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

[Juzh]

Live timing with sector times:
http://www.f1lt.com/

Should work for the race.

[Jonnycraig]

RB & their drivers being found out big time yet again.

Good to see Sainz again show that talent always beats hype.

[arahman_93]

Lewis has to surely do the opposite of Rosbergs strategy if he wants a shot at the win.
Would love to see role reverse of last year, lewis to use the meduim at the end.
That would make a good climax.

Why so? Lewis was able to get the job done on the same strategy plenty of times last year. Ferrari don't look very close around here so I assume it will just be a similar story to the races last year.

yeah but on this track its very difficult to overtake theres that chicane at the end by the time driver in front has accelerated theyll be several metre infront heading onto straight wich makes it diffucult to overtake.

personally i'd do the oposite (its a chance) to whatever tyres rosberg puts on for the first pit stop, theres nothing to loose by doing that we saw that with kimi last grand prix.(low fuel faster tyre and you never know with saftey car)

we shall see anyway hoping for a good race that's all that matters. [-o<

[Phillyred]

What was up with Lewis' middle sector? Did he comment on it yet??

[prince]

After ferrari installs their race engine get back to me with what the gap is....... they arre running the engine they took out of race rotation after china.....

if you think the gap is half a second you can go ahead and believe that i'm going to wait for qualifying and the race....you're not going to convince me otherwise so that should be the end of that.

OK. As you asked, I am back after Ferrari installed their race engine. With that, in qualifying Ferrari has fallen behind, compared to Bahrain. From 4 tenth gap in Bahrain to 8 tenth in Barcelona, with a 70% new car. Again, Vettel is a saving grace for Ferrari like Alonso used to be. Kimi being just the same donkey.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

One of the trends that I have seen over the last few years is that, whenever there is a GREATER news/speculation/rumor about BIG upgrades, it turns out to be a dud. Most of the efficient upgrades comes on a car, without making any news. One trend that was with Red Bull was that, when they were ready to bolt a good upgrade, they kept the highest confidentiality and when they were in soup, Horner kept speaking big about THINGS IN PIPELINE and blah blah blah. Until now, we have not witnessed the RUMORED 50 BHP gain from Merc engines, that we kept hearing about, before and in the winter testing cycle. 500 bar, log exhaust, ERS, blah blah blah, only to see them just being where they were end of last season or a bit more. There were no such HIGHLY ANTICIPATED rumours/speculations of a Ferrari resurgence. No one really expected Ferrari to bounce back with such vengeance and although some news was being made here and there, NO ONE anticipated the Ferrari resurgence. Last year same time, many people, inlcuding Red Bull were anticipating major changes from Barcelona, only see the lead of Merc rising. I remember last year, before Malaysia, Ron Dennis beating his chest and declaring HALF A SECOND gain upgrade, only to see them being just about stagnant.

With that been the trend, I would keep reading THE BIG UPGRADE news/speculations/rumors with A BOTTLE OF SALT.

It has never happened in Formula one in recent memory that A TEAM STARTED the season with handsome lead and then another team raised from ashes to win the championship by beating the leading team, although credible successors rise though the season. So, let's see how the dice rolls in European leg.

After all, the trend hasn't changed much. Big talks of upgrades hasn't change the scenario at all. If anything, atleast Ferrari have gone back in their qualifying performance (Kimi with the old side pods and new rear wing, a 1.7 seconds behind pole of Merc !!!). Mercedes hasn't introduced anything big, just optimization and still moving forward. Mr. Arrivebenne, welcome to the world of useless Ferrari upgrades.
Now what about the upcoming engine upgrades, with 20 BHP extra?

In the meantime, Spanish GP: Vettel says Mercedes has extended gap to Ferrari in F1

[Jordan44]

What was up with Lewis' middle sector? Did he comment on it yet??

Lauda said it was just him not liking the setup, the car had too much understeer.

[Jordan44]

Lewis has to surely do the opposite of Rosbergs strategy if he wants a shot at the win.
Would love to see role reverse of last year, lewis to use the meduim at the end.
That would make a good climax.

