Spanish GP 2008

[vyselegend]

It's a nice feeling to see Alonso on the first row in front of his home crowd. Whatever the fuel level, Renault have definitly improved their car, it's obvious on on board cams that it is more driveable. The Maccas in comparisons seemed quite nervous, especially on fumes.

I guess Renault have overtaken the Toyota / Red Bull / Williams / Honda group, and I reckon they'll be only 3 or 4 tenth off BMW's pace in race trim. So maybe the podium is still a bit too hard, but there are strong points to pick for the spaniard.

The deception here is Williams. As it could be feared they've been overtaken, developpement wise. They don't have all the millions Renault and Toyota can put in their "first step" evolution, and from now on it means playing catch up will become harder and harder, that the same scenario every season for the FW cars...

Kubica has dominated Heidfeld for the whole qualy, so it's not just a matter of fuel level IMO. I feel he's progressively taking the ascendant over the german. I predict a tight fight at the end of the year at BMW, as traditionnaly there are no team orders at Hinwill...

[wazojugs]

Looks like Alonso has found the magical 0.6 secs he has in his pocket

[WhiteBlue]

Alonso got his J-damper, plus he is lighter than others.

[HKS]

The champ has proved his worth.

None of the present drivers can do that.

No kimi, Hamilton. Not even DC, Barrichello, Button.

[allan]

The champ has proved his worth.

None of the present drivers can do that.

No kimi, Hamilton. Not even DC, Barrichello, Button.

don't be so excited... it was the "champ" who kicked the champ off the pole after all
i gotta admitt though, alonso-renault did a superb job... well done!! im really happy they're ahead of the mclarens today...
btw, is piquet such a loser or is he heavy on fuel? i mean his teamate almost go pole while he's sittin comfortably in 10th

[Miguel]

As much as I'd like to see Alonso up there fighting with the Ferraris, I fear this won't be one of those times. He himself said, in the spanish part of the press conference that "strategy might probably work against him" AKA "I'm light". The Q2-Q3 time difference is similar to Raikkonen's, though it's likely Kimi didn't take it too seriously in Q2. Furthermore, half an hour later he got asked live on the TV where he expected to end the race and he said "sixth, and I'll be happy".

Oh, and regarding Piquet, he has to be heavy. There's no way he's 7 tenths slower than Alonso, especially on Barcelona. 2 tenths? OK, the rest is probably fuel.

[bizadfar]

The champ has proved his worth.

None of the present drivers can do that.

No kimi, Hamilton. Not even DC, Barrichello, Button.

don't be so excited... it was the "champ" who kicked the champ off the pole after all
i gotta admitt though, alonso-renault did a superb job... well done!! im really happy they're ahead of the mclarens today...
btw, is piquet such a loser or is he heavy on fuel? i mean his teamate almost go pole while he's sittin comfortably in 10th

In Q1/Q2 he was only a few hundredths off Alonso.

I feel Alonso is like featherweight, but track position is critical in barca, I think he will still manage 5th if the top 3 teams don't have reliability issues.

[Moanlower]

The champ has proved his worth.

None of the present drivers can do that.

No kimi, Hamilton. Not even DC, Barrichello, Button.

don't be so excited... it was the "champ" who kicked the champ off the pole after all
i gotta admitt though, alonso-renault did a superb job... well done!! im really happy they're ahead of the mclarens today...
btw, is piquet such a loser or is he heavy on fuel? i mean his teamate almost go pole while he's sittin comfortably in 10th

Kimi was indeed 1 tenth faster than Alonso. Don't forget who's driving what car. I wonder what Kimi's laptime would be if he had to drive the Renault.

Piquet has been really fast since friday practice and has matched the times of Alonso quite closely. It's just at Q3 that Renault decided to fill up Piquet's tank, mainly for not loading him with more pressure than he already has to cope with being a rookie and still having a lot to learn driving at the front.

Alonso on the other hand is very light fuelled and therefore hasn't got that good race strategy which means he probably will lose a place to Kubica and Hamilton. Finishing 4th would still be a great result.

Hamilton's face was priceless when interviewed after quali.

I wonder if Alonso will use his spoiler for special occasions.

[WhiteBlue]

I expect Renault to be the most improved team due to their J-damper. Catching BMW as Flav dreams will be a bit steep.

hmmmm, that came pretty close. lets see how the race goes.
I gues they must have thought it is better to run Alonso light and have him fall back than have him in the 4th row where accidents are more probable.

[walter]

Another factor that plays here is the "homeboy" status of Alonso. Its highly likely that he did in fact sacrifice his fuel strategy in order to finish at the top in gualifying. Short lived glory is still better than none at all. As for Piquet, I highly doubt that the team "forced" him to run heavy due to his rookie status, It may be just an indicator of Renault's pace with a an ideal fuel load strategy, since he was born in Germany, and considered to be a Brazilian driver... he may pull a stunt like that at Interlagos.

[roost89]

Fernandoo's Q3 time compared to Q2 (the vapours running) was only 1.1s slower. That's not alot of fuel to play with, assuming he was as fast was possible for both laps. Kimi is in a similar situation. The rest of the top 10 have a difference of between 1.5s and 2.0s

Most importantly for Alonso, Piquets run was 1.8 seconds slower than Q2 and for Kimi, Massa's run was 1.5 seconds slower than in Q2 (where he topped the time sheets)

That's at least a few laps short of either team mate! Some good strategy will have to come into play aswell as some blinding speed from Kimi and Alonso to get a gap big enough to pit with some safety.

[freedom_honda]

The champ has proved his worth.

None of the present drivers can do that.

No kimi, Hamilton. Not even DC, Barrichello, Button.

well depends on how much fuel he is carrying really.
i reckon he is in P2 because he is on SUPER-LOW fuel load.

[allan]

let's cut the predictions and wait till tomorrow.... there's only one way to find out whether fernando is light on fuel or not... who knows? it might have been the "perfect lap" around barca with the crappy renault! Even a stopped watch is right twice a day

[bizadfar]

Fernandoo's Q3 time compared to Q2 (the vapours running) was only 1.1s slower. That's not alot of fuel to play with, assuming he was as fast was possible for both laps. Kimi is in a similar situation. The rest of the top 10 have a difference of between 1.5s and 2.0s

Most importantly for Alonso, Piquets run was 1.8 seconds slower than Q2 and for Kimi, Massa's run was 1.5 seconds slower than in Q2 (where he topped the time sheets)

That's at least a few laps short of either team mate! Some good strategy will have to come into play aswell as some blinding speed from Kimi and Alonso to get a gap big enough to pit with some safety.

Massa is roughly the same fuel load or lighter. He fudged his 2nd attempt, his 1st attempt was .4 faster than Kimi (and kimi said his 1st attempt, 3rd sector was bad), so I can make the assumption that Kimi has 3 or so more laps like you. But my opinion is, 1 lap difference, Massa earlier.

[cultavix]

Even if Alonso was in the Super Aguri team and getting 2nd place, people would still "brag" that a Ferrari beat him... when they are this season the "favorites"... common, Alonso totally showed yesterday what a great driver he really is.... let's see what happens today