Nurburgring- review

Nurburgring Nordschleife. The name itself intrigues many. It’s originally a 14.173 mile long track. But the F1 track is a 3 mile course set within it and was the location for the 10^th round of the 2011 Formula 1 championship. It certainly didn't disappoint.

After being off the pace to Red Bull and Ferrari on both practice sessions on Friday, Lewis Hamilton surprised every one by qualifying 2^nd on the grid splitting the two Red Bull drivers. Webber made a slow start allowing Hamilton to take the lead while the two Ferrari’s were on the inside and outside of Vettel, with Alonso getting ahead of the German after the first sequence of corners. After that Hamilton settled into the race lead with Webber and Alonso close behind. Lap 9 saw a rare mistake from Vettel as he spun out briefly from the track thus dropping further behind both Alonso and 4rth placed Massa.

Webber took the gamble of coming in for fresh tires first and rejoined behind Massa. Hamilton and Alonso pitted during the course of the same lap and came out as Massa and Webber were braking down into turn 1. Webber then took the lead when Massa pitted next lap. Many people argued that had Massa, who by that time was slower than Webber on old tires, been kept out for another lap then Hamilton and Alonso could have caught up to Webber and put him under pressure. but in my opinion Ferrari took the right call as keeping him out for another lap in a slower car would have spoilt his race and put him behind Vettel in 5^th place after his pit stop. After all the front runner made their pit stops Webber led from Hamilton and Alonso. The top three were separated within 5 seconds. After the second round of pit stops Hamilton re took the lead ahead of Alonso and Webber. Button who had been struggling with grip all day meanwhile retired due to power steering fault.

Everyone knew the third round of stops would be crucial as they would have to go on to the harder of the two compounds. The medium compound (only medium and soft were available) was almost 0.8^th of a second of the pace of the softer tires. So whoever of the leading trio would stop first would immediately be at a disadvantage. No body was willing to take that risk as the race approached its end. A few laps from the end, Hamilton was the first to blink as he entered the pits for his mandatory stint on the medium compound, knowing full well that it could also make him lose the race. Next lap Alonso changed from soft to medium. Meanwhile Webber kept on going on the soft tires and pitted 3 laps from the end and rejoined behind Alonso in 3^rd place with Hamilton leading. Massa and Vettel pushed things even further as they were locked in a close battle for 4rth, pitting on the penultimate lap of the race. Massa lost the place to Vettel in the pits as one of his wheel nuts had jammed costing him 4rth place. In the end Hamilton took the race win the 16^th win of his career.

In my opinion Ferrari could have taken a few of their decisions differently which might have changed the outcome of the race. Instead of calling Alonso to pit immediately after Hamilton, they could have told him to stay out for a couple more laps to build up a suitable gap to Hamilton. He had the soft compound tire on him which made him faster than Hamilton on his medium compound. Had he pitted with Webber about 4-5 laps later than Hamilton then I feel the gap would have been large enough to come out in front of his closest challenger Hamilton, and would have been in the lead of the race. But then again Alonso at the end of the race just had enough fuel for the FIA test sample and was unable to even complete his slowing down lap. This lack of fuel may have compromised his race strategy towards the end. His lack of fuel may have prevented him from pushing for faster lap times after Hamilton pitted for the option tires.

With both McLaren and Ferrari showing genuine pace they can take the fight to the runaway leader Red Bull. They would need each others help in keeping the Red Bull drivers of the podium to secure maximum possible points if either of them hope to be crowned World Champions at the end of the year.

Ferrari- Another phoenix act?

The main talking point leading up to the British Grand Prix was how much would the off throttle diffuser ban affect the racing world and primarily the Red Bull Racing team. But these questions were swept aside after qualifying in which the Red Bull drivers again locked out the front row, this time with Mark Webber on pole. Lining up third on the grid was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa. But it was interesting to note that the qualifying time difference between pole sitter Mark Webber to that of 3^rd placed Alonso was less than .1 of a second. Just a few races ago the Red Bull drivers had an advantage over their rivals by close to a second almost. Slowly but surely this gap had been coming down race by race.

Once the race started however it was back to normal with the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel after overtaking Webber in the first corner pulling away from the rest of the pack. Webber however could not build up such an advantage over Alonso as his teammate had done over him. After the first round of pit stops all of the drivers switched from intermediates to soft slick tyres, with Vettel leading Alonso and Webber. Alonso had overtaken Webber during the pits. Then on lap 28 Vettel came in for his second scheduled pit stop followed by Alonso. During the stop the left rear caused problem while putting it on. This cost Vettel about 4 extra seconds and more importantly also the race lead. Vettel rejoined in 3^rd place behind Hamilton. Even though he had a faster car than Hamilton he couldn’t pass Hamilton for a few laps. While Vettel was stuck behind Hamilton Alonso with a clear road in front of him slowly extended his lead to 9 seconds over 2^nd place Hamilton. By the time Vettel crossed Hamilton and both of them had done their 3^rd and final stop Alonso in the Ferrari had built up a lead of 13 seconds.

About 10 laps from the end came the radio message from McLaren pit-crew telling Hamilton that his fuel level was low and told him to drive a conservative race till the end. Sensing his opportunity 4rth placed Webber increased his pace. Within a course of a few laps he was right behind Hamilton and eventually passed him without much of a difficulty. 5^th placed Massa also took his chance and closed down a 9 second gap to Hamilton within 5 laps. While Massa was chasing down Hamilton, Webber also started closing down the gap to Vettel who also apparently had lowered his pace. By the start of the last laps both Webber and Massa were right behind Vettel and Hamilton respectively. Both of them tried hard but couldn’t make up another place as Vettel and Hamilton held to their place by a small margin, with Webber told to maintain position during the last section to avoid a repeat of Turkey 2010.

Alonso won with a gap of close to 17 seconds. The increase of pace of his Ferrari was clearly evident. In my books even if Vettel’s 2^nd stop had gone of without any problem then also Alonso could have caught up with him. Whether or not he could have passed him is another question. For the last few races it has been the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso who had been most successful in taking the fight to the Red Bull Racing team. Last season too Ferrari had a strong 2^nd half and eventually had a chance to clinch the championship. But this season had their 1^st half gone stronger they could have been in a position to challenge for the championship. Vettel by winning 6 of the opening 9 races has opened up a big gap to his nearest challenger. Even though the championship still has a long way to go many argue that Vettel has more or less clinched it already. He has 4 main rivals. Over the remaining races they will keep fighting within themselves and taking points off themselves thus the lead would still be preserved (considering Vettel finishes all of them within the points, preferably higher up), like the scenario in 2009. But the coming races will definitely be a treat to watch given the rise of Ferrari challenging the Red Bull’s. Also one can never count out the McLaren drivers too. They have the ability and both have been crowned World Champions previously and have the hunger for their respective 2^nd crowns.