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

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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I think it was Winston Churchill that said the farther you look back the further forward you can see.

I'm no F1 engineer but even I knew that ground effect cars require stiff chassis. It was a problem that plagued the Lotus 78, 79 and even more so the Lotus 80. Patrick Head and Frank Dernie quickly realised thst the Fw07 needed to be much stiffer and solved the problem way more effectively than Lotus.

The problem on modern F1 cars is probably made worse by not having side skirts to contain the low pressure area and provide a degree of predictably. Porpoising on old ground effect cars would tend to occur under breaking, cornering and when something changed the shape of the airflow under the car. This modern porpoising effect is happening at high speeds when the flexing chassis allows the low pressure area to collapse, raising the car, reducing the loading on the chassis. The reduced load allows the low pressure area to rebuild and the whole process starts again.
 
interested to see verstappen attempt at the 1st corner as if he does what he tried in 2021. he will be out. as I don't see leclerc giving room Lewis gave. but it looks very hot out there. so either we have entertaining 3 stopper or nap inducing 1 stopper where everyone crawling around babysitting their tyres
 
What, you mean winning?

It's a real shame that Leclerc dropped out, as the race could have been interesting at the end... And I wonder if Hamilton is going to have enough fuel for a fuel sample?
It's a water leak

As for Red Bull Perez did not deserve to hand over the race
 
Welcome to Red Bull Sergio.
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I was enjoying it until le Clerc retired, then it was utterly predictable. Well done Mercedes as they seem to be getting back to the front. What a shame they didn't give George a chance a couple of seasons ago.
 
I couldn't give a toot about Red Bull swapping their drivers around. Let's face it, Sergio is only there to score points and cover for Max.

What really ****ed me off is the moaning babies crying about George Russell's superb drive to hold off Verstappen. Coming back at the RBR through turns 2 and 3 was great to watch.

After the Red Bull radio call regarding the car width I turned the air blue in my front room by shouting at the TV.

Oh how I despise Red Bull.
 
We saw some actual racing, at actual Barcelona. Some of it was quite enjoyable.

People obviously have differing views on team orders. But when was the last time/team to twice swap their drivers and put the second driver purposely on a shitter strategy to ensure driver numero uno finishes ahead, despite a trip through the gravel, so early in the season? I’ll accept similar not exact examples.
 
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The only similar comparison we know of is Rubens in Austria 2002.

Let's be honest though, did anyone actually imagine Sergio would get a fair shake at RBR? Max has the management in his pocket and thats that.

We all know how unenforceable any sort of measure to control team orders are. I propose they should put something after the drivers name when classifying the results. Something like *Taken With Assisting Teammate*

Therefore the classified result would read:

1st Max Verstappen (T. W. A. T.)
 
I used to love watching Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton scream up behind slower cars and try to force an error when it was tough to pass.

Then along came Max in a dominant Red Bull up to George Russel and because he didn’t have DRS he was stuck - well, nearly off the track himself a number of times.

Either he isn’t a potential great or these cars are unpassable.

we seem to be engineering apparent competition without any interest in really getting the drivers to compete and steal the limelight. I know, I wonder myself why I’m surprised
 
I was enjoying it until le Clerc retired, then it was utterly predictable. Well done Mercedes as they seem to be getting back to the front. What a shame they didn't give George a chance a couple of seasons ago.
I was enjoying Russell blocking Verstappen and hearing him sulk and we had to hear the Red Bullsh1t that he was not leaving enough room crap
 
I used to love watching Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton scream up behind slower cars and try to force an error when it was tough to pass.

Then along came Max in a dominant Red Bull up to George Russel and because he didn’t have DRS he was stuck - well, nearly off the track himself a number of times.

Either he isn’t a potential great or these cars are unpassable.

we seem to be engineering apparent competition without any interest in really getting the drivers to compete and steal the limelight. I know, I wonder myself why I’m surprised
The track is a pig it's not for F1 it's better for MotoGp entertainment
 
I couldn't give a toot about Red Bull swapping their drivers around. Let's face it, Sergio is only there to score points and cover for Max.

What really ****ed me off is the moaning babies crying about George Russell's superb drive to hold off Verstappen. Coming back at the RBR through turns 2 and 3 was great to watch.

After the Red Bull radio call regarding the car width I turned the air blue in my front room by shouting at the TV.

Oh how I despise Red Bull.
Monaco next week let's hope Leclerc gets retribution for the last two years
 

Good luck Sergio if you are really expecting Palpatine Marko and his bitch Horner to side with you over their apprentice Verstappen . Does not history tell you something about the team? Unless you really going to threaten them with the El Mariachi?
 
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