Spanish Grand Prix 2012, Catalunya - Race 5/20

Duke · 8 May 2012 at 08:38

Catalunya

The Formula One teams are no strangers to Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya; not only have they raced there every year since 1991, they also conduct extensive testing at the venue.

Familiarity does not, however, lessen the challenge for car or driver. Barcelona's mix of high and low-speed corners, plus its abrasive and rather bumpy track surface, makes for a physically and mechanically taxing race. Tyre wear is particularly high and the varying winds that cut across the circuit mean an optimum set-up can be hard to find.

For spectators Elf corner is among the best places to watch, as it is one of the track's few overtaking opportunities. For the drivers it is the final two turns, known collectively as New Holland, which provide one of the biggest challenges of the season. A fast exit is essential in order to maximise speed down the start-finish straight into Elf.

2012 marks the 22nd time Barcelona has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher has been the most successful driver at the circuit, with a total of six victories. Among the other current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa have all won there.

Session Times

Fri 11 May 2012
Practice 1 09:00 - 10:30
Practice 2 13:00 - 14:30

Sat 12 May 2012
Practice 3 10:00 - 11:00
Qualifying 13:00

Sun 13 May 2012
Race 13:00

All live on Sky Sports F1. For BBC times and info see here - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18378942

Track:

Track Diagram

Track DRS

Main straight.

Circuit information

Circuit Name: Circuit de Catalunya
Number of Laps: 66
Circuit Length: 4.655 km
Race Distance: 307.104 km
Lap Record: 1:21.670 - K Raikkonen (2008)

2011 Race Edit - http://www.formula1.com/video/race_edits/

Current Standings

Technical Changes

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/

Weather Forecast

News

Mclaren to try new nose on Friday practice - http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/05/09/mclaren-run-higher-nose-spain/
Mark Webber says consistency will not be enough to fight for F1 title in 2012- http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99487

Photos from the event

Thursday - http://www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2012/868/general/thursday.html

Friday - http://www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2012/868/general/friday.html

Saturday - www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2012/868/general/saturday.html

Sunday - http://www.formula1.com/gallery/race/2012/868/general/sunday.html

FIA Press Conference

Thursday - http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99482

Friday - http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13332.html

Saturday - http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13338.html

Sunday - http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2012/5/13351.html

Practice 1

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps[/b]
 1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m24.430             20
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m24.808s  + 0.378   18
 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m24.912s  + 0.482   28
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.996s  + 0.566   24
 5.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m25.120s  + 0.690   24
 6.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m25.187s  + 0.757   15
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m25.217s  + 0.787   16
 8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m25.252s  + 0.822   20
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m25.285s  + 0.855   29
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m25.339s  + 0.909   24
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m25.367s  + 0.937   22
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m25.433s  + 1.003   21
13.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m25.539s  + 1.109   23
14.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m25.607s  + 1.177   20
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m25.918s  + 1.488   19
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m26.226s  + 1.796   24
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m26.297s  + 1.867   18
18.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m26.630s  + 2.200   21
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m27.475s  + 3.045   20
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.267s  + 3.837   21
21.  Alexander Rossi       Caterham-Renault       1m28.448s  + 4.018   25
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.633s  + 4.203   22
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m29.107s  + 4.677   19
24.  Dani Clos             HRT-Cosworth           1m31.618s  + 7.188   19

Practice 2

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps[/b]
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.399            38
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m23.563s  + 0.164  38
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.771s  + 0.372  41
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.909s  + 0.510  32
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m23.918s  + 0.519  32
 6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m23.964s  + 0.565  37
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m24.065s  + 0.666  34
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m24.080s  + 0.681  36
 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.214s  + 0.815  41
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m24.365s  + 0.966  22
11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m24.418s  + 1.019  35
12.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.422s  + 1.023  32
13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m24.468s  + 1.069  40
14.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m24.600s  + 1.201  33
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m24.688s  + 1.289  30
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.733s  + 1.334  34
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.769s  + 1.370  37
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m25.047s  + 1.648  42
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m26.296s  + 2.897  36
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m26.740s  + 3.341  35
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.314s  + 3.915  27
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.664s  + 4.265  30
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m28.235s  + 4.836  26
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          no time              2

