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/
 
Hamilton came in 5 laps later for his 3rd set, but only 1 lap later for his 4th set.

I don't understand why they didn't keep him out on the faster option tyre for another few laps.
Surely he would have ended up in front of Seb and he would have had newer tyres at the end of the race?
 
Lewis wanted off those tires, and it's no wonder after seeing the video clip I posted from Lap 48. I believe there was a radio transmission we heard from the pit wall shortly before that moment that basically said, "Lewis, you must stay out."

When Vettel pitted, this allowed McLaren to call Lewis in and give him some fresh boots.

I think they thought that Hamilton was going to pass him on the circuit eventually.

Edit - Brogan, I thought you were talking about the last stop, so you can disregard this post as a response to yours, sorry for the confusion.
 
Hamilton came in 5 laps later for his 3rd set, but only 1 lap later for his 4th set.

I don't understand why they didn't keep him out on the faster option tyre for another few laps.
Surely he would have ended up in front of Seb and he would have had newer tyres at the end of the race?

They used two differednt tyre strategies.

Ham - used new used
Vet - used used new
Hamiltons 2nd stint was always going to be longer than Vettels and visa versa for the 3rd stint. Overall between the two stints he did 1 less lap than Vettel, if anything his 2nd stint maybe should have been a lap longer.
 
So we saw the very end of this Schumacher-Rosberg tussle on Lap 39-40, but I thought some people might want to see how it really started. It was definitely the closest Nico came to getting by Michael all day.

 
So he can race closely without having a collision. If Nico's DRS had worked he'd have been long gone, wouldn't he? I think perhaps he would have.

Good stuff Keke :thumbsup:
 
Don't know if I should be putting this comment down here (counting on the moderators on guiding me to the right spot),but I'd like to share my view on the start and the choise of (first 2) pit strategies of this race.
At the start both Red Bulls got away very well,and so did Alonso.Lewis was (surprisingly) not a real threat nor was JensonLOL.Vettel jumped left in Webber's slipstream,with Alonso sucked to his rear(Lewis had to move left to avoid a collision with Nando,breaking his rythm in the process).Seb tried to jump Mark on the inside,who reacted by doing the "oh no you won't move" by cutting in front of him.While Webbo was still moving right,Vettel promptly changed course with a flick of the steering wheel to the outside ,where he saw some free space.Webber moved somewhat left for a beter racing line,Nando saw a gap the size of a keyhole and jumped in it, while probably pushing his KERS button through his steering wheel.Mark had to react,squeezed towards the Ferrari,felt it was too late and moved back for a better racing line,losing just enough momentum to see both attackers end in front of him in the first turn...
From this point on ,seeing Nando drive in first "pozéesjon",Red Bull knew it would be very hard to overtake him on this track and had to undercut him somewhere.
And so they made their first attempt by pulling Vettel in on lap 10,which actually wasn't such a good idea, since he came out in the 9th spot. The banzai driving and overtaking he demonstrated out of this badly timed pitstop made him my driver of the day.
When Alonso came back on track on lap 11 ,after a much beter timed stop ,since he came out in front of the traffic,I was astonished to see Vettel come storming over Rosberg and not having lost any time after 3 overtakes!
Lewis came in on the 12th lap and managed to jump Webber for third(who,like Vettel, also had come out behind Massa and Button on lap 11)
The second pit stop session was even more interesting.The whole Red Bull camp still had undercut written on their foreheads and this time they executed it to perfection in the 18 th lap by calling in Vettel,knowing Button was down some 23 sec.and they would come out in clean air in 4th.
Personally,I think McLaren missed a golden opportunity of winning the race by not pulling in Lewis earlier than the others.
He was sitting in third ,unable to overtake,and they knew exactly where Jenson was,driving in 5 th.
They had all the first hand information to be first in performing an undercut(surprising the others and turning their race strategy upside down) and yet they got beaten to the punch by Red Bull.
For me, they did the second best thing by keeping Lewis out long enough so he could jump Alonso and come out a couple of laps later than the other frontrunners ,on fresh rubber.
Finally, If Red Bull would have called in Webber instead of Vettel on lap 18 ,he might also have had a shot at winning the race(this is a nod:goodday: to the preferential treatment guys).
 
And yet he ended up nearly being lapped, shows how a minor strategy change can make a large change
 
...

Finally, If Red Bull would have called in Webber instead of Vettel on lap 18 ,he might also have had a shot at winning the race(this is a nod:goodday: to the preferential treatment guys).

ecclestoned, Esq:

Um...It's a shame that Webber couldn't convert Pole into P1 out of Turn 1.

It was a shame that he could he couldn't even convert Pole into P2 behind Alonso out of T1.

Shame too that RBR called in the guy who was in front and, hence, better positioned!

;)

I mean... forgive me for being 'out there'...but how is Mark getting out-gunned by two guys behind him from the dirty side (!) a case of RBR 'preferential treatment'?

Who's at fault for Webber losing the benifit of Pole and for being behind Vettel at the end of Stint 1 and Stint 2?

RBRs?

I don't think so. I could be 'way off'...but i'm sure i'm in the ball park.

N'est Pas?

As per preferential...At the previous Grand Prix (Turkey) Vettel destroyed his new upgraded front wing in Friday practice.

In spite of it - Inspite of Webber having his new upgraded front wing - Vettel still out-qualified him and beat him in the race with the old front wing.

Where was the "preferential treatment"?

The fact is Webber has had a slightly tougher time adapting to the Pirellis than Vettel...and that's part of the increase in gap from 2010 between the two. RBR actually know this.

So ... how is any of it "preferential treatment"?
 
Because Webber probably would have been further up and been on the podium if he had pitted then
 
But Webber was behind Vettel after Turn 1...so why should he have first shot of pitting.

You say he would have gotten a Podium.

Fine.

But they ended up with a Victory Trophy.

Getting a Podium is a good thing...but a Victory Trophy is way better!

It's Webber's own fault that he let Vettel through under breaking for the first corner.

You can't blame Red Bull for that!

Cheers.
 
They would have focused 100% on Vettel though instead of Webber, it wasn't as if Webber was out of contention early on
 
ecclestoned, Esq:

Um...It's a shame that Webber couldn't convert Pole into P1 out of Turn 1.

It was a shame that he could he couldn't even convert Pole into P2 behind Alonso out of T1.

Shame too that RBR called in the guy who was in front and, hence, better positioned!

;)

Dear friend with the Canadian Avatar,please don't get me wrong,it's not because I'm saluting the preferential treatment guys, that I'm one of them.
The older I get, the more I try to look at these races with an open mind,looking at the racing scenario from many different angles,with an ever growing respect for all the racers and other people's opinions.
I agree with you that RB made the right decision to pull in Vettel in this case,though it could still have gone wrong if that Virgin guy wouldn't have asked for a cup of tea and have come out just in front of the Bull.
It also wouldn't have been the first time they pit the car lower on the grid to put him on a different strategy,keeping the better placed car out amongst the other protagonists and react to their pit stops(like McLaren did)
The only thing I wanted to point out is that they could have pitted Webber,give him new shoes,and get him "back on track"keeping his same 4th position,not that they should have.

But now I know you're not part of the preferential treatment gang, I also salute you:goodday:
Now that's nice of me,n'est-ce pas?:)
 
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