2010 European Grand Prix Discussion

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:05

Not much to discuss right now except this somewhat interesting weather report if it is to be believed...

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:10

Oh, rain.

Has there been a race without that prediction yet?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:13

shinji wrote:Has there been a race without that prediction yet?

Well there was Bahrain...

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:22

This race is scheduled for the weekend when the World Cup and Wimbledon are on...I doubt that's a coincidence.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:25

Debaser wrote:This race is scheduled for the weekend when the World Cup and Wimbledon are on...I doubt that's a coincidence.

Of course it ain't, but I'd still rather watch the European Grand Prix than Wimbledon.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:39

redbulljack14 wrote:
Debaser wrote:This race is scheduled for the weekend when the World Cup and Wimbledon are on...I doubt that's a coincidence.

Of course it ain't, but I'd still rather watch the European Grand Prix than Wimbledon.

Wake me up for the final.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:44

Well, that's what they said about Montreal, and we ended up having both dry.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 22 Jun 2010, 22:51

I'll only be watching the BBC3 highlights of the race - I'm doing a Le Mans 24 Hour race on Sat/Sun with a bunch of people over LAN play :ugeek:

It's the only race of the year I won't be watching live (apart from Australia, but I watched the full repeat).

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 23 Jun 2010, 06:10

kostas22 wrote:I'll only be watching the BBC3 highlights of the race - I'm doing a Le Mans 24 Hour race on Sat/Sun with a bunch of people over LAN play

It's the only race of the year I won't be watching live (apart from Australia, but I watched the full repeat).

Are you racing all 24 hours or something?

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Jun 2010, 06:30

Apparently Valencia is doing something right (at least according to F1 Fanatic): they're going to paint some of the run-off areas around the circuit green to at least look like grass. I suppose that it's the best solution given that they can't actually have grass.

coops · Post by **coops** » 23 Jun 2010, 06:43

Captain Hammer wrote:Apparently Valencia is doing something right (at least according to F1 Fanatic): they're going to paint some of the run-off areas around the circuit green to at least look like grass. I suppose that it's the best solution given that they can't actually have grass.

That won't fool anybody :lol:

Post by **mario** » 23 Jun 2010, 08:53

Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Well, that's what they said about Montreal, and we ended up having both dry.

There was an article about the problems of predicting the weather for the race, after someone wrote in to the BBC and asked them why the weather reports for Turkey were inaccurate. It boiled down to the fact that they were trying to predict the weather forecast for a very small area over a very short time frame, several days in advance of the event, when the models they use are designed to predict the weather over a larger area, and over a longer time period.

Either way, I doubt that rain would actually liven up the race - frankly, it would take something like a tidal wave washing away the entire field to liven up the race. Even the GP2 grid can't liven up the race, and they normally spend the race driving like there is no tomorrow.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 23 Jun 2010, 09:01

redbulljack14 wrote:
Debaser wrote:This race is scheduled for the weekend when the World Cup and Wimbledon are on...I doubt that's a coincidence.

Of course it ain't, but I'd still rather watch the European Grand Prix than Wimbledon.

Oh yeah. Respect for the tennis people, but it puts me to sleep.

eagleash · Post by **eagleash** » 23 Jun 2010, 10:19

At least if it rains at Valencia we won't get Riff Pilchard singing..............will we..............?

Might still hear the Vuvuzelas though....

Tealy · Post by **Tealy** » 23 Jun 2010, 12:45

My weather prediction for Valencia is for the weather to not be crazy enough to make it a decent race. If England finish 2nd in our world cup group then their next game could clash with the race and if it was any other track I would record the football....

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 23 Jun 2010, 14:45

thehemogoblin wrote:
kostas22 wrote:I'll only be watching the BBC3 highlights of the race - I'm doing a Le Mans 24 Hour race on Sat/Sun with a bunch of people over LAN play

It's the only race of the year I won't be watching live (apart from Australia, but I watched the full repeat).

Are you racing all 24 hours or something?

I assume he'll be racing with 2 more guys in his team.
And I doubt it'll rain. Too beautiful to be true this time.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 23 Jun 2010, 15:02

Phoenix wrote:
thehemogoblin wrote:
kostas22 wrote:I'll only be watching the BBC3 highlights of the race - I'm doing a Le Mans 24 Hour race on Sat/Sun with a bunch of people over LAN play

It's the only race of the year I won't be watching live (apart from Australia, but I watched the full repeat).

