[Official] Spanish Grand Prix 2023: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 8 of 23

[Born Racer]

Max Verstappen and Red Bull are on a roll and the team have yet to be beaten in 2023. Any hope others have of challenging the double world champion are being snuffed out bit by bit - Pérez doesn't look anything like as consistent as he needs to be and no other team is quite there on pace for a race win yet.

We are now well into the season and are mostly getting patterns emerging, although Barcelona's circuit can tend to exacerbate car performance, so we may well see drivers running closely with their teammates, leading to close intra-team battles.

At the very least, in terms of entertainment, Fernando Alonso is absolutely back (he briefly went away from F1 and has not had such a good berth in the series for a long time), and it would be quite a spectacular location for him to deliver some of his magic.


The history

Since 1991, the Spanish Grand Prix has been held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a little outside the Catalonian capital, but Grand Prix racing actually has a long history in Spain, and particularly in Barcelona. The country's first Grand Prix to bear the name was in 1913, although it was run to touring car rules on a road circuit in Guadarrama, near Madrid. It was won by the official importer of Rolls-Royces, Carlos de Salamanca. He drove his 7.4 litre Rolls-Royce at an average speed of 76.4km/h over 3 laps of the 90.5km track.

A 2-kilometre steeply-banked oval was later built at Sitges-Terramar, near Barcelona, at which the 1923 Spanish Grand Prix was held. Walking around this derelict track, it is a sight to behold and extremely difficult to climb up the banking, such is the gradient (a maximum of 60 degrees). Albert Divo won in his Sunbeam from Louis Zborowoski in his Miller at an average speed of 156km/h after a wheel-to-wheel battle.

Financial difficulties at Sitges meant that the Spanish Grand Prix moved to a track called Lasarte, near San Sebastián in 1926. A Grand Prix had been run at Lasarte since 1923, known as the San Sebastian Grand Prix, and it lasted until 1930. There were years where a Spanish Grand Prix and a San Sebastian Grand Prix took place.

The first Lasarte race to be known as the Spanish Grand Prix was, however, in 1926 and held to Formula Libre rules. The sporting manager of Bugatti, Bartolomeo Costantini, took victory in his 2-litre car after 40 laps of the 17.315km circuit. Joint 3rd-placed driver Robert Benoist won the following year in his Delage 15-S-8 in a time 15 minutes quicker than the winning time of 1926. The race formed part of the AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship.

For the next two years, the Spanish Grand Prix was run to sportscar regulations. Monegasque Louis Chiron took the spoils in 1928 and 1929 in a Bugatti T35C and T35B respectively (just 15 laps in 1928 and back to 40 in 1929). The 1930 race was cancelled following the Wall Street Crash. Races were scheduled in the coming years, but cancelled due to political and economic issues. In 1933, a Spanish Grand Prix took place at Lasarte, held over 30 laps, which was won by Chiron, this time in an Alfa Romeo B. 1934 victor Luigi Fagioli took half an hour off Chiron's race-winning time, in his Mercedes-Benz W25A. Mercedes-Benz W25Bs filled the first three places in 1935, after which the Civil War put paid to Lasarte's Grands Prix for good.

Grand Prix racing bounced back in Spain in 1936 in the form of the Penya Rhyn Grand Prix in Montjuïc, in Barcelona. The Penya Rhyn race next took place in 1946 at Pedralbes, also in Barcelona, in 1946, after which it was held there in 1946, 1948, 1950 and 1954. The next Spanish Grand Prix, though, was in 1951 at Pedralbes. It was part of the Formula 1 World Championship and played host to the final round. Alfa Romeo driver Juan Manuel Fangio led Ferrari's Alberto Ascari by two points going into the race. Ascari qualified on pole, but suffered tyre problems and after pitting various times, Fangio comfortably won the race by almost a minute and with it, his first title.

