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/
 
Okey, dokey. Judging by your past form I suspect you'll have the truth of this before the rest of us. I look forward to having to retract my criticism of Ferrari although I will be smug if it turns out I was right. Hope that's okay as I don't get smug very often.:) By the way which smiley would one use to indicate smugness?
 
Yesssssssss! I just celebrated that like it was Hamilton beating him. Vettel not as good from anywhere but P1. Should be interesting. Looks like they are comprimising strategy as well. Wow! Hamilton should go out not to start on flat spotted tyres.
 
Red Bull have increased the qualifying gap.

Great job by Mark but he did have KERS and Seb V didn't.

You can't really see anyone beating the Red Bull's this season - the advantage they have is insurmountable.
 
If Vettel doesn't have KERS from the start, it could become about how many cars can get in front of him off the line. I'm going for 4. Hopefully he'll connect with Alonso doing his crazily dangerous weaves.
 
Red Bull have increased the qualifying gap.

Great job by Mark but he did have KERS and Seb V didn't.

You can't really see anyone beating the Red Bull's this season - the advantage they have is insurmountable.

Not giving up though. Lewis and Mclaren will get them later in the season, but for now i will be happy with the top of the grid being Webber 1, Vettel 2 and Lewis 3. :)
 
I expect we'll see quite a bit of weaving from most of the drivers considering there will be some on hards, some on softs, some with KERS, some without.

It's going to be an interesting start definitely.
 
Schumacher is really going to be the unknown variable, he sold everyone a dummy with his prime outlap and can now start on whatever tyres he wants
 
I wonder how much of an issue the flat spot will be.

Brundle and Coulthard were making it out the be the end of Hamiltons weekend.

Hamilton was making it out to be a fly on the wall
 
Vettel on the dirty side with Hamilton on the clean side
Alonso on the dirty side with Button on the clean side

Might McLaren get 2 places into the 1st corner perhaps?

I have to admit that the weaving Vettel will be a problem.
 
This is what I think may have happened with the Ferrari wing:

Extract from 3.10.2 of the Technical Regs:
Once the rearmost and uppermost section is defined, ‘gurney’ type trim tabs may be fitted to the trailing
edge [of the upper wing element]. When measured in any longitudinal cross section no dimension of any such trim tab may exceed 20mm.

From 3.10.3
In order to ensure that the individual profiles and the relationship between these two sections can only change whilst the car is in motion in accordance with Article 3.18, they must be bridged by means of pairs of rigid impervious supports arranged such that no part of the trailing edge of the forward section may be more than 200mm laterally from a pair of supports.
These pairs of supports must :
- be located no more than 355mm from the car centre line ;
- fully enclose each complete section such that their inner profiles match that of each section.
and:
These supports will be ignored when assessing whether the car is in compliance with Articles 3.6, 3.9.2,
3.10.1, 3.10.2, 3.10.4 and 3.10.6

It seems that Ferrari measured the 20mm limit for the 'gurney' tabs from the highest point of the wing supports, or slot gap regulators, or whatever they are called, when the last line of 3.10.3 states that these supports should not be taken into account for that purpose.
 
I have no doubt Hamilton's flat spotted tyre will have an effect on his weekend.

Expect him to pit first and that will then have a knock on effect on the rest of his race as he will have to eke out more laps from each set of tyres.
 
Thanks Chad. So I'll sort of retract part of my earlier criticism of Ferrari once I have decided at which part of my statement I should measure my response. Hopefully, I can do that without contravening any regulations that specify wherein lie the reference planes or points from which such measurents should be determined.:D
 
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