Poll: Spanish Grand Prix 2019, Catalunya - Race 5/21

Rate the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix out of ten


  • Total voters
    85
  • Poll closed .
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
44,881
The funny thing is, this season is actually quite unpredictable, but not as we are expecting. Anything could happen between Bottas and Hamilton. Then it is a race for third with the two Ferrari drivers taking points off each other. It is just that the race isn't offering much of a spectacle.

I wonder whether Bottas has gone full Rosberg and is setting up purely for quali? His race pace is nowhere near Hamilton's. Bottas has a good shot at Monaco quali and therefore the win. Any of the overtaking tracks though, Hamilton will take victory.

This is interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/bo27jd/every_teams_fastest_lap_in_barcelona_quali_vs/
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
13 May 2007
Posts
8,208
Location
London
The funny thing is, this season is actually quite unpredictable, but not as we are expecting. Anything could happen between Bottas and Hamilton. Then it is a race for third with the two Ferrari drivers taking points off each other. It is just that the race isn't offering much of a spectacle.

I wonder whether Bottas has gone full Rosberg and is setting up purely for quali? His race pace is nowhere near Hamilton's. Bottas has a good shot at Monaco quali and therefore the win. Any of the overtaking tracks though, Hamilton will take victory.

This is interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/bo27jd/every_teams_fastest_lap_in_barcelona_quali_vs/

I'd seen that table earlier today, something isn't right with the ferrari, everyone else made massive gains from last year but they barely moved. I suspect they are having real issues with tyres, given the understeer and poor performance in slow corners maybe a fundamental issue with the suspension? The Ferrari was genuinely fast in Bahrain but that's mostly medium to high speed corners so I guess didn't highlight any underlying weakness in the car.
 

smr

smr

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
8,753
Location
Leicestershire
The funny thing is, this season is actually quite unpredictable, but not as we are expecting. Anything could happen between Bottas and Hamilton. Then it is a race for third with the two Ferrari drivers taking points off each other. It is just that the race isn't offering much of a spectacle.

I wonder whether Bottas has gone full Rosberg and is setting up purely for quali? His race pace is nowhere near Hamilton's. Bottas has a good shot at Monaco quali and therefore the win. Any of the overtaking tracks though, Hamilton will take victory.

This is interesting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/bo27jd/every_teams_fastest_lap_in_barcelona_quali_vs/

Probably too early to say whether revised Bottas is much slower than Hamilton in race pace, yesterday was lost right at the start, whatever the clutch problem was for Bottas simply lost him the race, whoever got to T1 first won it lol!

Getting to T1 first ensures clean air and also has to be a psychological blow to your team mate in that as yesterday showed, the circuit is basically impossible to pass. It's like Monaco without the barriers basically.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
21 Nov 2004
Posts
44,881
Probably too early to say whether revised Bottas is much slower than Hamilton in race pace, yesterday was lost right at the start, whatever the clutch problem was for Bottas simply lost him the race, whoever got to T1 first won it lol!

In Baku he was holding up Hamilton at several stages, but the pace difference wasn't enough to pass. Yesterday Bottas was nowhere close. Bottas also isn't a great defender. On a track where overtaking is plausible, I just can't see Bottas winning even if he is ahead at T1.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2005
Posts
8,620
Location
Southampton
Very dull race after the first corner, Ferrari are their own worst enemy, taking far too long to swap Vettel and Leclerc in fairly simple scenarios of fact (flat-spotted tyre will hinder Vettel, Leclerc will be slower on the hardest compound and was on a different strategy until the safety car).

The car design rules need a massive change next year to make F1 fun to watch again along the lines of being much narrower; less length; much less aero downforce.
 

V F

V F

Soldato
Joined
13 Aug 2003
Posts
21,184
Location
UK
Chuffed that we have built a car that’s is performing so well, that we have a team that is doing such a good job. So yes chuffed.

Not our fault that the other teams aren’t doing such a good job as we are. Should we just be worse job?

Who's we? Do you work for Mercedes or something?
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Dec 2003
Posts
25,666
It's a really nice gesture, the car must be worth a fortune it could go a long way to paying for treatment but you've got to admit it's a pretty horrendous looking trophy. :p
 

Deleted member 651465

D

Deleted member 651465

I can’t imagine anything worse than watching your child die slowly, of an uncureable disease.

Nice gesture from Lewis and Mercedes though, I bet he was chuffed to pieces :):(
 
Soldato
Joined
15 May 2007
Posts
12,804
Location
Ipswich / Bodham
Brundle nails it once again.

It was a 66-lap race, but pole man Valtteri Bottas' chance of winning was effectively over before turn one because of a clutch vibration off the start. A complex collection of parts and software we will never be allowed to see, and couldn't understand anyway, created by an army of talented people we can never meet. But the main point here is that a 'clutch vibration' should not be a race defining moment unable to be remedied over the next 300kms.

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/2...spanish-gp-frustrations-and-f1-future-visions
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,177
Location
The land of milk & beans
That whole article is right on the money. I can't see how anyone could disagree with it. The problem though is how we get there. The FIA clearly don't want to shake things up too much so they upset the big teams and Liberty are clearly all about the bottom line financially, so I can't see any real risks being taken to change the formula too much in 2021.
 
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