*** 2004 German GP Preview ***

[Toronto]

Who do you think would win?

Mclaren Has high hopes

Kimi Raikkonen
"The result at Silverstone and the pace of the MP4-19B during the weekend was very positive for the whole team. I felt competitive all weekend and am looking forward to taking this form to Germany and the Mercedes-Benz home support. We are bringing some additional aerodynamic modifications to the 19B on line at the race, which we tested after Britain and the results of which were encouraging and have shown that there is more to come from the car. Hockenheim is always fun to drive, with some real chances to overtake, particularly at the wide Parabolika hairpin, where stability under braking is key in order to pass, an area in which the 19B has improved."

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Jenson Button is confident he can shake off a string of less-than- sterling performances to put his BAR back on the podium at this weekend's German Grand Prix.

The Briton was scathing of the F1 team's pace at Silverstone but he thinks the Brackley-built 006 racer should 'be a lot stronger' on the Hockenheim layout.

"Our car," he said, "is well-suited to the circuit."

Button, 25, said the focus of BAR-Honda's efforts to the season- ending Brazilian GP will be on 'fighting the Renaults' for second- place in the Constructors' Championship.

"But to do this," said Button, "both cars have to finish in the points."

Team boss Dave Richards insists BAR made 'good progress' at Jerez last week.

"I'm hopeful we'll return to the podium," the Team Principal added.

Source GMM / CAPSIS International

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Michael Schumacher
"I am sure that Hockenheim will be particularly interesting, above all because Ferrari could win the Constructors' title if the results go our way. Still, we don't feel any more pressure because of this; this year we are so strong as a team that a lot would have to happen for us to lose the title. If it won't happen this week, it'll happen sometime soon.
In any case, I am pleased to be taking on this track, as I usually am. The final two curves are very tricky and it is important to have enough speed coming out of them in order to go into the straight that follows. I think we have a good chance, though it will be tough. I will be doing my best anyway. It will be a thrilling weekend!"

E.A.
Source Ferrari

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Cristiano da Matta
"Everyone at Panasonic Toyota Racing is really looking forward to racing our new TF104B race car at this weekend's German Grand Prix. There has been a lot of pressure on the team to produce a quicker car, but everyone working at the factory has put a lot of effort into the TF104B, so we're hoping for a reasonable jump in performance. Last year, the Hockenheimring was a track that suited our car - we qualified in the top ten and both cars finished in the top six. It was our best result of the year as a team, so I enjoyed it a lot. Now we hope the TF104B comes out as we have targeted, and we can start to aim for more results like that."

[mindgam3]

I'm not too sure, we'll have to see ho things go on friday n saturday to give us an indication but i'm gonna edge my bets on kimi this race. McLaren have gone from no where to the front in 2 races and kimi must be on a high after all those bad results and now a second place, lets see if he can go one better

[5vz-fe]

That Ron never learn to shutup. U gotta win something before u start talking.
This is what posted today at Planetf1 : http://www.planet-f1.com/news/story_16617.shtml

Dennis: 'McLaren will beat Ferrari in Germany'
Wednesday July 21 2004

Ron Dennis is feeling smug ahead of this weekend's German GP as he firmly believes the victory is already as good as McLaren's.
Having recently tested new upgrades for the MP4-19B in Britain and Spain, McLaren head to Hockenheim with a modified version of their already revised B-spec car and, according to Dennis, a faster version.

"Put it this way: the car will definitely be faster at Hockenheim that an Silverstone," he told The Times.

However, the Brit also admits he does have a few doubts but those all depend on whether or not McLaren's rivals have been able to improve their packages between the British GPs and now.

"Whether it will be capable of beating the Ferraris, only time will tell, but based on our experience of grand prix racing, there will have to be something in the pipeline coming from BAR or Renault or Ferrari," he said.

"If nobody has anything particularly revolutionary to introduce - and we haven't seen anything in testing either at Jerez or Silverstone to support the possibility - I think we feel that we will take a step forward that won't be matched by our competitors."

"As a team, we exist to win. We're very cautious about saying anything that constitutes a prediction that could subsequently embarrass us, but the fact is that we have made a faster racing car at a time when we've been moving to the technology centre, while continuing to race the 'A' car."

He added: "We would be delighted to come away from Hockenheim with a result, but knowing how it was achieved would really amplify the emotion."

[sameerrao]

Here's who i am polling for:
Pole position: Kimi Raikkonen
Winner: Michael Schumacher

[Toronto]

Originally Posted by sameerrao Here's who i am polling for: Pole position: Kimi Raikkonen Winner: Michael Schumacher

sounds about right

[he7lius]

Originally Posted by sameerrao Here's who i am polling for: Pole position: Kimi Raikkonen Winner: Michael Schumacher

Possibly but
Pole position: Michael Schumacher
Winner: Kimi Raikkonen

Would be much better.

