10 Tenths Grand Prix Preview - European GP

[Super Tourer]

With the engines barely cool after Monaco we head off to the Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix.



10 Tenths Grand Prix Preview – GP of Europe – Nurburgring – 30th May 2004.



2003 RACE RESULT

1 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 60 Laps 1:34:43.62

2 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW +16.8 secs

3 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari +39.6 secs

4 Fernando Alonso Renault +65.7 secs

5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari +66.1 secs 2

6 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth +1 Lap 11

7 Jenson Button BAR-Honda +1 Lap 12

8 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas +1 Lap 20

9 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas +1 Lap

10 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth +1 Lap

11 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford +2 Laps

12 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford +2 Laps

13 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth +2 Laps

14 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth +3 Laps

15 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes +4 Laps


Ret Cristiano da Matta Toyota 53 Laps Engine

Ret Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 51 Laps Gearbox

Ret Jarno Trulli Renault 37 Laps Fuel pressure

Ret Olivier Panis Toyota 37 Laps Spin

Ret Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 25 Laps Engine

Fastest Lap: Kimi Räikkönen 1:32.621



2003 GRID

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points

1 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.523

2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:31.555

3 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:31.619

4 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:31.765

5 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:31.780

6 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:31.976

7 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:32.350

8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:32.424

9 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.742

10 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:32.949

11 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:33.066

12 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:33.395

13 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:33.553

14 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:33.827

15 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:34.000

16 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:34.159

17 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:34.596

18 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:36.318

19 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:36.485

20 9 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas No time

[Super Tourer]

2003 RACE REVIEW

Ralf Schumacher scored a ‘home win’, but the race really belonged to Kimi Raikkonen who led from pole until his Mercedes engine cried enough on lap 26

We were in the midst of the Michelin/Bridgestone tyre battle with it becoming clear that Michelins were enjoying the heat of Europe more than the opposition, this played into the hands of Williams, with JPM making it a 1-2 for the team much to BMW’s delight.

Prior to that, the two protagonists JPM and Michael Schumacher (yes those two AGAIN) collided on lap 43, with MS trying to hold second from JPM – the result of this was Michael in the gravel after a blocking move on Montoya’s pass ended in tears. In typical Schumacher luck his car was deemed to be in a ‘dangerous position’ so was given a push and able to re-join, finally inheriting 5th place when DC in his McLaren had an altercation with Alonso’s Renault– to make it a double no score for Mercedes.
Referring to the incident when Alonso braked ‘unexpectedly’ DC remarked “"I have my own views on the incident which I will discuss privately with Alonso but at the end of the day it is for the stewards to decide." They did and no action was taken.
Rubens had a lacklustre race in the 2nd Ferrari, not enjoying the performance of the car on the Bridgestones.

Heidfeld scored a point for Sauber despite starting form the pitlane.

It was almost another keystone cops moment for BAR in the pitstops, with JV sitting where JB wanted to be – in the pit box – luckily JV was dispatched a mere 10 seconds before Jenson arrived.



Read a full race review: http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr706.html





DRIVERS EYE

Take a lap of the Nurburgring with Alex Wurz: http://www.pitpass.com/src/circuits/nurburgring.php

[Super Tourer]

EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX - FLASHBACK

2002 – This raced produced a fascinating closing few laps as the world watched to see if Ferrari would do an ‘Austria’ and make Rubens move over for Michael. The situation arose as Schumacher spun off but rejoined in pursuit of Rubens - Ferrari dominated the race. All eyes were on Jean Todt but on this occasion he chose PR over Schumacher, and Rubens held station to take the flag. Barely anyone else was even in the same race, with 3rd placed Raikkonen some 46 seconds adrift and everyone up to 5th placed Button lapped.

1999 – Probably one of the most unlikely podiums seen for years. Herbert won for Stewart-Ford with Trull 2nd in the Prost-Peugeot, completing the joy for Stewart; Barrichello was 3rd making it a 1-3 for JYS’ eponymous team. Frentzen had pole in the Jordan-Mugen but retired. Most of the front runners dropped the ball – Ferrari fluffed Irvine’s pitstop with only 3 wheels laid out for him as he pitted for wet tyres. Fisichella, DC and Zanardi spun, with only 10 cars making it to the finish. Diniz had a nasty roll, which tore the roll hoop off the Sauber, resulting in regulations making this area of the car stronger.