Practice 3

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps[/b]
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m23.168             13
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m23.336s  + 0.168   19
 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.350s  + 0.182   19
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m23.578s  + 0.410   16
 5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m23.742s  + 0.574   22
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m23.807s  + 0.639   15
 7.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m23.833s  + 0.665   14
 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m23.909s  + 0.741   13
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m23.936s  + 0.768   16
10.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m24.070s  + 0.902   23
11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m24.179s  + 1.011   16
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m24.323s  + 1.155   17
13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m24.331s  + 1.163   15
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m24.409s  + 1.241   18
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m24.599s  + 1.431   15
16.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.778s  + 1.610   15
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m24.825s  + 1.657   17
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m25.911s  + 2.743   20
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m26.587s  + 3.419   20
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.469s  + 4.301   18
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m27.689s  + 4.521   16
22.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m28.207s  + 5.039   24
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m28.373s  + 5.205   13
24.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          no time               2

Qualifying

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   [/b]
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s   
 2.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s   + 0.578 
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s   + 0.595 
 4.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s   + 0.717 
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s   + 0.780 
 6.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s   + 0.826 
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s   + 1.298 
 8.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
 9.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time

Q2 cut-off time: 1m22.904s                                    Gap **
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s   +  0.839
12.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s   +  0.872
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s   +  1.020
14.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s   +  1.072
15.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s   +  1.160
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s   +  1.337
17.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s   +  1.339
Q1 cut-off time: 1m24.362s                                    Gap *
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s   + 2.398
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s   + 2.694
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s   + 2.924
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s   + 3.999
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s   + 4.449
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s   + 4.972
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s   + 8.539

107% time: 1m28.363s

* Gap to quickest in Q1  ** Gap to quickest in Q2

Race

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver        Team                       Time[/b]
 1.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           1h39:09.145
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     3.195
 3.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +     3.884
 4.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +    14.799
 5.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:14.641
 6.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +  1:17.576
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:27.919
 8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:28.100
 9.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:25.200
10.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     1 lap
12.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
14.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
17.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
18.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
19.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    3 laps

Fastest lap: Grosjean, 1:26.250

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Perez         Sauber-Ferrari               38
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            36
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 23
Senna         Williams-Renault             13
Schumacher    Mercedes                     13

World Championship standings, round 4:

Code:

[b]Drivers:                     Constructors:             [/b]
 1.  Vettel        61        1.  Red Bull-Renault          109
 2.  Alonso        61        2.  McLaren-Mercedes           98
 3.  Hamilton      53        3.  Lotus-Renault              84
 4.  Raikkonen     49        4.  Ferrari                    63
 5.  Webber        48        5.  Mercedes                   43
 6.  Button        45        6.  Williams-Renault           43
 7.  Rosberg       41        7.  Sauber-Ferrari             41
 8.  Grosjean      35        8.  Force India-Mercedes       18
 9.  Maldonado     29        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
10.  Perez         22       
11.  Kobayashi     19       
12.  Di Resta      15       
13.  Senna         14       
14.  Vergne         4       
15.  Hulkenberg     3       
16.  Schumacher     2       
17.  Massa          2       
18.  Ricciardo      2

Duke · 8 May 2012 at 08:38

The wait is over

Duke · 8 May 2012 at 15:52

Duke · 9 May 2012 at 10:34

Buttons puncture was caused by one of the Mercs broken exhaust, which damaged the diff as well, going by his interview on the Sky F1 show.

Duke · 9 May 2012 at 11:22

Mclaren will try the new nose this weekend - http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/05/09/mclaren-run-higher-nose-spain/

Duke · 10 May 2012 at 12:14

Merlin5 said:
Does anyone reckon the race will be finished before 3pm on Sunday? I hope so as I have to pick someone up after that.