Are you racing all 24 hours or something?

I assume he'll be racing with 2 more guys in his team.
And I doubt it'll rain. Too beautiful to be true this time.

Phoenix is correct.

You think I'm insane or something goblin?!

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 23 Jun 2010, 15:05

kostas22 wrote:
Phoenix is correct.

You think I'm insane or something goblin?!

There are people insane enough to race for 24 hours without any help...like Pierre Levegh.

Debaser · Post by **Debaser** » 23 Jun 2010, 17:56

The ex-driver steward for this race is...Heinz-Harald Frentzen!!! Good to see him again, maybe this is an elaborate plot to get his ex-girlfriend back from Schumi.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 23 Jun 2010, 19:33

Debaser wrote:The ex-driver steward for this race is...Heinz-Harald Frentzen!!! Good to see him again, maybe this is an elaborate plot to get his ex-girlfriend back from Schumi.

And revenge for running him off the track while Schumi was exiting the pits in... 1998?

watka · Post by **watka** » 23 Jun 2010, 19:48

CarlosFerreira wrote:
redbulljack14 wrote:
Debaser wrote:This race is scheduled for the weekend when the World Cup and Wimbledon are on...I doubt that's a coincidence.

Of course it ain't, but I'd still rather watch the European Grand Prix than Wimbledon.

Oh yeah. Respect for the tennis people, but it puts me to sleep.

If Mahut-Isner isn't remarkable, I don't know what is.

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 23 Jun 2010, 20:31

watka wrote:
If Mahut-Isner isn't remarkable, I don't know what is.

It's just completely ridiculous is what it is.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 23 Jun 2010, 23:28

shinji wrote:
watka wrote:
If Mahut-Isner isn't remarkable, I don't know what is.

It's just completely ridiculous is what it is.

Obscene. Awesome. I'm torn. But I'm captivated, that's for sure.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 24 Jun 2010, 17:29

So a thread about the European GP, set to be as dull as Bahrain has already descended into talking about the two other major tournaments currently going on... BEFORE ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED IN VALENCIA !!! Gordon Bennett...

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 24 Jun 2010, 20:25

If Williams qualify as well as they did in Montreal, they have a serious chance of points. COME ON WILLIAMS! Also, I think that it's perfect that the most boring Grand Prix of the year is on the same day as England v Germany which England will obviously win, the excitement of the two events should balance out.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 24 Jun 2010, 22:51

redbulljack14 wrote:If Williams qualify as well as they did in Montreal, they have a serious chance of points. COME ON WILLIAMS! Also, I think that it's perfect that the most boring Grand Prix of the year is on the same day as England v Germany which England will obviously win, the excitement of the two events should balance out.

IMO, Germany vs England c'mon Allemagne! will be far more "interesting" for the majority of viewers. It's an old rivalry which is, err, a classic old rivalry. Valencia just hosts one of those boring races, so, I'll most likely be watching the footy.

Yeah, I'm a Tennis dude as well, but I'm afraid F1 and Football eclipse it by far!

IdeFan · Post by **IdeFan** » 24 Jun 2010, 23:00

I'll be listening to the cricket, England (or should I say 3 South Africans and an Irishman) have a chance to wrap up the series against the Aussies!

I'm actually interested to see if this fancy exhaust system on the Ferrari is worth anywhere near the 0.6s its been rumoured, given that its also coming for McLaren and MGP.

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 24 Jun 2010, 23:20

I'm interested to see what exactly keeps making Ross Brawn (over?)optimistic about still being able to win this year's title. Generally when Brawn knows something, it turns out to be something pretty important.

Don't think this race will be very interesting though.

BabyG · Post by **BabyG** » 24 Jun 2010, 23:37

Ah, forget Wimbledon and the World cup you might as well watch the F1: there's more chance of an Englishman appearing in the next round.

Post by **mario** » 25 Jun 2010, 10:03

dr-baker wrote:So a thread about the European GP, set to be as dull as Bahrain has already descended into talking about the two other major tournaments currently going on... BEFORE ANYTHING HAS HAPPENED IN VALENCIA !!! Gordon Bennett...

