Vettel goes to his home Grand Prix knowing that finishing lower than Alonso is not an option. Fernando is enjoying a comfortable lead over the reigning world champion and his consistency this season has helped him become a firm favourite for the title. Vettel and Red Bull have said that Alonso is still to have his share of bad luck this season and, whilst that may be true, they cannot rely on things not going Alonso's way to help them secure both titles. The German is under pressure; his past form at his home race is probably not as encouraging as he would like but if there was ever a season when winning at home would mean more than usual this is it. Sebastian knows what he has to do and must ensure that he can remain calm under the pressure and go into this Grand Prix with the championship in mind. Vettel's teammate is also ahead of him in the standings. The pair's results mean that Red Bull could be well on their way to securing a hat-trick of Constructors' titles. Some have said that Vettel is not comfortable with Mark's performance being slightly better than his this season; the Australian has 2 wins to Sebastian's one. Whether or not that is true, we don't know the feeling in the Red Bull camp and I think that considering 2012 has been so unpredictable already Sebastian understands that it is not yet time to panic and mull over what his teammate is doing.
McLaren are in a completely contrasting position to Red Bull going into this race weekend. In Silverstone they had the misfortune of both of their drivers struggling to perform and this meant it was clear that there were problems with their car. Previously, Jenson Button's failure to deliver strong results couldn't have been blamed solely on the car as Lewis wasn't experiencing the same problems. However, the last race showed that the team need to develop their car at a much faster rate if they are to continue competing for either of the titles. At this stage, when they sit fourth in the Constructors', I believe they must act as if they have nothing to lose. They should not be afraid of radical upgrades and they have the Friday practice sessions to see how the car reacts in Hockenheim. In Valencia Red Bull reformed their exhaust package and brought major upgrades; the move could have backfired but instead put Red Bull ahead of their competitors in the development game. This season the team that is able to develop the fastest and most successfully will be the team that takes the championship and currently McLaren are not able to develop the MP4-27 at a good enough rate. They have fallen behind and their fate this season is now up to them! They should also not let speculation over Lewis Hamilton's contract distract them from what they come to this race to do but McLaren are experienced enough to know how to handle with contract talks and rumours.
Lotus have now overtaken McLaren in the Constructors' so they sit in third. The lead is only 2 points but with Lotus improving and McLaren falling behind that could still increase. Lotus are still to take their first win of 2012 and their drivers Raikkonen and Grosjean are both looking comfortable with the car and the team are certainly hungry to take that win. Can they add to McLaren's woes this weekend?
Maldonado had yet another incident with another driver in Silverstone and that led to young Sergio Perez giving a damning verdict on the Venezuelan to the world's media. He was certainly not shy or retiring in telling us exactly what he, and apparently many other drivers, think of Maldonado's driving. The stewards reprimanded him for the incident with Perez and another one will lead to a 10 place grid penalty. I do think the collision with Perez was a racing incident and if it was any other driver involved Perez and fans wouldn't have been as upset by it but because Maldonado has form for causing incidents like this many felt that he just cuts it too fine and that's not really fair for other drivers. Let's hope that Maldonado has an incident and blame-free weekend in Germany. He definitely needs one.
There have been news reports lately surrounding the future of the German Grand Prix. Financial problems mean that both Hockenheim and the Nurburgring are uncertain over their ability to stage the Grand Prix. The race in Germany is such a staple in the F1 calendar and for it to be missing would be a real shame. The country's link to F1 is huge; historically and in the present day! Furthermore, the TV revenue that F1 gains from Germany is huge, RTL pay staggering amounts, so financially it is a very important country to the sport. I have no real doubt over a Grand Prix taking place in Germany; Mr Ecclestone and co. understand how vital Germany is to F1.
All in all this weekend is set to be a great one! There is so much riding on it in terms of the two world titles and that means the stakes are very high! Hopefully this will lead to interesting strategies, drivers really going for it and teams bringing upgrades that really mix things up. Silverstone was too long ago and I am desperate for some exciting on-track action; I'm sure Hockenheim will deliver.
Bis bald, (yes, I did German at A-Level and I know that impressed you!)
Aqsa
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P.S. Tomorrow I will try my absolute hardest to ensure a review of FP1&2 is up but I will not be able to do one for Qualifying as I am working all day (13 hours to be precise) so I will not have the time. A race review will certainly be up on Sunday though. Thank you for bearing with me; I am very busy this weekend and absolutely gutted to be missing Qualifying. I will post the Qualifying results though...
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