889 replies to this topic

[pkonsti]

The official program covers of the Spanish GP's so far:

[barrykm]

Wish I could be there...

[PayasYouRace]

Looks like it could be the last one for a while too if F1 does swap it for the Dutch Grand Prix.

[rootten]

Looks like it could be the last one for a while too if F1 does swap it for the Dutch Grand Prix.

 

I hope not. Zandvoort has even worse layout for ovrtaking

[Jovanotti]

Anything but another Mercedes win please...

[P123]

Anything but a dry race for a change...

[Ivanhoe]

Probably another Mercedes 1-2 in a bone dry weekend ;-)

[JeePee]

[JonnyJ]

Anything but a dry race for a change...

, 32 and counting...hopefully Monaco doesn't disappoint, its the only way to make that race worthwhile watching!

[monolulu]

First visit to this circuit getting excited! Very interested to see Ferrari’s performance here after testing.

[Beri]

, 32 and counting...hopefully Monaco doesn't disappoint, its the only way to make that race worthwhile watching!

Who cares about a wet race or not? If it's wet, most likely the race will start behind the safetycar. After three laps RoGro will be begging for a red flag. Nah, no thank you.

[JonnyJ]

Who cares about a wet race or not? If it's wet, most likely the race will start behind the safetycar. After three laps RoGro will be begging for a red flag. Nah, no thank you.

Name the last boring wet race.

Everyone moans about safety this, that blah blah blah but pretty much every wet race has exciting moments. So what if it starts under SC? I'd rather have 30 laps of SC and 30 laps of genuine excitement than 60 odd laps of follow the leader.

But yeah whatever, enjoy a dry race in Spain, one of the hardest tracks to overtake at on the calendar.

[Dratini]

Aren't the regulations such that races can't 'start' under safety car anymore? I mean the laps will count down, but without looking it up I thought that when it becomes safe to start the drivers will line up on the grid for the conventional race start.

[Laster]

Safety car restarts are still a thing. I’m pretty sure that rule you’re talking about is just for the start of a race to ensure in wet races we no longer start behind a safety car and get a grid start.

I know that drivers are no longer allowed to overtake on a safety car restart until they reach the start finish line rather than the safety car line.

Edited by Laster, 06 May 2019 - 09:46.

[ANF]

Aren't the regulations such that races can't 'start' under safety car anymore? I mean the laps will count down, but without looking it up I thought that when it becomes safe to start the drivers will line up on the grid for the conventional race start.

If it stays too wet for a standing start for too long there will be a rolling start.

This is the... thirteenth paragraph in Article 36.14 c) in the Sporting regulations:

If, after several formation laps behind the safety car, track conditions are considered
unsuitable to start the race from a standing start, the message “ROLLING START” will be
sent to all teams via the official messaging system, all FIA light panels will display “RS”
and the car's orange lights will be extinguished. This will be the signal to the teams and
drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap.

[TomNokoe]

Sometimes I think we are just lucky to have wet Grand Prix.

That tiny 2 hour window, on a particular given Sunday, at precisely the geographical location ... anyways, bone dry this weekend so no use speculating.

[SenorSjon]

With 21 race weekends we have less wet races than in the 16 races/season time.

[Heyli]

Aren't the regulations such that races can't 'start' under safety car anymore? I mean the laps will count down, but without looking it up I thought that when it becomes safe to start the drivers will line up on the grid for the conventional race start.

I thought that this was just Charlie saying that he would like to have the standing start more often (or he said that they would doing standing starts again), rather than an actual rule change. Was always simply up to him to decide, no? 

[krapmeister]

With 21 race weekends we have less wet races than in the 16 races/season time.

 

Global warming innit...

[Heyli]

Global warming innit...

That should actually give us more wet races!

[JeePee]

With 21 race weekends we have less wet races than in the 16 races/season time.

The past 32 dry races did have an 80% change of being predicted a wet race tho. So we got that going... I guess.

[DeKnyff]

With 21 race weekends we have less wet races than in the 16 races/season time.

Also, there are more races than before in dryer places of the planet.

[krapmeister]

That should actually give us more wet races!

 

Not necessarily - more extreme weather means less consistent rainfall, so potentially longer spells of dry weather with fewer but heavier/larger rain events in between. But I digress.

 

Did you see the snow at Spa on the weekend? 

[TomNokoe]

Last year was an easier one stop because of the early safety car and cooler temps.

It will be similar this year. 1 vs 2.

[Goron3]

Last year was an easier one stop because of the early safety car and cooler temps.

It will be similar this year. 1 vs 2.

Hadn't the circuit been resurfaced last year as well? I seem to recall reading that there should be more degradation this year as last year there hasn't been much running on the tarmac.

[SenorSjon]

The past 32 dry races did have an 80% change of being predicted a wet race tho. So we got that going... I guess.

 

On Tuesday it is 100% wet race and it ends up being dry most of the time.

[TomNokoe]

Hadn't the circuit been resurfaced last year as well? I seem to recall reading that there should be more degradation this year as last year there hasn't been much running on the tarmac.