1997 – Europe was the last race on the calendar. Adding to the ‘that incident’ catalogue – Michael Schumacher tangled with Jacques Villeneuve whilst ‘going’ for the lead – it was seen as a cynical attempt to wreck JV’s chances – this time MS ended in the gravel with no sympathy shown in the paddock. The FIA investigated, but came up with the usual ‘racing incident’ verdict.


1994 – Michael Schumacher returned in his Benetton – Renault, typically with a win - after serving a two race ban (for ignoring black flags at Silverstone). Adding to the musical chairs, Mansell returned to Williams for the last 3 races – replacing DC. F1 lost another famous name from the grid, Lotus not appearing after being put into receivership – Herbert’s contract was negotiated with the Lotus receivers and he was scooped up by Walkinshaw and placed at Ligier.



1993 – The race was held at Donington (UK) and was another legendary drive from Ayrton Senna. Being the UK in April, it was wet! His first lap was probably one of the most staggering seen in F1 for a long time or since, after slipping back to 5th off the line Senna went onto pass: Schuamcher, Wendlinger, Hill and finally Prost (on the inside of the hairpin) to lead at the end of the first lap.

The race was characterized by on-off rain, which saw pitstop after pitstop – even Prost made 10 stops -. It was a great drive by Senna in what was a McLaren powered by a customer Ford engine, with Benetton having the works Ford contract.
Read a review of this great race: http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr535.html


1985 – Mansell scored his first Grand Prix win in the race held at Brands Hatch. John Watson made a one-off return to McLaren, replacing Lauda who had an injured wrist.

1984 - At the Nurbugring much talk was about tyres or the lack of them. Michelin announced they would withdraw from F1 at the end of the year, McLaren announced they would be using Goodyears next season, with Brabham on Pirelli’s – this left Renault, Ligier and Toleman without a tyre deal for the following season – all sorted themselves out save for Toleman, who eventually bought Spirit’s Pirelli tyre contract for 1985. Prost won the race for McLaren but Lauda still led the standings by 4.5 points.

1983 – Brands Hatch was the venue, filling the gap after the New York GP was cancelled. Piquet won for Brabham. Jonathan Palmer made his GP debut in a 3rd Williams. Paddock news was that Tambay would be dropped by Ferrari next year, but probably move to Renault replacing Cheever who was rumoured to be departing.







RECENT WINNERS – Held at Nurburgring unless shown otherwise.

2003 – Ralf Schumacher
2002 – Barrichello
2001 – Michael Schumacher
2000 – Michael Schumacher
1999 – Herbert
1998 – No race – replaced with Luxembourg GP
1997 – Hakkinen – (Jerez)
1996 – Jacques Villeneuve
1995 – Michael Schumacher – Benetton
1994 – Michael Schumacher – Benetton (Jerez)
1993 – Ayrton Senna – (Donington)

[Super Tourer]

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE 2004 RACE.

After the charisma and grandeur of Monaco we move to a potentially much duller affair at the Nurburgring, which is of course a shadow of the 14 mile original track that was struck off the GP calendar following Niki Lauda’s terrible accident back in 1976.

The new Nurburgring was opened in 1984 and held a ‘celebrity’ saloon car race, a field of Mercedes 190e’s piloted by names like James Hunt, Stirling Moss, Carlos Reuterman, Keke Rosberg, Jack Brabham and John Surtees took part – the winner you may ask – Ayrton Senna.

Anyway, after the relative Schumacher/Ferrari fumble at Monaco, normal service may be resumed at the Nurburgring. Bridgestone struggled in Europe last year, but have made amends this year and apart from taking a lap or two to get up to temperature, have the overall performance edge. Looking at past results, although Michael won in 2000 and 2001, he has tripped up at both of the last two races, in 2003 with JPM – one can only imagine the result if they end up on the same row of the grid following the ‘tunnel debacle’…and in 2002 he spun off.

