2006 MOBIL 1 GERMAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Hockenheim is the host venue for round 12 of the 2006 FIA
Formula 1 World Championship, the Mobil 1 German Grand Prix.
Following the French Grand Prix nine days ago, Team McLaren
Mercedes travelled to Jerez for a four day test with Kimi
Raikkonen, Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett all in attendance.
The race, which is sponsored for the 16th consecutive year
by Team McLaren Mercedes Technology Partner ExxonMobil, is
the second home event of the season for Mercedes-Benz. With
their headquarters located just an hours drive away in Stuttgart,
a few thousand Mercedes-Benz employees will attend the Grand
Prix at Hockenheim to watch the Team McLaren Mercedes drivers
Kimi and Pedro in action. Many of them will be on the Mercedes
grandstand and enjoy an entertaining programme comprising
interviews and autograph sessions with all Team McLaren Mercedes
drivers and all Mercedes-Benz DTM drivers, live music an the
show stage and pit stop competitions. All ticket holders for
the Mercedes grandstand will get a free pocket radio to listen
to the practice, qualifying and race commentary by five-times
DTM and ITC champion Bernd Schneider.
The German Grand Prix was introduced to the sport in 1951
and originally took place at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Paying occasional visits to the Avus track and Hockenheim
over the years, the latter became the permanent base for the
German Grand Prix in 1977, with the exception of 1985 which
saw the race return to Nürburgring for a year.
When Team McLaren Mercedes driver Mika Hakkinen won the 1998
German Grand Prix, the most recent Team McLaren Mercedes victory
at Hockenheim, he finished just 0.427 seconds ahead of his
team mate David Coulthard. It was the closest finish in the
history of the German race.
McLaren secured its first victory at the event in 1976 with
James Hunt at the wheel in a year that saw him become FIA
Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion. Including this maiden
victory, the team has won the German Grand Prix a total of
six times.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"Our car has definitely been improving over the last
few races, and we had another productive test in Jerez last
week as the development process on the MP4-21 continues. Hopefully
when we get to Germany we will be able to make the most of
this on track. Since the changes were made to the Hockenheimring,
it is now more about slow and medium speed corners than all
out speed. As a result, it is really important to have good
traction on the exits of corners to make sure you find the
speed you need on the short straights in between. Also, this
cornering means the brakes are put under quite a bit of pressure
so we will run with bigger brake ducts than normal and for
sure braking stability is key. I hope that following a result
that was not what we were looking for in France, we are able
to go to Germany and put on a great race for all the Mercedes-Benz
employees and fans that will be at the track for the weekend,
they are always very supportive so I hope they will get to
see a good result for the team."
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"It was great to be back racing in France, and I am really
looking forward to getting back out there again in Germany
this weekend. The car felt quick, and hopefully we will demonstrate
that a bit better at Mercedes-Benz's home race. I last drove
at Hockenheim in 2002, so I have been on the revised layout.
It is now more of a high downforce track, but you do need
a compromise on the set-up to ensure you can challenge for
position on the track by being quick on the straights. For
overtaking, one of the best places would be between corners
two and three, so the exit speed of turn two is very important.
There always seem to be exciting races here in Germany, and
I am really looking forward to racing for the first time in
front of the home crowd for Mercedes-Benz as a Team McLaren
Mercedes driver. The noise that comes from the Mercedes-Benz
Grandstand is fantastic and I hope we can give them something
to cheer about this weekend! We had a productive test last
week at Jerez, with the test break we did a lot of work on
tyres for the next three races with Michelin and also continued
the development programme of the MP4-21, and I am interested
to see how the car will now perform at Hockenheim."
MARTIN WHITMARSH, CEO FORMULA 1, TEAM McLAREN MERCEDES
"France demonstrated that the MP4-21 has moved forward
with regards pace, with Team McLaren Mercedes posting the
fastest two times of the Michelin runners. We have completed
the final test before the August break, with the next session
scheduled to take place from Tuesday 29th August. There was
a big focus at the test on work with Michelin to ensure we
go to Germany with a more competitive range of tyre choices.
The track demands a high downforce configuration, and the
MP4-21 ran well in this environment at Monaco and hopefully
that will be a good indication of performance in Germany this
weekend."
NORBERT HAUG, VICE PRESIDENT, MERCEDES-BENZ MOTORSPORT
"Hockenheim is a very special Grand Prix for the team
and certainly the busiest one. We expect 6500 spectators on
the Mercedes grandstand. We will offer them a particularly
entertaining programme with maximum benefit at no extra cost.
Of course our focus is on what happens on the track and we
aim for a good result in our home race. We made more progress
during intensive tests at Jerez last week; at Magny-Cours,
we posted the fastest lap of the Michelin teams and our race
speed was amongst the best of the Michelin runners. However,
we have to manage to start from the first two rows on the
grid, this is the only way to turn this pace into the positions
we expect.”
USEFUL STATISTICS
Mobil 1 German Grand Prix McLaren Team McLaren Mercedes Kimi
Pedro
Circuit length 4.411km Race starts 607 197 98 65
2.842 miles Race wins 148 44 9 -
Race distance 306.458km Pole Positions 122 43 9 -
190.433 miles Points 3112.5 1211 324 12
Laps 67 Podiums 390 137 34 -
Inaugural race 1951 Fastest Laps 129 59 18 1
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