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[Ferrari man 009]

Going wide ALWAYS gives a benefit


especially if you are on the first lap of a 2 lap quali attempt

yep, If going off the track was not a benefit why would the drivers do it?!?!?!

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I agree, but I think Charlie defines gaining an advantage as gaining time, not losing a little bit/ staying the same.

[Roth]

But how do you quantify staying the same? If you're going to have a 'the track is the track' rule you can't have some tracks being more lenient than others. If they'd been applying it this weekend I can't imagine we'd be seeing so many people running wide at turn 1, for example. It's a tricky corner, a tricky tight track in general, let them master it rather than have a get out. I prefer the draconian 'cross it or else' rule even if it's obvious a driver has lost time. Then again they were hardly enforcing it for Vettel/Alonso, so no wonder drivers take liberties, which is the crux of the stewarding, it's plain inconsistent, so rules get flouted.

[spankyham]

He's right Lew. The stands were half empty even for quali.
They should stop doing tricks and get back to cars that let drivers make a difference. That's what people want to see.

So you're agreeing with what Luca has been saying since before the start of the season?

[racechick]

He's right Lew. The stands were half empty even for quali.
They should stop doing tricks and get back to cars that let drivers make a difference. That's what people want to see.

So you're agreeing with what Luca has been saying since before the start of the season?

Not at all. The drivers do make more difference now than last year, but not enough.The gadgets are DRS, silly tyres( worse last year) double points and anything else Bernie dreams up and rule changing mid season, fiddle fiddle fiddle.
I suspect Vettel's poor showing had something to do with it, there were a lot of Red Bull folk around.

[geetface9]

Maybe all the german fans are too broke to go because of all the partying they did over the world cup

[Hammer278]

Hamilton to take 5 place penalty with gearbox change. And apparently rain is on the way.

Can't they just start him from the pitlane.....wtf.

[RyRy]

If rain is on the way pit lane is best choice for sure.

Sent from my Nexus 4

[geetface9]

Good strategy by mercedes. They might as well take the penalty now since hamilton is already starting down the field. Plus the difference between 15th and 20th should be pretty negligible as getting past the saubers and lotuses will be cake.

[Ferrari man 009]

Hamilton to take 5 place penalty with gearbox change. And apparently rain is on the way.

Can't they just start him from the pitlane.....wtf.

Better than starting him just behind Crashtor surely

[Ferrari man 009]

But how do you quantify staying the same? If you're going to have a 'the track is the track' rule you can't have some tracks being more lenient than others. If they'd been applying it this weekend I can't imagine we'd be seeing so many people running wide at turn 1, for example. It's a tricky corner, a tricky tight track in general, let them master it rather than have a get out. I prefer the draconian 'cross it or else' rule even if it's obvious a driver has lost time. Then again they were hardly enforcing it for Vettel/Alonso, so no wonder drivers take liberties, which is the crux of the stewarding, it's plain inconsistent, so rules get flouted.

I agree completely - but they said at Silverstone that there had been complaints that penalties were given too harshly and the stewards were to allow more incidents to go unpunished. Thats why I think both Alonso's defensive driving AND Vettel's abuse of track limits at Copse when he passed Alonso went unpunished.

Can I see why it is more relaxed here? Yes.

Do I agree with these inconsistent rulings? No.

If I was stewarding would I judge track limits the same as Austria at all races? Yes.

[LewEngBridewell]

Maybe all the german fans are too broke to go because of all the partying they did over the world cup

True though, it has been pointed out that the tickets and nearby hotels are way too expensive for many people.

[Roth]

At some point there's going to be a contentious move outside of track limits with large championship ramifications and then it's going to be on for young and old.

And I don't mean like Nico in Canada, more Spa '08 or Japan '88. So whilst Bernie is throwing bells and whistles at the sport to get people on board he's potentially alienating fans because the governing body can't even get the fundamentals right, like where the track limits are. Casual followers might just see it as a joke.

[zurich_allan]

Not strictly about the GP, but did anybody else each either / both of the GP2 races? Wow! Some amazing racing going on up and down the field! I really hope that Palmer does it this year - his father was an excellent and truly underrated racer so would be excellent to get some recognition.

[geetface9]

Maybe all the german fans are too broke to go because of all the partying they did over the world cup

True though, it has been pointed out that the tickets and nearby hotels are way too expensive for many people.

No doubt! For the US GP last year I stayed at one of the lowest budget hotel chains in the country (Motel 6, idk if there are any internationally or not) and it was $125 USD per night for the three nights I was there. I paid $450 USD for the three nights after fees and taxes. Then the next week prices were back down to $35 USD per night Motel 6 was the cheapest out of every where. Even other lower budget chains were around $200 USD per night and up

[geetface9]

And back to the german gp, they didn't air the GP2 race here

On another note as well, did anybody notice that vettel seemed to take a different line through sachscurve than most other drivers I saw? He seemed to go deeper into the turn more than others, like making a V more than a nice U like most others. Not sure why he would do that because it seems like it would slow his sector time down, but maybe not, idk