F1 returned to Pedralbes in 1954 with Mike Hawthorn winning for Ferrari ahead of the Maserati of Luigi Musso and the Mercedes of Juan Manuel Fangio, who had already claimed the title. This was to be the final Spanish Grand Prix until Jarama in 1967, held as a non-championship race before getting approval for Formula 1. The Lotus-Fords of Jim Clark and Graham Hill came home around a minute in front of Jack Brabham's Brabham-Repco. The following year, Jarama was back, now in the championship, in the aftermath of Jim Clark's death. Colin Chapman did not attend, but Graham Hill won, after pole man Chris Amon retired his Ferrari from the lead on Lap 58 with a fuel pump failure.

1969 saw the Spanish Grand Prix move to a new street circuit in Montjuïc, Barcelona. It was the final time high wings were seen. Both Lotus drivers Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt experienced accidents when their wing supports failed. As with the previous year, Chris Amon led, holding a big margin to the next car, until his engine seized on Lap 56. Matra's Jackie Stewart won by 2 laps, the only time an F1 driver has taken victory from the runner-up by 2 laps, other than Damon Hill in Adelaide in 1995.

The following year, the Grand Prix moved back to Jarama, starting to alternate with Montjuïc until 1976, at which point it remained at the Madrid-based circuit until 1981. They were two highly contrasting circuits, Jarama tight and twisting and Montjuïc fast and open. There was outcry when the Grand Prix organisers limited the field to 16 cars during the weekend. After reversing their decision, the Commission Sportive Internationale then forced the organisers to go back to 16 starters. Jackie Stewart won in his March-Ford, while Mario Andretti got his first F1 podium, also in a March-Ford. Jackie Oliver and Jacky Ickx had a fiery accident on Lap 1. In 1971, Stewart again won, in his Tyrrell-Ford, after starting 4th in the race where slick tyres were introduced. Emerson Fittipaldi won from 3rd and then from 7th in 1972 and 1973. Niki Lauda took his first F1 win in Jarama in 1974, driving for Ferrari and leading home team-mate Clay Regazzoni, the only 2 drivers to finish on the lead lap in the wet race. The race ended six short of the scheduled number of laps at the 2-hour mark.

In 1975, Rolf Stommelen crashed his Hill in Montjuïc when his rear wing broke and he went into barriers which, it is suspected, had possibly not been bolted together properly. The drivers had protested about the lack of properly fixed barriers and had threatened to boycott the race; Emerson Fittipaldi did so, retiring after one lap. This was also the race to see the only woman thus far get into the points-paying positions, with Lella Lombardi getting half a point for sixth after only half points were awarded for the stopped race. Jochen Mass took the only F1 win of his career after only 29 laps. It was to be the last race there.

In 1976, James Hunt won, but his McLaren was disqualified when it was found to be too wide. The victory was awarded to Niki Lauda, but the McLaren driver got the win back 2 months later when he won an appeal in which the team had protested that it only exceeded the maximum width when the tyres were hot and had expanded. Mario Andretti took his first win in a Lotus-Ford the next year and led Ronnie Peterson home in a Lotus 1-2 in 1978, while Patrick Depailler won for Ligier-Ford in 1979.

Due to the FISA-FOCA war, non-FOCA teams Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Renault did not compete the following year and retrospectively, the race lost its world championship status that season. Alan Jones won for Williams, followed home by Jochen Mass in his Arrows. In 1981, Jarama held its last race and Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari led home Jacques Lafitte's Ligier by 0.22 seconds in the one of the closest finishes in F1 history. In fact, the top five of the aforementioned, plus John Watson, Carlos Reutemann and Elio de Angelis were covered by just 1.24 seconds.

After an absence of four years, the Spanish Grand Prix moved to the sherry-producing town of Jerez in Andalucia in 1986. Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell were involved in a tight battle at the end of the race, in which the Brazilian emerged ahead by just 0.014 seconds in his Lotus.

Nelson Piquet scored the final pole position of his career in the 1987 edition, but it was team-mate Nigel Mansell who got by him at the start and won from the McLarens of Alain Prost and Stefan Johansson, taking his fifth victory of the season.

Prost led every lap in 1988 and was followed home after 26 seconds by Mansell's Williams and Alessandro Nannini's Benetton.

Mansell was banned the following season after his disqualification in Portugal and Ayrton Senna pulled off a lights-to-flag win from the sole Ferrari of Gerhard Berger and title rival Prost. Philippe Alliot took an impressive 6th in the Lola-Lamborghini.

