2015 Spanish Grand Prix - Circuit de Catalunya - 8-10 May

[dren]

I agree with some points from previous posts:
- everyone will bring upgrades and it will mostly equalise itself,
- Renault/RB with biggest possible gains
- the rest the same maybe until Ferrari engine upgrades, Merc slight favourite on this track

I have to disagree with Renault/RB having biggest possible gains; that statement goes to the McLaren/Honda. And I do expect the McLaren to take a large jump up the field.

Williams has some gains to be made, but I don't know if they have a car to make them with. They did a good job last year.

The Red Bull might look a bit better due to the track layout.

Ferrari I expect should be about the same, they may make actual gains on Mercedes, but the track looks to favor the Mercedes a bit more than the last few with long straights.

Lotus seems to have a car that could really benefit from some development. They may make a noticeable step.

So the two I am really expecting a step gain from relative to the field are Lotus and McLaren.

[giantfan10]

I agree with some points from previous posts:
- everyone will bring upgrades and it will mostly equalise itself,
- Renault/RB with biggest possible gains
- the rest the same maybe until Ferrari engine upgrades, Merc slight favourite on this track

I have to disagree with Renault/RB having biggest possible gains; that statement goes to the McLaren/Honda. And I do expect the McLaren to take a large jump up the field.

Williams has some gains to be made, but I don't know if they have a car to make them with. They did a good job last year.

The Red Bull might look a bit better due to the track layout.

Ferrari I expect should be about the same, they may make actual gains on Mercedes, but the track looks to favor the Mercedes a bit more than the last few with long straights.

Lotus seems to have a car that could really benefit from some development. They may make a noticeable step.

So the two I am really expecting a step gain from relative to the field are Lotus and McLaren.

this track is higher downforce than the previous 4 and higher tire degradation than the previous 4... that should make things interesting.
mercedes made changes after FP3 last race to get back ahead of ferrari in the race pace dept but those changes created brake cooling issues.... will mercedes find another solution? or will they stick to what works since barcelona needs less braking force than bahrain? will we see brake issues again?
ferrari is said to be bringing a new floor and nose/front wing... will the upgrades work? what upgrades will mercedes bring?
interesting stuff

[dren]

I expect visible updates for most of the field. I also expect whatever Mercedes brings to work. Their recent track record of upgrades working has been good.

[FrukostScones]

I don't see how Merc can lose here so

qualy:
HAM,ROS,VET,RAI,MAS,RIC,BOT,GRO,MAL,KVY,
race:
HAM,VET,RAI,MAS,BOT,MAL,GRO,NAS,ERI,PER

[dans79]

I don't see how Merc can lose here so

qualy:
HAM,ROS,VET,RAI,MAS,RIC,BOT,GRO,MAL,KVY,
race:
HAM,VET,RAI,MAS,BOT,MAL,GRO,NAS,ERI,PER

What happened to ROS in the race?

[Juzh]

I don't see how Merc can lose here so

qualy:
HAM,ROS,VET,RAI,MAS,RIC,BOT,GRO,MAL,KVY,
race:
HAM,VET,RAI,MAS,BOT,MAL,GRO,NAS,ERI,PER

What happened to ROS in the race?

Lapped, obviously.

[tranquility2k4]

Merc (via Lauda) have said they have a big car update. I'm wondering whether changes to sidepods and/or nose - I'd love them to bring out something quite innovative and shocking and just make the rest of the field be like ... oh god, now they've fooled us again. I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Ferrari, as others have said, don't seem to have many exterior visual updates over the last few races, so it'd be nice to see a short nose or something like this.

McLaren will have a big update - I hope this brings big performance as we want Alonso and JB fighting at the front ASAP. I believe they also have a big update coming for Monaco.

What I'm intruiged by is how well Hamilton will get the car set up at this track. Some of you may remember last year in practice 2 he had an amazing long run, probably the best long run all year on options and looked like he was going to demolish the field, then he made changes to try and make something that was already perfect even better and had a horrible set up for P3, qualifying and the race. He somehow managed to steal pole from Rosberg then hold him off for the race. So he'll be hoping not to repeat that this year.

What strikes me about Hamilton this year, is not just his race speed and calmness behind the wheel, but in qualifying, if you think about it, he hasn't really just narrowly beat Rosberg, he has smashed him away really. I Australia it was a special lap. In Malaysia, he didn't improve, but his first lap was special, way better than anyone else in much wetter conditions. In China he messed up his last lap but up until then was untouchable. Then another great lap in Bahrain. He has put together 4 very special laps in Q3 (either during his 1st or 2nd run). Very impressive and really justifies what many thought about his true speed and ability not being shown in qualifying last year due to lots of mistakes and bad luck.

