2017 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, 12-14 May

[PlatinumZealot]

- So how much did 4 races old spec 1 engine and missed FP3 cost compared to brand new spec 2? Who needs team orders.

- Bottas had electrical problem with new engine, water leak, missed FP3, gets 4 races old engine and live timing bloke is wondering if it "hampers his chances?" No, it certainly helps him you F1 expert you.

And old engine is better than no engine!

[Godius]

Verstappen was 0,5 second faster than Ricciardo. RIC seems to lose a lot of time in the last sector, although it is not that bad s3 time compared to Ferrari. I think that he will be analysing the data a bit longer than usual this weekend.

[Artur Craft]

If Vettel had Kimi's S3, he would have been on pole by a couple hundredths. Yes, Hamilton would've done a 1.18.9 if he managed to repeat his outstanding first S3 but that would still be a little gap to Ferrari's full potential.

I think it's alarming for Mercedes to bring all this upgrades(big aero changes, new PU) and be basically as fast as Ferrari. Let's remember that Vettel was never good at Barcelona. I think Webber outqualified him every time there.

People were saying(I wasn't hyping it too much. Just said that Mercedes might have stretched it's legs with the upgrade but that's not the case) that Mercedes had already won the development race, that they would dominate the field again, that it was all over and etc........

I'll repeat what I said on previous rounds, it's the PU advantage that still makes Mercedes be competitive. Just look how Williams and Force India are matching/beating factory cars like Mclaren/Honda and Renault and more capable(imho) midfield teams like Toro Rosso and Haas(they have plenty of downforce).

I wonder what the bitter people about Red Bull's typical technical superiority will have to say now? Is being 1.7s faster than any other Renault-powered car enough for you guys? Even with a Ferrari PU, my guess is that Verstappen could put it on pole.

[Sonador]

Verstappen was 0,5 second faster than Ricciardo. RIC seems to lose a lot of time in the last sector, although it is not that bad s3 time compared to Ferrari. I think that he will be analysing the data a bit longer than usual this weekend.

I was really impressed by Verstappen all weekend.

Ricciardo looked ragged, as if he had isseus with getting the tires to work.
Stark contrast between a year ago, were he had the lap of his carreer in Q3 (before Monaco Pole)

[Sonador]

If Vettel had Kimi's S3, he would have been on pole by a couple hundredths. Yes, Hamilton would've done a 1.18.9 if he managed to repeat his outstanding first S3 but that would still be a little gap to Ferrari's full potential.

I think it's alarming for Mercedes to bring all this upgrades(big aero changes, new PU) and be basically as fast as Ferrari. Let's remember that Vettel was never good at Barcelona. I think Webber outqualified him every time there.

People were saying(I wasn't hyping it too much. Just said that Mercedes might have stretched it's legs with the upgrade but that's not the case) that Mercedes had already won the development race, that they would dominate the field again, that it was all over and etc........

I'll repeat what I said on previous rounds, it's the PU advantage that still makes Mercedes be competitive. Just look how Williams and Force India are matching/beating factory cars like Mclaren/Honda and Renault and more capable(imho) midfield teams like Toro Rosso and Haas(they have plenty of downforce).

I wonder what the bitter people about Red Bull's typical technical superiority will have to say now? Is being 1.7s faster than any other Renault-powered car enough for you guys? Even with a Ferrari PU, my guess is that Verstappen could put it on pole.

I think that just as Red Bull, that Mercedes has lost a lot of laptime because they also ran a trick suspension.
So yes Ferrari did improve, but imo it is more that Merc has lost more, than Ferrari has gained.

It gives us fans a good season so it is okay, only i wished Mclaren and Red Bull were also in the mix for race wins.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Its a damned shame that these brick hard pirelli tires are still not capable of lasting an entire qually lap without overheating, everybody losing it in sector 3 is a clear indication that the tires are just not up to the task.

[atanatizante]

Lewis was fastest now in the twisted sector 3 so surely he did learned a lesson from Sochi
Bottas was second quickest in S3 so or they have better traction than Ferrari or their car`s setup was more for this circuit section ...
Meanwhile Ferrari has 5-6km/h more on the trap speed, was better in S1 and also was setup with a tad of understeer to protect rear tyres for the race ...
But this time Merc has the upper hand coz this year soft tyre is last year medium and they were the king of the show on them ...

[GPR-A duplicate2]

I'll repeat what I said on previous rounds, it's the PU advantage that still makes Mercedes be competitive. Just look how Williams and Force India are matching/beating factory cars like Mclaren/Honda and Renault and more capable(imho) midfield teams like Toro Rosso and Haas(they have plenty of downforce).

