1997/98 German GP Preview

Hockenheim. Certainly the circuit that brings the very best out of the engineers - and the one that puts the marshalls into biggest trouble during practice. The comletely unliked second chicane is the point that all fears and hopes are formed about. In qualifying, a driver needs at least one lap with a clean, flat-out drive through that part to have a chance on pole position. In the race, it will be the point were most drivers will loose their time compared to drivers to whom the technique of passing it safely at maximum speed has become second nature to. Michal Janak is definately one of the latter - for those in doubt, just look at his lap record below.

With last season's emergence of a new set-up that uses more downforce and thereby making the car somewhat more predictable, it's now likely that it becomes the base for most drivers' race set-up. A result of this should be that the race will see a closer finish than it was the case last year: apart from the fact that many drivers retired early, the gaps between the finishers were rather measured in minutes than seconds.