F1-Blog

European GP Weekend

This weekend sees the teams hit Nürburgring for the European GP.

Lets recap all that has happened in the last couple of weeks, and what the results should show over the weekend.

Obviously the news has been focusing on the leaked data scandal between Ferrari and McLaren. McLaren are stating that the team have not seen any of the data, and have no parts or designs from the Ferrari on the car. The FIA hearing takes place next week, so we should know what the actual facts are then, but the story will obviously sit over the race this weekend.

Raikkonen is looking strong after his win at Silverstone, so the Ferrari’s cannot be discounted this race, however the Nürburgring is a different beast to Silverstone, and the McLaren cars have looked better at the medium downforce tracks all season. Plus Nürburgring is a bogey track for the Finn.

The BMW team have lost a fair chunk of there aero team over the last week, this will obviously not hurt them too badly in the short term, but longer term they could struggle.

Especially now that the Toyota and Renault teams are starting to come on strong. Toyota are genuinely getting quicker, where the pace has been hiding all season is a wonder, but the team are certainly closing the gap. Renault too are coming back to the fore. They announced that they have identified issues with there wind tunnel, and are working on rectifying the problem. If this is the root of their poor performance it’s a little surprising, however it could be why they are struggling to scrabble back to the front of the grid.

Red Bull are obviously a team to watch, they have hired Geoff Willis to the team, and he will provide a much needed view to setup and configuration as well as leadership over the weekends. We all know the car should be quick, and at times has shown it’s raw pace, now the team need to work on getting the car reliable.

Honda have shown improvement over the last couple of weekends, at both races and tests. The team seem to be getting a handle on why the car is not quick, and working through the issues. After all Honda are not a company that likes to be seen as second best, and they will get there. Will the car be quick this weekend? doubtful but they should show better this weekend than they have recently.

Spyker have a German in the second car this weekend, Markus Winkelhock will be driving alongside Adrian Sutil.

The STR team are looking forward to the weekend, they are happy with the pace of the car, and it’s about time that the young drivers show there abilities.

The Honda jnr team Super Aguri are actually seeming to go backwards a little at the moment. This may be because Honda are focusing on the works team, but they also have a few aero tweaks coming so may be ones to watch, after all it would be nice for Anthony Davidson to get a point or two. 

One thing is for sure, last years winner Michael Schumacher will not be taking the last lap honors.