A perfect plan of execution and a quick rectification of falling behind Russell at the start were key to Max Verstappen's victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. Lando Norris eventually came close but finished second ahead of Lewis Hamilton who confirmed the resurgence of Mercedes.
That medium from Max has more deg than the soft from SAI or LEC. Probably why Ferrari and Merc used their mediums in FP1/2
In fp2 RB were still experimenting a lot with setup - they ran their medium DF rear wing for some reason. Assume they will go back to high load for tomorrow to help deal with degradation
So the medium degradation they had might not be accurate...
Anyway soft tyres are usually very good race tyres at Barcelona
Couldn't watch the FPs, just went through F1t threads here. Lots of data, but beyond data, how did the cars 'look' from the tv cameras and onboards, when they posted these times ? Who has to lift through T9 ? Who is breaching track limits at T14 ? Who was sawing at the wheel from T10 through to T12 ? Those kind of things will tell us who was really pushing to post these times and who was just holding back.
T13 and T14 are particularly important, as that will be key in determining who is able to overtake in the main straight. Expecting Mclaren and Redbull to have massive DRS advantage, as they are the ones who run with flap area as a big contributor to rear wing DF.
I think the tyre games have already begun - McLaren&Redbull holding back two sets of M and Ferrari&Merc holding back two sets of H. It has to be S-M-H or S-H-H or S-H-M or S-M-M -- something like that I guess.
Q looks mighty close, but Race might be totally different. I have a feeling that Ferrari might be the dark horse here - coming alive in the race due to superior tyre life.