After one year break German Grand Prix returns to the Formula 1 calendar. Well there was F1 race in Germany last year at Nurburgring - but called the European GP (called European due to the dispute over the German GP name ownership). This year the race is back at Hockenheim with its proper name.

The German GP kicks off the second half of 2008 F1 season. We have 3 drivers tied at the top at 48 points and 4th is only 2 points behind.

Testing at Hockenheim last week did not reveal much about what to expect from the teams coming weekend. Two more teams tried out the shark fin engine cover. Unlike their predecessors however neither Toyota nor McLaren plan to use it this weekend in Germany.

Two years ago the weather during the German GP weekend was extremely hot. This is something that Ferrari team would prefer again for this year. Quick check of weather forecasts for the area however suggests the weather to be cool, barely reaching 20 degrees Celsius. And yes, there are chances of rain again. These would be conditions that may favour McLaren and also may help BMW Sauber to close the gap to Ferrari. Both Massa and Raikkonen would probably want the clouds to stay away after their Silverstone experience.

Kimi Raikkonen is a special driver when it comes to racing in Germany. Out of his 9 races (Nurburgring and Hockenheim) he only finished 2 - both in 2006. The most spectacular retirement was probably his tyre failure back in 2005 (Nurburgring) on the last lap, while leading the race. But Ferrari finished 1-2 (Schumacher, Massa) in the last F1 race on Hockenheim track in 2006 ahead of … Kimi Raikkonen (see below).

The German GP is home race for 5 drivers - Nick Heidfeld, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg (see the last 2 in the preview video).

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F1Wolf

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Hm, so Michael Schumacher decided to retire to save Felipe Massa’s job … I am not sure if this is true or not but that is what is in the news today:

“I stopped because I didn’t want my friend Felipe Massa to be unemployed. I would have had no problem going up against Kimi Raikkonen.”

Several F1 sites report that Schumi said this in interview with Swiss paper Blick. I tried to see if some webtranslator would do the trick and help me to locate the original article but I failed. It may be in Blick but I haven’t found it yet.

But if this really is true, should we now detest little Felipe or be grateful to him ?

F1Wolf

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Again we look back at colors of the F1 past. After the 2006 team liveries, here is look at what the race drivers of 2006 were wearing:

Alonso, Fisichella - Renault

Raikkonen, Montoya, De La Rosa - McLaren Mercedes

M. Schumacher, Massa - Ferrari

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f1wolf

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