[giantfan10]

Merc (via Lauda) have said they have a big car update. I'm wondering whether changes to sidepods and/or nose - I'd love them to bring out something quite innovative and shocking and just make the rest of the field be like ... oh god, now they've fooled us again. I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Ferrari, as others have said, don't seem to have many exterior visual updates over the last few races, so it'd be nice to see a short nose or something like this.

McLaren will have a big update - I hope this brings big performance as we want Alonso and JB fighting at the front ASAP. I believe they also have a big update coming for Monaco.

What I'm intruiged by is how well Hamilton will get the car set up at this track. Some of you may remember last year in practice 2 he had an amazing long run, probably the best long run all year on options and looked like he was going to demolish the field, then he made changes to try and make something that was already perfect even better and had a horrible set up for P3, qualifying and the race. He somehow managed to steal pole from Rosberg then hold him off for the race. So he'll be hoping not to repeat that this year.

What strikes me about Hamilton this year, is not just his race speed and calmness behind the wheel, but in qualifying, if you think about it, he hasn't really just narrowly beat Rosberg, he has smashed him away really. I Australia it was a special lap. In Malaysia, he didn't improve, but his first lap was special, way better than anyone else in much wetter conditions. In China he messed up his last lap but up until then was untouchable. Then another great lap in Bahrain. He has put together 4 very special laps in Q3 (either during his 1st or 2nd run). Very impressive and really justifies what many thought about his true speed and ability not being shown in qualifying last year due to lots of mistakes and bad luck.

is this about the race in barcelona or a love letter to your man crush hamilton sheeesh.
merc is now playing with everyone else... =D> why are they allowing ferrari to finish ahead of any of their cars? part of the master plan to fool everyone into thinking Ferrari is competing with them?
its pretty interesting to see this fanboy logic...here i will take a stab at explaining it... mercedes had the best engine in the field in 2014 and they destroyed the field(<fact) so every mirror wing and flap that mercedes puts on their car is an act of genius because they won a championship. any update they put on their car will work because of course they are mercedes...Ferrari with their simple looking front wing is catching up to mercedes? nonsense! mercedes is just toying with them.... that sound about right?

[tranquility2k4]

Merc (via Lauda) have said they have a big car update. I'm wondering whether changes to sidepods and/or nose - I'd love them to bring out something quite innovative and shocking and just make the rest of the field be like ... oh god, now they've fooled us again. I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Ferrari, as others have said, don't seem to have many exterior visual updates over the last few races, so it'd be nice to see a short nose or something like this.

McLaren will have a big update - I hope this brings big performance as we want Alonso and JB fighting at the front ASAP. I believe they also have a big update coming for Monaco.

What I'm intruiged by is how well Hamilton will get the car set up at this track. Some of you may remember last year in practice 2 he had an amazing long run, probably the best long run all year on options and looked like he was going to demolish the field, then he made changes to try and make something that was already perfect even better and had a horrible set up for P3, qualifying and the race. He somehow managed to steal pole from Rosberg then hold him off for the race. So he'll be hoping not to repeat that this year.

What strikes me about Hamilton this year, is not just his race speed and calmness behind the wheel, but in qualifying, if you think about it, he hasn't really just narrowly beat Rosberg, he has smashed him away really. I Australia it was a special lap. In Malaysia, he didn't improve, but his first lap was special, way better than anyone else in much wetter conditions. In China he messed up his last lap but up until then was untouchable. Then another great lap in Bahrain. He has put together 4 very special laps in Q3 (either during his 1st or 2nd run). Very impressive and really justifies what many thought about his true speed and ability not being shown in qualifying last year due to lots of mistakes and bad luck.

is this about the race in barcelona or a love letter to your man crush hamilton sheeesh.
merc is now playing with everyone else... =D> why are they allowing ferrari to finish ahead of any of their cars? part of the master plan to fool everyone into thinking Ferrari is competing with them?
its pretty interesting to see this fanboy logic...here i will take a stab at explaining it... mercedes had the best engine in the field in 2014 and they destroyed the field(<fact) so every mirror wing and flap that mercedes puts on their car is an act of genius because they won a championship. any update they put on their car will work because of course they are mercedes...Ferrari with their simple looking front wing is catching up to mercedes? nonsense! mercedes is just toying with them.... that sound about right?

