The Official Not606 British GP Predictions & Chat

Chanhok has written his column for ESPN, and just like Valencia it include more Alonso love. It's a good read though:

http://en.espnf1.com/greatbritain/motorsport/story/54321.html


The British Grand Prix produced a result that was pretty unexpected, at least in terms of Fernando's victory. Based on previous form in Northamptonshire and the popular consensus that the RB7 is still the class of the field in the downforce stakes, the double world champion's victory is a real credit to his ability and also the progress that Ferrari has made this year.

I really enjoyed my weekend at Silverstone. The new pit complex looks impressive but has a few issues which I understand will get solved over time as this is just the first phase of the development process of the circuit. The crowd at Silverstone and the atmosphere they create is FANTASTIC! The weather over the weekend was crazy though, I live six minutes from the circuit so am pretty used to the windy and rainy weather we get in this area, but even by our normal standards this weekend was bizarre!

It was nice to finally do some laps in the Lotus T128 this season. I think it's fair to say I haven't had the best run of Friday practice sessions and once again the weather at Silverstone wasn't great, but it was still nice to drive more than one lap in a session and get a feel for the car and the Pirelli intermediate tyres which are both completely new to me. The team seemed quite happy with the job I did so onwards and upwards.

Overall, looking at the relative race pace of the cars, you have to say that the Ferrari's ability to look after the option tyres even late into a stint played a huge part in the end result. Fernando was able to do best sectors and laps at the end of a stint, when the Red Bulls and McLarens had pitted, which allowed him to maintain track position at crucial times in the race. You could argue the Red Bulls both had issues in their pitstops but overall I still don't think they would've beaten Fernando this weekend. At the end of the day, Seb Vettel came out just under 10 seconds behind Fernando after the pitstop and the gap actually grew to over 15 seconds which was a true testament to the pace of car No.5.

I know I may sound repetitive in this column to regular readers, but I do think that once again Fernando proved that he is worth every cent. His one lap pace in qualifying was mighty - 0.6s ahead of Felipe Massa, who has been on very good form recently - and in the race his relentless push lap after lap was totally worthy of a race win against the odds. The fact that his fastest lap was nearly 0.6s faster than anyone else says one thing, but the ability to produce fastest sectors and laps on worn tyres at the end of a stint was what was most impressive this weekend.
As in Spa 2009, a race win for Ferrari after a long break takes a load of pressure away and will allow Stefano Domenicalli and the Scuderia to breathe a bit more freely. No other team in Formula One comes under the pressure and scrutiny of the fans and the media like Ferrari, but then again no other team earns the similar level of adoration from the same people either. The team have done a great job to bring themselves back into contention and take a genuine race win but they'll know that realistically they're being flattered a bit by the Spanish trump card behind the wheel. To take on Red Bull and turn over the points deficit to Seb, they need to keep winning and hope for some DNFs for the reigning World Champion.

Seb and Mark Webber went away from Silverstone with a healthy haul of points. Second and third at this stage of the year will do very nicely for the team and Seb in the championship. There was a lot of talk about the whole team orders thing towards the end of the race and I have to say I felt bad for Christian Horner and Mark as people kept hounding them to say what they really wanted to hear. Ultimately, from the team's point of view they want to make the safe call and take home 33 points and from Mark's point of view he's a racer that wants to race. Somewhere in between there's a balance and it's something for them to decide internally and not something for all of us on the outside to get involved with when we haven't invested time or money into the program.

Mclaren had a tough weekend for the two home stars. The midnight oil will be burning bright in Woking as usual and it will be a major concern to them that Ferrari have also managed to sneak ahead with Fernando getting a second place and a win in the last two races - plus the red cars qualified 2nd and 3rd in Canada don't forget. I thought Paul di Resta was one of the stars in qualifying. He did a fantastic job to get up to P6 on the grid and was running well until they had a mix up in the pits.
The next race at the Nurburgring should be interesting. The weather patterns are as crazy as Spa - think back to 1995 (Schumacher hunting down Alesi's 22 second lead in 18 laps), 1999 (Johnny Herbert winning for Stewart) or 2007 (Winklehock leading for Spyker) and the changing conditions we had then. The track is pretty interesting with a lot of camber and elevation changes that make the lines through the corners unconventional in some places. It's also a circuit which puts emphasis on engine power and drivability as you have a lot of slow/medium speed corners which lead onto long straights. The tyre situation will once again be interesting as the multiple traction zones will put a lot of emphasis on tyre wear which should be good for the fans. If you are heading out there, don't forget to do a lap around the magical Nordschleife - I know I will!

