Grand Prix 2010 European Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen, hold on to your hats because its the big one. The race that we've all been waiting for. Yes, its that time of of year when the F1 circus goes to Valencia for a series of demonstration laps in front of the world's press.

This year could be different of course with the lack of re-fuelling, the rise of the F-duct and the increased problem of overtaking back markers giving the drivers plenty to think about.

Another major factor that could affect the racing here is the fact that most teams are planning a second batch of aero upgrades. Trying to predict who will be fastest this weekend could prove extremely difficult. In an interview with Autosport, Button predicts that McLaren will struggle to be as quick as they were in Canada and that it will be a lot closer at the front. Obviously, Alonso, being on home ground and coming off the back of an impressive turn around in performance in Canada will be looking to capitalise on this. Could we see the strongest performance by the Italian squad since the season opener in Bahrain?

Further down the field, Williams are hoping that their F-duct work will enable them to race with the Force India's and halt their slide towards the back of the field. Another driver to watch out for this weekend will be Vitaly Petrov who lives in the Valencia region and knows the track really well. Petrov has shown signs of real pace this season and with a bit more knowledge of the track than he has had at other venues so far this year he could be giving his team mate a run for his money.

The Virgin cars will be looking to turn around their fortunes given that this will potentially be the first weekend when they get to run their cars in full spec'. Hopefully they can now put the disastrous start to the season behind them. HRT and Lotus continue to steadily improve but the big question for these teams will be have their improvements increased their pace or just maintained the gap to the next group of cars in front.

With the level of dust and rubbish on the track its going to be well into the weekend until we get a true idea of the respective paces of the cars. So the question is, are we going to see a turn around in Valencia's reputation or are we set for the continuation of the annual snoozefest of Bernie's folly??
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

At least we can rely on the weather to spice things up a bit.

Oh wait...
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

No real conclusions to be gained from P1 - results here: F1 2010 Standings & Results - Europe

McLaren have a straight line speed advantage due to their F-duct.

No evidence yet that Ferrari have made a significant improvement with their new blown rear wing and exhaust configuration. They could of course be sandbagging as Red Bull are as usual.

Both HRTs once again break down with driveshaft and gearbox problems.
Until they resolve their reliability issues they're not going to be able to work on improving the overall performance.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Given of late it appears Ferrari have taken to heavier running in FP1 a bit like the Red Bulls i'd hazard a guess and suggest they might be looking quite useful this weekend especially Massa who seems he might be intent on keeping it to Brazilian winners. :dunno:
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Alonso top for P2.

The times are almost 2 seconds quicker so the track is starting to rubber in.

Rosberg and Hamilton the only 2 drivers to feature in the top 5 for both sessions.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

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Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg looking strong. Underwhelmed by Kubica but he'll be there or thereabouts during qualifying.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So, McLaren were sandbagging during practice then.
That does surprise me.

Another Red Bull lock out so normal service has been resumed.

Hamilton blew his final flying lap so clearly did a decent job to qualify 3rd with his first lap.

Ferrari's upgrades are clearly not good enough.

Considering where McLaren are without their upgrades, they should be favourites at Silverstone.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Brogan said:
So, McLaren were sandbagging during practice then.
That does surprise me.

Another Red Bull lock out so normal service has been resumed.

Hamilton blew his final flying lap so clearly did a decent job to qualify 3rd with his first lap.

Ferrari's upgrades are clearly not good enough.

Considering where McLaren are without their upgrades, they should be favourites at Silverstone.


In other words, to quote the expression, it was another "round up the usual suspects" kind of qualifying session. I still can't believe I managed to watch all three sessions of Valencia qualifying w/out--- :sleeping:

Oh, well, at least the MotoGP race is next on Speed.............on another note, we have a new nickname for Renault's Robert Kubica courtesy of Speed's David Hobbs...........Robert "Bar-be-que-bica", which doesn't make a whole lot of sense but then again that's Hobbs' for you.. LOL

Maybe we should have a "nickname" thread so that we call keep track of all the driver nicknames floating around out there............. :o :o :o :o
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Mercedes seem to have well and truly lost the plot and are progressing towards the rear. I wonder when they will give up on this years seeming trashwagon and throw all of their efforts into next years car. :dunno:
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Wow, I'm shocked. I really though Ferrari would be right up with the Red Bulls and beating them. Really looking forward to the upgraded McLaren now!

Just a shame I bet Alonso would win at Valencia! :(
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I forgot to mention Williams.

Where did they come from?
Both drivers in the top 10 and with identical times too.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Brogan said:
Both drivers in the top 10 and with identical times too.

Oh yes, I forgot that one aswell!

Heres one for you, when was the last time two teammates qualified with identical times?

Seems like Hulkenburg might finally be coming alive as Barrichello had more updates.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

KraXik said:
Heres one for you, when was the last time two teammates qualified with identical times?
1997 European GP at Circuito Permanente de Jerez - Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen Frentzen each qualified with an identical time of 1:21.072

:D
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Wow great knowledge Brogan!

Something also to point out is that there were only two Mercedes engines in the top10 today (on a supposed power track). Horner really needs to stop insulting the Renault engine. It only seems down on power as they have so much downforce!!
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

KraXik said:
Wow great knowledge Brogan!
Not really.
I have a lot of quirky data like that in the database so I have an unfair advantage ;)
One of these days we might even get around to programming it in so users can retrieve it

Something also to point out is that there were only two Mercedes engines in the top10 today (on a supposed power track). Horner really needs to stop insulting the Renault engine. It only seems down on power as they have so much downforce!!
That's a good point and I think it's been fairly obvious this year that there's nothing wrong with the Renault engine.
Out of 18 front row grid positions so far this season, 14 of them have been with Renault engines (13 Red Bull, 1 Renault)
The other 4 were 3 Mercedes (2 McLaren, 1 Mercedes GP) and 1 Ferrari (Ferrari).
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Well what a race.
There's almost too much to discuss.

I'll open with Alonso and Domenicali complaining that Hamilton was penalised but it had no ultimate effect on his (Hamilton's) race.

Now irrespective of what happened to Hamilton, Alonso would still have been in the same position on the track, but if Hamilton had served his penalty earlier than he would have been 1 place up.

So Alonso would still have finished in 8th position.

I suspect therefore that Alonso and Ferrari are just annoyed because Hamilton managed a good finish, rather than it having any effect on Alonso.

Perhaps Alonso needs to put 2007 behind him as it is clearly affecting his state of mind.

Great to see Mark get up and walk away from an horrendous crash.
 
Re: 2010 European GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

From F1.com:

Late in the race the stewards announced that Button, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Kubica, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi and De la Rosa are to be investigated for the speed of their in-laps behind the safety car. They may yet get time penalties added, but there have also been suggestions that they might get grid place penalties at Silverstone.

So what's fair, time penalties or grid places at the next race?
 
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