Schumacher puzzled by “strange” crash

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Michael Schumacher says his crash in second practice was “a bit strange”.

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Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Michael Schumacher: “I just ran out of road…” (Adam Cooper)

“I just ran out of road, locked up and couldn’t stop the car anymore. I don’t think it was aquaplaning. It was just one of these unusual things… A bit strange but nevertheless we have to put a cross on it and forget about it.”

Set-up a struggle for Grosjean (Sky)

“The good thing is that we’ve been sitting down with my engineer and I think we’ve understood a few things as to why we may struggle with this.”

Lewis Hamilton via Twitter

“In drivers briefing. Speaking about Hockenheim issues and then Hungary. We speak mostly about safety and rules e.g. today where [Sebastian Vettel] took Jenson [Button] last race, will now be changed to AstroTurf to stop that from happening.”

Gary Anderson explains the Red Bull engine row (BBC)

“In the example of Red Bull in Germany, if you have less torque output for a given throttle opening, you are reducing wheelspin, which increases tyre life, but getting more downforce because the throttle will be further open for less torque delivery.”

Engine torque map Q&A with Renault’s Rob White (F1)

“Driver pedal maps can change as a function of the circuit characteristics. For example, drivers might want more precision during initial pedal application at Monaco. Similarly, some drivers insist on a wet-weather pedal map.”

Hungarian GP – Conference 2 (FIA)

Toto Wolff: “Flattening out torque curves is something that every team looks at, obviously, and the reason why we have not been taking up that solution is because we didn’t make it work as Red Bull have. We have no coanda exhaust and this is why it’s not as beneficial for us as maybe for others.”

PURE suspends engine development (Autosport)

“The Cologne-based operation is hoping to provide a supply of customer power units for the new 1.6-litre turbo engine V6 era, but it has been forced to cease work due to a funding issue.”

Formula One turnover fuelled by television fees (The Telegraph)

“F1 [pays] around 4% tax despite 14 of the 30 companies in the group being located in the UK where the main rate of corporation tax is 25%.”

Ecclestone ponders Nurburgring buyout (Race Tech)

“Talking to the German newspaper Die Rheinpfalz yesterday, Ecclestone revealed he was looking into buying the circuit. However, he refused to comment on how much he is willing to offer and also ruled out the possibilities of hosting a grand prix at his own expense or waiving the Formula One sanctioning fee.”

Fernando Alonso leaving Ferrari in a world of their own (The Guardian)

“Fernando has found in Ferrari the real tool for him to grow. That’s why he comes to Maranello so often. He’s not coming because its compulsory but because he sees Ferrari as a second family.”

Doornbos declared bankrupt by Dutch court (GP Update)

“As you know, I am no longer active in racing through the actions of Muermans. He largely made my career by helping me with my sponsorship, especially in F1. He is now trying to destroy it because he is in financial trouble himself.”

At half-time, who’s in driving seat and who’s eating dust? (The Independent)

“Q. Will Michael Schumacher retire?
A. Almost certainly not. Having been pulped by team-mate Nico Rosberg in 2010 and ’11, the veteran multi-champ is back on the pace and more often than not running ahead of his young compatriot in a car that better suits his aggressive oversteer style.”

Comment of the day

It seems F1 can’t escape the rain at the moment but Gez is hoping for a dry qualifying session:

This is going to be a close battle in qualifying, hopefully if it’s dry.

The last full dry qualifying was in Valencia and that was very close! I believe Hamilton will get pole if dry. His pace was very good, but I expect the Lotus to be strong in the heat, Alonso and maybe Massa could be strong, and I expect Red Bull to be up there.

The McLaren, Lotus, Ferrari and Red Bull drivers could be first or all the way down in eighth in my opinion
Gez

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Ten years ago today Michael Schumacher won the first German Grand Prix on the shortened Hockenheimring.

The Williams pair of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher completed the podium.

Here’s Montoya putting the new bits of track to use as he took fourth place off Kimi Raikkonen and demonstrating how Sebastian Vettel should have tackled Jenson Button:

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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25 comments on “Schumacher puzzled by “strange” crash”

  1. It was strange indeed… the wheels never turned right shortly before he crashed.

    1. I think he aquaplaned off the track and then when he reached the concrete there was no grip. I don’t think it was aquaplaning by that stage, but shiny wet concrete is about as much use for run-off as ice.

    2. Think the “bit strange” comment from Schumacher was a polite attempt to say the tyres are rubbish but in fairness to Pirelli he was on inters at the time when the track was completely drenched in water.

      Auto Motor und Sport quoted Hulkenberg and more so Glock being critical of the wet tyre with Glock saying they are behaving “very very funny with aquaplaning” and “are extremely bad in terms of water displacement” and Hulk saying the Bridgestones were able to cope with more water.

