The German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring this weekend represents the halfway stage in the 2009 F1 World Championship and, some predict, could similarly mark a turning of the tide in the pecking order – with Brawn GP needing to battle back from a below-par performance at Silverstone last time out and pursuers Red Bull Racing firing on all cylinders and clearly revved up for the fight.
Notwithstanding his low-key Silverstone showing in front of his adoring home fans, Jenson Button arrives at the Eifel Mountains circuit with a commanding 23-point advantage over Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello in the chase for the coveted crown, and the Mercedes-powered BGP 001 is expected to be well-suited to the Nürburgring – though should the low temperatures experienced in Britain re-occur in Germany, as they are prone to doing, the Anglo-Brazilian pairing could find themselves struggling to heat their tyres up again, potentially placing the ball back in RBR's side of the court.
Whilst both Button and Barrichello have good past records at the track – with the São Paulista triumphing in 2002 in addition to achieving four further podiums, and both ascending the rostrum in 2004 – the momentum is undoubtedly on Red Bull's side at present, with Sebastian Vettel having set pole position for the past two grands prix in succession in Turkey and Britain, and having sped to an unchallenged victory at Silverstone to trample all over Button's dreams of glory on home turf. This time around, it is the Heppenheim native who has the weight of expectation of his partisan supporters upon his shoulders – and he is determined to satisfy their desires to re-ignite the title fight and kick-start the second half of the season firmly into life.
Arguably the form man of the moment, the sport's youngest-ever grand prix-winner may never have competed at the Nürburgring in F1, but Red Bull appeared to take a genuine step forward last time out at the celebrated 'Home of British Motor Racing', thanks in no small part to the development of the double-level diffuser brought to Adrian Newey's RB5. Mark Webber too is ready – nay, desperate – to finally win after no fewer than 129 starts in the top flight, and the Australian has invariably performed well at the Nürburgring, finishing on the podium two years ago, scoring back-to-back points finishes for Jaguar in 2003 and 2004 and qualifying third for Williams a year later still. The man from Queanbeyan is overdue a maiden grand prix victory – and given a change of luck, that breakthrough success will surely soon come.
Behind the top two, Ferrari look to have stepped up a gear to be 'best-of-the-rest' on recent form, and Felipe Massa in particular has traditionally shown well at the Nürburgring, finishing up on the podium in both 2006 and 2007 and setting fastest lap to-boot on the latter occasion, only ceding victory to the irresistible McLaren-Mercedes of double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso four laps from home. The Brazilian's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, for his part, set pole position last time F1 visited the circuit two years ago, only to drop out with hydraulics failure just past the halfway mark. Despite similarly storming to the top spot in qualifying in 2003, the Finn has yet to take the chequered flag any higher than third there.
Toyota and Williams can similarly expect to be solidly amongst the points challengers, with one eye on the podium should things go their way. Both Timo Glock for the former and Nico Rosberg for the latter will be on home ground, whilst Jarno Trulli has three times finished inside the points at the Nürburgring – with a highlight of second place, his maiden F1 rostrum, back in 1999 – and Kazuki Nakajima seemed to take a real step forward at Silverstone, even if the young Japanese ace would prove to be out of luck on race day.
Alonso can likely be counted upon to haul his underperforming Renault up into the front half of the starting grid to maintain his unbroken run of top ten qualifying positions thus far in 2009, whilst home hero Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica at BMW-Sauber will merely be hoping that the F1.09 allows them to battle for respectability as the Bavarian manufacturer's season disintegrates slowly before its eyes. Much the same can be said for Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren, with the former having endured a nightmare on his only previous outing at the Nürburgring at the highest level, crashing heavily when his front right wheel flew off in qualifying in 2007 and narrowly missing out on snatching the final point on race day – ironically being denied by the man who is now his team-mate.
At the rear of the order, meanwhile, Force India – for whose predecessor Spyker Markus Winkelhock sensationally led the opening stages of the 2007 event courtesy of an inspired tyre gamble from the team's then technical guru Mike Gascoyne – will be bidding to build on the solid progress it has made of late, with Adrian Sutil benefitting from local knowledge and support, and Silverstone star Giancarlo Fisichella having four times finished inside the top six at the Nürburgring. Scuderia Toro Rosso, finally – who look to have inherited FIF1's traditional wooden spoon mantle – will merely be hoping for the famously unpredictable Eifel weather to do its worst to give the Red Bull 'junior' concern any chance of turning its abject 2009 campaign around...in much the same way as its big brother will be striving to belatedly turn the title chase on its head at the other end of the field.
Crash.net's Tip for the Top: Sebastian Vettel
Crash.net's One to Watch: Timo Glock
