Formula 1 - Round 5 - Spanish Grand Prix (14th May)

[happy_eagle]

Back to where all that testing went on Pre season, and where Ferrari first showed themselves to have a pace advantage over Mercedes. The circuit de catalunia is a pretty even track with a long pit straight and a lot of fast corners. Very difficult to overtake around here as it proved last year when Max Verstappen became the youngest race winner.

66 Laps in total and the tyre choices are Hard, Medium and Soft as the track is pretty tough on tyres (so expect possible pit strategies to come into play), but this race is all going to be about the effect of upgrades.


All eyes will no doubt be on Red Bull this race. The talk is that the changes that Adrian Newey has made to this car are drastic enough that they might as well call it the RB14. Mercedes and Ferrari are talking up this new Red Bull car as a title challenger, but I reckon most of that is tactical talk putting pressure on RBR. If Red Bull have not narrowed the gap with this new upgrade, then I am afraid to say they will not be challenging for anything this season, at least not until Renault launch their new engine sometime in July.

Force India are also bringing sizeable updates to their pink cars, so hopefully a more exciting midfield battle can ensue.

Just a reminder of what happened last year




Race is standard European Race Time so 10PM EST, 8PM WST for Quali and Race

 

[picko]

Threw $20 on Ricciardo to win last year for a laugh. Went from giggling like a school girl as the Mercs wiped each other out to utter rage as he got screwed by the pit strategy.

Will be interesting to see if DRS does anything down the main straight

 

[happy_eagle]

Indy can't come quick enough for Fernando

 

[darth_timon]

Back to where all that testing went on Pre season, and where Ferrari first showed themselves to have a pace advantage over Mercedes. The circuit de catalunia is a pretty even track with a long pit straight and a lot of fast corners. Very difficult to overtake around here as it proved last year when Max Verstappen became the youngest race winner.

66 Laps in total and the tyre choices are Hard, Medium and Soft as the track is pretty tough on tyres (so expect possible pit strategies to come into play), but this race is all going to be about the effect of upgrades.


All eyes will no doubt be on Red Bull this race. The talk is that the changes that Adrian Newey has made to this car are drastic enough that they might as well call it the RB14. Mercedes and Ferrari are talking up this new Red Bull car as a title challenger, but I reckon most of that is tactical talk putting pressure on RBR. If Red Bull have not narrowed the gap with this new upgrade, then I am afraid to say they will not be challenging for anything this season, at least not until Renault launch their new engine sometime in July.

Force India are also bringing sizeable updates to their pink cars, so hopefully a more exciting midfield battle can ensue.

Just a reminder of what happened last year




Race is standard European Race Time so 10PM EST, 8PM WST for Quali and Race

That's a beautiful aerial shot of the track. I'm not sure where Red Bull will stand - FP1 and they're .250 off Raikkonen, but Mercedes are around a second quicker than Ferrari all of a sudden. Still, at this point, given how often teams bait and switch, I'm not going to rely on FP times as a serious marker.

Would be great to see Dan and Max close the gap though. Two bold, aggressive drivers, at the very least interfering with the title battle, if not outright involved, would be a treat to watch.

 

[happy_eagle]

Ferrari jump ahead of Mercedes in FP3 after being slower all of yesterday

I reckon this new Red Bull car will make them quicker, but still only the third best about half a second behind Ferrari and the Mercs. They will have to see what Renault have in terms of an engine upgrade after Canada

 

[juice t]

Alonso made it to Q3 without losing an engine
Miracles do happen

 

[darth_timon]

Alonso will be hoping for a blue shell at some point in the race.

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[happy_eagle]

He really needs to find his way into a Mercedes or Ferrari next year.
As expected Red Bull improve with their new design but still at least half a second behind the leaders.

Palmer continuing to underwhelm

 

[darth_timon]

Hamilton on poke by a whisker. There's no margin for error.

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[happy_eagle]

Hamilton on poke by a whisker. There's no margin for error.

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Vettel locking up at the final corners cost him pole

Its really shaping up as a great rivalry between these two

 

[Galaxie77]

Ferrari showing good speed.... good stuff.
Shame to see Honda doing ok.

 

[darth_timon]

Ferrari showing good speed.... good stuff.
Shame to see Honda doing ok.

But good to see Alonso do well - he proved his quality with that average Ferrari in 2012, now he's dragging that McLaren to P7. If he were in the current Ferrari I can see him leaving Vettel for dust.

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[Jatz]

I missed quali - how on earth did Alonso get P7?!

 

[Forward Press]

I missed quali - how on earth did Alonso get P7?!

This is Fernando Alonso, he could get a Honda Civic on pole if he had enough luck.

Still the best driver on the grid imo.

 

[NitroFan]

i wish there was a Chase Carey cam for the race. just marvel at that mustache whenever the race gets boring

 

[Gak Attack]

Maxanaldo

 

[juice t]

Mad Max has killed again

 

[NSWCROW]

Oh no that poor kid crying for Kimi.

Wasn't getting a lot of support either lol

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Max should really be displaying his green ps

 

[Gak Attack]

Max was all over the place trying to block ADR

 

[NitroFan]

lol that kid

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

Oh no that poor kid crying for Kimi.

Wasn't getting a lot of support either lol

Dont know what he was crying about. A ferrari is winning!

On GT-P5210 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[juice t]

Max will still win driver of the day

 

[Boxhead_31]

How are the Max fanboys going to blame Kimi for this?

 

[Gak Attack]

Kids devo. Sebs flying away mate, it's all good.