Grand Prix 2011 Spanish Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

And so on to Spain, after the anti climax that was Turkey, it seems that no-one can stop Vettel as he marched to his 3rd win in 4 races and is in dominant form as we head to the Iberian peninsula. Despite the highest amount of overtakes since records began (126), a lot of people were questioning how authentic these overtakes were due to their artificial nature because of the DRS. The Spanish Grand Prix hasn't been known for its overtakes, indeed this is a track where more often than not, the driver who gets pole goes on to win so thats the race in the bag for Vettel. In 2010 the race was won by Mark Webber in the first of back to back wins from Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. lewis Hamilton was on course for second until a wheel rim failure with two laps to go.

After a dominant performance in Turkey, Red Bull will be aiming at another one two in Spain, and on current form and given the nature of the track it is hard to see past the Red Bulls from extending their championship lead. However Ferrari and particularly Alonso have showed that Red Bull won't have it their own way and no doubt Alonso will be boosted by a capacity crowd all cheering him on. Mclaren planned to bring updates to Turkey but abandoned them and instead will introduce them this weekend to plug the ever increasing gap with Hamilton currently second in the drivers championship, over 30 points behind Vettel.

Mercedes were Jekyll and Hyde in Turkey and its not exactly hard to figure out who was who. Mercedes Rosberg has shown improved form recently and has been mixing with the Mclarens and Ferraris and with continued development, Mercedes will be confident of a top 5 finish this weekend.

Renault have seemed to have fallen back recently with Heidfeld and Petrov in the lower reaches of the points, their podium form of Australia and Malaysia now seems a distant memory and have now been overtaken by Mercedes in the development battle. In the midfield it is really tightening up as Toro Rosso have found a speed boost with Buemi claiming points in Turkey and Kobyashi coming from last on the grip to claim a top 10 position with Force India not holding the same level of competitiveness as the first few races with Di Resta's first DNF of his career.

While Team lotus didn't gain the jump that they hoped, they have high hopes that this weekend is the one where they establish themselves as a solid midfield runner while Virgin and HRT continue to fight it out over who gets the wooden spoon.

With the arguments over DRS raging on, no doubt we will see a circuit record of overtakes as cars breeze past each other down the main straight but if only one thing is certain it is that Red Bull will be right at the front barring major developments (or crashes)

For Galahads excellent circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/circuit-de-catalunya/
 
Is there any reason Lewis would have or are you just saying hypothetically? More likely is both Vettel and Webber have KERS problems at same point in the race. It is getting a bit comical that the most efficient team in the whole pit with every think else is struggling so much with it. Every time i see the danger sign for KERS go on top of their car i have a little giggle to my self. They've had about 7 or 8 problems with it, while the rest of the grid seem to have had about 2 put together.

Unlike the top teams, Red Bull haven't ran KERS before (barring this season) hence why they are having problems, remember in 2009? All the teams that ran had so many problems sometimes they just took it of off the car, some teams just abandoned it. But Red Bull can't afford to abandon it either, since they will lose out at the start, in defending a move, or an overtaking manouevre.

Which is a shame I would have liked to see some cars without KERS (except the back 3) but you really do need it as it helps with overtaking, defending and gaining or maintaining crucial positions at the start.
 
I thought Red-Bull ran KERS in pre season testing in 2009? or was that Brawn?

Maybe for like 2 minutes...think it might have been both teams, remember Ross Brawn saying they were going to introduce it in mid-season but in the end they didn't.
 
If anybody gets bored before the race, here's something that might help pass the time. I was meaning to post this earlier in the week, but forgot about it. Quite an eventful race Spain 91 was, including Senna and Schumacher spinning off at different times. Hope you enjoy!

 
Fantastic Keke, thanks!

Senna's recovery from his spin was incredible (mind you, he was lucky not to collide with anyone).
It's interesting that we tend to remember that iconic shot of Mansell and Senna side by side down the main straight with sparks flying, but Mansell had an almost exactly similar duel with Berger (except that this time he didn't get past)

And it's a personal thing I know, but to my mind that's when F1 cars were at their most beautiful. I really love the Mclaren MP4/6, which I'm about to start building my model of, but the Ferrari was also a stunner. All the cars had an elegant simplicity which today's versions lack. Maybe the removal of sticky-on bits and a return to lower noses under the 2013 rules will herald something of an aesthetic renaissance.
 
It was mentioned on the BBC yesterday that Mclaren were having issues with their KERS and that its debatable whether they used it to set their lap times yesterday
 
So Red Bulls KERS is overheating but McLaren are struggling to get theirs to operating temperature.
 
Ted Kravitz yesterday said KERS gave you 5 tenths round this circuit, now with the qualifying report he says it gives 3 tenths??? :s
 
I know it can vary round circuits, but why would he say it was 5 tenths yesterday and now it's 3 tenths. That was my point...
 
Ok maybe its the report BBC have in right now but why is my Schumi sense tingling? Got a feeling he's going to do something today
 
If it can vary from lap to lap 3 tenths to 5 tenths is quite a difference, not very consistent is it? Also, it does depend on where the driver deploys it, but for qualifying they will surely deploy at the same place 95% of the time.
 
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