Live Commenting: Germany - Free Practice 3
Saturday dawns and F1 teams have but one more opportunity to prepare everything they need for this afternoon’s qualifying session. A short 60 minute session awaits and the circuit webcam suggests the outlook isn’t pretty.
On the driver front, Alonso has said he enjoyed running yesterday in the rain, while Vettel bemoaned the lack of grip the track had to offer. It seems regardless of what the weather throws at Hockenheim McLaren will be up there, while Ferrari appear to be managing the changeable conditions better than they did at Silverstone.
Yesterday showed us some interesting inter-team battles, with Nakajima finishing ten places behind Rosberg and Piquet nine places back from Alonso. Bourdais also will be hoping for better morning running and a chance to catch up with his currently faster teammate.
As this is FP3, and because ITV still can’t comprehend the idea that Formula One has three practice sessions, we’re on the hunt for some active video feeds. Live timing will inevitably be working and more information on following the action this morning can be found on our F1 on the Internet page.
Yell if you’re around, especially if you have visuals of any description.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:43 amAlex Andronov said:
See I meant for those comments on F1 Digest to be over here. But I hadn’t had any coffee… Oh well.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:45 amme said:
talking of which, must get me some, eyes are a little bleary at the moment.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:46 amDank said:
It annoys me that there seems to be no set routine as to when or if FP3 will be covered by Five Live Extra or not. There’s nothing on 5Live Extra until 10.45!
July 19th, 2008 at 9:47 amDom said:
Hey everyone. Looks to me like 5live once again wont be nearing the F1 world this morning. Its getting pretty annoying now.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:50 amme said:
nope. they’re getting worse rather than better. they haven’t done any of practice at all this weekend have they?
better enjoy itv while their still broadcasting!
July 19th, 2008 at 9:52 amAlex Andronov said:
It does worry me about next year. The one thing I do remember from the BBC of old was that while they never cut away to adverts they did sometimes cut away to other sports… Something 5 Live does currently. I really hope that won’t be allowed to happen on the TV. Even if it’s Red Button that’s not good enough because it isn’t easy to record if it’s moving around the place.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:52 amlou said:
Hey everyone
July 19th, 2008 at 9:54 amDank said:
I hadn’t realised that. Was busy doing work related things yesterday and didn’t have time to listen in, or at least attempt to. What a rubbish state of affairs!
July 19th, 2008 at 9:54 amChristine said:
Morning Lou!
July 19th, 2008 at 9:54 amme said:
yep, what’s even more likely is it’ll start off well, and then murray will do well at wimbledon and we’ll lose f1 for two weeks.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:56 amme said:
even in the uk they only covered fp1 and fp3.
July 19th, 2008 at 9:58 amAlex Andronov said:
They have moved the British Grand Prix basically just to accommodate the BBC it would seem so both events aren’t on the same weekend. But I can’t remember if there is another grand prix in it’s place.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:00 amlou said:
Session started and Fisi, Kubica and Vettel are the first out
July 19th, 2008 at 10:00 amAlex Andronov said:
Ah right the French is in the middle of Wimbledon which is okay because there is rarely a match on that Sunday. But there is nothing on Wimbledon Final weekend.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:00 amme said:
wow, i had no idea. bernie is serious about this bbc deal then.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:01 amlou said:
over to autosport live for extra info it is then :/
July 19th, 2008 at 10:01 amDom said:
Live Timing doesn’t seem to want to work for me today, either. I’m gonna be relying on Sidepodcast.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:01 amme said:
wheels appears to be showing nascar sprint but tvlizer is working:
http://www.tvlizer.com/content/view/203/335/
July 19th, 2008 at 10:02 amme said:
tv pics currently showing lewis on an outlap, but we have french commentary
July 19th, 2008 at 10:04 amlou said:
Tvlizer does work, but it’s like watching a series of stills… with sound…
July 19th, 2008 at 10:04 amAlex Andronov said:
I wish Katherine was interested in F1 then I could get her to translate what the Eurosport guys are saying!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:04 amlou said:
you can understand french? fancy translating?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:05 amme said:
schumi joins his team on the pit wall again this morning.
massa killing time in the back of the garage.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:05 amme said:
can you offer her money?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:06 amlou said:
if you refresh the page does it work? sometimes i have to refresh a few times before it works..
July 19th, 2008 at 10:06 amme said:
i heard “jenson” and ummm, that’s it so far
July 19th, 2008 at 10:06 amDank said:
Ok, given I can’t watch nor hear what the bobbins is going on this morning I’m going to make a few predictions to make it more interesting:
Trulli will spin at some point during the practice session. Bourdais will push his STR3 too much and come off (again). Hamilton will top the time-sheet (again).
