TRACKSIDE VIEW
Hockenheim is half the track it used to be (well, 67% to be precise). But while the long straights into the forest have been reclaimed by nature, in the imposing stadium section you can’t help but be impressed by what is officially called Das Motodrom.
With the relatively sparse Friday FP2 crowd clustered in the top few rows of the grandstands, making the most of the little shade available, the session is spent watching at Turn 13, the Sachskurve. This is a banked left-hand hairpin, which leads almost immediately into a leftright flick that takes drivers into the final double right.
Even in practice, it’s a busy section of track in more ways than one. At times, traffic jams emerge as drivers back up at the end of slow laps, both to make space for flying laps and to allow the rears to cool having spent the rest of the lap trying to keep the fronts in the temperature window. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves a few cars back in the queue must slow to a crawl, while Fernando Alonso runs wide out of Sachskurve and has a lurid sideways moment on the exit going around a touring Haas.
Later, Max Verstappen’s quick lap is compromised by having to pass the cruising Lewis Hamilton.
But it’s also busy if you have the place to yourself. The corners come in rapid-fire and a mistake in one can compromise what follows. That’s particularly true of the left/ right flick, as those getting it a little wrong can end up off-line for the double right and compromise their exit as well as corner speed.
Watching at the exit of the Sachskurve, which allows you to look directly across the corner to the entry, you can see the stunning braking ability of the modern F1 car. But what really stands out is the variety of approaches on entry. A couple of cars really impress.
One is the Red Bull, which is no surprise, but the Haas looks beautifully balanced too.
Many drivers don’t take a geometric apex here thanks to the camber and radius of the corner, but both Haas men soon realise they can dive straight for a tight apex and the front end responds.
Others who try this too aggressively can end up running wide. Several drivers have moments here, including Sergey Sirotkin and Kimi Raikkonen, who goes too deep and ends up scrabbling around the corner wide and sideways.
How Sebastian Vettel would, at the same spot two days later, wish he could have done the same having overcommitted in damp conditions. That’s what happens if you underestimate Das Motodrom.