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/
 
Don't get me wrong. I think its a very considerate and sporting gesture from the top teams.
Pleased to see them taking that view.

I think its more a case of the top teams wanting to save options for later on in qualifying. If Pirelli ever supplied enough tyres for the teams to use options for all 3 sessions then the slower teams would be in trouble.
 
Well, that was something of an anti-climax, wasn't it?

It would've been a lot of fun to see if Vettel could've made that 0.2s up on Webber. I have a feeling he could have, KERS or no KERS. Reading his eyes between the visor, you could see just before the qualifying session ended that he wasn't happy about it. At least, that's how I read it.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of today's qualifying as a whole, it felt odd. Force Indias going backwards it would seem, but considering the hard tyre is roughly ~2s slower than the soft, is it really indicative? Probably not, but you'd still not rather start right in front of the likes of Jarno Trulli. Barrichello - unfortunate to have a gearbox problem in Q1. It'll be an intriguing race from Heidfeld, I think he can pull it into the top 8 with the right strategy. Kathikeyan just a tenth off Liuzzi too. Unfortunate, too, was Jerome D'Ambrosio who I'm juuust beginning to become a bit of a fan of. He had a hydraulic problem in Q1, and given his recent form that's a shame, I would've liked to see him up against Glock again.

Good day for Heikki but you have to take that Force India decision into the equation. That'll be another interesting story line - will he be able to keep that position by the end on merit, rather than gaining through other's misfortune?

Somewhat disappointed by the Sauber pace, although supposedly the updated diffuser, rumoured to be worth 0.5s, was too unstable to use, as they tested it with Kobayashi on Friday, but took it off again Saturday. I also think I saw Kobayashi get held up by Sutil on his last flying lap, and indeed he said it in the official team quotes, but they didn't lodge a complaint. Odd. Their race pace is good so I'd love to see both guys in the points - they should have the beating of the Toro Rossos and Maldonado, perhaps Schumacher too.

Massa - you just can't be 0.9s off your teammate in a Ferrari, you just can't. It doesn't sound like he had any problems other than "balance issues" that he has had all weekend.

Red Bulls.. what can I say? McLaren.. how do they continue to not get better? Is it really a case of Red Bull continuing to improve or McLaren not developing quick enough? It seems like McLaren bring updates all the time, but they never seem to improve. They've been saying this kind of stuff since early 2010, and I don't remember a race where they brought an update and had it immediately translate into Red Bull-challenging pace.

Overall, wasn't the most interesting qualifying, as it quickly becomes less relevant. Looking forward to the race behind the Red Bulls, since I don't really care for them. Will be looking out for Maldonado, Saubers, Kovalainen and the Force Indias, and D'Ambrosio. Those will hold my attention even if the DRS ends up being an extra-super-farce.
 
I think you're being a bit harsh on Mclaren, they have got faster, so the improvements worked, but Red Bull brought their own improvements as well. In the grand scheme of things Mclaren are the second fastest team again after falling back in Turkey
 
Probably. But then McLaren have a bigger budget, a bigger work staff, and capable enough drivers to extract the maximum out of what they're given. It's just that they seem to have a constant rhetoric about improving when in net terms, they never do, or at least, by not as much as people would hope. As I say they've been doing this for quite a while now, releasing intriguing statements to the press which suggest they have major updates coming. Maybe they're working fine, I don't know, but it's a touch disappointing to see such a team never really catching up. Also, when was the last time you ever heard a Red Bull driver complaining about balance? Maybe we just don't hear those snippets of team radio, but at every race there are comments from the McLaren drivers, either on the radio broadcasts or in the statements after the sessions that the car is unbalanced, or needs extra setup work.

Ferrari are just as "bad" though, so I'm not trying to single McLaren out. But Red Bull are beating them in almost every phase - pit stop times included, I think. The one small chink in their armour seems to be KERS, and they're so ridiculously out in front that really it's quite a minor concern.
 
Bigger budget? Do they though, Red Bull are a huge team now, no doubt they have a budget to match.
 
Is Googling good for your health? LOL I think Red Bull stopped being the plucky small team in 2009. The more trophies you get the more money you get and more sponsorship. And we all now about the expertise of Newey not only to produce an impressive base car, but to continually develop it at a fast pace throughout the season. He's dangerous as hes got rid of the fragile part from his fast and fragile cars, now it's just fast.
 
You said yourself Bro that relative qualifying pace is pretty much useless due to the tyre situation though
 
McLaren had no updates in turkey so they fell back from being 2nd best. This time they had a lot of updates and they appear to have worked taking them back up to 2nd best again.

Red-Bull doubtlessly had updates for Turkey meaning they have made a net gain over McLaren. McLaren do move closer to Red-Bull sometimes, I believe they were only a tenth off in Malaysia but then they slip back again.

Red-Bull are always putting updates on too but they just keep it quiet instead of saying "we're throwing everything and the kitchen sink at it"

Its frustrating to see as a McLaren fan.
 
You said yourself Bro that relative qualifying pace is pretty much useless due to the tyre situation though
That's true when teams are on different tyres, but McLaren and Ferrari both used the soft in Q3 and over the last few races, Ferrari have made more gains than McLaren.

It's a good job for McLaren Ferrari's rear wing was ruled illegal...
 
I also wonder how much time the flat spot cost Hamilton. I think overall he's around 6/7 tenths from Red Bulls qualifying pace, of course racings a different matter, as we saw in China.
 
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