Yep will finish about 2.30-2.40pm.

Duke · 10 May 2012 at 17:17

I think the engine would be further forward than that.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 08:31

I wonder if they have moved on from the clone of the Brawn 2009 launch front wing yet.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 09:05

deuse said:
10 mons to go to P1
For some reason Nod32 is going mad when I refresh this page? f1zoom.co.cc?

Yeah same here, had it before.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 09:08

Ugly Mclaren

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 09:16

It seems to be much further up towards the driver? Weird.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 09:36

Its different to that. There is now a bulge along almost where the drivers eye line is. Only currently on Lewis's car.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 10:21

So it seems they may run the new 'inbetween' option, which was photographed at the test and the bit they were trying today was to check the drivers visibility, should they fully go towards the stepped nose layout.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 10:45

Yeah, I gathered that as well, see my second post

Practice 1 times

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                   Time               Laps[/b]
 1.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m24.430             20
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m24.808s  + 0.378   18
 3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m24.912s  + 0.482   28
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m24.996s  + 0.566   24
 5.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m25.120s  + 0.690   24
 6.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m25.187s  + 0.757   15
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m25.217s  + 0.787   16
 8.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m25.252s  + 0.822   20
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m25.285s  + 0.855   29
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m25.339s  + 0.909   24
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m25.367s  + 0.937   22
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m25.433s  + 1.003   21
13.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m25.539s  + 1.109   23
14.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m25.607s  + 1.177   20
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m25.918s  + 1.488   19
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m26.226s  + 1.796   24
17.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m26.297s  + 1.867   18
18.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m26.630s  + 2.200   21
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m27.475s  + 3.045   20
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.267s  + 3.837   21
21.  Alexander Rossi       Caterham-Renault       1m28.448s  + 4.018   25
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m28.633s  + 4.203   22
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m29.107s  + 4.677   19
24.  Dani Clos             HRT-Cosworth           1m31.618s  + 7.188   19

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 11:09

Panzerbjorn said:
I think everyone is getting a bit premature heralding the return of Ferrari — it's one practice session from one grand prix — let's not get carried away.

Yep and nothing to do with it being Alonso's home race at all...

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 13:32

smr said:
actually I take back what I said about the mclaren nose, it looks ok from outside the car but from the driver's perspective it doesn't look good

Still prefer the old spec nose then, but I don't care if that's a sacrifice for better performance!

Yep if they were quick before and its worth changing towards this higher front route, it can only be good.

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 15:48

Practice 2 times

Code:

[b]Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps[/b]
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.399            38
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m23.563s  + 0.164  38
 3.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m23.771s  + 0.372  41
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m23.909s  + 0.510  32
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m23.918s  + 0.519  32
 6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m23.964s  + 0.565  37
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m24.065s  + 0.666  34
 8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m24.080s  + 0.681  36
 9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.214s  + 0.815  41
10.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m24.365s  + 0.966  22
11.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m24.418s  + 1.019  35
12.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m24.422s  + 1.023  32
13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m24.468s  + 1.069  40
14.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m24.600s  + 1.201  33
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m24.688s  + 1.289  30
16.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.733s  + 1.334  34
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m24.769s  + 1.370  37
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m25.047s  + 1.648  42
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m26.296s  + 2.897  36
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m26.740s  + 3.341  35
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.314s  + 3.915  27
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m27.664s  + 4.265  30
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m28.235s  + 4.836  26
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          no time              2

Duke · 11 May 2012 at 20:04

Practice pics - http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/05/11/2012-spanish-grand-prix-practice-pictures/

Mclaren new nose looks quite nice.

Duke · 12 May 2012 at 10:00

Practice 3 just starting now.

Duke · 12 May 2012 at 10:15

Mike306 said:
Thought you didn't like it.

The test part with the bulge I didn't like

Mentioned on BBC just now that they changed the pads on Buttons car to the ones Hamilton uses, to see if it heats up the tyres quicker.