German Grand Prix

[wayno]

Day one has been run and McLaren continue to prove how fast their car really is.

1. WURZ McLaren 1m13.973s

2. RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m14.576s

3. ALONSO Renault 1m15.560s

4. MONTOYA McLaren 1m15.772s

5. ZONTA Toyota 1m16.091s

6. FISICHELLA Renault 1m16.146s

7. MASSA Sauber 1m16.161s

8. LIUZZI Red Bull 1m16.297s

9. TRULLI Toyota 1m16.411s

10. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m16.474s

11. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m16.575s

12. KLIEN Red Bull 1m16.658s

13. BUTTON BAR 1m16.752s

14. WEBBER Williams 1m16.879s

15. HEIDFELD Williams 1m16.893s

16. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m16.913s

17. VILLENEUVE Sauber 1m16.938s

18. SATO BAR 1m16.992s

19. KARTHIKEYAN Jordan 1m17.506s

20. ALBERS Minardi 1m17.830s

21. DOORNBOS Minardi 1m17.978s

22. MONTEIRO Jordan 1m18.227s

23. KIESA Jordan 1m19.484s

24. COULTHARD Red Bull no time

Good to see Kimi actually have a full day on the same engine. Hopefully that can continue.
Looks like Williams are down the bottom yet again. Mark must be starting to wish he had driven for Red Bull this year. Poor old DC went off on his second lap and has wasted this session.
Must say I'm impressed with the effort of Massa. Seventh quickest for this session is a terrific effort.

[jager]

Take out the test drivers and it looks like Trulli will assume his usual position as a mobile chicane around P4 or P5 and thus letting the McLarens and Alonso pull out a huge gap on everyone else and completely stuff up the race (again !).

[wayno]

Yep. Pace just deserts them come Sunday. To think not that long ago Webber was getting caught up with him. Bet he longs for those days now!

[brchi17]

McLaren are once again bloody quick & Trulli is way back in 9th so perhaps he won't have faster cars behind him and spoil another race.

1 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.320

2 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:14.759

3 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.904

4 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:14.927

5 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:15.006

6 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:15.070

7 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:15.403

8 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:15.501

9 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:15.532

10 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing 1:15.635

11 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1:15.679

12 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:15.689

13 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:16.009

14 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:16.012

15 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:16.230

16 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.519

17 20 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.313

18 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.599

19 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes

20 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota

Apparently JPM fell off at the last corner while on a hot one & there is still talk of rain on Sunday so it could be another rather interesting GP.

I do however wonder what time it might start on the telly with ten showing a moving that is apparently starting at 9pm - midnight anyone ???

cheers. :)

[wayno]

Pity JPM isn't up the front to help Kimi and take points off Alonso. Great to see the Williams cars where they are, but I just have to wonder how much fuel they have on board. I would also love to know what happened to Sauber's pace after a very encouraging Friday for Alonso.
Bring it oooooonnnnn! :D

[toad]

Originally posted by wayno
Pity JPM isn't up the front to help Kimi and take points off Alonso. Great to see the Williams cars where they are, but I just have to wonder how much fuel they have on board. I would also love to know what happened to Sauber's pace after a very encouraging Friday for Alonso.
Bring it oooooonnnnn! :D

I watched the qualifying on TV yesterday. The Williams cars looked a handful, and the commentators were speculating they must be very full of fuel. If that is so, their performance is excellent. The thought is that M Sch's car is light on fuel.

The two Sauber drivers made mistakes...Jacques locked up on two corners and Massa blew it in the last sector.

We will all know in a little while

[wayno]

Williams were running light as I feared and had yet another poor race. Poor Kimi. The guy just can't take a trick and the championship is now gone barring a catastrophic end to the season for the brilliant Alonso.
Enjoyed the racing immensely though. End of the race was great to watch I thought.
Really hoping someone does a model of Alonso with his fingers up to signify how many wins he has for the season. The way it's going he's going to be using his toes by the last race! :D

[BB]

Yes good race. There were some interesting duals. Bridgestone are reallt struggling to come up with a winner. Harder compounds on Ruben's car and softer compounds on Michael's and neither of them looked convincing. You can't help feeling sorry for Kimi. Geez he's had some bad luck. Mark must be wondering what he has to do to avoid the first lap insanity as well.
Congratulations to Alonso though. He will be a worthy winner of the 2005 Championship. (touching wood)

[REDVRSS]

Montoya's 20th - 2nd was the drive of the race. Considering his heavy fuel load at the start and his qualifying speed before he threw it off the road he it may have been an interesting duel between him and Kimi at the front.

[wayno]

"it was a good lap, I just didn't finish it!"
Best quote of the day for JPM talking about his qualifying lap from Saturday. :D
In unrelated news it seems Williams are set to announce a one year deal with Cosworth in the next week or so.

[brchi17]

Great to see that the BMW - Williams family are a happy bunch.

I wonder what Mario is really thinking - see quote below from their press release F1: BMW-Williams - German Grand Prix - RACE

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
In spite of our three-stop strategy, in qualifying we saw some improvement compared to Silverstone, which was not the case in the race. Nick was doing okay until his first pit-stop, but then the lap times never became the same again. This didn't depend on our strategy, as we were just not fast enough for some reason. Mark dropped back due to the collision at the first corner.

I wonder if BWM will be this happy if Sauber underperforms next year ???

cheers. :)

[wayno]

Remember that the team will be BMW, not Sauber. Be interesting who they try and blame if (when?) they struggle next year.