Ahh, good point! Didn't even cross my mind.

The medium C2 is a softer compound versus last year's equivalent, and so a C3->C2 one stop should be more difficult.

Air temps are looking pretty consistent at 20-24°C. Only Friday might be a little warmer than expected.

I've just checked last year's race thread and we had 14-15°C air temps! And the 80% threat of rain that never arrived

It's bizarre that Barcelona has such a poor reputation despite half decent battles for the lead in: 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017. I suppose it's the anticipation that kills you. The impossibility of overtaking no matter how close you get.

Edited by TomNokoe, 06 May 2019 - 12:49.

[BuddyHolly]

Fully expecting this to be a Merc walkover but for the hopes of the championships I really hope that's not going to be the case.

[Henri Greuter]

Anything but a dry race for a change...

I am not sure if you want something else but a Mercedes victory if only for a change.
But if you do: May I suggest you to have a look on the outcomes of the last, say, five wet races and who won?
Rain won't help to increase the chance of another driver but Lewis winning I'm afraid

[Anja]

On one hand a 2016 repeat would be welcome but on the other we all know that it would mean the end of any Mercedes vs Mercedes fight until the championship's over. 

[sportyskells]

or a Red Bull repeat when both Mercs broke down from last year

Edited by sportyskells, 06 May 2019 - 13:26.

[Marklar]

On one hand a 2016 repeat would be welcome but on the other we all know that it would mean the end of any Mercedes vs Mercedes fight until the championship's over.

Aside that I doubt that this will be a Mercedes vs. Mercedes championship or that they will crash at any point I'm sure that any rules Mercedes would implement after a crash will eventually be ignored at least by one.

[MortenF1]

Totally expecting the norm to be cars lined up on the grid team by team. Perhaps a Ferrari-Mercedes mix on the first two rows, and I guess also Gasly will be out of sync.
Hoping to see a very decent upgrade from McLaren and Renault. Something along the lines of a two, maybe three tenths net gain on the front.
Wont be able to watch any session live, but going with the feedback I guess there’s no point in paying for F1 TV. The incredible thing is I haven’t been able to get to live timing via the app either... 🙁

[RPM40]

if Ferrari don't go out and win the 'best car' tag from pre season has to be dropped.

[ARTGP]

Can't wait for all the teams to have nowhere to hide. Barcelona will show the real pecking order. Proper track for sorting F1 cars.

All these teams, Haas, Renault, Mclaren, Racing Point, Toro Rossi, Alfa Romeo have been talking the the talk. Each one making a claim to be "best of the rest". Will be interestinf to see 6 out of the 7 teams put in there place by whichever teams is actually best of the rest. I'm not making any predictions.

[Beri]

Name the last boring wet race.

Everyone moans about safety this, that blah blah blah but pretty much every wet race has exciting moments. So what if it starts under SC? I'd rather have 30 laps of SC and 30 laps of genuine excitement than 60 odd laps of follow the leader.

But yeah whatever, enjoy a dry race in Spain, one of the hardest tracks to overtake at on the calendar.

At least the 9 last of them. Hamilton has won them all.
One of them; Monaco 2016, was a dull one.
Plus, these days the SC stays out so long, usually the racing line is bone dry already when the field is let go. No one overtakes outside of the racing line because that's wet, so yeah.. Boring wet races at times are actually a thing.

Edited by Beri, 06 May 2019 - 21:59.

[ARTGP]

On one hand a 2016 repeat would be welcome but on the other we all know that it would mean the end of any Mercedes vs Mercedes fight until the championship's over. 

 

I think a 2016 repeat is near impossible because of the mutual respect that Bottas and Hamilton have for Mercedes right now and each other. Hamilton may have had respect for Mercedes in the past, but his respect for the team has gone up 10 notches since 2016. 

 

I did think the post race in Baku was weird. I'm really not sure what happened towards the end and whether Hamilton defied instructions not to race. But Bottas did not look pleased at the end there. Toto didn't either. But Mercedes are tight-lipped as ever about what actually happened towards the end in Baku. 

 

Maybe Hamilton will talk about it in his book.

[IridiumBoy]

Looks like it could be the last one for a while too if F1 does swap it for the Dutch Grand Prix.

 

If this means that in the future we will have a spanish GP and not a catalonian GP instead then it is OK for me... 

[SparkPlug86]

The Mercs, Ferrari's and Red Bulls all blow up or crash at the start... that would be a great race lol 

[JonnyJ]

At least the 9 last of them. Hamilton has won them all.
One of them; Monaco 2016, was a dull one.
Plus, these days the SC stays out so long, usually the racing line is bone dry already when the field is let go. No one overtakes outside of the racing line because that's wet, so yeah.. Boring wet races at times are actually a thing.

Ahhhh so your problem is who wins them, not the quality of racing.

