- 2,665
It's almost been a long time since a GP, given the series of back to back races in Canada/US and then France/Britain, all of which were quite notable for various reasons. Hockenheim has traditionally been a race of high attrition, and since it's redesign, has lost essentially all character. Gone are the numerous subtlely different chicanes linking huge, sweeping straights, replaced by a hack of an infield in another Tilke designed circuit big on safety and low on interest. 2003 say Montoya win, Schumacher's tyre explode on the penultimate lap and Barrichello, Raikkonen and Ralf Schumacher collide at the first turn.
Ferrari goes to Hockenheim needing to score 12 more points than Renault to secure the 2004 Constructors title, 6 rounds before the end of the season. Indeed only BAR and Renault are capable of catching the mighty Maranello as things stand. The drivers situations is barely better - Schumacher, Barrichello, Button, Trulli and Alonso are the only ones left with a mathematical chance. If there has ever been an achille's heel to Schumacher's season it has come at Hockenheim, a statistic the German will be looking to shurg off, much as he did his Silverstone stigma, whilst Rubens will be doing better if he makes it past the first turn - ditto Raikkonen.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has been talking up his team following their return to form in Britain with the new MP4-19B, and the teams have made good use of the weekend off to get into testing again. The offer of one British journalist to run a lap of Silverstone completely naked should McLaren win a round will surely drive them to succeed
Dennis has conceeded catching Renault or BAR will be a challenge, but that McLaren will be carrying the fight to Williams before the season's end.
Williams in turn have relegated Marc Gene back to testing duties after two lacklustre races in the FW26. Antonio Pizzonia now gets his chance to impress, alongside the ever cheerful and diplomatic Montoya, who'll have a hard fight to defend his 2003 German GP win.
BAR seem to have slipped a notch from their form earlier in the season, and will be hoping Takuma Sato can finish again to try and help them bridge the gap to Renault in the Constructors race.
Renault will be looking to put the disappointing British GP behind them, and keep their second place in the championship secure. The team remains surrounded by contract rumours centralised around Trulli - his Monaco win has been quickly forgotten after a few DNFs and the French GP incident that will live long in Flavio's mind.
Sauber are also on the driver prowl, with no real word on who they'll be fielding next season, as whispers of Fisichella heading to Renault circulate. They'll be hoping that Bridgestone's strong performance run doesn't come unstuck.
Toyota may be buoyed with the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's addition to the team, but that will do little to improve a car that has seen very little in the way of speed on race days, and the teams 8 points attests to that.
Jordan will be hoping for a high rate of attrition as has so often been the case at Hockenheim to gift them more points, whilst Jaguar remain clouded over whether they'll be retaining Mark Webber's services for next year - though it seems assured he'll be racing in green for the rest of 2004. Minardi made the most of a tragic weekend at Silverstone that saw their technical director, John Walton, pass away, and will be hoping for a far brighter outlook come this Sunday.
The FIA has also announced a large number of changes in regulation aimed at reigning in escalating speeds, which are set to come to a head shortly at Monza where Mark Webber estimated the cars could reach 370km/h thanks to slipstreaming.
So once again, here's the place for all the times, quotes and gossip throughout the weekend.
Ferrari goes to Hockenheim needing to score 12 more points than Renault to secure the 2004 Constructors title, 6 rounds before the end of the season. Indeed only BAR and Renault are capable of catching the mighty Maranello as things stand. The drivers situations is barely better - Schumacher, Barrichello, Button, Trulli and Alonso are the only ones left with a mathematical chance. If there has ever been an achille's heel to Schumacher's season it has come at Hockenheim, a statistic the German will be looking to shurg off, much as he did his Silverstone stigma, whilst Rubens will be doing better if he makes it past the first turn - ditto Raikkonen.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has been talking up his team following their return to form in Britain with the new MP4-19B, and the teams have made good use of the weekend off to get into testing again. The offer of one British journalist to run a lap of Silverstone completely naked should McLaren win a round will surely drive them to succeed
Dennis has conceeded catching Renault or BAR will be a challenge, but that McLaren will be carrying the fight to Williams before the season's end.Williams in turn have relegated Marc Gene back to testing duties after two lacklustre races in the FW26. Antonio Pizzonia now gets his chance to impress, alongside the ever cheerful and diplomatic Montoya, who'll have a hard fight to defend his 2003 German GP win.
BAR seem to have slipped a notch from their form earlier in the season, and will be hoping Takuma Sato can finish again to try and help them bridge the gap to Renault in the Constructors race.
Renault will be looking to put the disappointing British GP behind them, and keep their second place in the championship secure. The team remains surrounded by contract rumours centralised around Trulli - his Monaco win has been quickly forgotten after a few DNFs and the French GP incident that will live long in Flavio's mind.
Sauber are also on the driver prowl, with no real word on who they'll be fielding next season, as whispers of Fisichella heading to Renault circulate. They'll be hoping that Bridgestone's strong performance run doesn't come unstuck.
Toyota may be buoyed with the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's addition to the team, but that will do little to improve a car that has seen very little in the way of speed on race days, and the teams 8 points attests to that.
Jordan will be hoping for a high rate of attrition as has so often been the case at Hockenheim to gift them more points, whilst Jaguar remain clouded over whether they'll be retaining Mark Webber's services for next year - though it seems assured he'll be racing in green for the rest of 2004. Minardi made the most of a tragic weekend at Silverstone that saw their technical director, John Walton, pass away, and will be hoping for a far brighter outlook come this Sunday.
The FIA has also announced a large number of changes in regulation aimed at reigning in escalating speeds, which are set to come to a head shortly at Monza where Mark Webber estimated the cars could reach 370km/h thanks to slipstreaming.
So once again, here's the place for all the times, quotes and gossip throughout the weekend.
.But I will expect something from toyota from they're TF104B.
Coulthard did an ok job in my opinion.
