--

Brian W Lawrence
Wantage,
Oxfordshire, UK
Brian_W_Lawrence@msn.com

Grand Prix Insights;

Williams F1 team short preview films made for each GP in 2008, watch
free here;

http://sponsoring.allianz.com/en/formula1/tvmaterial/allinformula1.html

Is on CNBC too but hard to find in listings;

http://www.cnbc.com/

The Factory TV show about Williams too is on Eurosport, check
listings;

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/

German Grand Prix

First Practice - Friday 18 July 2008 - 10:00-11:30

## Driver Team Time Lps Gap %%Gap Km/hr mph
=============================================================================
22 L Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1'15.537 22 0.000 0.000 217.991 135.453
23 H Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1'15.666 19 0.129 0.171 217.620 135.222
2 F Massa Ferrari 1'15.796 22 0.259 0.343 217.246 134.991
5 F Alonso Renault 1'16.163 22 0.626 0.829 216.199 134.340
1 K Räikkönen Ferrari 1'16.327 23 0.790 1.046 215.735 134.051

7 N Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1'16.606 27 1.069 1.415 214.949 133.563
15 S Vettel T Rosso-Ferrari 1'16.618 25 1.081 1.431 214.916 133.542
3 N Heidfeld BMW Sauber-BMW 1'16.719...

$Revision: 2.150 $, $Date: 2008/07/17 22:30:22 $

The FAQ is divided into several sections.

Introduction (Part 1)
1. Rules, regulations and governing body (Part 1)
2. The teams and cars (Part 1)
3. The drivers (Part 2)
4. The races (Part 2)
5. The circuits (Part 2)
6. Television (Part 2)
7. Sponsors (Part 2)
8. Manufacturers (Part 2)
9. Technical stuff (Part 2)
10. Miscellaneous (Part 2)

Corrections and additions to mjackson@alumni.caltech.edu.

3. The drivers
==============

Q: Who will be driving for whom in 2008?
A. As announced by the FIA on January 4, plus known test drivers:

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
1. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN)
2. Felipe Massa (BR)
T. Luca Badoer (I)
BMW Sauber F1 Team
3. Nick Heidfeld (D)
4. Robert Kubica(PL)
...

The FIA has finally published the F1 Technical and Sporting Regulations
on its website:
http://www.fia.com/en-GB/sport/regulations/Pages/FIAFormulaOneWorldChampionship.....
KERS is in, grooved dry tires are out, tire warmers are still in,
presumably the incredibly detailed bodywork restrictions reflect the
OWG's plan to reduce downforce by 50%%.

The one thing that may be a surprise (although there had been some
reports of it earlier) is the provision of a driver-adjustable front
wing element to facilitate overtaking:

* Excludes Indy 500 [] shared

7 Alberto Ascari FERRARI 1952 BEL, FRA, GBR, GER, NED, [ITA];
1953 ARG

6 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 2008 ESP, TUR, MON, CDN, FRA, GBR

5 Juan Manuel Fangio ALFA ROMEO 1950 FRA, ITA;
*1951 SUI, BEL, FRA
5 Michael Schumacher FERRARI 2004 BRN, RSM, ESP, MON, Eur

4 Alberto Ascari FERRARI 1953 [FRA], [GBR], GER, SUI
4 Jackie Stewart MATRA 1969 MON, NED, FRA, GBR
4 Gilles Villeneuve FERRARI 1979 RSA, US-W, ESP, BEL
4 Nigel Mansell WILLIAMS 1991 CDN, MEX, FRA, GBR
4 Kimi Räikkönen McLAREN 2005 FRA, GBR, GER, HUN

3 Juan Manuel Fangio MERCEDES *1955 ARG, MON, BEL
3 Mike Hawthorn FERRARI 1958 BEL, FRA, GBR
3 Stirling Moss COOPER 1959 NED;
BRM FRA, [GBR...

I have been too busy to start posting the Silverstone data.

Here's the top of the WDC table after GB (mind the wrap):

Place Driver Points AUS MAL BRN E TR MC CDN F GB

1 Lewis Hamilton 48 10 4 - 6 8 10 - - 10

2 Felipe Massa 48 - - 10 8 10 6 4 10 -

3 Kimi Räikkönen 48 1 10 8 10 6 - - 8 5

Note that Lewis and Felipe are even not only on points - they each have
3 1sts, a 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. If the season were to end today Lewis
would win the WDC* by virtue of his next-best placing of 10th in France
(against Felipe's 13th in Britain).

When has it ever been *this* close midway through the season?

[*in my view a perfectly valid meaning of "lead" whatever folks may have
written back in 2007 about countback only coming into play at the actual
end of the season]

Since refuelling stops divided GPs into two or three sprint sections
large margins of victory are rare. Lewis Hamilton's win at Silverstone
was only the second time in the 21st century.

GBR 2008 1'08.577 L Hamilton N Heidfeld
GER 2003 1'05.459 JP Montoya D Coulthard

There were seven instances in the 1990s:

AUS 1995 2 laps D Hill O Panis
GBR 1994 1'08.128 D Hill J Alesi [MS disq.]
Pac 1994 1'15.300 M Schumacher G Berger
BRA 1994 1 lap M Schumacher D Hill
HUN 1993 1'11.915 D Hill R Patrese
Eur 1993 1'23.199 A Senna D Hill
RSA 1993 1'19.824 A Prost A Senna

And ten in the 1980s:

Woo hoo! By 'eck I enjoyed that. Fantastic race - sorry all the fans got
wet, but I bet they think it was worth it. ;o)

Brilliant drive by Lewis - some brave decisions by the team. Great win,
a real classic.

And how lovely to see Rubens on the podium and hear what a great
reaction he got from the crowd. A genuinely popular guy.

Poor old Mark Webber didn't make the most of his chance... but since it
was Lewis who mostly gained by that at the start I won't be too
hypocritical about wishing it had gone differrently for him. ;o)

Good stuff. :o)