Formula 1 2010: Round 5 Spain

frostie500

Formula 1 returns after a three week break this weekend, with the Circuit de Catalonya hosting the Spanish Grand Prix.

Traditionally this race has tended to be pivotal to the outcome of the world championship as teams debut major developments on their cars. Ross Brawn, team manager for Mercedes, illustrates the optimism of the teams. “The start of the European season is the first opportunity to make significant changes to the car and the Spanish Grand Prix will see the first step in our development programme. We look forward to evaluating the impact on our pace whilst remaining conscious that this is very much a first step in improving our competitiveness.”

Each team will have major aerodynamic upgrades on their cars and a true picture of the form for the remainder of the season will begin to take shape. Red Bull has dominated qualifying this season with its one lap pace leading to pole position at every race thus far. The team however has struggled in races to turn their low fuel speed advantage into victories. Speculation has been rife as to the reasons for their low fuel pace, most linking the team to ride height control systems, but it will be interesting to see if they can maintain the advantage now that their opposition will bring new development parts to each race weekend.

The Circuit:

As a result of the new packages this has the potential to be a very telling race as to what to expect for the rest of the year. No circuit places a greater level of importance in aerodynamics than Barcelona. With a mixture of fast corners, slow corners and a 1km straight where cars can reach speeds of 200mph teams face great challenges to achieve the required balance in their cars. Drivers need to have as little aerodynamic drag as possible; drag is the limiting factor in the top speed achievable by a car. However they also need to allow the driver to have sufficient grip in the corners to have the confidence to push the car as hard as possible.

Weather for the Spanish Grand Prix:

The other factor that teams need to concern themselves with is the weather. The conditions are generally very pleasant in Spain at this time of year with clear skies and high temperatures and the forecast for this weekend is for more of the same with a 20% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday and temperature in the region of 20 degrees come the start of the race, making this a great race for spectators but it could create issues for the teams with their cars.

The high temperatures make tyre degradation an issue for the drivers. Barcelona loads up the left front tyre for prolonged period of the lap and also has quite an abrasive surface. When this is mixed with high temperatures drivers can have problems nursing their tyres to the finish and require additional pitstops to the one stop race expected. For each stop a driver will need a window of 20 seconds to their rival.

This season the Red Bull has had a tendency to wear their tyres out faster than rival teams and this could be the chink in the armour for Ferrari and McLaren to exploit. The Ferrari’s have been very kind on its tyres and with Fernando Alonso racing in front of his home fans he should be supremely motivated to add to his season opening victory in Bahrain. Championship leader Jenson Button has also shown the ability to nurse his tyres efficiently and this could set him in good stead for this weekend.

Statistics for this race:

Qualifying is even more crucial here than at other venues, the driver on pole position has gone on to win 15 times since 1991 and has been the victor for each of the last nine years. Only Michael Schumacher in the wet of 1996 has won from off the front of the grid, and even then he qualified third on the grid. As a result it is pivotal for a driver to qualify at the sharp end of the field if they are to challenge for victory.

What to expect:

The expectation will be for Red Bull to once more have the fastest car over a single qualifying lap but with the team possibly marginal on tyre wear an intriguing fight for victory could ensue if a Ferrari or McLaren can qualify alongside one of the Red Bulls on the front row of the grid. This race will tell us exactly where each team stands, and also what work they will need to do over the summer.

BBC Schedule:
Fri 7 May Practice 1 0900-1030
Practice 2 1300-1430
Sat 8 May Practice 3 1000-1100
Qualifying 1300
Sun 9 May Race 1300


Past Winners:
2009 Jenson Button Brawn
2008 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
2007 Felipe Massa Ferrari
2006 Fernando Alonso Renault
2005 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren
2004 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2003 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2002 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2001 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
2000 Mika Hakkinen McLaren
1999 Mika Hakkinen McLaren
1998 Mike Hakkinen McLaren
1997 Jaques Villeneuve Williams
1996 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
1995 Michael Schumacher Bennetton
1994 Damon Hill Williams
1993 Alain Prost Williams
1992 Nigel Mansell Williams
1991 Gerard Berger McLaren

lord lucan

China seems ages ago now. I'll be interested to see what improvements Mercedes make to Schumi's car as alluded to in China. And as noted in the article above,it'll be interesting to see how the Red Bulls fare against the rest of the field with various improvements being made to the cars. Ferrari have been distinctly unimpressive so far,they need some improvements to the car rapidly.

