Grand Prix 2022 Spanish Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

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At Last! It's here! The race we all look forward to most on the F1 calendar. The thrill-fest that is the Spanish Grand Prix.

Well, maybe we all don't. I think, perhaps, probably very few of us look forward to this race, but Spain is an important market to F1 (?) with two Spanish drivers. And, of course, there is long history of the fans at track side embracing diversity and inclusivity amongst those who line up on the grid. Funny how the object of their "affection" has won 6 of the last 10 races in Spain. However, unless there is some miraculous turn around in the performance of the Mercedes car I suspect Lewis Hamilton will not be adding to that tally this weekend.

Max Verstappen broke his duck at this race in 2016. And, as detailed elsewhere on this Forum, Williams took their last win in 2012. Will that have been their last ever? Williams will be letting Nick de Vries have a run out in FP1, could this be the beginning of the end for Latifi? Red Bull hope not.

The Barcelona circuit doesn't produce great racing partly because the teams spend so much time testing here that they know every inch, inside and out, and setting the cars to their optimum is relatively simple for the top teams. The other problem is that the track layout doesn't lend itself to creating overtaking opportunities.

Rain is unlikely, so we have to pin our hopes on the new formula allowing the cars to get closer to one another. And, of course DRS will allow cars to drift past one another with relative ease. There are two DRS zones, one along the main straight, with the detection just before turn 16, the last corner before the straight. The other will be between turns 9 and 10, with the detection zone half way between turns 8 and 9, on the short straight which runs up to turn 9.

If you're watching on TV here are the UK times.

22 May - Race 14:00 - 16:00
21 May - Qualifying 15:00 - 16:00
21 May - Practice 3 12:00 - 13:00
20 May - Practice 216:00 - 17:00
20 May - Practice 1 13:00 - 14:00

No silly qualifying sprint in Spain. Although the Ferrari in the hands of le Clerc will be there or there abouts, expect nothing less than a Verstappen win. Clearly this Red Bull is very much the best car on the grid, witness the fact that Sergio Perez has taken two second places and a pole thus far this season.

F1.com asks the question "Where is the best place to watch this race?". My answer "on the sofa, about 10 minutes after it has finished with your finger hovering over the FF button".

Don't mind me, I'm just an old curmudgeon. Enjoy.
 
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who designed this calendar mustve expected the miami race to meet the hype because nobody schedules a race that has had 4-5 entertaining races in its 30yr history & managed the impossible of being worse GP of 2020 in a season where we endured Abu Dhabi GP.

it a great testing track, but that where it should be left F2 which are normally entertaining watches are dull around Barcelona. even more of a travesty that we dont go to Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Istanbul park or Portimao but we come here every yr
 
Amazing how despite the bodywork, the skinny wheels make it look like something from decades ago.

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Here is a list of updates on the ARM22. It looks like they were inspired by the RB18 sidepod design. They are almost identical.

New air intake shape
New sidepods
New floor
 
Maybe they just give Fernando the 2022 World Championship as an apology for enforcing the rules he signed up to.
 
im with Alonso on this FB because i think they have majority of the drivers support


 
F1Brits_90 , I don't think you are getting the full story. Fernando couldn't give rats arse about the crashes involving the other drivers, he's narked because he got two 5 second penalties in Miami which "cost him a points finish".

Please do not confuse Fernando Alonso with a man who cares about anyone other than Fernando Alonso.

 
Maybe they just give Fernando the 2022 World Championship as an apology for enforcing the rules he signed up to.
Well they gave the 2021 world championship to Max Verstappen by not enforcing the rules he signed up to so in Alonso's case at least it would be a refreshing change.

LOL
 
very interesting Q2. Haas having a brilliant session 5th & 10th. also Mercedes 👀 3rd & 4th & sainz could only beat Russell by 0.017
 
Just read about the F2 sprint race which became the usual procession

I am hoping the left side is the gripper side which Red Bull may worry about on top of more power train problems
 
Red Bull on Friday on the long run pace looked like they were alot better on tyre deg than ferrari, were 6 tenths a lap quicker over the long simulation. actually it was mercedes that were red bull closest challengers
 
on here, Ted goes into great detail how mercedes have seemingly solved their issue.


but if you dont like ted :D, its effectively they had a flexi floor which because of CFD that wasnt powerful enough & a windtunnel that due to FIA rules cant be ran at high enough speed. so when they saw results they thought they'd hit the jackpot & it was a false positive. so having a stiffer floor on that car has solved it alot like Haas have done
 
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