Williams drivers Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg expect the German Grand Prix to be a difficult race for tyre management.
Bridgestone are bringing their two most extreme tyre compounds – super-soft and hard – and the slow sections on the Hockenheimring can put severe strain on tyres.
Barrichello said:
Despite the revisions a few years ago, the circuit still has a longish straight, but if you set up specifically for that you just lose time in the infield area. It’s quite a high speed course, and you need straight line speed in order to attack into the corners.
That really applies going into the hairpin which is a good place to overtake, in fact it’s probably the best opportunity we have around the lap. The stadium section is tight and tough on tyres.
Rubens Barrichello
Hulkenberg, who will be racing in his home event for the first time, says the circuit’s distinctive infield section is great for fans but hard on tyres:
The track layout is quite interesting and the Motodrome is the best part of it. It’s like a football stadium and has a very special atmosphere. There are very quick parts to the track, like turn one, as well as some slow and tight corners, which means we will have to find a good compromise on car set-up.
Plus, we have to be quick on the straights because there is a good chance to overtake going into the hairpin. We have to be careful with the tyres as well because the track can be quite hard on them.
Nico Hulkenberg
Technical director Sam Michael wants to see both cars qualify in the top ten, which the team might have achieved in Silverstone had Hulkenberg not been held up by Vitantonio Liuzzi:
Our target is to qualify both cars in the top ten and to race for
points. We have made some further modifications to the diffuser and also to the blown rear wing,
which we’ll test during Friday’s practice sessions.
Sam Michael
2010 German Grand Prix
Andy
20th July 2010, 17:05
having a tough race with the tyres though will only be good for the fans and spectators.
Will
20th July 2010, 17:55
I think that Williams will need a low performance of Renault to put two cars in Q3.
And the tire strategy will be the highlight of the race.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th July 2010, 18:58
Or a poor performance out of Petrov and Schumacher. Sutil and Kobayshi will both be fighting hard to make it to Q3 as well though. I think it will come down to track placement strategy and traffic.
BasCB
20th July 2010, 17:56
I think it will be tough on the tyres, temperatures could be pretty high on Saturday for Qualifying and drop down to about 22°C for the race, probably with rain falling in between them.
That would make managing the tyres almost as hard as in Montreal.
But Williams seems to be on a course to improvement. After running pretty good in Valencia, they impressed with bringing a working exhaust blown diffusor to Silverstone, so i hope they stay on for good points finishes in the 2nd half of the season.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th July 2010, 18:59
I doubt it’s going to be as hard on tires as Montreal though. The track surface there was of a different material that’s supposedly much harder on tires.
Zahir
20th July 2010, 18:45
I dont get Bridgestones logic to be blunt. Surely these tyre choices are in fact going to produce even more boring racing. Super softs is what everyone will quailfy on as there is no chance of getting a competitive time with the hards and then once the race starts they will pit as soon as possible and the hards will easy run to the end? For me its even more stupid than the tyre gap they normally bring.
If Hockenheim is known to be hard on tyres, take the super softs and softs then we might see a good race, or am i completely mistaken?
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th July 2010, 19:00
That does seem to make more sense if you think about it.
bosyber
20th July 2010, 20:28
probably too much sense to have happened.
Joey-Poey
20th July 2010, 20:28
The idea is that the hard will not offer enough grip whereas supersoft will degrade too quickly. It forces the teams to figure out which is the “lesser of two evils” so to speak. Both will cause mistakes to be more likely and makes strategy more difficult to predict.
bosyber
20th July 2010, 20:31
That is the idea, but the question is if it works. In the race there is no option but go with hards for most of it, and everyone will go around the same time, roughly. The hope would then have to be that they heat up better for some than for others, resulting in a different level of grip, but this hasn’t really happened yet this season, or did it?
Patrickl
21st July 2010, 9:17
Completely agree.
Even the super soft tyres will last longer if they drive carefully (ie don’t attempt any overtaking)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
21st July 2010, 12:23
If Williams keeps developing their cars then they will go a lot further.
opposite lock
21st July 2010, 13:37
It seems that through tyre specification Bridgestone have taken it on themselves to find ways of making GP’s more interesting/viewer-friendly with no input from the FIA or any other quarter. Is it only me that has a problem with this?