... It's also prone to rain, which lingers on the track due to the overhanging trees! The fact that from end to end the track is 2 miles long means that it can often be raining at one point on the track and bone dry at the other end! Makes for an interesting race! The high speeds reached and the ... Read review
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...that for once on a Formula One circuit overtaking is possible!!
Anyway, on to the race.
Qualifying
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Otherwise known as the Williams show. The power of the BMW engine gave Williams a massive advantage which led to Montoya getting his first pole in F1. His team mate R. Shumacher was a close second, with Hakkinen in third and Shumacher a disappointing fourth.
The Race ...later Burti flew in to the back of a slowing Shumacher, sending his car flying upside down over the top of the Arrows of Bernoldi. As the dust settled the remains of Shumacher, Burti and Bernoldi's car lay stricken on the track and in the gravel. It looked as if a red flag was inevitable, but they managed to drag away the cars and control the situation with the safety car. As the safety car led the cars on to the start/finish line the extent of the ... more
So, the Hockenheim circuit. Simply described you could call it 4 straights separated by chicanes, with 4 corners at the end. And that literally is all this circuit is! Well, perhaps not, I'll explain in a bit more detail.
A short start/finish straight leads to the 90-degree right-hander, the Opel Kurve. Then you have a long straight, chicane, long straight, chicane, long straight, chicane, long straight. Each of these straights are LONG and speeds in F1 cars reach upwards of 210mph. The last long straight leads in to a tight final section of corners. The fast Agip Curve leads in to a series of 3 tight, slow corners which lead back to the start/finish straight.
The majority of time on this spent going fast on straights, so a low downforce setting is a must to gain maximum speed through these sections. But, the problem with running too low a downforce means that the car will struggle through the final series of tight corners. This is always a problem for the teams, trying to maintain straight line speed and still have some grip left for the final section. It normally works out that the teams with a lot of straight line speed (i.e. a powerful engine) will run a relatively high downforce setting as they afford to sacrifice some straight line speed, but teams who are down on engine power will run a lower downforce setting to try to make up for their lack of speed. A great example of this was the difference in the angle of the rear wing from the best engined team, the Williams, to the worst engined team, the Minardi. In qualifying this year Williams ran a substantial looking rear wing with a steep angle, whereas Minardi ran a smaller looking wing almost horizontal.
Before I get on to the race itself, there's a bit more to say on the track itself.
Hockenheim is set in a forest, and the fast straights are all tree lined. It's also prone to rain, which lingers on the track due to the overhanging trees! The fact that from end to end the track is 2 miles long means that it can often be raining at one point on the track and bone dry at the other end! Makes for an interesting race! The high speeds reached and the long straights mean that slip-streaming is easy for the drivers, which means that for once on a Formula One circuit overtaking is possible!!
Anyway, on to the race.
Qualifying ----------
Otherwise known as the Williams show. The power of the BMW engine gave Williams a massive advantage which led to Montoya getting his first pole in F1. His team mate R. Shumacher was a close second, with Hakkinen in third and Shumacher a disappointing fourth.
The Race --------
The lights went out. Seconds later Burti flew in to the back of a slowing Shumacher, sending his car flying upside down over the top of the Arrows of Bernoldi. As the dust settled the remains of Shumacher, Burti and Bernoldi's car lay stricken on the track and in the gravel. It looked as if a red flag was inevitable, but they managed to drag away the cars and control the situation with the safety car. As the safety car led the cars on to the start/finish line the extent of the debris became apparent, with shards of carbon fibre covering the whole track. Knowing that this could easily puncture a tyre, the red flag was brought out and the race restarted.
This was good news for Shumacher, who would have been out of the race anyway due to a gearbox problem, if he had not been hit by Burti.
The cars then lined up for a restart, with the full 22 drivers making it back out.
The cars got away without incident, although De La Rosa missed his breaking point and slammed in to Heidfeld at the first chicane, taking them both out of the race. The Williams took to the lead, and the after a few overtaking manoeuvres the two Ferraris got ahead of the two McLarens and they set about their business. Barichello was allowed past Shumacher and managed to close to within about 3 seconds of Ralph Shumacher in second. Hakkinen then pulled out of 4th with a broken radiator. Montoya was the first Williams in to the pits but a fuel hose problem cost him about 20 seconds. It was all academic though as his engine blew a few laps later. Shumacher's car then gave up the ghost, and Burti put his car in to the same wall as he ended up on the first lap.
This left R.Shumacher in first, Barichello second and Coulthard third.
Coulthard was next to go, with a blown engine after his pit stop. This left Shumacher and Barichello firmly fixed in the top two positions, so for once the smaller teams had some points to play for! Villeneuve managed to take third, with the two Bennetons in 4th and 5th,and Alesi rounding off the points.
Results -------
10 Finishers
1. R. Shumacher 2. Barichello 3. Villeneuve 4. Fisichella 5. Button 6. AlesiJordan had another hateful day, with Zonta going out after he drove in to the back of an Arrows. Trulli again showed his awful overtaking style by spinning after an indecisive attempt at getting back past Panis. Shouldn't have sacked Frentzen if you ask me!