The irony is, one of the dullest race tracks has some of the most interesting upgrades yet. Mercedes have, a little unexpectedly, brought a brand new exhaust driven diffuser to Valencia (it was expected to be brought for Silverstone), along with a few more tweaks (slightly updated wings, and a few 'flick ups' near the rear wheel to reduce drag). That said, and although Rosberg has done well in Free Practise 1, there is no confirmation whether the team will definitely run the new diffuser in the race itself (although you suspect that they will run it). Meanwhile, Renault have also brought out their version of a blown diffuser, and they are intending to run it in the race.

Ferrari have their new diffuser, and unlike the Red Bull diffuser, it doesn't inject air into the diffuser, but blows air across the top of the diffuser. Interestingly, Ferrari might have made a better long term decision here, even if it limits their performance a little this year - with the changes to the zoning rules for the floor, the Ferrari solution will still be legal next year, but Red Bull's won't be (because they will no longer have the secondary deck structure to direct the exhausts into).

Red Bull have brought only one major update, it seems, which is their version of an F-duct (with the intake for the system seemingly hidden within the sidepod, where there is a smaller drag penalty).
And to make it clearer what I'm talking about, here are a few pictures

Updated front wing for Mercedes

Modified exhaust outlets

and a few new vertical elements near the rear wheel to adjust the airflow

Air intake for the RB6's F-duct

Modifed exhausts for Ferrari's new diffuser

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 25 Jun 2010, 13:38

There really should be "before and after" pictures :p

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 25 Jun 2010, 14:35

Wizzie wrote:
shinji wrote:Has there been a race without that prediction yet?

Well there was Bahrain...

They used to have a sandstorm in Bahrain in testing last year. We're yet to see that on a GP weekend, but I'm sure it would look impressive on TV.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 25 Jun 2010, 15:56

It's looking more promising for Williams, Barrichello 10th in both practice sessions and Hulkenburg 11th in FP1, although only 17th in FP2. Here's hoping that Barrichello makes it to Q3, mainly because he'll start in a points position and it'll be difficult to overtake him.

Imagine drivers like Grouillard, Alliot and De Cesaris on a circuit like this, overtaking them would actually be physically impossible.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 26 Jun 2010, 11:25

If the last few minutes of FP3 were anything to go from Force India look like being the top Mercedes powered team come qualifying and Petrov will be left behind by his more acclaimed teammate yet again.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 26 Jun 2010, 11:28

According to Claire Williams, "Rubens will be running the blown rear wing, but the Hulk won't as the length of his legs restrict him from operating it correctly."

This picture (Claire's as well) shows why: the duct is operated by the padding the Chello is wearing on his left knee:

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 26 Jun 2010, 11:53

CarlosFerreira wrote:According to Claire Williams, "Rubens will be running the blown rear wing, but the Hulk won't as the length of his legs restrict him from operating it correctly."

This picture (Claire's as well) shows why: the duct is operated by the padding the Chello is wearing on his left knee:

Cue the XBOX NICO IS HUEG jokes

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 26 Jun 2010, 12:22

KOBAYASHI KAMUI GOES OUTTA!!!

Michael Schumacher is one lucky bastard there.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 26 Jun 2010, 12:26

Klon wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:According to Claire Williams, "Rubens will be running the blown rear wing, but the Hulk won't as the length of his legs restrict him from operating it correctly."

This picture (Claire's as well) shows why: the duct is operated by the padding the Chello is wearing on his left knee:

Cue the XBOX NICO IS HUEG jokes

?

Sadly, the image seems to have disappeared.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 26 Jun 2010, 12:28

CarlosFerreira wrote:
Klon wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:According to Claire Williams, "Rubens will be running the blown rear wing, but the Hulk won't as the length of his legs restrict him from operating it correctly."

This picture (Claire's as well) shows why: the duct is operated by the padding the Chello is wearing on his left knee:

Cue the XBOX NICO IS HUEG jokes

?

Sadly, the image seems to have disappeared.

It's looking quite good for our team isn't it Carlos, both drivers in the top 10 for Q1. Rubens is going to make Q3, mark my words.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 26 Jun 2010, 12:29

redbulljack14 wrote:Michael Schumacher is one lucky bastard there.

According to autosport he has power steering issues to contend with.