nurburgring a real test

[nurburgring]

the european leg at nurburgring, although unliked by many, will be one of the more important races this season. san marino may be the first european race, but we can't really tell much from that race. with nurburgring, a track with totally different characters, we can finally have a sense of the teams' performance.

alonso is strong as ever. he hasn't been terrible in any of the races so far, basically he has been untouchable. it's no wonder he is on pole position for the race. although renault admitted to trying a different strategy, i believe they are still onboard to a victory. the renault under alonso is super fast, super stable, and just plain super. their strategy to pull off a huge lead and get off traffic might just work out perfectly.

the team that is surprisingly strong is ferrari. at a track that supposedly don't favor the ferraris, michael managed to qualify second, and massa was third. besides, their practice times have been very fast and consistent. if their strategy works out for the race, then they might have something to shout about. what michael really needs to do is to keep up with alonso at the beginning laps. let alonso lead, but just keep close. when the pit comes, he should be able to do something about it.

one other factor to consider is tyre degradation. it seems that bridgestone has brought a super soft tyre for the race. if the tyres are as shit as the ones ferrari used in imola, then it might be game over before they even started. michelin has been superior and more consistent. therefore if the tyres come into play, a michelin team should be able to win it.

mclarens should really step up. they have such a beautiful car, with great aerodynamics, great tyres, and finally a reliable, powerful engine, yet they are still struggling. the championship needs more car capable of beating alonso and renault. at the moment, one car beating alonso is of no use to the championship. teams need to start taking points away from alonso.

why can't sato or monteiro knock alonso out of the race for once?



previous posts:
imola: renault lost imola
melbourne: renault completes hat-trick
melbourne: jenson grabs pole down under
sepang: sepang revealed more problems
sepang: engine changes dominate qualifying
bahrain: thrilling bahrain
bahrain: an exciting start to 2006


[tagged: ferrari, nurburgring, michael schumacher, formula 1]