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/
 
I don't get to see the BBC coverage very often, just the odd visit back to the UK during the season.... but this guy just has to be their biggest mistake, or has anyone spotted redeeming features not apparent to me.

Today - 1240: Jake Humphreys and Eddie Jordan, both wearing trademark open-necked shirts, are pacing about the grid, and look who they've bumped into! It's former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. (Except Jake thought it was Michael Schumacher!) Schmeichel says: "I can't fit into any of these cars." :givemestrength:
 
Great race. Don't think i'll comment on Seb and Lewis considering my bias. As soon as Mclaren improve then we shall see though. 8-)
 
Best race of the season so far, and DRS had nothing at all to do with it.

Would have been nice for the championships if Lewis had been able to take Seb, but it's clear the Red Bull is just too strong over a whole lap.

Agree with this. Bizarre that it was the most enjoyable despite the lack of overtakes. Lewis not getting past Seb was more exciting than the race he did in China. Lewis was awesome today though, start to finish, it's just often hard to see a perfect race when someone finishes 2nd.
 
Just wondering about that extra lap or two :thinking: One of those F1 "ifs" had Lewis pitted maybe a lap earlier back then?

Wonder if he could've gone longer on Softs in 3rd stint, because he pitted later than everyone, then he could've gone softs-hards to finish like Button.
 
Mclaren might take the moral high ground after matching Red Bull at their strongest circuit

As a Mclaren fan i am very satisfied with today. Lewis on form and able to match Red Bull stint for stint. Vettel won because he was the car in front. Like last year, track position was king today and i don't think that was a bad thing. It looked 50/50 late on.
 
That was a great race. At half way 4 drivers were all in with a shout! I was on the edge of my seat with Seb v Lewis at the end, great driving from both of them. Like Bro says, it would have been good for the championship had Hamilton passed Vettel but he is (just) hanging onto his coat tail.

Got my work cut out deciding who my driver and chump of the weekend are. Can we have no option for the latter as I'm struggling to pick out a very poor performance.
 
I think the racing needs the DRS to keep drivers close when in the dirty air, but it isn't needed for overtaking. I think the best thing they can do with it is change it to GPS and have it shut when they get 0.1s behind or level. That would be wheel to wheel drama.
 
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