Your wrong about the dry line too. There wasn't waiting for a dry line in Brazil 16, in Singapore 17, in Japan 14, in Monaco 16, in Korea 10. I could go on. Absolutely nothing boring about Monaco 16 either, we had Lewis fighting off Ricciardo on full wets on a drying track. Then the pit lane drama. And Perez coming through to score a podium. And a Mercedes dropping through the field to finish a lowly 7th. Had it been dry that race would've been an easy win for Ricciardo with Rosberg and Lewis rounding off the podium after a 1 stop "race" of coasting around as slow as possible to pit as late as possible. Sounds much better!

Edited by JonnyJ, 07 May 2019 - 08:50.

[Viryfan]

Totally expecting the norm to be cars lined up on the grid team by team. Perhaps a Ferrari-Mercedes mix on the first two rows, and I guess also Gasly will be out of sync.
Hoping to see a very decent upgrade from McLaren and Renault. Something along the lines of a two, maybe three tenths net gain on the front.
Wont be able to watch any session live, but going with the feedback I guess there’s no point in paying for F1 TV. The incredible thing is I haven’t been able to get to live timing via the app either...

 

Gasly pace in Baku seems to prove otherwise.

 

Unless there is an uplanned situation he will be in top 6 safely even more as a big improvement is expected from red bull in order to adress their lack of downforce.

[sgtkate]

Last year was an easier one stop because of the early safety car and cooler temps.

It will be similar this year. 1 vs 2.

Hmmmm. McLaren going for a different strategy. I didn't think their car was particularly hard on tyres? 

[kumo7]

Hmmmm. McLaren going for a different strategy. I didn't think their car was particularly hard on tyres? 

 

It looks like McLaren to use Hard and Softs during the race, but could be that they are going to try long run tests with new aero bits.

[SparkPlug86]

It looks like McLaren to use Hard and Softs during the race, but could be that they are going to try long run tests with new aero bits.

 

Most likely, gives them a decent baseline to test the upgrades I guess without needing to swap the tyres over every two laps...

 

On another note, RoGro seems to think most teams are bringing a 'B car' to Spain - personally, I don't believe that to be the case as the majority will just be the usual Spainish upgrades (new front, rear wings, bargeboards, floor elements etc). I think maybe Haas need to understand the tyres better first, but it indicates they may have a big upgrade coming at least. Williams equally could do with a B-spec in Spain, but I suspect thats not going to happen - in fact I wouldn't be suprised if they write this car off for '19. 

 

Red Bull seem to be keeping their cards close to the chest, suggesting they have a smaller upgrade (evolution) on the car as they think they've closed the gap to Merc/Ferrari (which I'm not convinced they have done).

 

I'm keen to see if Merc pull away at the front after Spain or if Ferrari can catch and pass them with development. I'm really hoping Vettel gets a decent result and starts a charge (I used to dislike him at RB, but I've really warmed to him and I'd like to see him win another title).

 

I think Renault are really struggling to understand their car, so Spain might prove to be a bit of a reset for them. I'm expecting Mclaren to have a decent upgrade, probably cementing themselves as the forth quickest team and getting after RB towards the tail end of the season (fingers crossed).

 

So keen to see what all the upgrades bring, FP1/2 will be interesting to watch. 

[Unicast]

Ahh, good point! Didn't even cross my mind.

The medium C2 is a softer compound versus last year's equivalent, and so a C3->C2 one stop should be more difficult.

Air temps are looking pretty consistent at 20-24°C. Only Friday might be a little warmer than expected.

I've just checked last year's race thread and we had 14-15°C air temps! And the 80% threat of rain that never arrived

It's bizarre that Barcelona has such a poor reputation despite half decent battles for the lead in: 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017. I suppose it's the anticipation that kills you. The impossibility of overtaking no matter how close you get.

 

It's not impossible, Hamilton passed Vettel on different tires in 2017

[rootten]

McLaren cementing their 4th position in the pecking order? Did they even look 4th best on a single occasion?

[Unicast]

if Ferrari don't go out and win the 'best car' tag from pre season has to be dropped.

 

I think it's safe to assume (after 4 consecutive Mercedes 1-2's) that the said tag is already history

Edited by Unicast, 07 May 2019 - 10:21.

[TomNokoe]

On another note, RoGro seems to think most teams are bringing a 'B car' to Spain - personally, I don't believe that to be the case as the majority will just be the usual Spainish upgrades (new front, rear wings, bargeboards, floor elements etc).

The only team who have been shouting about big upgrades are Racing Point.

After their performances in China and Baku, it could be ominous for the midfield.

Edited by TomNokoe, 07 May 2019 - 10:23.

[jstrains]

Barcelona 2016 coming?

[TheJammin]

I'm predicting another Merc win, but I think it will be Hamilton followed by the Ferraris, in whichever order. I can see Bottas dropping the ball this weekend and finishing 4th. Maybe not by a massive distance, but that's my gut feeling.

 

Max is going to have his first retirement of the year, and McLaren are going to finish best of the rest again. I can foresee Renault having another double retirement. Kimi and Perez will have some argy-bargy and crash out.

 

There you go, there's my crystal ball for the weekend. The last bit is unlikely but hey, anything can happen in F1, and it usually doesn't.