1990 was to be the final Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, although it would return four years later under the guise of the European Grand Prix. The Ferraris of Prost and Mansell came home first and second, followed by Nannini, who, like two years earlier, achieved a podium in the Benetton. His F1 career was ended the next week in a helicopter crash.

In 1991, the Spanish Grand Prix moved to the Circuit de Catalunya. McLaren's Gerhard Berger started on pole on a damp but drying track, but it was Mansell who, after falling back, overtook back up to the lead and won the race, not before a memorable wheel-to-wheel race with Senna down the start-finish straight. Prost claimed second with Ferrari while Mansell's Williams team-mate Ricardo Patrese was 3rd.

The Grand Prix shifted from an autumn to a spring slot in 1992 and for the second year running was rain-affected, this time a proper wet race. Mansell took honours from Michael Schumacher in the Benetton and Jean Alesi, who put in a spirited and battling drive in the Ferrari, overtaking various cars. Ayrton Senna spun out of 3rd 2 laps from the finish.

A year later, Damon Hill initially led for Williams before team-mate Prost got by on Lap 11. Hill was challenging Prost for first place again when his engine expired on Lap 41. Prost held on to win, while Schumacher threatened Senna for 2nd until he ran wide. The race ended with a Prost-Senna-Schumacher podium in that order.

In 1994, for Round 5 of 16, Roland Ratzenberger's replacement Andrea Montermini crashed on the pit straight in practice and put himself out for the season. A temporary chicane was installed before Turn 10 (a turned called 'Nissan' on what is now a straight which goes to the current Turn 10) on advice of the new GPDA. Hill took Williams's first win of the season, but Schumacher starred for Benetton, finishing 2nd despite being stuck in 5th gear. Mark Blundell came home 3rd for Tyrrell, achieving his 3rd and final podium.

F1 returned to Jerez for Round 14 and the European Grand Prix, after plans to revive the Argentinian Grand Prix didn't bear fruit until the following season. On his return from his two-race ban, Schumacher duly qualified on pole, but Hill beat him away in the early stages. Schumacher won out at the stops, though, and showed Hill the way home by 24.7 seconds, with Mika Hakkinen 3rd for McLaren. Nigel Mansell, back for Williams, tangled with the gearbox trouble-afflicted Hideki Noda, before eventually spinning off on Lap 47. Schumacher led Hill by 5 points in the title battle, setting things up nicely for Hill's impressive drive in the wet conditions in the next round at Suzuka. As for the European Grand Prix, it moved to the Nurburgring the following season to create a second German race along with Hockenheim, coinciding with surging interest in the country thanks to Schumacher's successes.

1995 at the Circuit de Catalunya saw the final race for Nigel Mansell. Unhappy in the McLaren, he parked it on Lap 14, citing handling issues, and never returned. Michael Schumacher won from pole, while Hill dropped from 2nd to 4th with a gearbox issue on the final lap, paving the way for Johnny Herbert to get his first podium and Benetton to have only their second and indeed final podium finish. This is perhaps amazing for a team that won the constructors' title that year and the drivers' title with Schumacher in both 1995 and in 1994. Gerhard Berger completed the podium for Ferrari.

1996 was the last time rain affected the Spanish Grand Prix and it was torrential. Damon Hill dropped back from pole to 8th in the early laps, spinning three times and into retirement on Lap 12. Michael Schumacher fell from 3rd at the start with clutch difficulties, but fought back to the lead, taking a dominant first win for Ferrari and making amends for crashing on Lap 1 in the damp race at Monaco in the previous round. Alesi was 2nd for Benetton, with Jacques Villeneuve 3rd for Williams.

In 1997 in Catalunya, Villeneuve won from pole position, while Schumacher vaulted from 7th to 2nd, eventually dropping back to 4th. Olivier Panis claimed 2nd for Prost, with an excellent performance on the durable Bridgestone tyres, with Alesi back in 3rd for Benetton.

