Race Date: 10 Jul 2011
Number of Laps: 52
Circuit Length: 5.891 km
Race Distance: 306.227 km
Lap Record: 1:30.874 - F Alonso (2010)

Webber leads P1, Rain fell in P2 and Massa was ontop but 3 seconds slower.
Should be a good race and the rain should make it really interesting (if it rains...like England always does)

Quote from jrd.racer :

I got wet in P2 and Massa was ontop but 3 seconds slower.

I had to.

Some people get sexual feelings from race cars, nothing wrong with that.

Zoomg what a fail. Fixed.

redbull's pretty much won this year already. i'll probably end up watching the race, but i don't have the same enthusiasm i did at the beginning of the season.

Ted Kravitz BBC just announced that Charlie Whiting has rescinded the 50% blowing that Renault were allowed. Now we're back to 10% only for hot and cold blowing. Team principals are with Charlie right now.

Horner and Newey look damn pissed off.

Nothing to do with reliability... Lotus-Renault are not complaining, its just RBR looking to keep their advantage over the others. Suck it up, and prove you are just as quick without these "dirty" tricks.

Quote from DevilDare :

Horner and Newey look damn pissed off.

Indeed.

Both drivers slow during the "conference" but set the pace afterwards, hmmm....

Good to hear Murray on the mic. When told he was trending globally he asked "what's that?" Classic lol.

Quote from DevilDare :

Horner and Newey look damn pissed off.

Nothing to do with reliability... Lotus-Renault are not complaining, its just RBR looking to keep their advantage over the others. Suck it up, and prove you are just as quick without these "dirty" tricks.

Why is it "dirty"?

McLaren, on the other hand, get to effectively override the new rules. Hot-blowing is supposed to be banned now, but Mercedes teams -- ie. McLaren, since it is the only team other than Ferrari to utilise hot-blowing -- get to inject fuel into half of its cylinders, supposedly for reliability reasons.

You can moan as much as you like about having rules changed in middle of the season, but for once FIA did the right thing. I don't know why they haven't had blown diffusers completely banned for this season, anyway teams started exploiting that even more and it was just a matter of time when FIA would say, enough is enough. Turns out it's in middle of the season and turns out it will hurt exploiters more than fair play teams, but that's the name of the game, that's the risk they went for.

Now how much will it hurt RedBull on RedBull track where flexy wings bring you the most of your pace, we'll have to wait and see that, but so far, I can see them battling for pole easy on this track!

I'm streaming the BBC coverage, if anyone wants the link PM me It's not HD quality but I think it's pretty decent

as i said on the iracing forum, they could have solved all the row about reliability by just saying exhausts starting at the british GP must exit behind the rear diffuser as they will have to for next year, then it would be up to the teams if they wanted to blow or not as it wouldn't effect downforce

Quote from samjh :

Why is it "dirty"?

McLaren, on the other hand, get to effectively override the new rules. Hot-blowing is supposed to be banned now, but Mercedes teams -- ie. McLaren, since it is the only team other than Ferrari to utilise hot-blowing -- get to inject fuel into half of its cylinders, supposedly for reliability reasons.

10% only.

Why its dirty? Well, its just a word I used. The thing is, they had 2 months to fix any reliability issues the ban would have caused. If not fix, atleast inform FIA about it earlier. Instead, they choose to do it a couple of days before they are set to race, causing nothing but a massive farce...

Ferrari are simply holding back and just observing how this mess pans out. A smarter move if you ask me. They could protest on sunday after the race which could very well result in a win.

Anyhow, I blame FIA more than anyone. First for starting to change the rules mid season, and then ultimately giving into some teams instead of just staying strict and telling them to bugger off - Rules are rules.

Horner on BBC - "The easiest way is to go back how it was 2 weeks ago"

Oh you would love that, wouldnt you?

Quote from N I K I :

You can moan as much as you like about having rules changed in middle of the season, but for once FIA did the right thing. I don't know why they haven't had blown diffusers completely banned for this season, anyway teams started exploiting that even more and it was just a matter of time when FIA would say, enough is enough. Turns out it's in middle of the season and turns out it will hurt exploiters more than fair play teams, but that's the name of the game, that's the risk they went for.