[sameerrao]

Friday practice times ....

FP2
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired
1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:15.001
2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.045
3 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:15.167
4 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:15.379
5 4 Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 1:15.470
6 35 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 1:15.576
7 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:15.657
8 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:15.677
9 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:15.738
10 38 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 1:16.200
11 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.265
12 37 Bjorn Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth 1:16.342
13 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:16.514
14 7 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:16.660
15 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 1:16.854
16 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:16.865
17 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 1:17.026
18 16 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:17.300
19 17 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:17.419
20 39 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 1:17.724
21 19 Giorgio Pantano Jordan-Ford 1:17.869
22 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.098
23 40 Bas Leinders Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.224
24 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 1:18.243
25 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.309

[sameerrao]

Friday driver quotes

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (1st, 1m 15.001s):
“Friday in Hockenheim has been quite pleasant. We worked well on the car and had clean runs, helped by the fact that right from the start of this morning’s session, we had a good baseline in terms of car set-up. I am quite happy with the overall situation. I think today was a good preparation for tomorrow and Sunday’s race, which I am looking forward to.”

Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren (2nd, 1m 15.045s):
"We completed our planned programme and are pretty happy with how things went. The car is OK and I think we are confident with our tyre choice. It's hot but you don't really feel it when you are in the car. We now have to wait until tomorrow's qualifying and Sunday's race, but so far so good and based on today I think we should be in with a good chance for a very competitive result."

Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams (3rd, 1m 15.167s):
“It was a good day. I had some small problems in the morning but the afternoon session was a lot better. The car was much more stable than usual but I made a mistake when I went out on my first set of new tyres and I could not take advantage of them. We managed to do a couple of good long runs so I believe we are looking pretty good for the rest of the weekend.”

Jenson Button, BAR (4th, 1m 15.379s):
"We had a good morning, so it is very disappointing that I will lose 10 places on the grid as a result of my engine change. The programme ran according to plan and the car was very consistent, but it will be difficult and very competitive in qualifying tomorrow so we have a great deal of work to do now. The tyres worked well and were consistent during the long runs, which is good news for the race. I will obviously be targeting a points finish on Sunday but the task has been made a lot more difficult."

Antonio Pizzonia, Williams (5th, 1m 15.470s):
“We had two productive sessions today. As it was the first time I've driven at Hockenheim in a Formula One car, I spent most of the time getting to know the secrets of the track, and how the FW26 behaves around this circuit. When I raced here in F3000 I really liked the circuit and once I finished in first - on the old circuit, which is a good omen. We will have to wait and see what qualifying will bring tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to a good session. It’s good to be racing again and I must say thanks to the team for having offered me this great opportunity.”

Anthony Davidson, BAR (6th, 1m 15.576s):
"Generally it's been a reasonably good day for me. I stopped the car on the circuit this morning after we identified a potential gearbox problem, which was a great shame considering the progress we were making. I was very pleased to finish first in the first session and disappointed to end this afternoon's session early. I think we have seen some encouraging signs for the weekend ahead and the car is looking competitive but it is obviously very frustrating that Jenson will have to lose ten places. I'm sure that he has a strong enough car to put up a good fight though."

Takuma Sato, BAR (7th, 1m 15.657s):
"We have had a good day today and the car looks very consistent on long runs. We should be quite a bit stronger here than we have been in the last few races and I hope we can get back to the sort of form we had in Indy and return to the podium. The package we have here is better and I am looking forward to setting up the car for tomorrow and the race."

Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari (9th, 1m 15.738s):
“It was a tough day for me with a few problems – even the radio was not working for a while! We now have to look at the set-up of the car and I am confident that after working tonight with my engineers, we will have a much better day tomorrow.”

Ricardo Zonta, Toyota (10th, 1m 16.200s):
"It was quite a good day with a lot of valuable laps completed. We found a good balance on the car almost immediately and then we did a series of long runs to evaluate the two different tyre compounds. In the end, we found some encouraging results for the race. Although, I was driving the standard TF104 today, the data we have obtained will still be useful for the TF104Bs because the overall behaviour of the tyres is the same. With the additional downforce on the new car, the performance of old tyres will be more consistent, and the time benefit on new Michelins should be greater."

David Coulthard, McLaren (11th, 1m 16.265s):
"During the second practice session I had two high speed spins under braking at turn two which upset our programme a little bit. Whilst the balance of the car is not where I want it to be, my primary goal today was to make the right tyre choice. Tomorrow I will concentrate on the car which I'm sure we will improve throughout the day."