When Estoril experienced financial troubles, the Portuguese Grand Prix made way for the European Grand Prix at Jerez one more time and it decided the 1997 drivers' championship. The drama started when Villeneuve, Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all set a 1:21.072 in qualifying, placing them 1st to 3rd on the grid in that order. In the race, Schumacher got away better than the Williams cars and led by Turn 1. On Lap 48, Villeneuve challenged him for the lead and Schumacher turned in on him. Unlike Adelaide 1994, it didn't come off and he was out. Villeneuve still led, but with a damaged car, not taking risks and with McLaren having agreed with Williams pre-race to not get in their way, the Woking-based team were returned the favour, with Hakkinen sailing through, the other McLaren of David Coulthard and the Williams of Villeneuve just holding off Berger, competing in his final race, to claim 3rd and win his only championship by 3 points.

1998 and 1999 were McLaren whitewashes, Hakkinen beating Coulthard and Schumacher into 2nd and 3rd in both events.

Hakkinen won again in 2000, and the Ferarris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello completed the podium. Schumacher had two bad pit stops, the latter of which lost him the race lead. First, he ran over refueller Nigel Stepney, then at the second, the fuel did not start to be put in until after the tyres were changed.

Hakkinen was on course to win for a fourth straight time in 2001, but his engine gave up the ghost on the final lap and Schumacher inherited the victory, with Juan Pablo Montoya claiming his first podium in his Williams and Villeneuve 3rd for BAR.

Schumacher dominated from lights out to flag wave a year later, with Montoya 2nd despite running over his front jackman. Coulthard came 3rd.

Renault driver Fernando Alonso found himself in a Ferrari sandwich in 2003, with Schumacher winning and Barrichello 3rd. In 2004, Jarno Trulli led the early laps for Renault before Ferrari imposed themselves, Schumacher finishing ahead of Barrichello, with Trulli back in 3rd.

It was time for someone else to have a bite at the cherry in 2005, with Kimi Räikkönen converting pole into a win, and Alonso 2nd and Trulli 3rd (although this time the Italian featured for Toyota). A year later, home hero Alonso won for Renault, with Schumacher 2nd and Giancarlo Fisichella in the other Renault 3rd. In 2007, the chicane was added before the final corner, breaking the circuit's flow and limiting the colossal speed at which cars went onto the start-finish straight. Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Alonso touched on Lap 1, sending the Spaniard wide. Massa went on to win from season debutant Lewis Hamilton and Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Alonso.

A year later, Räikkönen took his second win at the circuit, this time for Ferrari, ahead of his team-mate Massa and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton's McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen had a tyre delamination and he hurtled into the barriers at high speed.

From 2008 to 2012, Valencia hosted the European Grand Prix. The track, which was on a layout which used the redeveloped marina area and some purpose-built road, did not seem to produce exciting races, though. Despite later being touted for a Spanish Grand Prix race share with the Circuit de Catalunya, it was dropped. Like Sitges, the purpose-built track is now abandoned apart from the parts by the marina and near the beach, which form access roads in the area and it is strange to already see the scruffy, derelict vestiges of a part of Formula 1 history.

The first race took place four months after the Spanish Grand Prix and Felipe Massa qualified on pole and duly won the race, from Hamilton and Robert Kubica in the BMW, escaping a race-affecting penalty for an unsafe release. It wasn't the only Ferrari pit calamity, as Räikkönen also left his stop with the fuel hose attached.

In 2009, it was the Brawn pair of Jenson Button and Barrichello who claimed a 1-2, while Mark Webber grabbed 3rd with Red Bull. Barrichello had shot into the lead off the start, but Button's two stops to the Brazilian's three were more successful.

In Valencia, there were no overtakes recorded on track, but that didn't stop third-placed qualifier Barrichello from taking his first win for Brawn. Hamilton was 2nd, with Räikkönen 3rd. The Finn's team-mate Luca Badoer, deputising for Massa, was well off the pace and finished 17th.

In 2010, Alonso was the meat in the Red Bull sandwich in Barcelona, with Mark Webber 1st and Vettel 3rd, while in Valencia, Vettel took victory, with Mark Webber tangling with Kovalainen and undergoing a spectacular flip. Hamilton damaged his front wing in contact with Vettel, but managed 2nd, with his McLaren team-mate Button on the final podium slot.

The next season, in Barcelona, Alonso made a stonking start in the Ferrari to pass the two Red Bulls and Hamilton to lead at Turn 1. It was Vettel, though, who went on to win, by a slender margin from Hamilton, with Button about half a minute behind. In Valencia, all 24 drivers were classified finishers, and Vettel won from Alonso and Webber.

2012 bore witness to a big upset in Barcelona, with Williams's last victory to date, Pastor Maldonado taking a surprising win (the fifth different winner in 5 races in the season, which would go on to be a statistic of 7 different winners in the first 7 races) after inheriting pole, when Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for a low fuel sample. Maldonado was beaten into Turn 1 by Alonso, but successfully undercut him to win from the Spaniard and Kimi Raikkonen in the Renault.

The final race to take place in Valencia, hitherto quite dull, was ironically probably the most exciting. Vettel initially led, but suffered an alternator failure. Alonso came through the pack to win, from Räikkönen and Michael Schumacher, who claimed his final podium in F1.

In 2013, Mercedes locked out the front row in Barcelona, with Rosberg on pole and Hamilton second. However, it was Alonso who took a popular win, his last to date in Formula 1. Räikkönen and Massa completed the podium, for Renault and Ferrari respectively.

One year later, Daniel Ricciardo scored his first F1 podium and Hamilton took his first win in a Grand Prix in Spain, in a Mercedes 1-2, with Rosberg challenging him but not quite close enough at the end. In 2015, it was Rosberg's turn to come out on top, reversing the Mercedes 1-2 from the year before, with Hamilton 2nd and Vettel 3rd for Ferrari.

Next time around, like in 2012, a surprise winner was the order of the day, but unlike Maldonado's win, this was the start of many for Max Verstappen. Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat had traded teams, with the 18 year-old Dutch driver moving from Toro Rosso to Red Bull. Verstappen became not just the youngest podium finisher in F1 history, but the youngest winner too. Nico Rosberg overtook team-mate Lewis Hamilton off the start, but Nico then didn't select the right engine mode and coming out of Turn 3, Hamilton attempted to overtake. They both collided and went out. Ferrari team-mates Raikkonen and Vettel completed the podium.

Lewis Hamilton won every race from 2017 to 2021. In that year's edition, Vettel got by him at the start and Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Räikkönen all collided and put themselves out of contention. Hamilton passed Vettel on Lap 44 and they finished in that order, with Ricciardo 3rd for Red Bull.

A year afterwards, Bottas completed the Mercedes 1-2 in 2nd, with Verstappen 3rd, while in 2019, the finishing order was identical – Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, although the result much closer than in 2018.

In 2020, in August, Hamilton's victory was by 24 seconds, from Verstappen and Bottas, while in 2021, we witnessed one of the season's tight tussles between the two now-champions The latter grabbed the lead from polesitter Hamilton into Turn 1 and then ended up on a one-stop strategy. He pitted on Lap 24 and had a slow stop, with the left-rear not attaching correctly. Despite that, when Hamilton emerged from his first stop on Lap 28, the undercut had worked and the Red Bull driver was still 6 seconds ahead. Charles Leclerc was running in 3rd. Bottas tried the undercut on him on Lap 23, taking the final podium spot on Lap 28. Hamilton pitted on Lap 41 for scrubbed C2s and returned to the track in 3rd, hunting down self-described 'sitting duck' Verstappen and passing him into Turn 1 on Lap 60.

Last year, Leclerc suffered a turbo failure while leading, with Verstappen going on to win (not before Pérez let him through), with his teammate in 2nd and George Russell in 3rd.

Look out for the changes to the track this year, including doing away with the chicane near the end of the lap, which will make the circuit more flowing.


Trivia

Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share the record for the most wins in the Spanish Grand Prix, with six. The other current drivers to have won here are Alonso and Verstappen, with one and two wins respectively (although Alonso also won in Valencia).

There have been three rain-affected Grands Prix at this circuit, but the last was in 1996.

Only 11 podium finishes since 1991 have come from drivers starting lower than 5th on the grid.

