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

[psychemedia]

Looking graphically at how the classified laptimes evolved through qualifying, does this reveal anything about the qualifying strategies the teams used, and even possible race strategy? Or are the times - particularly ones that are *slower* going from one session to the next, just one of those things?

[henra]

Kimi with the old side pods and new rear wing, a 1.7 seconds behind pole of Merc !!!.
....
Mr. Arrivebenne, welcome to the world of useless Ferrari upgrades.

Hmmm, contradicting yourself?

I agree that the updates haven't delivered to the extent one would have hoped for. That said, it seems that the new sidepods brought at least some improvement. The gaps are simply amplified here. RBR is a staggering 2s behind the Merc.

[TheGkbrk]

Does Skysports broadcast GP2?

[Juzh]

So, after all the hype that F1 cars would be up to 3s faster in 2015(I always highly doubted that and expected no more than 1s) , they actually turned out to be only 3 to 4 tenths faster(Pirelli says the new rear construction makes the tyres 2 to 3 tenths faster, so the 0,6s improvement is only partially due to the cars).

F1 gets humiliated by LMP1 who improved 5s

Race pace in spa was still some 4-5s off of F1. Which is good nonetheless. But I agree with you, F1 is too slow.. a lot.

[mikeerfol]

Does Skysports broadcast GP2?

Yup, the F1 channel has both GP3 and GP2

[atanatizante]

Yesterday in GP2 first race leader Vandoorne on prime tyre was 0.7-1.2 sec. slower than Rossi&Lynn beeing on soft.
Finally he won the race despite having to work through the field without DRS and both drivers above pressuring him ...
You could say there are few things in common between GP2 but their tyres compound isn't far off ...
So bearing in mind there will the same track temps like yesterday we could presume an OOP strategy is enough to fend of an OPO one?
And the comments that the option tyre is the tyre to race is based on what reason? Coz the delta time between the tyres in FP was 1.2 sec hence an OOP strategy is faster?

[Steven]

Hi all. As always, we're chatting during the race.
Join us at http://www.f1technical.net/live/

[SectorOne]

This is the problem with one guy determining the strategy. Nico has won the race already, the rest of the laps are merely a formality.
With two race strategists maybe the other side would say F it, let´s try and go to the end.

Congratulations to Nico though, faultless Quali and Race, well deserved.

[Sevach]

Vettel's pace on hards is slower than the Williams, i hope Ferrari understands why their car isn't good at this track.
Mercedes superiority was crushing today.

Edit: Vettel was 13s behind Rosberg before the switch to hards, now he's 40+ with 3 laps to go, Rosberg was saving his tires but still...

Vettel pretty much guaranteed Rosberg's victory.

[Juzh]

Vettel's pace on hards is slower than the Williams

Traffic. As soon as he cleared it he gained 0,5-0,8s a lap, when bottas hit traffic. Imo they were pretty even on hards.

Expected result. I just knew hamilton would end up in front as that pace advantage was simply too big today.

RB easily in front of TR. So TR again going for qualifying glory. Funny how even sainz and vestappen themselves knew it before the race, playing down expectations.

[Tauri_J]

mclaren in front of Manor...

what a joke, this season is so lost

[SilverArrow10]

I like it when Hamilton comes from behind, didn't win but given it a go, missed that this year. Congrats Rosberg =D> , im already not liking the twirl fingers haha. Catalunya is poor....

[QLDriver]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Hamilton hadn't had that bad pitstop and ended up stuck behind Vettel on his second stint. Fair play to Nico, he did a great job and didn't put a foot wrong. Lewis ended up where he did ultimately through his own poor start.

[Sevach]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Hamilton hadn't had that bad pitstop and ended up stuck behind Vettel on his second stint. Fair play to Nico, he did a great job and didn't put a foot wrong. Lewis ended up where he did ultimately through his own poor start.

No it wouldn't, he would be stuck behind Rosberg, he couldn't put pressure on Vettel.

Good job on tire administration by Ros, but then again he could've gone was slow as he pleased...

Ps: Valencia was better.

[iotar__]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Hamilton hadn't had that bad pitstop and ended up stuck behind Vettel on his second stint. Fair play to Nico, he did a great job and didn't put a foot wrong. Lewis ended up where he did ultimately through his own poor start.

What exactly would have happened? Nothing, he couldn't touch Vettel why would you expect him to challenge Rosberg in the same car? Race was over after five laps, nothing to discuss here.

- The most dominant win of the season. If before the race Lauda said Hamilton was driving like an alien and Lowe that he was in the best form ever I don't know what they will say now about Rosberg. My guess: nothing like that.
- Another Ferrari driver made Bottas look good this season at least they take turns.
- I liked Ericsson's polite "we're being compromised" Yes you were Marcus, good point.
- Lotus had the pace to beat Red Bull but who needs two drivers prepared and car that works? Selling free practice sessions for results they were lucky they have team player Grosjean and a bunch of overrated Red Bull drivers behind.