Schumacher on the dirty side
Ferrari looked a touch peeved at being unable to crack the hard McLaren nut in Germany today. Clandestine conversations with tyre men and a good deal of covert head scratching couldn't secure pole, but it's very close at the top and on current starting form Michael Schumacher's second place is looking just about as good as Raikkonen's pole
"It was very close between the top drivers," said the world champion. "I think it should be interesting tomorrow. I made a slight mistake when I locked up a front wheel, which could easily have robbed me of pole."
With the gap from first to second just about registering on the scale, at 0.032s, the emphasis in the race falls on strategy rather than pure performance. "In terms of strategy I think we have made the right decision," said Schumacher. "I think our laptimes will be good tomorrow."
Winner in 2002, Rubens Barrichello, struggled in comparison but secured fifth place in the sister Ferrari. The Brazilian will start on the well-used 'clean' side of the track, however, an advantage according to Schumacher: "In some ways I would have been happier with third," he said, "because being second on the inside line is a bit dirtier and I could lose out a little bit."
It was a spectacularly competitive session, and one which Ferrari top brass was pleased to flag up as evidence that it's previous domination of the championship will by no means result in a walkover in 2003.
"It was a fantastic battle for pole," said sporting director Jean Todt. "It is a testimony to the current high level of competition between the top teams, even though there is a question mark over the different fuel levels in the cars. Right from the start of the weekend we have seen how little there is to choose between the main protagonists in the championship.
"Tomorrow's race should be very closely contested and reliability and strategy will be the key points."
Wolff: Mercedes bounced "from depression to exuberance" in "painful" F1 season
Toto Wolff says the ranging emotions through Mercedes’ Formula 1 season so far has been “painful” at times, bouncing from “depression to exuberance” through its 2022 car struggles.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
Lundgaard: Vettel could expect “tough transition” to IndyCar
Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard said that four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel would face a hard task adapting to the demands of IndyCar if he wished to make the switch.
Binotto exclusive: "Each single day" is difficult in F1 but Ferrari is united
It’s fair to say the 2022 Formula 1 season has delivered both the best of times and the worst of times for Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid