Spanish Grand Prix 2013, Barcelona - Race 5/19
- Thread starter Duke
- Start date
Alonso has been in a spat with a paparazzi apparently, claiming Alonso pushed him over and broke his camera
Well that's another fully inflated Pirelli tyre with no tread on it again, tread just came away. Also, was a rear left again. Shame for Mr Miserable, shame for Force India.
I think the teams would be happier with Ling Long's at the moment.
I think the teams would be happier with Ling Long's at the moment.
P2 Finished.
Redbull - Ferrari - Lotus - Mercedes
Same old faces sharing the top spots.
1. Vettel -------------1.22.808
2. Alonso -------------.017
3. Webber ------------.083
4. Raikkonen ----------.222
5. Massa -------------.302
6. Hamilton -----------.332
7. Rosberg ------------.590
8. Sutil ---------------01.032
9. Vergne -------------01.250
10. Di Resta ----------01.296
Redbull - Ferrari - Lotus - Mercedes
Same old faces sharing the top spots.
1. Vettel -------------1.22.808
2. Alonso -------------.017
3. Webber ------------.083
4. Raikkonen ----------.222
5. Massa -------------.302
6. Hamilton -----------.332
7. Rosberg ------------.590
8. Sutil ---------------01.032
9. Vergne -------------01.250
10. Di Resta ----------01.296
McLaren fastest overall.
In the pitlane1000 Euro fine for Jenson apparantly!
If the new rules was in he will have "Exceeded the speed limit (at any time) by more than 20kph 3 points"
Paul was very lucky. So it maybe a quality control problem, it doesn't give a driver much confidence to go all out.
vimto and Alonso looking good, Merc not very good
Yep Merc's back tires don't last long(1.5 seconds behind rb) in race mode.
The BBC say it's a quality control problem that's why tire delamination does not happen to everyone.
An uninspiring fp, but Ferrari looking great again along with RBR, pretty much nothing between them.
As to the whole question side, I would love to see upcoming drivers get track time every race weekend, this is especially important with the massive restriction with testing. It would be great for FIA to bring something in, so many ways you could do it and pretty much any way would be good IMO.
As to the whole question side, I would love to see upcoming drivers get track time every race weekend, this is especially important with the massive restriction with testing. It would be great for FIA to bring something in, so many ways you could do it and pretty much any way would be good IMO.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- 33,188
In terms of race pace, we don't know anything, this could be Merc using an engine on its last legs so not pushing it and they were just checking tyre data with a length or run at certain temp or number of laps. Brundle loves to jump all over times as if they mean anything, they never do and they are consistently wrong about Merc every single race.
AFAIK they were saying Merc did a long slow run but put in some laps at the end of a longer than anyone else run that was the same kind of times as other guys who went faster than finished up a shorter run. IE REd Bull doing 1;29's finishing in 1:31's, and Merc were doing 1:31's up to 1:33's, but went longer and then dod some 1:31's at the end.
Merc maybe be gunning for a low tyre wear less stops strategy, or just seeing how many laps you can go at slower speed to check if that strategy would work.
As for tyre quality control, it seemed absurd at the time to punish Hamilton for needing to fix damage done by a clearly faulty tyre. It was a ridiculous penalty in the situation when it seemed to most that it was Pirelli's fault, if in another 5 races a half dozen cars have had the issue, they identify a manufacturing fault and fix it, okay Massa won't get his race back as it happened during the race, but a grid penalty for Hamilton was utterly absurd on every level.
Ultimately last year screamed "Button can't be a number 1 driver" in this situation, a guy who has to default to the other drivers set up. 2014 I think will be a struggle as well with an entirely new car, I mean its possible Mclaren hit it out the park and have easily the best car, in which case he'll do fine(but maybe Perez will do better). But if that car needs work next year, Button will struggle to be the one to get the best out of it.
Caporegime
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- 18 Oct 2002
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- 33,188
As above, from when Alonso joined to when Hamilton left they had a guy in the team the whole time who can set up a car within reach of the perfect set up, that is instrumental in getting the best out of a car and more importantly developing the car.
Guys work back at the factory, test, wind tunnel, innovate, bring it to the track and if there is no one to go out, find the right setup and drive it right.... then the part doesn't work and they end up going another way...
Unless Perez steps up soon, really soon, and starts getting the best out of the car, not having a guy who can get the best out of any car very quickly will start to hurt them badly.
Steady on.
They have proved that they are very good when it comes to developing the car once the season starts, so they may finish this year with the fastest car - if so, they may win a race or 2.
Their main problem is that they no longer have a top line driver. They have 2 choices:
1. hire a new driver (Alonso, Vettel or Hamilton)
2. make a car which is faster than Ferrari, RBR and Merc.
Other than that, I can't see how they will win a title.
Looking at the salaries, with Kimi being paid 3M Euros a year - if McLaren are serious, they should offer to make him the highest paid driver in F1 and bring him to McLaren, this season. IMO, though, I do not believe McLaren are a team with title ambitions. I think they have reached a stage, where finishing in the top 6 is now good enough. If they win a race - great! If they finish in 6th - its ok...no bother.
At this point, Mercedes seem to be the team who are most serious about their title ambitions. They are increasing their wage bill at at an incredible rate. I think they are under pressure to win something, in a very short time frame, before Merc/Daimler pull the plug.
So, whose gonna win the race on Sunday?
Early prediction:
1. Vettel
2. Alonso
3. Kimi/Webber
You do know its the engineers setting the car up and not the driver alone?