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/
 
The DRS detection point will be before the final turn at SC line 1.

The DRS zone is 830m on the main straight, with activation on the finish line.
 
830m.. what was the zone in Turkey? Wasn't it less than that?

Get ready for some more exciting racing, folks..
 
Yes, this is the longest zone yet.

I guess the FIA thinks Circuit de Catalunya needs as much help as it can get when it comes to overtaking.
 
The DRS zone is less effective when you're coming out of a slower corner.

By the time they got to the DRS zone in Turkey, they were at high speed.
 
Hello all. Thought i'd make a brief return before practice tomorrow. I've banned most of my use of the internet for revision time. :( One good thing about revision, the F1 has creeped up on me. I don't think having such a long zone in Spain will be such a problem for all the reasons stated above. I do think it would be good to have a set length though for the zone. It might mean it wouldn't work as well at some tracks, but then again Spain has never been about overtaking so it would be a bit stupid if we broke 50 in dry weather condition, let alone 100 which it seems they might be going for again. :O
 
So now that it's a case of as you were with regards to the EBD, where do we think the teams will be this weekend, taking into account upgrades, "straight" line tests, etc?

I have a feeling it will be Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren.
I think the 10-12 upgrades McLaren are bringing will just mean they won't be able to get a decent set-up in time.
 
I'm actually rather interested in Team Lotus' new upgrades - if they are worth the second that is claimed, we could see a highly interesting midfield squabble...:yes:
 
Indeed.

It would be great to see one of the new teams Lotus finishing ahead of some of the established teams.
Points are still a long way off for them though, unless there is a very unusual race.
 
I think we'll see Red Bulls, Alonso, Mclarens, Rosberg, Massa this weekend

I too am more interested in the new teams - Kovi has been threaterning to get into Q2 all season and think he'll actually do it this weekend. I think he'll certainly have the legs on the Williams in the race. Whether Trulli will be there with him depends on what mood Jarno turns up in.

Also interested to see if the Glock Strop continues at Virgin. If d'Ambrosio out does him again I think we could see Timo strop out of the team. Also interested to see if HRT can continue to out pace the Virgins. They must be one team looking forward to Canada because from what I read they will be the least effected by the EBD thing - could bring them closer to the pack.

Anyways - Webber on pole and to win this weekend.
 
I have actually aquired a back to back image, comparing China and Spain exhaust, floor and sidepod layouts:-

http://yfrog.com/z/gzn8wjrdj

I have to say im very impressed with what McLaren have done. Their back-end looks very tidy now and they seem to have re-profiled the side pods so that they are packaged tighter and curve in more. Additionally, it looks like the exhaust routing could have changed as well, which is probably one of the factors involved in freeing up this space. Finally, they've also closed off the back-end, where it was open before, which should stabalise the airflow and direct it to the lower rear wing.
 
This could prove to be a defining weekend in this season's championship. Both Mclaren and Ferrari look like they are going to be all out. Wouldn't it be great if they both caught Red Bull and we had a 6 (5 if you don't include Massa) way shoot out for pole and the win.
 
Don't forget about Mercedes, they were on McLaren's pace in qualifying at Turkey and they have some significant upgrades to their suspension and supposedly they could also have new side pods and front existing exhausts similar to Renault.

I honestly think Mercedes could be on pole here.

The only problem is that Red Bull are so good round Barcelona, last year they had a second gap to Mclaren + Ferrari
 
Mercedes are inconsistent...either their qualifying pace is their best asset the next race it's their race pace, and then they are just poor...then it's back to qualifying pace.

But I hope they can improve :D
 
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