Now how much will it hurt RedBull on RedBull track where flexy wings bring you the most of your pace, we'll have to wait and see that, but so far, I can see them battling for pole easy on this track!

Please explain how operating inside current rules is considered exploiting?

Quote from spankmeyer :

Please explain how operating inside current rules is considered exploiting?

Well if rules are made to reduce downforce at certain area of the car and if someone finds a loophole in the rules to avoid that, what can you expect than to have rules readjusted so the original intent of the rules can be enforced and when it comes to these situations I like it done rather sooner than later.

It's very strange with the front straight not being the front straight any more

Quote from N I K I :

Well if rules are made to reduce downforce at certain area of the car and if someone finds a loophole in the rules to avoid that, what can you expect than to have rules readjusted so the original intent of the rules can be enforced and when it comes to these situations I like it done rather sooner than later.

Problem is that the rules must be same for all but when you re-adjust them to suit some people better when they were outsmarted, things go to downhill very fast and I'm not talking about driving Spa backwards.

Maybe FIA should have enforced a rule that it's the RBR way or the highway?

Quote from J@tko :

It's very strange with the front straight not being the front straight any more

For once I think the changes are great, layout-wise.

You used to have all the challenging parts right at the beginning of the track, and then some less interresting mid/low-speed corners in the second half. Now it gets more and more quick and challenging as you advance in the lap, much more exciting IMO.

Quote from spankmeyer :

Problem is that the rules must be same for all but when you re-adjust them to suit some people better when they were outsmarted, things go to downhill very fast and I'm not talking about driving Spa backwards.

Maybe FIA should have enforced a rule that it's the RBR way or the highway?

You can look at it that way, but re-adjustments are always suit some better and some worse. Now it would be wrong to have rules pointed at the way of exploiters when they are the ones that are using unfair advantage. I'm sure their exploiting of front wing didn't help them either, especially because after FIA readjusted tests, they managed to find a loophole again.
So all this is turning into a war between teams that are searching for loopholes in rules more than ever in history of F1 and FIA being more strict than they ever have been in history, obviously because they need to adjust themselves to the situation!

Quote from N I K I :

You can look at it that way, but re-adjustments are always suit some better and some worse. Now it would be wrong to have rules pointed at the way of exploiters when they are the ones that are using unfair advantage. I'm sure their exploiting of front wing didn't help them either, especially because after FIA readjusted tests, they managed to find a loophole again.
So all this is turning into a war between teams that are searching for loopholes in rules more than ever in history of F1 and FIA being more strict than they ever have been in history, obviously because they need to adjust themselves to the situation!

Outsmarting your competition is not unfair. It may feel unfair if your team got caught with pants down and jelly smeared on the Pirellis.

Basically are you saying that RBR's success is not because of their design skill, engineering skill, race craft, driver skill but only because they spend their budget on finding loopholes in regulations?

I was just watching a long shot, and saw Swallows or House Martins swooping low over parts of the track. I wonder if bird strikes are ever a problem?

Quote from spankmeyer :

Outsmarting your competition is not unfair. It may feel unfair if your team got caught with pants down and jelly smeared on the Pirellis.

Basically are you saying that RBR's success is not because of their design skill, engineering skill, race craft, driver skill but only because they spend their budget on finding loopholes in regulations?

No, I wasn't saying that, I'm saying they're spending more on it then others and risking more than others. You can notice in my first post that I'm saying they're still favorite for pole position even with new rules, why do you think that is, because I believe they still have superior downforce engineering!

thanks FIA(t) for helping Ferrari closing the gap to the RBR even more.

FIA is such a big joke.

That stuff reminds me of 2006's mass damper controversy.

And guess who benefited from it? Ferrari, already.

Interesting how everyone overlooks that this sudden change of rules is hurting McLaren more than anyone else...
Anyway, I fancy Ferrari's 1-3 tomorrow.
EDIT: O yeah, Ferrari has some bigger car updates, which also isn't helping this rules change situation!