Grow up - can someone not compliment a driver by stating factual information without becoming a fanboy? I have been impressed by his qualifying performances this year yes. I think I also made a lot of other interesting observations whether related to Mercedes or other teams. Regarding Merc playing with everyone else - it has been confirmed they had most of their China upgrade (e.g. FW) ready for Malaysia (and possibly also Aus) but didn't run it - they were over confident maybe? Toto, et al, have mentioned on many occasions that last year they didn't have to rush through upgrades like they normally would. What I'm getting at is now they feel under pressure by Ferrari I'm sure they have a lot of ideas in the pipeline that will allow them to unleash a lot of additonal speed that they would have kept hidden should it have not become so tight at the front.

I just read through your entire post and understood how immature, childish and pathetic your comments are. At least I am making points which are reasonable and justified rather than trying to start a confrontation with someone for no reason.

You talk of a 'fanboy' - this is a sport and clearly a sport is meant to have fans. What is wrong with someone providing a positive opinion on someone therefore? Is this a crime? I didn't realise, sorry haha..

[Richard]

Grow up - can someone not compliment a driver by stating factual information without becoming a fanboy? ...

It may have been based on fact but it was a rather long epistle in Hamilton's honour? How about a single sentence version:

We have to give praise where it's due for the driver in the fastest car winning the race, something that none of the other drivers in slower cars managed to achieve.

.....

IMHO The real intrigue is how Ferrari set up their cars, will they go for the win or try to set up the two cars to hunt in a pair to get past the second placed Merc? Or how about the prospect of middle ranking teams going for low drag to get flattering results in the speed traps?

[evered7]

They had a tighter engine cover from China and supposedly something different on PU side in Malaysia that gave them more than in Oz (can presumably only be software).

But nothing hugely visible. Wonder if they'll bring the slightly shorter nose Allison mentioned.

If they can just have a slightly better upgrade than Mercedes, I think they'll be in good shape for Canada when they have the extra 20-30 bhp from engine upgrade.

Thanks for that f1316! The start to the season has been so exciting that this 3 week gap seems too long than normal

I hope the updates work rather than working better than Mercedes. It will set the momentum for further changes over the season. Ferrari have an outside chance if they manage to reduce the gap to 3 tenths or less in Q's.

Apparently Mercs had their biggest advantage here last year, if Ferrari manage to split the Mercs again, they are very much in the game.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I don't see how Merc can lose here so

qualy:
HAM,ROS,VET,RAI,MAS,RIC,BOT,GRO,MAL,KVY,
race:
HAM,VET,RAI,MAS,BOT,MAL,GRO,NAS,ERI,PER

What happened to ROS in the race?

Lapped, obviously.

I thought there are some better fortune tellers here, narrating almost every lap. This one just left me high and dry.

[Sevach]

I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Different from you i'm sure they take their job very seriously, no time to waste playing tricks with the other teams.

[evered7]

I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Wishful thinking more than anything else. Many expected Mercedes to continue their domination this year as well after seeing their 2014 season. Nothing wrong with it. But now you have accept that Ferrari have closed the gap considerably which is evident after the first few races and that Mercs don't have magic potion like they did last year with their engines. They have done well to keep their lead and will benefit Hamilton massively. Will they keep up the advantage or extend it or will it be shortened, is to be seen based on how the cars are developed by each team.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I'm sure Merc are just playing with everyone else...

Wishful thinking more than anything else. Many expected Mercedes to continue their domination this year as well after seeing their 2014 season. Nothing wrong with it. But now you have accept that Ferrari have closed the gap considerably which is evident after the first few races and that Mercs don't have magic potion like they did last year with their engines. They have done well to keep their lead and will benefit Hamilton massively. Will they keep up the advantage or extend it or will it be shortened, is to be seen based on how the cars are developed by each team.

Looking at the situation from two different team's perspective, here is how it looks. Only facts.
Mercedes domination continues... 4 poles out of 4 races and 3 wins out of 4 races; 8 podiums. Leads the constructors' standings and the next best team by 52 points. Their two drivers stands 1st and 2nd in the drivers' standings.
Ferrari has jumped couple of places in standings to 2nd. 1 win out of 4 races. 4 podiums. Their two drivers stand 3rd and 4th in Drivers' standings. Good job.
By the end of the year, it would still be the facts that would determine if some team dominated or not. Rest everything is just perspective.