Why so? Lewis was able to get the job done on the same strategy plenty of times last year. Ferrari don't look very close around here so I assume it will just be a similar story to the races last year.

yeah but on this track its very difficult to overtake theres that chicane at the end by the time driver in front has accelerated theyll be several metre infront heading onto straight wich makes it diffucult to overtake.

personally i'd do the oposite (its a chance) to whatever tyres rosberg puts on for the first pit stop, theres nothing to loose by doing that we saw that with kimi last grand prix.(low fuel faster tyre and you never know with saftey car)

we shall see anyway hoping for a good race that's all that matters. [-o<

Ah fair enough, I completely forgot about the overtaking difficulty on this track. Lewis might be leading into turn 1 anyway and then none of this might matter. But hopefully not so the race is exciting,

[evered7]

After ferrari installs their race engine get back to me with what the gap is....... they arre running the engine they took out of race rotation after china.....

if you think the gap is half a second you can go ahead and believe that i'm going to wait for qualifying and the race....you're not going to convince me otherwise so that should be the end of that.

OK. As you asked, I am back after Ferrari installed their race engine. With that, in qualifying Ferrari has fallen behind, compared to Bahrain. From 4 tenth gap in Bahrain to 8 tenth in Barcelona, with a 70% new car. Again, Vettel is a saving grace for Ferrari like Alonso used to be. Kimi being just the same donkey.

So when it suits Merc fans, Australia/China comes up to show Merc advantage is bigger. And when it comes to showing Ferrari haven't improved with their updates, they choose the qualifying where Ferrari are closer?

The car has improved no doubt. Kimi with old sidepods being considerably slower than Vettel.

[Jordan44]

After ferrari installs their race engine get back to me with what the gap is....... they arre running the engine they took out of race rotation after china.....

if you think the gap is half a second you can go ahead and believe that i'm going to wait for qualifying and the race....you're not going to convince me otherwise so that should be the end of that.

OK. As you asked, I am back after Ferrari installed their race engine. With that, in qualifying Ferrari has fallen behind, compared to Bahrain. From 4 tenth gap in Bahrain to 8 tenth in Barcelona, with a 70% new car. Again, Vettel is a saving grace for Ferrari like Alonso used to be. Kimi being just the same donkey.

So when it suits Merc fans, Australia/China comes up to show Merc advantage is bigger. And when it comes to showing Ferrari haven't improved with their updates, they choose the qualifying where Ferrari are closer?

The car has improved no doubt. Kimi with old sidepods being considerably slower than Vettel.

Kimi being considerably slower than Vettel was his own fault, it was an very poor lap. This isn't a very good indicator of how much they've improved, but Sky seem to think their upgrades haven't had the impact they desired.

[evered7]

So when it suits Merc fans, Australia/China comes up to show Merc advantage is bigger. And when it comes to showing Ferrari haven't improved with their updates, they choose the qualifying where Ferrari are closer?

The car has improved no doubt. Kimi with old sidepods being considerably slower than Vettel.

Kimi being considerably slower than Vettel was his own fault, it was an very poor lap. This isn't a very good indicator of how much they've improved, but Sky seem to think their upgrades haven't had the impact they desired.

Vettel is .77 behind Mercedes. How do we know if Vettel would have gone faster with the old spec of parts? Only Kimi ran with that spec and was nowhere near the top 3 in Q1/Q3. Considering the gap in China/Australia, it looks like they have improved.

They tested out the parts and had the option of using the old spec as well. If they continue to use the new ones, it means they have hope for it. They are not going to throw away a race just to race with the parts that ain't working.

[Unc1eM0nty]

Track position is key here, more so than what tires your on, I don't think a Lewis on mediums could get past Nico on hard's an this track.

If Lewis doesn't get him at the start it might be wise to go to a different strategy to Nico, he need's to be in front on that last stint even if it means pitting early and doing a longer run. If he doesn't then Nico will get first pit stop each time and then it's all over.

[Andres125sx]

Good oportunity to earn some money betting for Lewis

STR beating RBR again, that´s good to avoid more Horner´s BS

And Sainz beating Verstappen again, 3-2 for the spaniard in qualifying. If Max is new Senna, Carlos is new Alonso, and Alonso wins!

[/funny mode off]

Now seriously, I loved this track when playing on F1 PC game as much as I hate it to watch a race. Hopefully Kimi trying to pass STR drivers could be interesting, or Lewis trying with Nico if he does not do it on the start (wich is my bet). Otherwise this will be another boring race on Montmelo

[psychemedia]

Some sketches from quali...

Example evolution of session cutoff time for Q1:



(See more at http://www.f1datajunkie.com/2015/05/f1- ... fying.html )

Session progression chart:

[Juzh]

People jumping on RBs heads because they got beat by TR and how that magically absolves renault lol. Yes, RB11 itself is kinda average car all round, but how does this make the renault PU any better? It's still as bad as it always was, and it just shows TR is a actually a pretty good car.