Spanish Grand Prix 2011, Circuit de Catalunya- Race 5/19

Ceryndrion · 21 May 2011 at 13:18

And no comment about Heikki being in 13th atm? sheesh...

Lotus into Q2

yay!!

Flibster · 21 May 2011 at 13:20

LOTUS INTO Q2!

Oh hell yeah!

Hxc · 21 May 2011 at 13:20

Lotus into Q2 for the first time... partially down to the Renault... but still, very happy to see!

Weebull · 21 May 2011 at 13:21

Rubens beaten by both Lotuses. Ouch.

And yet Maldonado was third! Even with soft tyres, that's some gap.

Mr Jack · 21 May 2011 at 13:21

Kova into Q2! That's good to see.

Kenai · 21 May 2011 at 13:22

As they mentioned, Heidfeld will have a nice tyre situation tomorrow, will be able to really attack on softs and stay off the hards.

Flibster · 21 May 2011 at 13:25

Tweet from Mike Gascoyne

Sensible option is to save the tyres as not much chance of better than 17th, but this is racing so time to go for it

pingwing · 21 May 2011 at 13:25

Yay Lotus in q2! Shame Rubens has a gear box failure and Nick is out of todays running too. Next race id like them to get into Q2 outright next time too....

The pirelli stuff is awesome too! Loving a 2 second gap between the tyres really makes all this more interesting

Setroc · 21 May 2011 at 13:28

Heidfeld might have the tyres but this is probably one of the worst tracks to be stuck at the back on. Presumably he'll be able to gain a number of places quite easily thanks to the large DRS zone though. But when he meets cars that are relatively competitive I think he'll find it quite hard to pass. I feel bad for him, the car trouble wasn't his fault, and he really needs to start beating Petrov or this is surely going to be his last season.

Hxc · 21 May 2011 at 13:28

Kenai said:
As they mentioned, Heidfeld will have a nice tyre situation tomorrow, will be able to really attack on softs and stay off the hards.

Will be very very interested to see what he manages!

Irish_Tom · 21 May 2011 at 13:28

Looking good for McLaren and RBR then seeing as Ferrari and Mercedes have essentially thrown away a set of options.

Glaucus · 21 May 2011 at 13:28

pingwing said:
The pirelli stuff is awesome too! Loving a 2 second gap between the tyres really makes all this more interesting

not really, only for qualifying. Unless they do actually last 10-14 laps more in the race, then pirelli have failed.

Setroc · 21 May 2011 at 13:31

Even if the hards last the whole race, at 2 seconds per lap slower, the softs + extra pitstops are always going to be the optimal strategy.

Kenai · 21 May 2011 at 13:33

pingwing said:
The pirelli stuff is awesome too! Loving a 2 second gap between the tyres really makes all this more interesting

I think the gap is too big, unless that tyre can really really outlast the soft (by say 2.5x the laps) then they're just going to disadvantage people.

The best situation will come when Pirelli manage to produce a hard and soft that have grip and time differences that mean taking either option is viable. If someone could feasibly one or two stop on hards and compete with someone three or four stopping on softs that would be great.

I can't see it being viable tomorrow to run a 'hard strategy' and compete though.

Mr Jack · 21 May 2011 at 13:33

No KERS from Vettel? Problems again for RedBull?

Irish_Tom · 21 May 2011 at 13:33

No KERS for Vettel on that lap!

Glaucus · 21 May 2011 at 13:34

Setroc said:
Even if the hards last the whole race, at 2 seconds per lap slower, the softs + extra pitstops are always going to be the optimal strategy.

No so, at two seconds a lap slower, the hards only needs to last 11 laps longer to make it viable. Pit lane loss is 21 secomds here. the softs are lasting about 11laps so the hards need to last at least 22laps and preferably longer, due to traffic.

pingwing · 21 May 2011 at 13:38

Im showing support for the 2s difference as I would hate it to go back to the old difference of something like 0.3s. In quali they probably should just dish out an extra set or something but ill enjoy seeing nick and rubens probably being able to run 2 good sets of the softs giving us something exciting to watch.

I guess the real bit is having such a variation between tyres makes up for the rubbish aero rules...

Big laugh at Brundle and his "prepare for hospital food comment"

Flibster · 21 May 2011 at 13:38

Brundle, once again talking sense. Ditch the run off tarmac and make the drivers stick to the damn track!

Setroc · 21 May 2011 at 13:39

AcidHell2 said:
No so, at two seconds a lap slower, the hards only needs to last 11 laps longer to make it viable. Pit lane loss is 21 secomds here. the softs are lasting about 11laps so the hards need to last at least 22laps and preferably longer, due to traffic.

As the track rubbers in I think you are expecting softs to last more than 11 laps, but even if what you are saying is true, which I think is worst case scenario for the softs, then we have:

2 stints on softs = 22laps = 44 seconds faster than hards minus 21 second in the pit stop = 23 seconds faster overall than the hards lasting 22 laps that you suggested.