There was nothing to choose between the two Mercedes drivers in the second practice session at the Hockenheimring.
Lewis Hamilton edged team mate Nico Rosberg by 0.024 seconds as hot conditions pushed track temperatures up to a blistering 58C.
Drivers were repeatedly warned to cool their cars during the 90 minute session. Brakes were a particular concern – Rosberg’s smoking heavily after he pulled up behind Hamilton in the pits at one point.
Both Caterhams suffered technical problems during the session. Marcus Ericsson came to a stop early on and Kamui Kobayashi had a small fire at the rear of his car which required attention from the marshals.
The two Red Bull drivers were urged to cool the left-hand side of their cars through Hockenheim’s fast right-hand turns. But Daniel Ricciardo was able to lap within a tenth of a second of the Mercedes drivers.
Kimi Raikkonen was fourth-quickest for Ferrari followed by a trio of Mercedes-powered cars: Felipe Massa sandwiched by the two McLarens.
Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei
Ylli Beli (@yllib)
18th July 2014, 14:39
Now we see who is been pushing for FRIC removal/ it’s like a Deja Vu from last year when the tiers changed… guess who gained advantage at that time…
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
18th July 2014, 14:56
It wasn’t Red Bull, As I understand it they actually had one of the best FRIC systems.
Oh & last year with the tyres, It was was actually the majority of the paddock who were pushing for the tyres to be changed.
Contrary to what certain people seem to believe it was not just Red Bull & the eventual changes were not made just because of 1 team’s complaints, They were changed because there was a very clear problem with the steel band design (The GP2/GP3 tyres were also changed due to the same safety concerns).
Ylli Beli (@yllib)
18th July 2014, 15:01
@gt-racer I cant see how the team who has the Best FRIC gets less hurt from removing it…
petebaldwin (@)
18th July 2014, 16:33
@yllib It’s not that simple though. If they had the best FRICS, there’s nothing to say that they don’t have by far the best alternative solution to run without FRICS.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
19th July 2014, 0:10
@gt-racer Read motorsports article from Mark Hughes.
kpcart
18th July 2014, 15:00
the only deja vu is the paranoia for people jealous of red bull’s brilliant engineering. 1/10th off the pace in a car with 80 less horsepower.
Wil-Liam (@wil-liam)
18th July 2014, 15:07
It’s just practice man,chill
Michael C
18th July 2014, 15:32
Red Bull have had 96bhp worth of Engine software upgrades and new fuel mix’s so far this year so I doubt the deficit is 80bhp. But don’t worry the gap will be larger tomorrow and Williams will get you in the race
kpcart
18th July 2014, 15:47
any power they gained with software updates, would have been matched by Mercedes with software updates. software maybe give about 20hp more, not 96hp. 80-100hp is an estimate given by many professionals in F1 as an accurate figure of power deficiency, just look at how the cars act on the straights – the Renault powered cars often cant keep up with Mercedes powered cars even when using drs. The Williams is a dog of a car compared to redbull chassis, but the extra hp may well see them finish ahead of redbull tomorrow. Redbull with and engine equal to Mercedes would likely be dominating again this year, not Mercedes. this year is the first in many many years where the best car is not winning, but rather the the best engine is winning – Mercedes team is the best of the teams using that engine, and probably have an engine advantage over customer teams also.
Rooney (@rojov123)
18th July 2014, 16:08
Redbull was always significantly slower on the straight lines, due to their very high downforce levels, even during the V8 era when they won 4 championships in a row.
On the other hand, Torro Rosso is consistently faster than the Ferrari and other Ferrari powered teams in a straight line speed this season, even though they are not the customer car for Renault.
Considering that the Redbull is only a couple of tenths slower than Mercedes in the straight line sections, the actual deficit is probably about 20 or 25 HP. Not 80-100 HP as you suggested.
That holds true for Redbull as well. They are Renault’s “factory engine team”, thereby getting preferential treatment over other Renault powered teams.
Michael C
18th July 2014, 16:12
Red Bull had a ~40bhp engine update for China, a ~40bhp engine update for Canada and a ~16bhp fuel mix upgrade for the current weekend. Merc also have the best chassis according to Autosport tech analyst Gary Anderson (Jordan Technical director ’92-’98) so I’m not sure where your ‘information’ is coming from.
Alex
18th July 2014, 21:33
Yeh ok. And what about merc last year. Quite often the quickest car but ate tyres… doesn’t say to me that they can’t make a quick car regardless of the engine.
karter22 (@karter22)
18th July 2014, 22:27
+1 I agree totally with you @yllib !! Now I loathe them even more!
Eric Morman (@lethalnz)
18th July 2014, 14:53
know how much fuel the Merc’s where running?
wait to qualifying before you count your chickens,
but i would love to see Ric up there fighting for the top podium,
watching those tires disintegrating is not good.
that could have a lot to do with FRIC being removed.
Courier
18th July 2014, 15:59
Tire degradation could be due to 58 C track temp. You’re right tho, adding more roll & pitch has got to make the tire flex kinda strange.
neuralfraud
18th July 2014, 15:24
…did anyone happen to notice Kimi’s time there? Not too shabby.
AmirAnuar (@amiranuar)
18th July 2014, 15:37
so kimi is the biggest gainer with this fric ban? maybe kimi not comfortable with ferrari fric?
Rooney (@rojov123)
18th July 2014, 16:09
Apparently, Kimi was not so happy with the FRIC-in ferrari…
Andrew Wilcox (@redwan)
18th July 2014, 17:30
+1
throttle
19th July 2014, 4:22
+1
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
18th July 2014, 15:47
It’s practice and therefore meaningless. We don’t know how much fuel they were running, how old the tyres were (and which compound), whether the drivers were all pushing 100% on every lap, etc, etc, etc.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th July 2014, 20:13
Yep! Glad to see some good stuff from him. Let’s hope he brings something decent on sunday.
CarlD
18th July 2014, 16:08
How important is it that many good times were set putting four wheels out of the track limits?
It seems that Ros does resort to the off track surface quite liberally. Vettel also.
Is Charlie really watching this?
Rooney (@rojov123)
18th July 2014, 16:10
He is watching, but what can he do?
D (@f190)
18th July 2014, 16:57
Not very. On sky they were saying that its seen as a disadvantage at this track, so track limits wont be enforced as harshly here as they have been in the last two events. I guess we’ll see in qualifying, but it sounds like drivers will not have times taken away this weekend.
CarlD
19th July 2014, 3:42
Sky has its opinion. I beg to differ. Simply put, a wider radius allows for a higher exit speed and a faster lap time. The shoulder is not significant enough to bother the suspension therefore, the racers use all of they can of the track’s feature so as to gain an advantage.
Whether significant or not, it is just plain against the rules and any driver is entitled to protest a breach of the rules, and I surmise they will.
Never mind the fact that they open the door to their pursuer while racing and they will try not to do it.
In Qualifying it is quite a different matter and yields distorted lap times and can place an undeserving pilot on pole.
I hope Charlie and co enforce it to the max.