FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA PIRELLI 2014

[FaultyMario]

You know it's been a boring surge of one team dominance when Obvious Newspaper Headlines State The Obvious! (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/spanish-grand-prix-lewis-hamilton-weary-of-red-bull-revival-despite-his-imperious-form-9332882.html)


It's been so predictable I don't think I'll add a poll to this weekends race.

To note: McLaren brings "interesting" update. Mercedes can hit a car setup even in the blind, like they did with Lewis' in China. Seb gets new, updated, chassis; Dani will have to wait til Silverstone for his. Force King of the Partay, get more kingly, with new Vodka sponsor; It shouldabin Kimi! Sauber ditches about 20 pounds off with new chassis; An engineer ditches them to be Jules Bianchi's race director. Ross visited Maranello igniting Ferraristi's hopes. And, I became convinced that Bernie's best hope for a successor wouldn't necessarily be Christian Horner, but rather a Lawyer with plenty of experience in dealing with them eff motherfucking bastards. (http://www.espn.co.uk/sauber/motorsport/story/156373.html)

[IMOA]

Hamilton to win, Danny Ric to beat Vettel

[FaultyMario]

You driving gods should have an answer to this... Catalunya has been widely regarded as a downforce track, It's my understanding that cars are set up so that they favor stability when cornering, regardless of speed. Ok, Vettel on one hand developed this technique in the hot-floor years of "straightening out" the second part of the corner, for maximizing grip for his launch onto the coming straight; after all, the tilkedromes are pretty much that, corner-corner-long straight, so it comes as no surprise that he dominated the last ruleset. What happens when the RB10 should have an advantage in mid and high speed corners in Spain, but Vettel isn't comfortable accommodating his style? Will this:


Danny Ric to beat Vettel

be truly true? Does Seb really suck at corner entry?

[IMOA]

Danny Ric has been very good at Catalunya since right back in his formula renault days and vetted isn't particularly good there, could make it interesting given Vettels placebo chassis.

[FaultyMario]

Dan's on the right path. Consistently fastest after the Mercedes.

Curiously though, second fastest team at the speed trap are Toro Rosso. Are they trying something they could later share with their sister team or is it just James Key's magic at work? If memory serves, He's always come up with good speedtrap cars.

[FaultyMario]

Some news: McLaren updates seem to be working. JB is believed to be holding back. Same goes for Williams. And Kimi.

538

[samoht]

Hamilton to win, Danny Ric to beat Vettel

:)

[overpowered]

Another Mercedes 1-2. They lapped the 7th place car; lapped the back marker teams twice. I almost thought Rosberg might finally get Hamilton but it looked like his tires gave out before he could pass.

Vettel goes from 15th to 4th. He passed Alonso in the pits, Kimi, Bottas and several others on track. Respect. Ricciardo finally gets a podium. If Red Bull can get their reliability issues sorted out, they should be able to at least hold on to 2nd in the constructors. That's probably the most that they can hope for this season. The only way they'll win a race is to have a good day and have both Mercedes DNF.

It looked like Kimi might finally beat Alonso this season, but he failed late in the race :(. At least he was right behind him this time.

McLaren is still disappointing. The Austrailian GP made it look like they were back.

[Freude am Fahren]

I think we'll be seeing a lot of that kind of battling at the end between Nico and Lewis this season. Mercedes seems to have made it clear they can have at it. And the two sides of the garage seem to be keen on trying separate strategies to try and take it to the other, since on raw pace they are too close (with Lewis the slight advantage on hot laps and shorter stints, and Nico on long runs and preserving tires. I think though that Nicos side need to go for a bit more extreme first couple stints, since they are usually running put of tire just as he catches up.

[FaultyMario]

I get the feeling they're not allowed to use the good engine settings early in the race. I don't think Mercedes want to show all the cards they really have. It might be more that 2 seconds per lap on race pace.

[Godson]

Per Kimi. I think he has just shown how he is starting to get more comfortable with the chassis and the driving nature. I also think the thing that didn't allow him to finish ahead of Alonso was tires. If Kimi would have been on the have had the medium tires in the middle stint, and softer on the last stint the results would have been a lot different.


Either way, it was somewhat of a processional until the last few laps.



Vettel had to do some work this weekend. And he did. I do give him credit for that.



Lewis: He just needs to drive and to trust his team.

[MR2 Fan]

Lewis: He just needs to drive and to trust his team.

THIS. I've never seen such a soap opera for someone going for his fifth victory in a row and being in front of the pack the entire race.

[Godson]

We have always known he was a headcase drama king.



Just reminds me why I do and don't like him.

[overpowered]

THIS. I've never seen such a soap opera for someone going for his fifth victory in a row and being in front of the pack the entire race.It was the team's 5th in a row, but "only" his 4th in a row.

[G'day Mate]

"only"

:lol: If he wins the next one he's done better than Prost, Senna, Alonso ...

[Crazed_Insanity]

He just want to make sure that he'll beat Rosberg race after race at the moment.

Surely most of these great drivers all tend to be perceived as drama kings at times... they all want to finish on top and they all think they deserve to be on top...

[Freude am Fahren]

Most don't constantly think their own team is sabotaging them though.

[MR2 Fan]

It was the team's 5th in a row, but "only" his 4th in a row.

Sorry, I thought he already won 4 in a row

[Rob]

Either way, it was somewhat of a processional until the last few laps.

Isn't Spain always like that though? Some years we don't even get the excitement at the end.

[overpowered]

I forgot to mention before: I was noticing as Vettel was making his way through the field over the course of the race that he was in DRS range in the DRS zone several times but I don't recall him actually being able to capitalize on it. All of the on track passing that I saw him do was in turns. It would seem that Red Bull is still doing relatively well with the down force but the engine short fall is a very serious problem for them.

[Godson]

Isn't Spain always like that though? Some years we don't even get the excitement at the end.


True.

[Reynard]

I forgot to mention before: I was noticing as Vettel was making his way through the field over the course of the race that he was in DRS range in the DRS zone several times but I don't recall him actually being able to capitalize on it. All of the on track passing that I saw him do was in turns.

I remember at least twice being onboard with him as he was passing people going into La Caixa, which was at the end of a DRS zone.

[IMOA]

I forgot to mention before: I was noticing as Vettel was making his way through the field over the course of the race that he was in DRS range in the DRS zone several times but I don't recall him actually being able to capitalize on it. All of the on track passing that I saw him do was in turns. It would seem that Red Bull is still doing relatively well with the down force but the engine short fall is a very serious problem for them.

While the renault is a bit down on power to the merc the main reason for this is car setup. Red bull have always gone for a setup which maximises outright pace over overtaking ability (downforce, gearing etc) with the aim that the put it on pole and bugger off into the distance. In traffic they've never been great at getting through the field even when they were dominant.

[Random]

It was interesting watching Vettel remember how to make passes that didn't involve a blue flag this race. :)

[Freude am Fahren]

WUT? (http://www.autoweek.com/article/20140514/F1/140519911?utm_source=DailyRacing20140515&utm_medium=enewsletter&utm_term=article7&utm_content=20140514-Pastor-Maldonado,-Lotus-edge-Mercedes-in-second-day-of-Formula-One-testing&utm_campaign=awDailyRacing)

[FaultyMario]

Supersoft tires, reduced ballast. Max Chilton had topped the charts the day before.