Nico Hulkenberg has with his third starting position for the Grand Prix to the 70-year anniversary of the formula 1, the story of qualifying in Silverstone (formula 1 2020 live in the Ticker!) written. “Last week, the High to be back, and then the low blow on Sunday. That was very extreme,” he says. And only nine days after in a Cologne café, his cell phone rang, he explains the virtually connected world press in the Top 3 PK at Silverstone in his Qualifying round.
On the Pole Position for Hulkenberg were missing 0,928 seconds. The accounted for the two Mercedes drivers. In the first Q3 Run, Hamilton was still 0,116 seconds in front of Bottas. You disputed with the softer Soft tyres. Faster this weekend, but the slightly harder medium, which drove Hamilton and Bottas in the second Run.
And with whom it was a true Thriller for the Pole. After eight mini-sectors, the two head-to-head, separated by exactly 0.001 seconds. In the second TV-between time, Bottas was already 0,078 seconds. Ultimately, it was 0,063 seconds, the decided for the Finns and against the British local hero.
“He was just a bit too fast for me. My first round was quite good, but the second was not so spectacular,” says Hamilton. Bottas hovers, however, on cloud nine. To beat Hamilton in his specialist discipline of the Qualifying in Silverstone, the coaxed out of the otherwise often cool Finns more euphoric “Yes, Yes, Yes” on the pit radio.
Hulkenberg admits: “P3 is a Surprise,”
Hulkenberg, however, acts in spite of his much-lauded performance, in whole left, when he says: “I was pretty sure that we can make it in the Top 10. But third place is, of course, a Surprise.” And grins a bit when he says: “The last seven or eight days were a little crazy.”
he had made in Q2 “life hard”, as he drove in Beckett’s hard as a rock on the edge of the stones. There, before Daniil Kwjat (16 had.) the floor smashed. “A critical Moment”, feared ‘ORF’-expert Alexander Wurz in the Live commentary, because Hulkenberg was still not sure by Q2. But he kept his nerve and did the same again.
he managed in Q3. After the first Run he was still behind Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) in fourth place. Ricciardo drove in both Runs on the Medium. Hulkenberg attacked at the end with Soft and improves on P3. “Is not a reason to celebrate”, he is dismissive. The points will only be distributed in the race. “And I respect that, to be honest, a little bit.”
“he is the Best of the Rest”, and Max Verstappen makes his Comeback to the Sensation. Verstappen drove in the first Q3 Run with the Medium, had the feeling that the tire does not come in the first sector quickly enough to temperature. With the Soft, he overtook, although Ricciardo, but missed the Hulkenberg-time 0,094 seconds.
Verstappen set to race on a risk strategy and starts as the only Top-10 candidate on the Hard. According to Toto Wolff is not necessarily an advantage: “If things get stupid, he loses at the Start a couple of positions. Then it will be difficult, because it can also be undercuttet of the drivers behind him.”
Wolff: Verstappens strategy, no advantage
“The only real advantage you have: If the tire lasts a long time, you can go on a one-stop. Or if you stay out and the Safety Car comes. For me, the quite outsider strategies. But you know, you are in the back, so you have to leave a bit of the dice roll. Maybe it goes in your direction,” says the Mercedes team boss.
the game room to let the dice roll, no longer has Sebastian Vettel been in a long time. He was shaking as 14. through Q1, with 0,270 seconds buffer on Kwjat. In Q2 Terminus was then, though he moved differently than the other riders – for the second Run of Medium to Soft. Finally, 0,193 seconds were missing on the Top-10-time of Lando Norris (McLaren).
On Boxing radio had a Vettel almost tearful, as he reported to his race engineer: “That was all I had. Everything put in this car. I tried. Thank you.” He knows: “I’m honestly very happy with my round. I do not believe that there is still a lot of air. I am of course not satisfied with twelfth place. But that was today for me.”
What leads to prompt speculation that Vettel’s Ferrari could otherwise be tuned, as by Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque was in Q2 to four-tenths of a seconds faster and ended up in Q3 in P8. Too little – but the edge on Vettel throughout the weekend was great. Too large, as some find.
‘ORF’expert Wurz would have liked to see in the TV Interviews “the question […] how his car compared to the car of team-mates is. […] It would be interesting to know whether there is a difference. Or if it’s just his form on the day and the Ferrari’s, the accounts for the six-tenths to his team mate.”
pressure on Albon grows and grows,
Who also increasingly have difficulty explaining, Alexander Albon. For its conditions, the Q3 is-enter with a half-second behind Verstappen to be a success. For Red Bull, ninth place may not be enough. It had caught him almost in Q3, when he, at 18. Body lying a second Time and had to move out.
In Q2 Albon complained about “under-steer in the center of the Curve”, but managed to sound the Cut. In Q3, he ended up behind Pierre Gasly (7./AlphaTauri), and a Leclerc, but against Norris. This package P6: Lance Stroll, completely overshadowed by team-mate Hulkenberg. “I had to. Was not my best Qualifying session.”
in addition to the “Big Names” Vettel and Carlos Sainz (13./McLaren) caught it in Q2 also Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman was four-tenths of a second slower than Ricciardo, even though Ricciardo had to even rotate no second round to make the Cut. “The distance between the two cars is not normal. We need to look at carefully,” grumbles Ocon.
he slips in the starting line-up even of P11 to P14, because he stood in Q1 George Russell (Williams) in the way. Russell tried in Q2, as all the ausrückten on Medium to land a Coup – and was to Soft for a Surprise. The did not succeed but. Ultimately, he was 15., 0,201 seconds behind Romain Grosjean (14./Haas).
In the last row, the two Alfa Romeos are. Kimi Raikkonen lost the stable duel to 0,060 seconds. Kevin Magnussen in the second, Haas was 17. He says: “I can’t actually explain why we are this weekend, so slowly. Last week, it was different. Between me and Romain seven-tenths seconds. Normally it looks different.”
This article written was by Christian
*The post “F1 Silverstone 2020: Bottas take full crack Hamilton, Sensation by Hulkenberg!” is published by Motorsport-Total.com. Contact with the executives here.
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