Call me Mr. Predictable!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:06 amChristine said:
We “have” French commentary. We don’t necessarily understand it.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:07 amme said:
button on track and a practice start from him.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:07 amlou said:
Button and Trulli the only ones out on track
July 19th, 2008 at 10:08 amAlex Andronov said:
I can do that… That means, “Jenson is out on the track again… Good luck Engleeeshman”!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:08 amme said:
haha, trulli did well yesterday, so he is due.
i’m gonna have piquet as the first spinner this morning.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:09 amChristine said:
I understood something! Coulthard’s imminent retirement. We knew that already but… still.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:09 amlou said:
lol
wow! Fastest S2 and S3 for Jenson…. of course at this piont of the session it doesn’t mean much.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:09 amAlex Andronov said:
For first spinner my traditional play is Massa. Unlikely perhaps in a Free Practice. But… Yeah I’ll go for him anyway.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:09 amme said:
lou, have honda changed their cockpit wings this weekend?
they look like mini aircraft wings.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:11 amme said:
the french are suggesting bourdais has low morale. do we think he needs a trulliometer too?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:12 amme said:
williams radio saying rain at 20 mins to the hour. not sure how reliable their weather data is though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:13 amAlex Andronov said:
He has seemed a bit down. Maybe he should have fitted to his radio a push to play bit of audio of Peter Windsor saying that he should have been promoted to Red Bull rather than Vettel.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:14 amlou said:
It’s very probable, in testing they were trying out different nose heights etc. i will have to have a look when i next see one… Haven’t been looking tbh.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:14 amme said:
better tv feed:
http://www.justin.tv/hqtv4
July 19th, 2008 at 10:14 amlou said:
yeah i think they have
July 19th, 2008 at 10:14 amDank said:
BMW said the same would happen in 30 mins er, 10 mins ago. So maybe they’re right!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:14 amChristine said:
For reference, pole position in 2005 was Alonso in a Renault with 1 minute 14.904 seconds.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:16 amlou said:
not for me
…. the sound is also very jumpy… think i will stick with tvlizer.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:18 amme said:
ahh, okay. i think it’s polish so we’re now running french commentary and polish pictures
July 19th, 2008 at 10:18 amChristine said:
Vettel ahead of Hamilton, and Bourdais is right up there too. What happened to the TR’s overnight!?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:18 amAlex Andronov said:
justin works much better for me.
It does sound like the commentators are saying Louise Hamilton. Which makes me laugh almost every time - I’m a man of simple pleasures.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:19 amAlex Andronov said:
I was thinking I didn’t understand much of this at all. My French is bad but not this bad.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:19 amChristine said:
Bourdais is saying he’s got an issue with his brakes.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:20 amme said:
hamilton didn’t jump vettel on that lap, but this one’s looking better. as kovi puts in the fastest s1.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:21 amme said:
coulthard and webber the only men not to have completed a flying lap so far. dc is out there at the moment though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:22 amDank said:
Wouldn’t surprise me if they did quite well this weekend. Their straight-line speed is faster than Red Bull’s around this circuit.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:25 amlou said:
ok, to answer your question after having had a look at various photos on the internet from the British GP and from yesterday/ today they have changed their cockpit wings
July 19th, 2008 at 10:25 amme said:
fastest sectors thus far:
s1: kovi
s2: piquet
s3: kovi
fastest through the speed trap is vettel
July 19th, 2008 at 10:26 amChristine said:
BMWs running way down the timesheets at the moment. Kub in 16th, NH in 14th. Is this traditional BMW sandbagging or are we missing something?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:27 amme said:
do we think it will help them at all?
as massa goes 2nd button is currently 13th, but rubens is last.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:27 amlou said:
oh and adverts for tvlizer…
July 19th, 2008 at 10:28 amlou said:
come on Rubens!
nearly 4 seconds slower than Heikki!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:29 amme said:
kimi not having a stellar morning thus far. 7th while his teammate manages 2nd and he’s currently back in the garage having completed 7 laps.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:31 amlou said:
Heidfeld down in 15th… having problems with warming his tyres again?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:32 amme said:
sutil doing well in 12th at the moment, bourdais 5 tenths off of his teammate and 6 places down.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:33 amChristine said:
Slightly embarrassing Fisichella, isn’t he? There’s home track advantage and then there’s…
July 19th, 2008 at 10:33 amlou said:
Fastest S1 for Vettel.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:34 amme said:
kubica behind him, so it’s probably not that. whatever they’re doing though sees them only ahead of fissi.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:35 amAlex Andronov said:
I’m guessing if it’s looking like rain then it’s again colder than predicted out there. I wonder if there are more drivers than just Nick who are struggling when it’s colder. Perhaps it’s also upsetting Kimi - I can’t quite remember the stats though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:36 amlou said:
The BMWs can’t be struggling that much! 18th and 19th! They have gotta be doing race simulation of something haven’t they?….
July 19th, 2008 at 10:37 amme said:
with so much hard tyre running from the teams, do we think they’re expecting a wet race and thus no need to run the softs?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:37 amme said:
tv pics showing alonso going sideways. no-one spinning as yet though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:38 amChristine said:
One of the team engineery people said that the tyres are very similar, so maybe they feel they only need to work with one?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:39 amme said:
piquet the first to leave the track. kept it pointing the right direction though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:40 amme said:
sounds reasonable enough.
according to williams’ predictions it should be raining.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:42 amme said:
massa on a hot lap, 2 purple sectors.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:45 amChristine said:
Trulli and Glock also doing particularly badly this session - obviously taken with a pinch of salt. But Glock is ahead of Trulli at the moment.