The driver of the race has to go to Montoya, as if he had not blown up and had problems in the pit he would have certainly won. Maybe next time Juan!
This was a good, exciting, incident packed race. Overtaking was possible using Hockenheims long straights, and Barichello again proved his skill at the art of slip-streaming.
Shumacher is almost certain of the championship now, and Williams are attacking not only McLarens 2nd place in the constructors championship, but R.Shumacher is also hot on the heels of Coulthard for second in the drivers championship.
Advantages: Good track Disadvantages: Too quick and it breaks engines
...did not host its first formula 1 Car race until 1970. It was only after years of solitary use at Nurburgring, its main rival circuit in Germany, that it got a look in. Since then it has been a mainstay as the German premiere track, only losing the race for one year back to Nurburgring. Nurburgring is normally the home to the European Grand Prix nowadays. It is reknowned as an engine breaker due to its high speed layout out and duration at maximium ... ...to take you on a "Martin Brundle" type trip of the circuit. Floor it from the starting grid and you are up into 5th gear before you arrive at Nordkurve, the first corner. You then hurtle off into the forest reaching maximum revs and speed down one of the 2 long straights. Halfway along, you must navigate one of the Chicanes. Jim Clarke Kurve, named after the famous Scottish driving ace. Continuing away from the chicane you arrive(after another straight) ...
andycharger 30.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Formula 1 Circuit, Hockenheim, Germany
Advantages: Exciting race Disadvantages: Title is even closer for Schumacher now, possible last race on that layout.
...of the fastest circuits the Formula One circus has ever visited although it’s previous incarnations (Less chicanes) were faster. Two of the best places on the track for watching unfortunately don’t have any viewing facilities, namely chicane I and chicane II. Other than that all the other grandstands are all pretty well placed and you would have a good chance of seeing some action at any of them.
If you take your home made Formula One ... ...need long gear ratios and low downforce to reach speeds of over 210MPH. Crikey!
* The Results – Bang, Crash, Wallop * Recent races have had a low attrition rate, but not Hockenheim – engines blew, people crashed and electric’s failed.
1st – Ralf Schumacher (Williams) - Qualified 2nd
2nd – Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) – Qualified 6th
3rd – Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) – Qualified 12th
4th – Giancarlo ...
yhwman 29.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Formula 1 Circuit, Hockenheim, Germany
Advantages: Allows overtaking; very fast Disadvantages: Not a classic layout; no atmosphere outside stadium
...A circuit on which modern Formula One cars can overtake. No wonder Hockenheim is so little regarded in certain quarters... although its unpopularity could be regarded as being a lingering resentment at the removal of the "proper" Nürburgring in 1977. As we saw this last weekend, however, Hockenheim may not be the most technically challenging track on the calendar, being essentially made up of a couple of long wooded straights with a sprinkling of ... ...some excellent driving from the likes of Barrichello and - while it lasted - Montoya. Hockenheim does seem to have the most welcome capability of producing exciting Grands Prix, and so despite its less than awesome layout, it's a track that should definitely be retained on the Formula One calendar. ...
davidbuttery 30.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Formula 1 Circuit, Hockenheim, Germany
Advantages: Really tests the cars. Disadvantages: Not many cars finish.
When you see Grand Prix F1 cars hurtling through a forest at 220 miles per hour you know you watching a race at the Hockenheim circuit for the German Grand Prix. This circuit is very much like two contrasting races. The long straights at this circuit mean that the cars can be on full throttle for 50 seconds of each lap, so high speed and low down force is the order of the day here. But, in the grandstand area there are tight chicanes and lower speeds, ... ...is important because the drivers tend to launch the cars over the kerbs in an attempt to maintain speeds through the chicanes. It is not unusual to see the cars on three (and sometimes two) wheels as they fly off the ground due to the lack of down force. This circuit really does test the engines and it is a very rare race if you don’t see a few engines spectacularly blow up. The race crowd is always a capacity 110,000 crowd, with a very high ...
daseaford 02.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Formula 1 Circuit, Hockenheim, Germany
Well i've just finished watching one of the most exciting GP i have ever seen. Right from the warm up lap it was all action when one of the minardis caught fire on the grid then once the race started the great Micheal Schumacer lost 4-5 gears and dropped back as people passed him at the start then Burti obstructed by a Jorden climbed up the back of Schuey and flipped in the air landing on top of a an arrows narrowly missing the cockpit. Schumacher ... ...a halt to the race and everybody had to restart from the original positions,so off he ran for the spare car and so did Burti,Burti medic was quoted as saying"he is a Tuffy laddie he race". One the second time round Montoya got off to a flyer and was running about 1 sec a lap faster than all others on the track and opened up an unbeatable gap. Rubins Barrichello made two great passes of both McClaren drivers and was the only one threatening matching ...
sarah1 31.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Formula 1 Circuit, Hockenheim, Germany
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