EvilMonkey

lord lucan wrote: »

China seems ages ago now. I'll be interested to see what improvements Mercedes make to Schumi's car as alluded to in China. And as noted in the article above,it'll be interesting to see how the Red Bulls fare against the rest of the field with various improvements being made to the cars. Ferrari have been distinctly unimpressive so far,they need some improvements to the car rapidly.

Ferrari have been quick in most of the races, not great in qualifying. Their problem is they keep ****ing up. Alonso would have been on the podium in China possibly a win if he didn't jump start. The disasters in qualifying and engine trouble is costing them.

Massa should have a new chassie and we might get to see Ferraris F-duct/blown rear wing in spain.

Strategy is where there are really struggling in recent years its masked by there pace but in changeable conditions they suffer poor calls and indecisiveness. They have been like that since Brawn left.

Is rain forecast for Spain on Sunday? :eek:

frostie500

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Is rain forecast for Spain on Sunday? :eek:

I meant to put into my post that there is a 20% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday according to local weather, the expectation is for clear skies and temperature in the region of 20 degrees

Grim.

looking forward to this very interested to see what changes lotus will have made aswell as merc

Cookie_Monster

I like that the track diagram above shows the racing line, never noticed that before

EDIT: looking at the China thread, it didn't

frostie500

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I like that the track diagram above shows the racing line, never noticed that before

Yeah its a bit nicer with it isnt it

amacachi

I remember when I was a kid designing my own tracks I'd always put the racing line in. :pac:

frostie500

The FIA have allowed Ferrari to make changes to their engines after a spate of early season failures and problems for both Ferrari and customer team Sauber. Its good to see the FIA allowing this to occur as the last anyone wants is for a team to be hampered by a poor batch of engines that cost it a chance of the title

Grim.

frostie500 wrote: »

The FIA have allowed Ferrari to make changes to their engines after a spate of early season failures and problems for both Ferrari and customer team Sauber. Its good to see the FIA allowing this to occur as the last anyone wants is for a team to be hampered by a poor batch of engines that cost it a chance of the title

good to see

btw has torro roso had an engine failure yet? cant recall one

frostie500

Grim. wrote: »

has torro roso had an engine failure yet? cant recall one

None for them thus far but in light of the works team and Sauber's failures you'd have to think it would only have been a matter of time until one

EvilMonkey

Hopefully the "reliability" upgrade will result in a boost in performance.

Grim.

lendrew1

Grim. wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R89oERKCaU

Grim.

lendrew1 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R89oERKCaU

aye two of them in that vid :P

still interesting to see how the car improves though

sham69

Was/Am expecting the red bulls to be fastest come Saturday.
Looks like that new chassis is working for Schumacher possibly at the expense of Nico, early days though.
Don't think the weather is that great in Spain with the possibility of rain..
Looking forward to the race on Sunday.

Grim.

fp 2 about to start now

Grim.

why is eddie in the box ruining my enjoyment of practice

TheVoid

betafrog wrote: »

Interesting first practice...

1 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.134
21
2 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.672 0.538 14
3 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:21.716 0.582 12
4 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:22.011 0.877 27
5 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:22.026 0.892 22
6 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:22.070 0.936 19
7 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:22.202 1.068 22
8 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:22.258 1.124 19
9 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:22.397 1.263 23
10 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:22.492 1.358 26
11 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:22.588 1.454 24
12 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:22.975 1.841 22
13 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:23.030 1.896 21
14 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:23.110 1.976 31
15 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:23.284 2.150 19
16 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:23.312 2.178 22
17 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:23.471 2.337 20
18 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:25.329 4.195 17
19 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:26.244 5.110 20
20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.340 5.206 23
21 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:26.694 5.560 24
22 20 Christian Klien HRT-Cosworth 1:27.250 6.116 26
23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:27.752 6.618 27
24 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari No time
3

Good to see Schumacher making an impression finally, but I wonder if this will be at the expense of Nico Rosberg

hm but lets wait for the qualifing the practises dont mean much and didnt meant much in the past few races. i hope button will be better than hamilton after qualifing...
[IMG]http://2.s01.****/count/X1h/bg=FFFFFF/txt=FFFFFF/border=FFFFFF/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/pageviews=0[/IMG]

Frank Bullitt

Could see the Ferrari drivers with a black padded glove on their left hand,they were pressing it against the cockpit wall along the straights.

god's toy

Is the BBC red button running full screen today? cant make it so on my Humax Box for some reason.

vectra

god's toy wrote: »

Is the BBC red button running full screen today? cant make it so on my Humax Box for some reason.

