2012 British GP - Silverstone Circuit

[raymondu999]

And if rubbish physics makes it that difficult, how much more real physics would do?

Or am I less informed

That's why they get paid 20million a year to drive the things - because they can do what we can't.

Even if you have adequate fitness levels to complete the grand prix, it doesn't matter what laptime you can do in F1 2011 - you're still not as good as the real guys doing it. Unfortunately, you are somewhat less informed in this matter, it seems.

[bhall]

I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that this season's most "heroic" wet drives thus far - Alonso and Perez in Malaysia - were made possible simply because of gambles on a wet setup. Neither Ferrari nor Sauber really had anything to lose by taking such a risk, because they were toast going into the race. Had it not rained, they would have been burnt toast. Instead, it worked, at they found butter.

[kebab]

I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that this season's most "heroic" wet drives thus far - Alonso and Perez in Malaysia - were made possible simply because of gambles on a wet setup. Neither Ferrari nor Sauber really had anything to lose by taking such a risk, because they were toast going into the race. Had it not rained, they would have been burnt toast. Instead, it worked, at they found butter.

and with everyone will go with wet setup for Silverstone don't you think Alonso will have a good chance for the top step?

[raymondu999]

I'd be willing to bet a few bucks that this season's most "heroic" wet drives thus far - Alonso and Perez in Malaysia - were made possible simply because of gambles on a wet setup.

Maybe not a wet setup per se, but certainly a function of setup. They were constantly burning their fronts on Friday in Malaysia - I guess that translated well in the cool rain conditions.

[bhall]

and with everyone will go with wet setup for Silverstone don't you think Alonso will have a good chance for the top step?

I'm actually of the mind that Ferrari's best chance this weekend is with a dry race. The upgrades to the F2012 appear to have worked very well, and the car wasn't exactly bad through fast corners anyway.

If it rains, especially if it's the torrential rain that's been predicted, I think it'll largely be a toss-up.

We'll have to see how practice shakes out to really know anything, though.

[kebab]

and with everyone will go with wet setup for Silverstone don't you think Alonso will have a good chance for the top step?

I'm actually of the mind that Ferrari's best chance this weekend is with a dry race. The upgrades to the F2012 appear to have worked very well, and the car wasn't exactly bad through fast corners anyway.

If it rains, especially if it's the torrential rain that's been predicted, I think it'll largely be a toss-up.

We'll have to see how practice shakes out to really know anything, though.

I agree that the race can be a toss-up but I don't quite agree with your comment about the F2012 being good in fast corners due to recent upgrades. We have debated on how good the F2012 actually was in fast corners at the beginning of the season when refer to the front pull-rod which I agree. I would say that the F2012 has been good in fast corners and with the upgrade we can be better especial in the wet due to improve of traction in medium corners.

[bhall]

When I said the F2012 "wasn't exactly bad through fast corners," that was just a way of saying that it's actually quite good through fast corners. The upgrades definitely won't hurt that, either.

[Gridlock]

I'm now officially worried about the weekend, it's likely by this evening the car parks will all be under 1 foot of mud. Hope it doesn't reflect badly on Silverstone, we're expecting 1 month's rainfall today apparently.

Lack of Friday running = exciting Sunday, I guess.

[raymondu999]

When I said the F2012 "wasn't exactly bad through fast corners," that was just a way of saying that it's actually quite good through fast corners. The upgrades definitely won't hurt that, either.

From what we've seen I think the upgrades shouldn't hurt. - but as we have yet to really see the revised F2012 in a fast corner situation I'll reserve judgment. The grid is too tight nowadays to really extrapolate performance from one set of conditions and layouts to truly extrapolate performance onto a different temperature range and different circuit. Valencia Sector 3 is quick corners, but it's pretty much a flat out blast in the top cars anyways.

The general weakness of exhausts this year really are the sensitivity of downforce towards throttle positioning IMO - and with S3 in Valencia all on the throttle anyways, there's not much to judge this sensitivity by.

[GrizzleBoy]

Well, an hour to practice and its raining in west london.

I wonder if teams will actually use wet weather practice sessions instead of waiting it out.

[raymondu999]

I read an article from Jaime Alguersuari's column a while back and he said something which I thought was interesting - he said basically teams aren't willing to run in wet practice sessions, so they have no data on which to run in the wet/cold conditions - then they complain when they couldn't do as well in the wet.

It's very logical, and very true IMO. Considering a wet forecast for Sunday then I'd wager they will make use of said time, unless conditions are so bad they mean aquaplaning, like that washed out fp3 in suzuka 2010. Heck even the safety cars (they had the regular one, and this red one - don't remember why) was aquaplaning - drifting, almost - through the Esses. It was spectacular, though I suspect in a single-seater which feels clumsy in slow speed anyways, I don't think it'd have been much fun

[mx_tifoso]

RBR, WIlliams, and Sauber are out on track. It doesn't look too wet at the moment,

[bhall]

Why can't every session be commentary-free?

[freedom_honda]

sigh Williams is giving the car to Bottas again.

[Mr Alcatraz]

RBR, WIlliams, and Sauber are out on track. It doesn't look too wet at the moment,

give it about 15 minutes!