F1 - Nürburgring Qualifying ONE HD 21:30 AEST 6 July 2013

[gary]

Coverage of the qualifying session for the German Grand Prix is on ONE HD on Saturday
6 July 2013 starting at 21:30 AEST.

Coverage of the race itself on Sunday is on TEN starting at 21:30 AEST.

The weather is forecast to be sunny for both the Saturday and the Sunday.

Despite the set-back of a drive-through penalty, Mark Webber won his first Grand Prix
here in 2009, beating German drivers Sebastien Vettel, Adrian Sutil, Nick Heidfeld,
Nico Rosberg and Timo Glock.

However, Vettel and Rosberg are both keen for a victory this year on home soil.

Pirelli will bring to the circuit a tyre that was tested in Canada which includes a
Kevlar belt construction, rather than steel, for the rears. Pirelli have insisted the
problems seen at Silverstone were the fault of the teams, including intentionally
mounting the asymmetric rear tyres the wrong way around to seek a performance
advantage, which compromised their ability to withstand the pressures they are
subjected to. Another problem cited was some teams running them at excessively
low pressures and/or with extreme camber angles.

Meantime, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, with regards the safety of the tyres,
has threatened, "If similar problems manifest themselves at the German GP, we shall
immediately withdraw." They went on to say, "We trust that the changes made to the
tyres will have the desired results and that similar problems will not occur during the
German GP weekend."

Story here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23190671

[goober (Doug)]

Always enjoy this circuit. Can't wait. The tyre problems should be okay here - experts have walked the track and indicate the curbing is much friendlier on tyres.

Interesting that Button and Sam Michael have both stated their tyres were fitted correctly last weekend, and yet Pirelli indicated all tyre failures were on cars that had the L/R tyres reversed. They can't both be correct ... Perez had a two failures over the weekend.

[gary]

FIA report that the British cameraman struck by the wheel remained conscious and after
being treated at the circuit medical center was flown to Koblenz Hospital where he
was being kept under observation.

His name is Paul Allen and he works for Formula One Management Limited.

These guys do a great job catching the pit-stop action for the fans and we hope he has a
full recovery. No doubt there will be a review on how to make it safer for them.

http://www.fia.com/news/incident-german-grand-prix

[goober (Doug)]

Excellent news. I feared the worst when I saw it happen.

[gary]

BBC report that Bernie Ecclestone has stated that "In future, all our camera crews
will only be allowed to film from the pit wall", following the accident that saw cameraman
Paul Allen hospitalized with a broken collarbone and two broken ribs.

Christian Horner said that they didn't tell Webber about the incident until after the race.

Originally Posted by Christian Horner

"We didn't feel it was relevant for him to be racing with that on his mind," Horner said.
"[When we did tell him], he was obviously very concerned for the wellbeing of the camera guy and relieved to hear he was OK."

Story here -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23222900

The next race will be in Hungary on 28th July.

[simmo]

Great race on the weekend Gary,

Kimmi just needed one more lap!

What happened to Rosberg?

and Massa turns left at a right?

Good to hear the camera man is ok. Poor Webber but great comeback. Maybe he should just start at the back of the pack for every race now on. Seems he gets some encouragement from it don't you reckon.

By the way did anybody see what happened in the pits with the wheel change? To me it looked like the guy with the nut was asleep, the guy with the gun looked away, looked back, goes for the nut but there's no nut and pit chief thinks all is ok when he sees the gun come out, releases Webber meanwhile the gun guy's miming the international signal for the wheels not on! Any different opinions/thoughts/evidence?

The car rolling back down the hill driverless was a bit of a insane moment too! didn't know whether to laugh or be truly terrified something really bad was about to occur. There was a sigh of relief from both my wife and I when it finally came to a stop.

Good to see Ricci up there in qualifying. I feel really naughty but everytime I see Verne in the garage or behind the Aussie comes out of me and I think yeah Ricci one step closer. Just needs to see his race times improve now.

Looking forward to the next one.

simmo

[gary]

Originally Posted by simmo

By the way did anybody see what happened in the pits with the wheel change? To me it looked like the guy with the nut was asleep, the guy with the gun looked away, looked back, goes for the nut but there's no nut and pit chief thinks all is ok when he sees the gun come out, releases Webber meanwhile the gun guy's miming the international signal for the wheels not on! Any different opinions/thoughts/evidence?

Hi Simmo,

I had been waiting to see a report on what actually went wrong and this story
was published by the BBC on July 11th that makes mention of it -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23269399

Originally Posted by Andrew Beson, Chief F1 Writer, BBC

Meanwhile, the FIA has received a report from Red Bull explaining the cause of the incident which was blamed on human error.

Red Bull said the individual using the wheel gun's finger slipped on to the button he should press to indicate he is finished. That signals to the mechanics operating the jacks that they can lower the car, which triggers the driver to go.

As a consequence of the incident, Red Bull will introduce a safeguard on the technology in an attempt to prevent a repeat. Their report has been circulated to the other teams so they can instigate similar changes if they have similar systems.

The FIA has also introduced rule changes that will require personnel working on a car during a pit stop to wear head protection and reduce the pit lane speed limit from 100km/h (62mph) to 80km/h (49.7mph).

Meantime it is good to read that Daniel Ricciardo has been given a chance today
at Silverstone to drive for Red Bull at this week's "young driver" test.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23329482
If he does well, it would great to see him rewarded with the seat next season.

A short time ago, Christian Horner has hinted it is down to between Ricciardo and Raikkonen.
See http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...d-Bull-in-2014