I know I'm sick of seeing people falling over themselves to make the next F1 race thread and I suspect many of this particular forum's regulars are also. But two weeks ahead of the race? You're having a bubble, surely?
I'm most looking forward to Force India to be honest. Their updates have closed the gap with Toro Rosse at Bahrain, new updates should also be installed on the car in Barcelona, so I'm crossing my fingers to see Sutil picking up more speed 👍
I expect Ferrari and Renault to do slight better, but I'm still hoping for the maiden Toyota win.
Yes, we do: Red Bull and Toyota have closed the gap on Brawn, but the new aero kits for most of the teams should make it a little more interesting. Especially since Red Bull aren't getting theirs until Monaco.
Apparently we should look out for the Brawn car because it will have new sidepods as well as other new parts. The parts they've been using for the past 4 races were designed around the Honda engine and so are not as efficient as they could be. Allegedly, the new sidepods will make the other teams do a backflip when they see them but I have no idea how apparent this difference will be.
Ross also mentioned last week on the BBC interactive forum that they had used some less-than-favourable parts which they had to stick on as quickly as possible in order to be ready for Melbourne. So, they will be improving various parts of the Brawn from inside and out.
I think the Brawn, Ferrari and Toro Rosso are the only teams having a major update this weekend, with other teams updating minor parts.
So, with this in mind, I can't really make a prediction but certainly the teams to watch for jumps (or drops) in performance are these 3. Perhaps Buemi and even Bourdais can challenge for more points? We shall see.
Apparently we should look out for the Brawn car because it will have new sidepods as well as other new parts. The parts they've been using for the past 4 races were designed around the Honda engine and so are not as efficient as they could be. Allegedly, the new sidepods will make the other teams do a backflip when they see them but I have no idea how apparent this difference will be.
Brawn hav said they're not happy with what they've got - which is odd, given that they're the force to be reckoned with - because they claim there's another 0.6s/lap to squeeze out of the car.
You can see the today's trainings on live, through La Sexta's web site (La Sexta is the spanish tv channel who had the F1 rights): http://directosf1.lasextadeportes.com/
Even stranger: Glock and Trulli are 18th and 19th; the only reason they're not 19th and 20th is because Sutil seems to have a problem of some kind and hasn't put in a single lap. For the team that dominated qualifying and were set to take their maiden victory in Bahrain, the Toyotas seem to be pedalling backwards; Glock is 1.77 seconds behind leader Rosberg, and Trulli is 2.03 off the pace.
Even stranger: Glock and Trulli are 18th and 19th; the only reason they're not 19th and 20th is because Sutil seems to have a problem of some kind and hasn't put in a single lap. For the team that dominated qualifying and were set to take their maiden victory in Bahrain, the Toyotas seem to be pedalling backwards; Glock is 1.77 seconds behind leader Rosberg, and Trulli is 2.03 off the pace.
I don't think Toyota are pedalling backwards at all. In FP1 Trulli was second fastest and Glock was eighth. This is Friday practice, after all, we have no idea what they were up to during FP2.
I've suspected for a while now that Williams suck their tanks down tothe very fumes to produce those times, considering the haven't been able to translate that speed into race pace. And given that Alonso's qualifying results have been a product of the same thing - he started in Shanghai with pretty much half the fuel of anyone else - then the real order at the end of the second session is Barrichello, Webber, Button, Vettel.
Even stranger: Glock and Trulli are 18th and 19th; the only reason they're not 19th and 20th is because Sutil seems to have a problem of some kind and hasn't put in a single lap.
According to the Force India man commentating for the BBC, Sutil's car has an issue with the fuel cell coupling and it's a six hour job to change it - the car is currently upside-down having this fixed, apparently.
According to the Force India man commentating for the BBC, Sutil's car has an issue with the fuel cell coupling and it's a six hour job to change it - the car is currently upside-down having this fixed, apparently.
