Eight reasons to look forward to the German Grand Prix 2010

German Grand Prix Preview

It's hard to believe that Red Bull could shoot themselves in the foot yet again, but the tension between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will remain strong at Hockenheim. Webber will be out to prove that he does not deserve number-two status in the team whilst Vettel will be aiming to respond to the Silverstone drama with a win in front of his home crowd. In addition to fighting for the championship, both Red Bull drivers have their own personal reasons for wanting to win the German Grand Prix.

The best way to make the races more exciting is to introduce widely different tyre compounds and that is what Bridgestone are doing this weekend. The Japanese company is bringing the ‘super-soft’ and ‘hard’ tyres to Hockenheim, which raises the possibility of a two-stop race. The tyres could create a similar situation to the one in Canada where the race leaders experimented with a variety of strategies. In particular, Red Bull tried something very different by qualifying on the hard tyres, and with tyre degradation not likely to be as harsh this time around, someone might go for a similar tactic once again.

The German Grand Prix will be a special race for the Mercedes as the circuit is not far from the company’s base in Stuttgart. With two local drivers in the team they can expect a lot of hometown support. Schumacher fever used to grip the circuit in the nineties but will likely be less fervent this year. If there was ever a race that either Mercedes driver wanted to win, it’s this one, so the pressure on them and the potential bragging rights are huge.

The confusing driver rotation system at HRT continues in Germany with Sakon Yamamoto replacing Karun Chandhok. Although he will only have an impact on the race when he is being lapped, it will give the battle at the back of the grid some new life. Bruno Senna has a big chance to prove that it was very wrong to drop him at Silverstone.

We are likely to see some close racing this weekend since overtaking is possible at the revised Hockenheim circuit. It was also possible at the old circuit but at least Herman Tilke engineered a great passing zone at the new hairpin. During the last race at the venue in 2008, Hamilton used a series of overtaking manoeuvres at the hairpin to seal a brilliant victory.

Rain is predicted over the weekend on Friday and Saturday. Not only will the wet weather play havoc with the team’s plans for practice, but it could result in a totally mixed grid. The last wet qualifying session was in Malaysia and on that occasion the big teams made a mess of proceedings and had to start the race near the back. Such excitement is possible again this weekend.

Fernando Alonso is a fiery character and will be highly motivated after three consecutive races where he has lost major points through no fault of his own. In Canada he lost the win due to inattentive backmarkers. In Valencia his race was spoiled by the Safety Car, and in Britain he was given a penalty judged by many to be unfair. He has vowed to fight back and there are few drivers more dangerous than an angry Fernando.

There is usually some aggravation on the first lap at Hockenheim as the fast start to the lap can result in carnage. In particular, drivers will approach the hairpin at a variety of speeds on a variety of racing lines, creating the perfect recipe for chaos. Expect to see some broken front wings and some gritty recovery drives again on Sunday.

Posted by Martin Porter. - Follow him on twitter @mpondaweb.

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