 

Good find, and I 100% agree with it. I do not mean to bash Hamilton here or anything but both Hamilton and Alonso were in cars that were much slower than the Red Bull and just look at the difference in how they handled it; Hamilton crashed and moaned a lot while Alonso put his head down and drove some stunning if not understated races and 'drove' his team on and helped drag them above Mclaren and close to Red Bull. That for me is what sets Alonso apart from Hamilton and the rest, yes there might be other drivers who can match him on one lap pace but they lack Alonso's relentlessness and mental capacity and attitude.

 

Hamilton has had it tough in the last 3 years. Put him in a championship winning car and he will win you a championship. 2007 he was the world champion in my books just a stupid gearbox let him down.

Put him in a slow car and he will disappoint.

He is the best British Sportsman in my opinion and is on course to be the highest paid of 100million a year, his talent and the way he brought ethnic minorities together in my pub talking about F1 has really helped the sport. Sorry but No Hamilton = No F1.

 

PMC, he may have been the "best" driver of '07 but he was the only person to not have any problems before the last race. Raikkonen had a few engine problems and Alonso had already had a gearbox problem in qualifying in France, where overtaking isnt great.
Also, his car hasnt been bad over the last 2 years. Overall its been better than Ferrari, its just that Red Bull has had by far the best car.

 

No he hasn't.

In 2009, 2010 and 2011 he's had a car that at some point during the season was capable of winning - that's why he's won races in those years. Glock, Trulli and Liuzzi have had it tough in the last 3 years - not Hamilton.

If he was that good, he wouldn't disappoint - even with a slow car. Vettel had a slow car in 2007 but still did a great job. Alonso had the slowest car on the grid in 2001 but he still impressed people.

 

Yeah Hamilton has really had it tough the last three years having to settle for a car that can win races and not championships poor him, wait hold on did he not have a car last year that was capable of winning the WDC?

I hope when you say "no Hamilton = no F1" you are talking about yourself because otherwise that is just laughable, yes he brings some excitment to F1 but F1 is not dependent on him at all, drivers come drivers go.

Oh and by the way Hamilton is not the highest paid British sportsman, his 5 year contract is worth about £75m, that is £15m a year, Beckham earnt £40m last year, and soon the highest earning British sportsman will be Rory McIlroy.

 

IMO regarding Lewis' last 3 cars...

2009=Lewis had the fifth-sixth best car (but thrid-forth best car on low downforce circuits) on the first half of the season but was one of the top if not the best from Italy onwards.

2010=Had the F-duct advantage for about 1/3 of the season, was a pretty solid "2nd best car" but the Mercedes engines helped them with certain tracks, up until the last 3rd of the season where Red Bull and Ferrari just dominated, Lewis also messed up in Italy and Singapore where he might of won the WDC in the end.

2011=Did have it's chances to win and Lewis should of had 3-4 wins now, (Canada, Australia, Monaco) should of been his.

 

Ok lets respond to all the people...

Fred

What is the point of making a car if you don't want it top win races and more importantly to win a title.

Forza

As I said before with Fred so what if you can win races?? People only remember those who won championships. And as for having a slow car, in 09 he put on tone of the greatest drives in

Australia
Malyasia
China
Bahrain

Get your facts right.

Mifune

Of course I mean for myself no Hamilton would mean no F1. I am sure that would be the same with you and Alonso. I am not that arrogant.

In 2010 he IMO had a car that was not good enough to win the title. If you look at it he would have been WDC if it were not for that tyre failure or whatever in Spain(Another fantastic drive that you lots forgot because he's names Lewis Hamilton).

And as for the money he gets, trust me he will get paid 100 million a year(including sponsors and that other crap)

SilverArrow

Agree with all of your comment apart from you saying he had a chance to win in Australia and Monaco this year.

All done.

 

My favourite drivers are Button, Alonso and Rosberg, but even if they all quit today I would still follow F1 because I love it.

You said that you thought Hamilton did not have a car that could win the WDC in 2010 and then you claim he could of won it.

Hamilton does not earn 100m a year, Tiger Woods (currently the worlds highest earning sportsman) earnt last year $75m, Hamilton earnt $30m, while Rossi earnt $31m, Alonso $32m, and Schumacher $34m. David Beckham also earnt $40m.

 

When did I say Hamilton earns 100million a year in my earlier post I hinted to it. And the one I posted just now said he does not...

 

You say people only remember those who win titles!

What about stirling Moss? He is considered a great yet didnt win a Title (due to bad reliability)

 

Generally speaking.

 

I SAID HE WILL. WHICH MEANS AT SOME POINT IN HIS CAREER!!

 

Agreed, case in point are Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve, Jacques won a title unlike his dad but Gilles wil be remembered as the better driver.

 

Would you rather win the Monaco Grand Prix or The world championship??

Case settled.

 

I can assure you he will never ever ever earn 100m a year.

 

You guys must have really sore foreheads....

 

I do not even know what that is meant to prove.

 

He will. I will pay him that much a year and you will eat your words.