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.