Was for me anyhow on my Humax

god's toy

Yep watching the replay now it's in full screen alright but the live was within a box... perhaps it was just my box being funny

mickdw

Hope schumacher has a good result in quali. Certainly looks alot better in first 2 practice sessions

vectra

mickdw wrote: »

Hope schumacher has a good result in quali. Certainly looks alot better in first 2 practice sessions

+1
Would love to see him in a proper battle at the front through the race :pac:

Charlie-Bravo

Setanta Ireland doing a reverse of the old RTE trick with David Kennedy analysis over the phone...donkeys. Still better than Legard though.:D

amacachi

Feel free to post updates guys, stuck in college and the ****ty computers won't even load the live timing applet on formula1.com. :mad:

Charlie-Bravo

Q1

1. Webber
18. Bar
19. Tru
20. Kov
21. Glo
22. Dig
23. Chd
24. Sen

Charlie-Bravo

five live link....have you got sounds/headphones?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/5livesportsextra

amacachi

I'm on the BBC site, hate not having the live timing in front of me, let alone when I can't even watch the action live.

amacachi

astrofluff wrote: »

five live link....have you got sounds/headphones?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/5livesportsextra

This content doesn't appear to be working, try again later.

Charlie-Bravo

Q2

1. Webber
11. SUT
12. DLR
13. HUL
14. PET
15. BUE
16. ALG
17. LIU

Ghost Train

redbulls looking pretty good at this stage

hope they aren't too far ahead at the end of q3

Grim.

just wow at the red bulls what a masterpiece of a car 7 and 8 tenths faster that their rivals

amacachi

Gwan the Schumi! ^_^

johnnysmack

delighted for webber but its scary how fast those red bulls are.

Ghost Train

alonso might get some questions about not having hands on wheel and his pit lane exit, normally the driver can have a look sideways

amacachi

Were there any upgrades of note for the Saubers for this race? Nice to see Kobayashi showing something of the form he had last year.

Grim.

amacachi wrote: »

Gwan the Schumi! ^_^

+1

Ghost Train

mightn't be the best race, but maybe the run to the first corner or weather might mix things up

amacachi

Ghost Train wrote: »

mightn't be the best race, but maybe the run to the first corner or weather might mix things up

If he weather holds I don't think anyone's expecting a good race. :pac:

Ghost Train

amacachi wrote: »

If he weather holds I don't think anyone's expecting a good race. :pac:

looks like a half decent chance of rain

can't find any gp2 coverage, only on setanta and eursport?

EvilMonkey

Wow Red Bulls qualifying pace :eek:
I hope their race pace isn't as far ahead.

Schumacher looks happier

Ferraris F-duct looks really efficient possibly better than McLarens, Apart from the bit where Alonso keeps having to let go of the wheel to adjust the brake balance, but im sure they will sort that in time.

mickdw

Schumi getting the car built around him like the old days. All he needs to do now is out drive Rosberg for a few races & he is setup for successful 2nd career. Mercedes backing, Brawn etc, they will be pushing strongly towards the front

vectra

mickdw wrote: »

Schumi getting the car built around him like the old days. All he needs to do now is out drive Rosberg for a few races & he is setup for successful 2nd career. Mercedes backing, Brawn etc, they will be pushing strongly towards the front

I thought it was just a change of chassis with longer wheelbase and both cars getting the same updates??

mickdw

Yep both cars got same updates but who do you think the changes suit?
Who specifically looked for a 'pointy' car as he has done all his career?

vectra

mickdw wrote: »

Yep both cars got same updates but who do you think the changes suit?
Who specifically looked for a 'pointy' car as he has done all his career?

The same fellow that had a damaged chassis for some time?:pac:

irishleedsfan

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Wow Red Bulls qualifying pace :eek:
I hope their race pace isn't as far ahead.

Schumacher looks happier

Ferraris F-duct looks really efficient possibly better than McLarens, Apart from the bit where Alonso keeps having to let go of the wheel to adjust the brake balance, but im sure they will sort that in time.

I taught they could have designed it like the Saubers where the driver controls it with his knee. It would certainly be safer i'd say...

Ghost Train

irishleedsfan wrote: »

I taught they could have designed it like the Saubers where the driver controls it with his knee. It would certainly be safer i'd say...

Doing similar each lap over a race distance is really asking for trouble. Hopefully somebody will point it out to alonso if he doesn't realise it himself

I see ferrari got a $20000 fine for unsafe release of their car in the pitlane

Grim.

argh wss race is on now and laverty is winning it potential of hearing the irish anthem at monza is high or miss the only part of the f1 race that ll be exciting

edit: woot lav won just as f1 warm up lap ends

amacachi

Procession is underway.