Unlike Monaco, this is a circuit where Ferrari can allow their superior overall race pace to come to the fore and let Ross Brawn’s strategy unwind. We can expect BAR and Button to be right up there as it doesn’t seem to matter which circuit you throw at them, they have the pace to challenge, but as JB admits they are still not sure if they have the true legs on Ferrari over a race distance.

Trulli and Renault will be buoyant after Monaco, and Alonso will be anxious to close the gap in the standings, so we could see a real effort from him.

Down at Williams you would expect a good race – it’s a home race for BMW, Ralf is a past winner and surely should go well, but somehow the infighting is blunting their edge.

Mercedes on the other hand must be viewing the race with trepidation. The twisty Monaco track rather flattered the slightly breathless Mercedes engine and the mix of some short-ish straights and heavy braking into slow and medium slow corners may not suit the overall McLaren package. Another engine failure for Kimi at Monaco shows that they haven’t got reliability yet either – so all in all a potentially difficult and nervous race for McLaren.

A winner? – This season you have to plump for MS and Ferrari pretty much everywhere, but it’s the following pack where the interest lies as we know that should Ferrari drop the ball again – Renault and BAR are ready willing and able, with Williams in the midst if they get everything hooked up. A double for Trulli or a debut win for Button would be a great result for F1 in general though….


Circuit Map: http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitmap/720.html





RACE TIMETABLE – all times are LOCAL time: http://www.formula1.com/race/timetable/720.html


Friday 28th May

11:00 to 12:00 – 1st Friday Practice
14:00 to 15:00 = 2nd Friday Practice

Saturday 29th May

09:00 to 09:45 – 1st Saturday Practice
10:15 to 11:00 – 2nd Saturday Practice
13:00 – Pre Qualifying
14:00 – Qualifying

Sunday 30th May

14:00 Race (13:00 UK BST)

LIVE timing: http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/720.html




TIME ZONE
Germany is Daylight saving time (BST) + 1 Hour



WEATHER
Longer Term Weather Outlook from 25/05/2004

The Eifel region can produce ‘Spa’ type weather – rain has been a factor in this race before and the wet/dry and different conditions around the circuit can play havoc with tyre choice and strategy!

10 Day outlook for Eifel: http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/...&code=code&y=4


Outlook
Friday 28th May – Partly Cloudy 18 dec C
Saturday 29th May – Showers 17 deg C
Sunday – 30th May – Showers 20 deg C



UK TV VIEWING

http://www.itv-f1.com/tv_schedule/


The European GP on ITV1 & ITV2 29th-30th May
(subject to change)

Qualifying
LIVE Sat 12:30 - 14:20

Race
LIVE Sun 12:05 - 15:00

Race highlights
ITV1 Sun 00:00 - 01:00
ITV2 Mon 17:30 - 18:30
All times are BST



Please check times with your TV schedule or the motorsport press before recording this race!

[Super Tourer]

STANDINGS

DRIVERS

1. M Schumacher - 50 pts
2. Barrichello - 38 pts
3. Button - 32 pts
4. Trulli - 31 pts
5. Montoya 23 pts
6. Alonso - 21 pts
7. R Schumacher - 12 pts
8. Sato - 8 pts
9. Massa - 5 pts
10. Coulthard - 4 pts
11. Da Matta - 3 pts
12= Fisichella - 2ps
12 = Heidfeld - 2 pts
14 = Panis - 1 pt
14 = Raikkonen - 1 pt
14 = Webber - 1 pt


CONSTRUCTORS

1. Ferrari - 88 pts
2. Renault - 52 pts
3. BAR Honda - 40 pts
4. Williams BMW - 35 pts
5. Sauber Petronas - 7 pts
6. McLaren Mercedes - 5 pts
7. Toyota - 4 pts
8. Jordan Ford - 2 pts
9. Jaguar Cosworth - 1 pt

10 Tenths Tyre Maker Standings.

1. Michelin - 138 pts
2. Bridgestone - 97 pts.

[Skam85]

Cool....so only Klien, Pantano, Baumgartner and Bruni haven't scored points.....Whats the odds on that not changing for the balance of the season?

[Adam43]

I guess Klien is th emost likely to grab a point with a little luck. Although it took Webber a long time to get his first this year.