1861 replies to this topic

[Risil]

It's Sunday in mid-May, which means it's time to pay a mind-visit to the technical and aerodynamically challenging Circuit de Catalunya for 66 laps of... what? Charles Leclerc pulled the expected unexpected pole position out of the mystery bag yesterday, but Max Verstappen lines up alongside of him with what he believes, or says he believes, is better long-run pace. Combined with the Red Bull's speed in a straight line, this has frequently been a winning combination for the Dutchman. Ferrari's lastest set of updates have made the car more slippery in a straight line. Will this be decisive? Sancho Panza figures Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez line up 3rd and 5th, where they could conceivably be of some help.

 

The other big talking point from the race build-up is the possible emergence of a three-cornered duel to recall the golden years of 1986, 2003 or 2010 as Mercedes finally qualified their cars within the same postcode as the Red Bulls and Ferraris. George Russell is in fourth alongside Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton starts sixth alongside Old Father Time Sergio Perez.

 

Best of the rest? The Ferrari-powered Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen, of course! The out of position klaxon blares for Lando Norris in 11th, and Fernando Alonso in 17th. Keep an eye out for their progress in the race, or otherwise. Aston Martin and Williams (both Mercedes powered? O tempora, o mores!) make up the tail of the field.

 

Tyre strategy? Two stops are generally expected, although watch out for who's feeling confident about the soft compound and how the folks in the midfield deal with their lack of medium tyres, having presumably(?) used them all to make it through qualifying.

 

Oh, and don't forget to complain about the drone cam, AWS statistics, and the silly chicane at the end of the lap, which should all be in evidence, if not lording it over us all, this afternoon.

 

Race gets underway at 3pm local time, which translates to 2pm in the UK and some time in the morning if you are in the US.

[Risil]

p.s. if anyone has some nice images that F1 tweets out, please post them here!

[FLB]

I'm geeeting the feeling that any sort of change of position will come from something related to pitting or somebody going off...

 

[FLB]

Canal+ F1's Twitter feed says they are 'In the country where Maldonado was crowned' 

 

(Dans le pays du sacre de Maldonado)

 

 

They'll never let anybody forget it, will they? 

 

 

CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) / Twitter

Edited by FLB, 22 May 2022 - 11:06.

[SophieB]

The Tyres

The Times 

 
 
And the starting grid, except it's wrong because Alonso is starting from the back now.
 

 
 
 
 
e.

 

Andrew Benson
@andrewbensonf1
24m

New power-unit for Fernando Alonso. It's his fourth of the year - one more than allowed - in only the sixth race so an automatic grid penalty. He starts his home race from the back

[JeePee]

Verstappen also has a pretty new set of softs. Did two turns on them before he aborted his final Q3 attempt.

[SophieB]

Luke Smith

 

@LukeSmithF1

·

12m

 

After the DRS issue in qualy yesterday, Red Bull has changed the DRS flap pivot pins and DRS actuator on Verstappen's car under parc ferme. Same spec, so no penalty or anything like that #F1 #SpanishGP

 

 

 

 

 

MeteoMotorsport

@MeteoMotorsport

·

14m

 

ANALYSIS — With temperatures of 34–35°C forecast this afternoon, today's Spanish Grand Prix is likely to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, held at

@Circuitcat_eng

. http://meteomotorsport.com/f1 #F1 | #SpanishGP

[Hellenic tifosi]

Verstappen also has a pretty new set of softs. Did two turns on them before he aborted his final Q3 attempt.

It depends. If it was the extra Q3 set, then he has to return it.

[Goron3]

Looks like it's going to be even hotter than the August race held in 2020.

It does look like the C1 is perhaps a bit too hard which is great news as it encourages more pit stops for the M and S.

Track position is so important here. Could we see drivers start on softs to ensure a clean first lap?

[ArchieTech]

Sky showing that Verstappen's DRS is still being worked on in the garage

[JimmyClark]

My weather app is showing 32-34c currently, and will probably only get hotter. Tyres are going to be the key to this race.

[Thursday]

Looks like it is going to be a proper hot GP. High tyre deg and multiple stops?

I also wonder if the drivers will suffer from the heat. With the cars being overweight it would be tempting to save a kilo or two by removing the drinks system.

[krapmeister]

Sky showing that Verstappen's DRS is still being worked on in the garage

 

RBR's DRS setup doesn't half seem flaky in recent times - no other team seems to have as many issues?

[Ali_G]

Really hoping the new cars will up overtaking significantly at the circuit. If any circuit shows an improvement it will be here with all those constant radius corners.

[SagemX]

RBR's DRS setup doesn't half seem flaky in recent times - no other team seems to have as many issues?

Probably an area they've tried to save weight on

[Risil]

Gosh there's a lot of build-up show on Sky isn't there

[yolo]

Looks like it's going to be even hotter than the August race held in 2020.

It does look like the C1 is perhaps a bit too hard which is great news as it encourages more pit stops for the M and S.

Track position is so important here. Could we see drivers start on softs to ensure a clean first lap?

 

If track temps are pushing 50C and overtaking proves challenging, we're probably going to see teams try the C1. Perhaps a 1-stop M-H is feasible?

[SamH123]

Someone said the hards are rubbish and Leclerc saved a set of softs, so I'm not sure about that

[Thursday]

Gosh there's a lot of build-up show on Sky isn't there

And non of it of any substance, just filler.

