Pauls and replaced it with a modern steel/glass skyscraper structure that looks a bit like St Pauls and has nice viewing platforms for general public and some posh restaurants for people with money on top floors everyone would be a winner?

[Car-Matt]

Sam993 said:

Car-Matt said:

telecat said:

DanielSan said:

majordad said:

Wish they used the old circuit, great straights.

It’d take a fair bit of work to be able to race on it again...

All Bernie's work as well. Rather Like Alan Gow he "preferred" a shorter lap to make sure the Sponsors go better coverage/Fans saw the cars more often(delete as appropriate)

Damn him for making sure the sport remained well supported by sponsors and fans and not the unsafe, poorly presented, variable quality and sometimes unwatchable rubbish it was before he took it on..........

If the sponsors and fans didnt show up there wouldnt be a hockenheim........

a) since redesign Hockenheim has never been profitable and always required heavy subsidies from local government, hence why it's not an annual event. I.e. the promise of redesign didn't materialise and the redesign killed one of the most unique tracks.
b) fans were always there, it was one of those venues that always managed to look packed. It's character, before it was butchered, was one it's strongest selling points.

So what you're basically saying is that if we knocked down St. Pauls and replaced it with a modern steel/glass skyscraper structure that looks a bit like St Pauls and has nice viewing platforms for general public and some posh restaurants for people with money on top floors everyone would be a winner?

No because nobody is trying to monetise St Pauls for the benefit of those praying in it? I dont really see the link

I was commenting on the Bernie hate

The guy took a disorganised sport where the teams got nothing but prize money or random fees from the independent organisers( meaning long term planning of a team is wholly unsustainable ) and turned it into a slick product with structured guaranteed income and a quality product for the fans/viewers, along with a huge hike in safety.

As you say Hockenheim cant even make a profit now with subsidy, so imagine how unprofitable it would have been with less sponsorship and attending fans seeing less of the cars?

Bernie isn't all sweetness and light but he did a remarkable job of taking a rubbish product and making it worth a lot of money, he knew what he was doing

[Sam993]

Car-Matt said:

Bernie isn't all sweetness and light but he did a remarkable job of taking a rubbish product and making it worth a lot of money, he knew what he was doing

That's cool, if you follow F1 because of how much it's worth and how much money it makes. I personally think that F1 lost the plot the moment money became 1) easy to get 2) its main focus. And they became easy to get when the traditionally non F1 countries with disposable wealth coming from multiple often questionable sources started building mickey mouse circuits in order to attract the circus and give themselves boost in the dick waving contest.

[Car-Matt]

Sam993 said:

Car-Matt said:

Bernie isn't all sweetness and light but he did a remarkable job of taking a rubbish product and making it worth a lot of money, he knew what he was doing

That's cool, if you follow F1 because of how much it's worth and how much money it makes. I personally think that F1 lost the plot the moment money became 1) easy to get 2) its main focus. And they became easy to get when the traditionally non F1 countries with disposable wealth coming from multiple often questionable sources started building mickey mouse circuits in order to attract the circus and give themselves boost in the dick waving contest.

No, whats cool is that Bernie made the sport sustainable and gave teams the ability to survive.........

As for the rubbish countries and rubbish circuits, i agree, but at then end of the day its the richest sport in the world so money plays a part. You cant just take a narrow view of "I want x without considering y and z"

[thegreenhell]

F1 has had it's fair share of rubbish circuits since long before Bernie had any say in the matter. Anyway, there's another thread running for discussing old circuits. My prediction for this thread is a podium featuring Vettel and a couple of RedBulls.

[cheddar]

Another great opener Dr Z

[Derek Smith]

Car-Matt said:

No, whats cool is that Bernie made the sport sustainable and gave teams the ability to survive.........

As for the rubbish countries and rubbish circuits, i agree, but at then end of the day its the richest sport in the world so money plays a part. You cant just take a narrow view of "I want x without considering y and z"

I'm not sure it is sustainable in its current, Ecclestone-inspired, format. There's RB and TR, Merc and clones and Ferrari et al. He's taken it from the days of prequalifying to, well not today, but only a little while ago. If Silverstone loses money on each GP then sustainable is not the word I'd use.

I'm not sure what Ecclestone has done for his considerable return compared to the input of others, who've put more in.. The richest sport in the world perhaps, although I doubt it, followed in the footsteps of others regarding TV presentation.

Not, perhaps, a discussion for this thread, but the subject was brought up.