Between 2007 and 2016, 10 different drivers won the Grand Prix, including Pastor Maldonado's only win in 2012 and Max Verstappen's first win, achieved on his Red Bull debut in 2016, which also made him the youngest ever F1 winner, at 18 years and 228 days.
https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158006


The track




Other information

Circuit length: 4.657km
Number of laps: 66
Race distance: 307.236 km
Race Lap Record: n/a
Dry weather tyre compounds: C1, C2 and C3

First Spanish Grand Prix: 1913
First World Championship Grand Prix: 1951
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 1991
First Grand Prix on current configuration: 2023

Join in the fun with the Predictions Contest and Fantasy F1:

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158006

https://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=157755

[E.B]

Great preview BR> Much appreciated.

Wonder what the impact of the circuit mods will have on say the pole time? I have seen 'several seconds mentioned but that sounds a bit optimistic.


Interesting graphic shows the history of modifications to Catalunya circuit.

[peebee2]

Originally Posted by E.B

Wonder what the impact of the circuit mods will have on say the pole time? I have seen 'several seconds mentioned but that sounds a bit optimistic.

I would expect a pretty significant difference.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by E.B

Great preview BR> Much appreciated.

Wonder what the impact of the circuit mods will have on say the pole time? I have seen 'several seconds mentioned but that sounds a bit optimistic.


Interesting graphic shows the history of modifications to Catalunya circuit.

Nice graphic. Pole position was just shy of 7 seconds slower than the previous year when the chicane was added in 2007, so it could easily have quite a big effect.

[BTCC frog]

Thanks for the intro, Born Racer, I am particularly enjoying them for these more historical Grands Prix. There was one typo in that the 1979 edition was won by Patrick Depailler, not Patrick Tambay.

Personally, I have always considered this track to be very underappreciated, as although it often doesn't provide the best racing, it is a track that the cars look good to watch on, and there are some nice corners which I think would provide fantastic racing if cars could follow more closely (and there was no DRS). I think the removal of the final chicane is probably a very good move, and wonder if a similar thing could be done in Monza, eliminating the first chicane and allowing them to go straight into Curva Grande, with better barriers on the outside of the track in case of a crash. In fact, perhaps all the chicanes at Monza could go and it could become more like the track until 1971, which would make it a more unique and special race.

The DRS zones have not been altered this year so I fear the race could be a little dull with overtaking being too easy (last year there was an excellent battle between Russell and Verstappen when Verstappen's DRS wasn't working and Russell was able to defend his position), but historically this race has been quite hard to pass on so hopefully that will cancel out the fact that it has been too easy this season to give us some proper battles. But it will be nice to watch the cars on a proper race track for the first time this year, as opposed to all the street races we have had so far. I think generally it is best if the edge of the track is defined by grass or gravel, rather than walls or runoff, and that is very much the case in Catalunya.

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by BTCC frog

Thanks for the intro, Born Racer, I am particularly enjoying them for these more historical Grands Prix. There was one typo in that the 1979 edition was won by Patrick Depailler, not Patrick Tambay.

Personally, I have always considered this track to be very underappreciated, as although it often doesn't provide the best racing, it is a track that the cars look good to watch on, and there are some nice corners which I think would provide fantastic racing if cars could follow more closely (and there was no DRS). I think the removal of the final chicane is probably a very good move, and wonder if a similar thing could be done in Monza, eliminating the first chicane and allowing them to go straight into Curva Grande, with better barriers on the outside of the track in case of a crash.

The DRS zones have not been altered this year so I fear the race could be a little dull with overtaking being too easy (last year there was an excellent battle between Russell and Verstappen when Verstappen's DRS wasn't working and Russell was able to defend his position), but historically this race has been quite hard to pass on so hopefully that will cancel out the fact that it has been too easy this season to give us some proper battles. But it will be nice to watch the cars on a proper race track for the first time this year, as opposed to all the street races we have had so far. I think generally it is best if the edge of the track is defined by grass or gravel, rather than walls or runoff, and that is very much the case in Catalunya.

Thanks for flagging up the Depailler mistake.

Re: the new configuration, it's true that I'm a bit concerned that the Dreaded Rocket Ship (I like to amuse myself with acronyms) will be all too powerful on the start-finish straight, with that final corner.