[ConsiderAndGo]

Gosh there's a lot of build-up show on Sky isn't there

There is, and most of it is just awful. Sky need to justify the dedicated channel somehow, I guess.

[SagemX]

And non of it of any substance, just filler.

As per usual, I only tend to actually tune it at like 10 minutes to go

[Ali_G]

And non of it of any substance, just filler.

I only saw the Toleman piece earlier. Nothing wrong with it.

[ANF]

If the pit stop time loss is the same as last year I think it's 22.0s on average, ranging from 20.5s to 24.0s. But with this year's tyres you may need another second to bring the tyres in, so maybe you need a 25s gap if you really want to be on the safe side.

[ConsiderAndGo]

Omg the fake car noises sky have put over those Mclarens! Nooooo!

[FLB]

Gosh there's a lot of build-up show on Sky isn't there

It's missing Brian Williams giving the grid and him sending the coverage to 'And now let's join our Formula One announcers, Murray Walker and 1976 World Champion, James Hunt' (roughly three minutes), but starting at 2:22, you'll get an idea of what we had in Canada. Five minutes and the cars were rolling:

 

[JimmyClark]

I only saw the Toleman piece earlier. Nothing wrong with it.

Yes that was decent. The Alonso piece is also good I thought.

[FLB]

And non of it of any substance, just filler.

That last segement was essentially a McLaren commercial.

[JimmyClark]

That last segement was essentially a McLaren commercial.

Yeah I skipped through that one, pretty much as I do with anything involving Rachel Brooks.

[RedRabbit]

The Tyres

The Times



And the starting grid, except it's wrong because Alonso is starting from the back now.






e.



Andrew Benson
@andrewbensonf1
24m

New power-unit for Fernando Alonso. It's his fourth of the year - one more than allowed - in only the sixth race so an automatic grid penalty. He starts his home race from the back

Alonso must have used more PUs/engines just in the hybrid era than any other driver in the history of F1.

He really is wasting his time now, should have rather gone to win some races in Indycar.

[TomNokoe]

I don't think it's going to be a particularly good race, but maybe an interesting one? Temps are crazy.

Run to T1 as crucial as ever.

[pRy]

Will be interesting to see if Max sends it again this year. I fear the rest of the r ace may be a bit of a borefest. Hope I'm wrong!

[Goron3]

If track temps are pushing 50C and overtaking proves challenging, we're probably going to see teams try the C1. Perhaps a 1-stop M-H is feasible?

The C1s look awful, just like Bahrain, so I'm not too sure about that.

If the cars can follow better then cooling might actually become worse than expected. I fully expect a few DNFs due to overheating brakes or sensors.

[MJB5990]

Leclerc into a headwind at the start could be a sitting duck. Wonder if Max will dive bomb like last year?

[SophieB]

Alonso must have used more PUs/engines just in the hybrid era than any other driver in the history of F1.

He really is wasting his time now, should have rather gone to win some races in Indycar.

I liked this motorsport.com graphic of Fernando Alonso gazing out from the red circles of doom as Fernando Alonso also gazes upon his own car, critically:

 

[ANF]

I liked this motorsport.com graphic of Fernando Alonso gazing out from the red circles of doom as Fernando Alonso also gazes upon his own car, critically:
 

Whaaat? Oh, the sectors are closing in on him as if he's eating every piece of the pie.

[jjcale]

CL, GR then LH .... MV breaks down and SP has to slow down in order to see the flag .... Sainz just cant get it together + lack of confidence finishes fourth. 

 

It is written ... 

[Thursday]

The most important thing today is a nice clean race with no hold ups or red flags. 

Its the last day of the football season and I have two matches to watch that kick off at 4pm.

[yolo]

Have they finished the repairs on Max’s car?

[JeePee]

Have they finished the repairs on Max’s car?

He arrived at the grid 3 mins ago.

[ConsiderAndGo]

I’m getting hot just watching the TV. Looks almost unbearable down there!

[FLB]

I’m getting hot just watching the TV. Looks almost unbearable down there!

I just hope McLaren hasn't kept Danny Ric from a full drinks bottle this time...   

Edited by FLB, 22 May 2022 - 12:46.

[JimmyClark]

After all this worry about reliability, this will probably be one of those races with no DNFs.

[pRy]

Tyres overheating on the lap to the grid says Albon. Yikes. 

[FirstnameLastname]

I remember tenerife a few years back - it was 41 degrees and just horrible. Not enjoyable at all - and that was a holiday . 35c won’t feel much cooler than that. Can’t imagine it’s great fun sitting out in that all day - and racing round in it with a red hot engine behind you all day will be even worse.

[ARTGP]

Tyres overheating on the lap to the grid says Albon. Yikes.

Nice!

Edited by ARTGP, 22 May 2022 - 12:49.

[MJB5990]

Toto says Merc will aggressive.

I bet he's wrong.

[ARTGP]

Merc have nothing to lose. 1 stopped?

[ARTGP]

Perez lol.

[Whatisvalis]

The soft seemed to work well with a number of F2 drivers - could be an interesting strategy race.

[yolo]

Toto says Merc will aggressive.

I bet he's wrong.

 

Merc has never ever been aggressive on strategy even when they had nothing to lose. I'll believe when I'll see it.