If this circuit puts a premium on PU power, then Alonso should have been out in Q1 itself.
Force India has always been a top 10 team and even this year, they have been in that place, so it's not about the PU power.
If Grosjean would have had a good day, then he would have certainly be ahead of FI and Williams. That car has much better downforce. Who else would remain?

In Sochi, definitely the power played a part and saved the Mercs, but not here. Lewis did not improve on his last run, whereas Vettel made big gain on his last flier. Even Bottas made a small improvement on his last run. So, it's not PU here. If you observe the comparison lap of Vettel and Lewis, you would see how fine tuned the Merc was on turn 9 and the whole of S3, compared to Ferrari. So, my opinion is that the upgrade package has lifted the Merc to Ferrari's level on downforce.

I wonder what the bitter people about Red Bull's typical technical superiority will have to say now? Is being 1.7s faster than any other Renault-powered car enough for you guys? Even with a Ferrari PU, my guess is that Verstappen could put it on pole.

One more example of how much the circuit puts a premium on Aero than just PU advantage.

[Sevach]

With the flat rear wing, Mercedes top speed advantage dissapears.

Hamilton had a magical final sector, but Ferrari is also surprisigly bad there (and have been since friday) loosing to Verstappen even.

[Phil]

When people are referring to Hamiltons magical last sector... are they referring to his first lap Q3 one? He lost a lot of time on his 2nd run....

[Vasconia]

It was a relief to see such a tight and epic battle.

I think there were different philosophies to approach the lap.Ferrari tried too hard with the first two sectors, perhaps thinking that it was enought to make the fatest lap. On the other hand Mercedes has choosed to reach the perfect temperatures for they tyres in oder to make a perfect S3, it seems that at least for Hamilton it worked perfectly well. Now we have to see the real pace of both teams for tomorrows race.

Sainz was doing a great qualy, too bad that his final lap was not that good. What can I say about Alonso? what a performance!! Honda needs to bring a good PU because I cant imagine the situation of the team without the Spaniard.

What happened to Hulkenberg? he was being fast but his qualy has been underwhelming.

And nice job of Sauber. First great development of the season and they were better than 4 drivers. Wehrlein is an excelent driver which puts in perfective what Ericsson is doing, I guess he is not that bad.

[Artur Craft]

Its a damned shame that these brick hard pirelli tires are still not capable of lasting an entire qually lap without overheating, everybody losing it in sector 3 is a clear indication that the tires are just not up to the task.

Going by what I saw on FPs and QLF, it seems that the Softs gets 0.5s already on it's second fast lap, so I don't know how can you call that "hard". Well, if we mean hard in the sense that they offer poor grip, then yes, they are hard. If we mean hard as durable and consistent tyres, then I guess only the Hards will provide that. I'll be very surprised if they only do a 1-stopper with Softs-Mediums. I'm predicting S-M-M or S-H

@Phil, yes, when we refer to his magical sector, it's obviously the first Q3 lap one as even him lost over 2 tenths there, on his second run. I guess we could say that most of Alonso's lap was magical too because that was 1.5s faster than Vandoorne's(who was a great driver on lower series) best

[f1316]

Without getting into the blah blah that this usually descends into, I think you've got to say that - given all the setbacks, old PU - Bottas is continuing to look strong; very impressive to be so close.

I also wonder if there's a different wing level at play here; Ferrari are faster in the high speed sections + topping the apples trap, but slower in the twisty stuff - when facing a Mercedes PU that I think it's fair to say most think is still a little bit stronger - and it implies to me they're running less downforce. This may have been in an attempt to keep the tyres lasting a bit better tomorrow.

[George-Jung]

Without getting into the blah blah that this usually descends into, I think you've got to say that - given all the setbacks, old PU - Bottas is continuing to look strong; very impressive to be so close.

I also wonder if there's a different wing level at play here; Ferrari are faster in the high speed sections + topping the apples trap, but slower in the twisty stuff - when facing a Mercedes PU that I think it's fair to say most think is still a little bit stronger - and it implies to me they're running less downforce. This may have been in an attempt to keep the tyres lasting a bit better tomorrow.

If i am not mistaken S3 is more about mechanical grip than downforce..

[santos]

I have to say, i am very impressed with the performance of Alonso. That he is one of the best drivers, and that he outruns the performance of his car, we already knew. But damn, i never expected he could reach to Q1. And even get to P7... That is outstanding.
Also a surprise that the gap between the Mercedes and Ferrari kept more or less the same, with so many upgrades from Mercedes, i thought they would make a gap to Ferrari. Till know, this championship is promissing to be one of the best in the recent years.