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Formula 1
HOBBS: Several Issues Linger Ahead Of German GP
Pastor Maldonado needs a clean race in Germany, while McLaren seeks a rebound and Fernando Alonso tries to keep his points lead...
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado is returning to Williams in 2013. (Photo: Getty Images)
As Formula One heads to Hockenheim this weekend, several issues are at the forefront of my mind.
Is McLaren doomed, is Ferrari truly on the road to success and the World Championship, and why in Heaven’s name is Pastor Maldonado so aggressive of late?
McLaren has come to epitomize the term “unpleasant surprise” this season. The team commenced the year at the top of its game, but quickly backslid into one of its worst-ever seasons with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button both enduring challenging circumstances. Hamilton should have won in Malaysia but was throttled by a terribly lengthy pit stop, while Button has fallen off the pace completely in a struggle with his front tires. While many teams are tussling with the new Pirellis, Button finds himself fighting with them more than most.
For a change, though, pit stops weren’t Hamilton’s undoing two weeks ago at Silverstone – the car’s handling took the honors this time. He was fastest in practice Friday and Saturday morning, and matched that distinction in qualifying through Q2. However, he dropped off alarmingly in Q3 with everything on the line. Button didn’t fare much better with his 16th-place qualifying effort.
On the other hand, Ferrari has proven many of us wrong in our preseason and early-season prognosticating. The team's winter testing results were dismal at best, but it buckled down with a diligence that has returned it to prominence and championship contention.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took up the slack early in the season when his car wasn’t good, drove the wheels off of it and shocked everyone by winning the second race. Without a doubt, Ferrari has made vast improvements, and Felipe Massa simultaneously has elevated his performance level. After all, he must in order to keep up with Alonso, who leads the World Championship.
And who can keep up with Pastor Maldonado’s run-ins of late? I’m a bit baffled by the aggressive stance he has taken this season. Even in his GP2 days, Maldonado was involved in quite a few incidents and off-road excursions, a pattern which continued into F1. However, he has displayed a decidedly aggressive tactic recently. He and Hamilton got together at Valencia. Fault was a bit of a toss-up in that case, although Maldonado clearly ran off the road. When he tried to jump back on, Hamilton was there. At the time, I surmised that Hamilton should have afforded his competitor more room, but relinquishing likely would have relegated Hamilton from third to fourth. However, it was a moot point when his refusal to yield to Maldonado knocked him out of the race.
In the Silverstone incident, Sergio Perez was working around the outside of Maldonado in a cleanly-executed move, but Maldonado slammed him in an attempt to hold him at bay. However, there is no shutting the barn door when the horse is halfway through it. Those situations never end well in F1.
Overly-aggressive driving does not mesh well with the finesse drivers must display to maneuver these machines. Aggressive driving in F1 and IndyCar must be tempered with some common sense and respect for one’s own life and the life of his competitor. There exists a genuine possibility of severe injury because, although the cars are safer nowadays, they are not bulletproof. In fact, I’ll argue that as the safety of the cars has increased, so has poorer driving, because safety tends to produce a false sense of security and a disbelief that one could be badly hurt.
We saw how Mark Webber got around Alonso at the same spot where Maldonado and Perez came together. That was a storybook piece of driving by both Webber and Alonso. Alonso tried to defend his position, but when he realized Webber was beside him and was going to execute the pass, Alonso gave him room to do so and saved both men from wrecking.
Sunday’s German Grand Prix presents the next opportunity to see if Maldonado roughs anyone up again or is more respectful of his competitors. I expect the strongest competition to come in the form of both Red Bull cars, Ferrari’s Alonso and also the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. We can’t count out Vettel either, as he would love to win in front of his home crowd.
The big question mark hangs over McLaren, which claims to have updates coming on the car, but the jury still is out on those claims. Hamilton boasts a great record in Germany, and could be a threat for the win if his car is up to par.
Several drivers could win on Sunday, and given the competitive nature of the 2012 F1 season, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see a terrific battle down to the wire.
Is McLaren doomed, is Ferrari truly on the road to success and the World Championship, and why in Heaven’s name is Pastor Maldonado so aggressive of late?
McLaren has come to epitomize the term “unpleasant surprise” this season. The team commenced the year at the top of its game, but quickly backslid into one of its worst-ever seasons with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button both enduring challenging circumstances. Hamilton should have won in Malaysia but was throttled by a terribly lengthy pit stop, while Button has fallen off the pace completely in a struggle with his front tires. While many teams are tussling with the new Pirellis, Button finds himself fighting with them more than most.
For a change, though, pit stops weren’t Hamilton’s undoing two weeks ago at Silverstone – the car’s handling took the honors this time. He was fastest in practice Friday and Saturday morning, and matched that distinction in qualifying through Q2. However, he dropped off alarmingly in Q3 with everything on the line. Button didn’t fare much better with his 16th-place qualifying effort.
On the other hand, Ferrari has proven many of us wrong in our preseason and early-season prognosticating. The team's winter testing results were dismal at best, but it buckled down with a diligence that has returned it to prominence and championship contention.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso took up the slack early in the season when his car wasn’t good, drove the wheels off of it and shocked everyone by winning the second race. Without a doubt, Ferrari has made vast improvements, and Felipe Massa simultaneously has elevated his performance level. After all, he must in order to keep up with Alonso, who leads the World Championship.
And who can keep up with Pastor Maldonado’s run-ins of late? I’m a bit baffled by the aggressive stance he has taken this season. Even in his GP2 days, Maldonado was involved in quite a few incidents and off-road excursions, a pattern which continued into F1. However, he has displayed a decidedly aggressive tactic recently. He and Hamilton got together at Valencia. Fault was a bit of a toss-up in that case, although Maldonado clearly ran off the road. When he tried to jump back on, Hamilton was there. At the time, I surmised that Hamilton should have afforded his competitor more room, but relinquishing likely would have relegated Hamilton from third to fourth. However, it was a moot point when his refusal to yield to Maldonado knocked him out of the race.
In the Silverstone incident, Sergio Perez was working around the outside of Maldonado in a cleanly-executed move, but Maldonado slammed him in an attempt to hold him at bay. However, there is no shutting the barn door when the horse is halfway through it. Those situations never end well in F1.
Overly-aggressive driving does not mesh well with the finesse drivers must display to maneuver these machines. Aggressive driving in F1 and IndyCar must be tempered with some common sense and respect for one’s own life and the life of his competitor. There exists a genuine possibility of severe injury because, although the cars are safer nowadays, they are not bulletproof. In fact, I’ll argue that as the safety of the cars has increased, so has poorer driving, because safety tends to produce a false sense of security and a disbelief that one could be badly hurt.
We saw how Mark Webber got around Alonso at the same spot where Maldonado and Perez came together. That was a storybook piece of driving by both Webber and Alonso. Alonso tried to defend his position, but when he realized Webber was beside him and was going to execute the pass, Alonso gave him room to do so and saved both men from wrecking.
Sunday’s German Grand Prix presents the next opportunity to see if Maldonado roughs anyone up again or is more respectful of his competitors. I expect the strongest competition to come in the form of both Red Bull cars, Ferrari’s Alonso and also the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. We can’t count out Vettel either, as he would love to win in front of his home crowd.
The big question mark hangs over McLaren, which claims to have updates coming on the car, but the jury still is out on those claims. Hamilton boasts a great record in Germany, and could be a threat for the win if his car is up to par.
Several drivers could win on Sunday, and given the competitive nature of the 2012 F1 season, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see a terrific battle down to the wire.
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