      1. Another Pirelli tire issue….enough said

  2. nevertheless we have to put a cross on it and forget about it

    Easy for you to say Michael, you’re not one of the engineers having to fix the car! I doubt they’ll forget it’s the second time you’ve handed them more work, in as many weeks

    1. well what about those times when michael suffered reliability issues during earlier races this season . That time engineers dint do their work properly. MS that time just use to say ” its all part of game ” so i hope now those engineers should not complain that MS gave them more work to do for second time in a row in back to back weeks.

  3. Shame about PURE, although no one of us didn’t see that coming anyway, I believe. I liked the idea of having more engine manufacturers, the more competence there is, the more engineers have to think, and the more innovations we see. But it was kinda obvious it wasn’t quite a serious project. More or less what’s happening to Lotus in IndyCar.

    1. To be quite honest, I always thought that the PURE thing was a load of Pollocks….

    2. Serious! very definitely, but having to survive a further 12 months before any monies can be received would be the death-knell of most start-ups , even loss making dotcoms like facebook and amazon before it have had an income stream from the start.

    3. Going to be honest, I don’t see where it say the project has been cancelled. And in the highly moneyed world of F1, this kind of story comes out often, for example, the soon to be run circuit of the America’s.

      So no, it’s not good, but I think it’s a bit early to write them off.

      1. Yeah, the article makes it pretty clear how the PURE project is structured – the money comes from America, but the development takes place in Germany. Because of EU laws, the bridging finance (any money coming into the company to maintain their daily operations while they wait for an expected payment) has to come from within Europe. They have the money from America, but they can only use it for very speciic functions while they acquire capital from other sources. The problem is that those sources have gone dry, and PURE can’t use the money from America to maintain their operations.

        1. @prisoner-monkeys I was about to ask what that all meant and thought you might have the answer ;) Thanks!

    4. The way I read it, makes me wanna rant against all those stupid European rules. That is assuming the story checks out.

  4. Great piece form Gary Anderson. He is a talented engineer and I respect the pieces he writs. They make the RB engine map issue seem so simple.

    As for the GP, Mclarens dominance of the Hungaroring suggests they are fsavourites for victory this weekend. Only Schumacher (4) has more wins here then LH (2) and JB (2) and Mclaren have won 5 of the last 7 races here. The only losses were in 2010 to the excellent RB6 and 2006 when Kimi led from pole before crashing into Liuzzi, but team-mate De la Rosa finished second to current driver JB!

    With the exact same car which performed well in the dry in Germany, they are a very real threat for pole.

  5. Great video of Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya dueling. It’s a shame that many who didn’t see Juan actually participate in F1 often see him as some sort of failure in the sport. He gave F1 a much needed hero in the time of Schumacher domination, and McLaren inconsistency. He will always be an F1 hero in my eyes. Great personality; ruthless attacker.

    1. Yes, yes, yes; I couldn’t agree more!
      That battle highlights everything that was so special about Montoya’s time in F1. He fearlessly flew in the face of the establishment and dared them to take him on, dared them to go wheel to wheel with him.

      That clip of he and Kimi is still some of the best F1 racing of the past decade.

      Montoya was a guy that had the one lap speed of someone like Vettel or Kimi and combined that with the overtaking ferocity of Hamilton. I wish he were still in F1. Alas, I am still hoping he makes his way to Le Mans one day and completes the triple crown, seeing as he has already won at Indy and Monaco and has 24 hour success, albeit at Daytona.

    2. It’s a pity he didn’t stay longer, was one of my favourite drivers.

    3. Yeah, great overtaking indeed.

      Always been a great fan of Montoya. Maybe he wasn’t the best driver of the lot, but he sure had the right moves and he could talk the talk :)

  6. Sorry if this is the wrong place to be asking this but am i right in thinking a provisional calender for the following season is normally released about now?

    1. Yes, it usually is released around now. However, Bernie still hasn’t finalised contracts with Singapore and Japan, and the talk in the paddock is that everyone is waiting to see what will happen with the German prosecutor building a case against him before they commit to anything.

      1. Thanks. Is there any ruling on when the calender for the next season has to be confirmed by?

        1. Not to my knoweldge.

        2. The FIA International Sporting Code says (chapter 15, article 198):

          The list of the FIA Championships and the events comprising them is published each year no later than 15 December.

          1. Well, in that case, they’ve got plenty of time.

  7. I hope PURE manage to get it sorted and I’m pretty confident they will. Problems like this are par for the course in motorsport but I wonder how easily they will find some new European investors in the current climate?

Comments are closed.