2013 Spanish Grand Prix - Barcelona

[raymondu999]

2012




2013
Tyres - Hard (prime, orange) and Medium (option, yellow)

2012
Tyres - Hard (prime, grey) and Soft (option, yellow)
Winner - Pastor Maldonado (Soft - Hard - Hard - Hard)

2011
Tyres - Hard (prime, grey) and Soft (option, yellow)
Winner - Sebastian Vettel (Soft - Soft - Soft - Hard - Hard)

2012 pole lap (Hamilton qualified P1, but was disqualified)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXx51DoAH7Q[/youtube]

[SamH123]

Going to be an interesting weekend if there are some pecking order changes
How close to the front can Mclaren get? It would be very interesting if they justified re-doing their car by becoming the fastest come July
Surely teams like Williams (and maybe Sauber) could potentially find a silver bullet for their cars, I can't believe they are fundamentally flawed after some of their performances last year

Vettel a fairly strong favourite though..

[raymondu999]

Vettel a fairly favourite though..

Really? They haven't fared well at the 3 front-limited circuits we've had so far.

[Juzh]

Vettel a fairly favourite though..

Really? They haven't fared well at the 3 front-limited circuits we've had so far.

Barcelona is front limited? How so? which corners?

[beelsebob]

Vettel a fairly favourite though..

Really? They haven't fared well at the 3 front-limited circuits we've had so far.

Barcelona is front limited? How so? which corners?

Pretty much all of it is long sweepers – front tyre territory. The only rear limited areas of the track are the exits of turn 10 and 15.

[SamH123]

I was thinking that the fast corners and smaller straights would suit RB as well as considering their race pace in Bahrain obviously. You understand the technical bits better than me though

I didn't realise this circuit was considered front limited as well because I thought people were making a fuss about China being one of the only ones. Is it front limited to the extent of China?

[beelsebob]

I was thinking that the fast corners and smaller straights would suit RB as well as considering their race pace in Bahrain obviously. You understand the technical bits better than me though

I didn't realise this circuit was considered front limited as well because I thought people were making a fuss about China being one of the only ones. Is it front limited to the extent of China?

No where near to the extent of China, but turn 3 and 9 are both pretty brutal.

[SamH123]

Ok cool

Considering Merc looked good here in testing I wouldn't lay too long odds on Merc making it 5 pole positions in a row (Monaco surely and Canada a v strong track for Merc and Hamilton). Who knows if they can even score podiums from them though

[oT v1]

So glad Goujon got the podium in Bahrain, should be back to his best in Spain! I expect an Alonso/Kimi/Goujon podium

[JimClarkFan]

Mercedes Pole
Ferrari win

Hoping for a turn in form for Mclaren.
One of my favorite tracks of this year.

[IceIceBaby]

i hope Lotus uses the DRD at barcelona it would be nice to see how much of an advantage it will be

[rssh]

Barca is definitely a front limited circuit but China was a bit more extreme . The only setup option for the race will be revealed by the temperature on the Raceday because downforce level on the front wing should make the tyres suit there operation range and not degrade thermally .

The best example of the front limited eg is 2011 race , were Macca had a really strong front end and could keep up with RB on its rear wing . RB's superior traction on the last corner meant that it couldn't get past it . Right now I really don't know which car has strong front end relatively

[Mika1]

Predictions will be useless, all the teams will introduce a big package, so we don't know the differences.

[Jonnycraig]

Not really RB territory, suspect Alonso will cruise to an easy victory with Raikonnen & Vettel alongside him.

[Mestrades]

One of my favourites tracks of the year!

Let's see if Catalonia can keep this track in the 2014 F1 calendar.

Circuit of Catalunya has always been the first traditional Europe race and a good indicator of how the cars will suit in the rest of the circuits.

Let's see what happens. I think Alo will be very difficult to beat.