Although, from Nakajima in 12th to the back of the field, the difference is only six tenths.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:48 amme said:
kubica was going slowly there, crawls into the pitlane.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:48 amme said:
kubica says the car is pulling to one side.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:49 amlou said:
Is it too late to take Kubica out of my Fantasy racers?
July 19th, 2008 at 10:50 amme said:
haha
only four cars ontrack as we head into the last 10mins.
lewis, rubens, jenson and jarno.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:51 amlou said:
woooo where did that come from? Button 6th, bet it wont last..
July 19th, 2008 at 10:51 amlou said:
thats a stressed Kubica
July 19th, 2008 at 10:51 amDom said:
Button goes up to 6th.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:52 amme said:
i didn’t catch what tyre he was on?
good going though.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:53 amme said:
as rubens pits.
hamilton setting personal bests, but not matching massa. until the last sector when he goes purple.
first front runner on the softs.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:54 amlou said:
Hard tyre i think. I didn’t spot a white stripe… but then my picture isn’t the best….
July 19th, 2008 at 10:55 amme said:
lewis gets all tangled up into the last corner. the french commentators enjoyed that!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:55 amChristine said:
Sounds like Glock may be having gear troubles.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:56 amlou said:
Alonso down in 15th while Piquet is up in 7th..
July 19th, 2008 at 10:57 amlou said:
Kovi goes fastest!
July 19th, 2008 at 10:57 amme said:
remaining three minutes and massa is making the soft compound work. by kovi jumps him for p1.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:57 amChristine said:
Kovalainen P1 despite a quick grass visit.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:58 amme said:
blimey. can alonso respond?
times are all over the place. only kubica remains in the garage.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:58 amlou said:
What’s up with Kimi? He doesn’t seem to be able to Match Massa’s pace… Kimi now down to 7th.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:59 amme said:
sutil spins
July 19th, 2008 at 10:59 amlou said:
Just Kubica in the pits now….
July 19th, 2008 at 10:59 amme said:
sutil gets going again, but the yellow flags will ruin some late fast runs.
he does this a lot doesn’t he?
July 19th, 2008 at 11:01 amlou said:
Christine i hate to say it, but i think you may have jinxed Kimi.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:02 amChristine said:
So, who for pole then? Kovi or Hamilton?
July 19th, 2008 at 11:03 amChristine said:
But I also have Kovi.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:03 amme said:
so mclaren finish ontop, but it wasn’t lewis doing the driving. massa does well to hang on in 2nd, but kimi in 9th??
practice starts for everyone again.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:04 amlou said:
he can spin as many times as he like in practise just as long as he doesn’t cause a yellow flag in Q3 and ruin Jenson’s lap.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:04 amme said:
thanks everyone, we’ll be back with a qually thread in just over one hour.
now time for some lunch
July 19th, 2008 at 11:05 amlou said:
good piont.
maybe you can only bring good luck to one fin 
I have Kovi too. 
I just hope he gets pole. 
July 19th, 2008 at 11:07 amlou said:
Lunch at 11am?
July 19th, 2008 at 11:28 amScott Woodwiss said:
My laptop came back yesterday!
Means I’ll be here for qualifying.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:32 amme said:
you gotta fit life around f1.
already? nice one.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:32 amScott Woodwiss said:
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/108015
promotional work I’d actually want to do
July 19th, 2008 at 11:33 amlou said:
ah i see. i often make myself a sandwich or something just before and eat it during the build up.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:33 amScott Woodwiss said:
yeah, i couldn’t believe it myself. went off on tuesday and came back yesterday. now that’s customer service! my speakers still broken, but then i didn’t tell them about that. i was going to but forgot.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:34 amScott Woodwiss said:
From what I’ve heard on the F1 Digest show and on autosport.com, it’s looking like Macca’s weekend again! YAY!
July 19th, 2008 at 11:35 amme said:
come rain, come shine they’re looking pretty damn good.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:35 amScott Woodwiss said:
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/108136
Practice starts in front of the crowd? cool!
July 19th, 2008 at 11:38 amScott Woodwiss said:
I had a quick flick through the latest autosport on thursday and it did say about the next 4 races and how crucial they were. Hockenheim is neutral since it’s had a year off, but McLaren looks like it’s theirs this weekend. Hungary and Valencia are tipped as McLaren circuits also, but Spa seems to favour the Ferrari with it’s high-speed changes of direction - Kimi country
July 19th, 2008 at 11:38 amlou said:
did any of you see the thank you message from rubens on Honda racing TV. That guy is so nice
July 19th, 2008 at 11:40 amlou said:
Massa was looking pretty quick in FP3. As for Kimi… well he could be sandbagging….
July 19th, 2008 at 11:49 amAlianora La Canta said:
I am currently uploading the latest practise-qualifying-race comparitor onto drop.io.
Its up-to-the-minute (well, up to the last practise session) prediction for the top 6 grid is:
Hamilton-Massa
Kovalainen-Alonso
Raikkonen-Rosberg/Vettel