[S griffin]

Excellent intro as ever BR. Really looking forward to seeing the cars drive on the layout without the chicane. I feel the chicane has had it's day

[P38 in workshop]

Could be an interesting weekend.To my eyes,the event usually seems a bit lacking in excitement as the circuit is fairly well known to all.What might liven it up a little may be the weather as I saw a forecast yesterday that suggested a reasonable probability of rain not far from Barcelona on Sunday.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

Could be an interesting weekend.To my eyes,the event usually seems a bit lacking in excitement as the circuit is fairly well known to all.What might liven it up a little may be the weather as I saw a forecast yesterday that suggested a reasonable probability of rain not far from Barcelona on Sunday.

Could we have our first wet race here since 1996? Yes it really is that long ago! I've got so used to the weather being nice and sunny when they come here, it will look really weird if it rains

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by P38 in workshop

To my eyes,the event usually seems a bit lacking in excitement as the circuit is fairly well known to all

There used to be alot of testing done at Barcelona but that's not the case any more - do you think that's had an impact? They used to put in thousands of laps around Barcelona during testing but with testing restrictions and pre season tests in the middle east I guess the familiarity isn't there as much as it was? Is it better known to teams and drivers than any other circuit now?

[Lancsbreaker]

Hmm - FP1 - Verstappen 0.768 clear of anyone else. Perez in second, and everyone else down to 17th within a second of him.....so tight, apart from Max. The Mercs in 10th (Russell) and 12th (Hamilton), so no obvious benefit from the upgrades yet.


Mods to the circuit seem to be causing problems with bouncing, and Verstappen saying his engine mapping causing "clipping".



Also talk that there might be rain coming, for practice and maybe the race.....

[bjohnsonsmith]

Great intro as ever.

According to AccuWeather, the weather won't be a factor like it was at Monaco. This is the forecast from for the next 4 days.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/es/ba...orecast/307297

[Mike Harte]

I use Ventusky which I have found to be pretty accurate, and they are presently showing that there will be plenty of rain tomorrow during practice and qualifying, whilst there will be rain appearing skirting the Barcelona area during Sunday afternoon. However, that could all change over the hours and days.

[Born Racer]

Almost a five-second gap between Max's fastest FP2 time and pole last year.

[seanyb505]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Hmm - FP1 - Verstappen 0.768 clear of anyone else. Perez in second, and everyone else down to 17th within a second of him.....so tight, apart from Max. The Mercs in 10th (Russell) and 12th (Hamilton), so no obvious benefit from the upgrades yet.


Mods to the circuit seem to be causing problems with bouncing, and Verstappen saying his engine mapping causing "clipping".



Also talk that there might be rain coming, for practice and maybe the race.....

Max using the word "clipping" is the middle square on my bingo card. I think it's just his feedback on the engine mapping. 9/10 times the response is "Ok. Understood." They take a look, make a change, and carry on.

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Almost a five-second gap between Max's fastest FP2 time and pole last year.

Knocking out a chicane will do that - must say that from a spectator POV the flow of the circuit is SO much better now (again). Think that it does play to the strengths of the Bulls & Max particularly but nonetheless is an improvement to the circuit of recent years.

[Born Racer]

There's a wonderful flow to the circuit. Pity it's not produced overtaking in general (apart from DRS) previously, but you're right that the removal of the chicane has made quite a difference. When watching the onboard of Verstappen in FP2, it looked so planted, so much so that I even imagined he could drive it much faster and thought he was losing time - PlayStation-style, I imagined myself doing better.

[S griffin]

Max fastest again, Alonso not far behind. So nice to see them using the fast last two corners again

[v8supes]

A lot of rain before the F2 race.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by v8supes

A lot of rain before the F2 race.

So much for AccuWeather.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Q1 red flagged.

[rika]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Q1 red flagged.

Why?
I see no reason?

[v8supes]

Red flag for what? Why not let the drivers use their actual ability to drive the cars?

[rika]

Still 3 minutes before we resume.

But why??

All cars are in the pits so no reason to red flag.
This is stupid, no?

[seanyb505]

Sounds like there was a bit too much gravel on track that they wanted to clean up. If it saves a few punctures with little impact, not a bad idea.

Track getting faster quickly.