2023 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, June 02 - 04

[AR3-GP]

RB will be feeling absolutely horrible about it all

[JordanMugen]

Then there would be zero overtakes

That's OK, it should be possible to defend. Overtaking perhaps should be hard rather than very easy?

Making overtaking very easy at Catalunya just made all the cars quickly order themselves from fastest to slowest, so that nothing happened and there was no tension. Anyone could easily pit and then regain positions. Not very dramatic at all.

For the all the overtakes in this Spanish GP, how many of them were actually exciting moves? <5%? Maybe there were some great moves we didn't see, but there sure weren't many daring moves at all.

[Sieper]

Spain always was neigh on impossible to overtake. Going in to the weekend nobody really knew if the new (old) layout would make following closer onto the straight possible. To then now say, with hindsight, DRS should have been shorter, is a bit unfair. A few drivers did already say during FP that following was beter as expected. Maybe next year DRS can be made shorter.

For me the threat of rain made the race still a bit tense. That can make everything stand on its head if it happens.

[AR3-GP]

Spain always was neigh on impossible to overtake. Going in to the weekend nobody really knew if the new (old) layout would make following closer onto the straight possible. To then now say, with hindsight, DRS should have been shorter, is a bit unfair.

I said it before the race, not after

[Zynerji]

DRS should be Unlimited.

[Sieper]

Spain always was neigh on impossible to overtake. Going in to the weekend nobody really knew if the new (old) layout would make following closer onto the straight possible. To then now say, with hindsight, DRS should have been shorter, is a bit unfair.

I said it before the race, not after

Fair point, but others were also arguing it. Plus, we don’t decide. But for next year, let’s see.

[carisi2k]

I don't know if this has been covered earlier but how did George Russell not get a penalty for his turn 1/2 shortcut? The fact he ended up so far ahead of Perez and others he started near should have made this an easy slam dunk decision.

[langedweil]

DRS should be Unlimited.

Kinda like the old days with a 2:1 power to weight ratio, where the guts of the driver was the one that decided maximum speed instead of the car limitations. Cars that were constantly trying to kill the driver
But that could get bloody .. but way more Gladiator-esque.

[mendis]

Sainz could have forced the issue so that he and Verstapen collided. I'm not sure why Sainz backed out of it? (Preservation? Lack of belief of being able to go for the win?)

As per the rules, if Tsunoda did not leave a car's width on the outside of the corner then absolutely Verstappen did not either.

Decision making has always been inconsistent, but the 1st lap defenses or offences have always been forgiven for so long as there is no damage to any car. Sainz could have had his front wing damaged like Lando's if he would have gone ahead. On top of that, he would have got punished like Max got in Brazil last year, although Sainz was not ahead like Max was.

[Zynerji]

DRS should be Unlimited.

Kinda like the old days with a 2:1 power to weight ratio, where the guts of the driver was the one that decided maximum speed instead of the car limitations. Cars that were constantly trying to kill the driver
But that could get bloody .. but way more Gladiator-esque.

Yes. Unlimited and analog, so the drivers are almost always using it between 1 and 100%.

[JordanMugen]

Kinda like the old days with a 2:1 power to weight ratio

In what units?

Pending looking up, I'm not sure the interwar era supercharged cars did have a higher power to weight ratio than the current cars (despite their 6L supercharged engines).

It looks like we have 520hp(390kW)/750kg for the Auto Union Typ C, compared to 1000hp(745kW)/798kg for a modern Alfa Romeo not-Audi-yet Sauber. So that's 520 W/kg for the 1930's car and 933 W/kg for the 2020's car.

Sure, BMW's inline-four was said to produce 1300hp in qualifying (or was it 1400hp or 1500hp... the number grows every year!), but race power levels were under 1000hp as far as I know.

[Artur Craft]

this is why I hate rain fp and quali. Ok race can have rain but other sessions just become pointless and/or luck based

Rain is great in qualifying, especially if it's a slowly drying track, rewards those who take the most risks.

When it comes to qualifying I just like to watch pure fast cars with least amount of gimmicks factored in I know majority likes more unpredictability.

Yeah, I´m just like you. I don´t like wet QLFs, much prefer to see full performance on the dry surface. Races are better when wet though.

BTW, Ferrari needs to brake on T3, Campsa and the last corner :

[AR3-GP]

Rain is great in qualifying, especially if it's a slowly drying track, rewards those who take the most risks.

When it comes to qualifying I just like to watch pure fast cars with least amount of gimmicks factored in I know majority likes more unpredictability.

Yeah, I´m just like you. I don´t like wet QLFs, much prefer to see full performance on the dry surface. Races are better when wet though.

BTW, Ferrari needs to brake on T3, Campsa and the last corner :

I wonder if the braking is more for rotation, or even some recharge? Sainz still has the throttle engaged when he does it so he's not actually trying to slow down.

[Evo2racer]

Great race and amazing crowd in Barcelona!

I don’t remember a race that packed here even in 1995 there was less people! Again it makes sense since they built 2 new VIP sections it’s insane!

Back to the race Ferrari are really in big trouble, the car is really slow in race trim! (Sainz) And what happen to Leclerc, the change the entire back of the car and did it change much!

Amazing come back from Russell passing everyone in front !

[Big Tea]

DRS should be Unlimited.

Make that Eliminated


Then again, a button on the wheel and totally in driver control ( no auto activate/deactivate) with say 2 min total time for race would be interesting.