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/
 
Collin Kolles believes most of the cars on the grid are illegal, and will protest after Monaco if there's no action.
I suppose when you're HRT anything is worth a pop - but why wait until Monaco - either you know your ground or you don't.
 
I suppose when you're HRT anything is worth a pop - but why wait until Monaco - either you know your ground or you don't.

Because the teams are allowed it for Monaco and Charlie has said he will investigate it after (I think, probably wrong) Kolles probably means he will protest if it doesn't get banned.

Sorry guys this really should be in the Blown diffuser thread...
 
I think it was a fair decision, but the only thing that bothers me about this thinking about the reactions in forums is that had it been Alonso instead the forums would be absolutely chock-a-block with people whining how this is further evidence of Ferrari getting preferential treatment and what have you...
 
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.
Completely agreed!

This race actually had tension. 4 or 5 great drives.
 
Ah never knew there was such a thread :dunno:

Can you put it there aswell? I think it fits both threads perfectly, it's a shame I found this a day too late :(
 
Reply to Incubus. In case you missed it ... Nick's rather hot exit from practise and subsequent no-show in quali saved him more brand new tyres than anyone else for the race. Sorry if you knew this and I don't know what used rubeer is. Unless you mean Rubeer the beer drinking dog. In which case I still don't get it.:thinking::)
 
Reply to Incubus. In case you missed it ... Nick's rather hot exit from practise and subsequent no-show in quali saved him more brand new tyres than anyone else for the race. Sorry if you knew this and I don't know what used rubeer is. Unless you mean Rubeer the beer drinking dog. In which case I still don't get it.:thinking::)

Hm...he could have ran soft, soft, soft, soft and then hard
 
Great race.

I think McLaren largely got strategy and pit stops right today. Both Lewis and Jenson had some great stops. Lewis lost about 8 tenths in the last stop to Vettel, which could have been the difference.

To those who have said McLaren kept pitting Lewis too late, I don't really agree. I think by pitting Lewis later, he didn't lose any time on Vettel, but he kept on coming out on a set of tyres that was newer and was thus newer for every lap of the whole stint. This enabled Lewis to catch Vettel and stick with him. The only time I think they should have undercut Vettel is at the last final 4th pit stop. Lewis was only just over a second behind Vettel and traffic was approaching. If he'd of jumped in the pits before Vettel then he may have jumped him and as he generally seemed faster in the race, he would have stayed ahead. The problem was that, the super hard tyre takes a lap or two to get up to speed and that is why Vettel didn't gain an advantage on Hamilton on much older tyres from the undercut. If Lewis would have gone in a lap earlier, he probably would have come out in the same position, so long as Vettel came in the next lap.

I also don't think that a 3 stopper would have worked for Hamilton. Button finished 35 seconds behind Lewis. He lost 15 - 20 seconds due to the start and consequential traffic, but he was certainly 10 - 15 seconds slower with his 3 stopper. Some could argue this is simply due to Lewis' race pace, but I think the last thing Lewis wanted to do was risk stopping out too long on tyres. In hindsight, possibly it could have got him ahead of Vettel, but I would have made the same decision as the team there.
 
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