European GP 2010 - Valencia

[WhiteBlue]

Alonso is leading the times and the track is much quicker in FP2

[Mr Alcatraz]

I think Bulk has a shot at winning this race, call me crazy, which I am to a certain degree. Bulk usually does good in Tilke circuits.

Also I don't think we are seeing anything representative of what the cars will put down in qualifying, last year it was in the 38's 39's, the circuit remains unchanged, therefore I think we'll see slightly faster times. Anyone think they'll breach the 37's this year?

If one of the fast guys get's in right on the first flying lap on options,
and we dont have rain (which they are predicting for tonight) to green up the track
I think that number could be blown away imho!

Edit: I'm dreaming that number will be blown away. They will get close.
BTW For Bulk to win Fred will have to had his race/quali compromised, because it's becoming clearer and clearer that Fred has beaten him into submisson on merit!

[ringo]

Massa seems to not be himself. Sometimes i wonder if he is hiding any lingering ailment after his accident. He's just not as consistent as he used to be. The man was just as fast as raikonen and faster sometimes.
The sad thing is that he may never come as close to a WDC as in 2008.

[andrew]

His first season back was always going to be difficult I think. Hungary will be difficult for him but hopefully once he has got over that hurdle he'll be back to his old form. I think his head has gone a bit (no pun intended) because of the crash.

[ISLAMATRON]

Massa is clearly not back up to speed, but both drivers have made plenty of mistakes.. the ferrari may be very dificult to drive, Massa's luck just has not been as good as Alonso's

[mrp5150]

Massa seems to not be himself. Sometimes i wonder if he is hiding any lingering ailment after his accident. He's just not as consistent as he used to be. The man was just as fast as raikonen and faster sometimes.
The sad thing is that he may never come as close to a WDC as in 2008.

I've been thinking the same thing all year. His driving style just seems off to me. Reminds me of the accident Carl Edwards had in NASCAR last year when he flipped over backwards and almost went into the crowd. He didn't even get hurt, but he's been terrible since then and you just have to think accidents that horrific get into a drivers head. I was in a bad accident driving a normal road car at around 50 mph over a year ago (got t-boned by an SUV from the side going through an intersection) and I still think about it sometimes when I'm driving. I can't even imagine going through something like Massa did.

[WhiteBlue]

Massa is clearly not back up to speed, but both drivers have made plenty of mistakes.. the ferrari may be very dificult to drive, Massa's luck just has not been as good as Alonso's

It also seems to be connected with the new stiffer tyres that were introduced for the 2010 season. Massa like Schumacher seems to struggle a lot more than his team mate particularly with the option tyre. Often he cannot get heat into the tyres for a qualifying run which negatively impacts his grid position and his races.

We had similar tyre related performance fluctuations between Massa and Reikkonen before. I guess they will eventually level out. Additionally I believe that Alonso is simply the more performant driver.

[godlameroso]

Massa can win this race, he wasn't able to set a representative time here in FP, luckily that's all it is, we'll see tomorrow, he will definitely qualify somewhere up front.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Bulk is not suffering lingering effects from his accident IMO
I don't know what other than poor luck and the car, and tyres not seeming to suite him?
Contrary to a lot of opinion The F10B is quite well suited for this track, especially through the twisty parts.
Fred has consistently finished in the points, and Red Bull has shot themselves in the foot even more times than Ferrari.
The Boss has a chance to really put his stamp of authority at this race! Ouali should be interesting!

[andartop]

Fretzen is driver steward this weekend.

That's not Frentzen, that's secret agent Fox Mulder.

[myurr]

Bulk is not suffering lingering effects from his accident IMO
I don't know what other than poor luck and the car, and tyres not seeming to suite him?
Contrary to a lot of opinion The F10B is quite well suited for this track, especially through the twisty parts.
Fred has consistently finished in the points, and Red Bull has shot themselves in the foot even more times than Ferrari.
The Boss has a chance to really put his stamp of authority at this race! Ouali should be interesting!

I think this weekend is all about damage limitation for The Boss - the blown diffuser has clearly added a lot of performance to the other cars, so whilst a podium may be realistic for him a win would require luck and / or misfortune for the other drivers.

However the team that look to come out of this weekend the worst, regardless of how well they do, is Red Bull. A large part of their advantage has been stripped away by three other teams with McLaren set to catch or even leap frog them at the next race. They've failed to stamp their authority on either championship whilst they held a car advantage and it now looks like that advantage has been removed, potentially leaving them with a similarly paced car to the other teams but with a reliability disadvantage.

[raymondu999]

The bulls will race their f-duct this weekend: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84767

[djos]

The bulls will race their f-duct this weekend: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84767

Outstanding!!! =D>

[raymondu999]

Surely you meant my post was outstanding, rather than the content delivered?

[WhiteBlue]

FP3 is on.