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/
 
A good example is, when Hamilton had his 2nd pit stop, he had lost about 5 seconds to Vettel due to stopping out, however, he clawed that back within a few laps and was right on Vettel's tail, but Hamilton was on fresher tyres, and thus had an advantage at that point.
 
I do get what you're saying but it still would have been hard, Vettel would have been nigh on impossible to have overtaken, he wouldn't have taken kindly to a lunge down the inside into turn 1.

yeah, I agree with you. It still would have been very hard to overtake, but, I think that was the only way he had a chance of overtaking. He probably wouldn't have got past on the pit straight, but with newer tyres, he'd have much more grip and traction and could have maybe nailed Vettel by surprise round another corner, using KERS.
 
Possibly true but I just can't help thinking that the ovetaking is more to do with the guys in mission control plotting he data and dictating the strategies and race control dictating the DRS zone. Sure the drivers translate all that on the track but five races in and the balance has yet to be proven to found. I mean, historically it has been almost impossible to overtake in Catalunya, Hysterically yesterday it was almost impossible not to overtake. :D

Interestingly, Lewis's difficulty in trying to get past Vettel indicated to me that if you take the tyre deg' and compound differences out of the equation it was just as impossible as ever. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the race but talk about going from one extreme to the other!

Looking forward to the CTA overtaking analysis. I have a feeling we missed a lot of action thanks to the myopic director!

Edit: Sorry, maybe the last part should have been on Spanish GP thread. I must be tired. I'm off to bed. It's been nice chatting to you folk's. Next time. G'night.:wave:
 
One thing that stuck me at the time, but which nobody seems to have mentioned since, is that in the final stint Hamilton appeared to be much more adversely affected by lapped back-markers getting in his way at inopportune moments. whether it made any difference to the result we'll never know, but he definitely did get cut up two or three times just when it seemed he was getting closer to Vettel.
 
There was some poor driving by some drivers being lapped, possibly because they have been used to Vettel charging passed followed by the car in P2 30+ seconds later.
 
Much more of an Old-School GP this was. Only 2 constructors on the lead lap. Hopefully this can put to bed the worries that the DRS has ruined F1 forever.
What it means Keke, is that we need more tracks like Catalunya! :twisted:
 
We might get another race like '92. DRS is not going to make passing any easier here but it will help the closing drivers get right on to the gearboxes of the cars in front. I'm predicting 70 laps of close nail biting racing!
 
All any driver needs to do (regardless of DRS or tyres this year) is watch the 1992 tapes and do an 'Ayrton'. My god, even as an early teen I was screaming at the TV that day. Although Mansell didn't win it... complete and utter magical racing.
 
Woah! Nice catch, in both senses of the word.

For anyone who's interested, here's the tyre analysis and chart.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/260562/in-depth-tyre-analysis-barcelona/

GPUpdate.net_InDepthTyreAnalysis_Barcelona_2011.gif
 
The Ferrari was seriously bad on those Super-Hards.

Their best laps came on 22 and 24, in a pattern similar to the HRT. LOL

Could be something to watch for the rest of the year.
 
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