Bjorn Wirdheim, Jaguar (12th, 1m 16.342s):
“Friday is my only opportunity to get out on track and perform so I was slightly frustrated this morning when I had a problem with the brake ducts. The team made some changes but I missed out on some running. I made up for it in the second session and completed 28 laps with a 12th fastest lap time. The R5 is feeling good around here and I am keen to see the team do well in qualifying tomorrow and in the race on Sunday.”

Mark Webber, Jaguar (13th, 1m 16.514s):
“I did my installation lap this morning and was due to go out at the end of the first session when the team took the decision to change my brake ducts. They had found a problem on Christian and Bjorn’s car and to ensure that they did not cause me any difficulties they changed them too. I had a good second session this afternoon and managed to complete 27 laps working through a fairly comprehensive programme. We will be concentrating now on our balance and some further tyre work ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Christian Klien, Jaguar (15th, 1m 16.854s):
“My session was cut short this morning as the team changed my brake ducts but I am happy to say that they turned things around pretty quickly and I was back out on track for the second session. The track is quite green out there but the car is feeling good. My programme in the second session was very busy as I was making up for lost time. We did manage to complete our test items though and I am looking forward to getting back behind the wheel for qualifying tomorrow.”

Felipe Massa, Sauber (16th, 1m 16.865s):
"It was a good day for me. We focused on long runs and my first impression is that things are better than I expected. The tyre choice is not straightforward, but our race pace today was good. Qualifying, however, will be difficult for us."

Giancarlo Fisichella, Sauber (17th, 1m 17.026s):
"The balance of the car was still not good this afternoon. I had oversteer going into the hairpin which turned to understeer at the midpoint. It wasn't so bad in the higher-speed corners, but we still have work to do to improve things."

Cristiano da Matta, Toyota (18th, 1m 17.300s):
"We opted to do our tyre comparison work in the first of today's practice sessions, before turning our attention to setting up the new TF104B car. As a result of this, we did not do any runs on new tyres in the second session, so the times are unrepresentative. Most of the updated aerodynamic parts have only been run for the first time today, so it is difficult to gauge our real performance. As the weekend progresses, we will obtain a much clearer indication of where we stand, but there is still a lot to be done tomorrow morning."

Olivier Panis, Toyota (19th, 1m 17.419s):
"We had two difficult practice sessions today because it was the first time the new TF104B car has run in its full configuration. We have had to use today as more of a test session to work on the set-up and to try all the new parts. It is hard to condense everything we have to do into just two hours. Having said that, we have acquired a lot of data, which we have to analyse overnight and work hard for a better day tomorrow."

Timo Glock, Jordan (20th, 1m 17.724s):
“In the first practice session we had problems with locking and too much understeer but we worked hard to find a slightly better compromise for the braking system which made things better. During the morning I damaged the front wing touching the kerb at the first corner, my mistake, and we lost a little bit of time as a result while the team repaired the car. My timed lap at the end wasn’t too bad but minutes before the morning session finished I had a problem with the anti-stall system and the car stopped. The car was fairly good in the second session but then I damaged the front wing again. After that I was able to do some long runs which were quite good and I think we have found a good tyre. On the last run I think I could have gone three tenths faster if it hadn’t been for traffic in the first sector.”

Giorgio Pantano, Jordan (21st, 1m 17.869s):
“This morning we had problems with rear locking but by the time the session ended we had understood what to do and changed something on the rear and on the brake side. In the second session the car improved quite a bit and I think we can probably get even better on the lap time.”

Zsolt Baumgartner, Minardi (22nd, 1m 18.098s):

Bas Leinders, Minardi (23rd, 1m 18.224s):

Nick Heidfeld, Jordan (24th, 1m 18.243s):
“After a reasonable start to the first session with some good adjustments to the car, unfortunately the changes we made for the second session didn’t improve it. We tried to come back on some of those things towards the end of the afternoon and I did a fairly long run to get some information for the tyres. I’m sure that we can progress in time for tomorrow.”

[sameerrao]

Points to note:
- Good performance from the Ferrari considering the high temperatures - normally would favour the Michelins
- Button drops 10 spots due to engine failure - the first for him
- Coulthard is really struggling - the pressure is getting to him - Raikkonen was miles ahead of him
- Pizzonia was pretty close to Montoya - looked racy.
- Saubers looked like they were running on high fuel loads - refer Massa's comments - so they might go one stop less
- toyota - lot of new parts but poor results.
- Williams look much better ...



Toronto, can you create the Qualifying sticky by end today to stave off too many posts tomorrow. Thanks mate!

[mindgam3]

Looks like a very competitive top 9, haven't read much about this weeks race yet but looks like it good go a few ways for pole. Nice to see williams back up there, especially pizzonia - good practice result for him lets hope he can keep him up to the end of the season. I wanna see it this competitive in the race

[5vz-fe]

I douibt Pizzonia will do well in the one lap qualifying.....it's quite hard for test drivers to get it all right in just one lap. But let's see.