2010 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix

[prisonermonkeys]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but F-ducts are joining double diffusers as banned pieces of kit for 2011.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8670795.stm

Also, Monaco won't have split qualifying. Bring on the mayhem.

 

[Ardius]

Aye, boring race, as usual for Catalunya. And we still have Valencia left!
Thankfully, Valencia is the only real dud left, Monaco and Hungary don't have much overtaking but they tend to have a fair bit of action and surprise results.

Congrats to Webber, good win. Still worries about Red Bull reliability though, I thought Vettel was going to retire with all those desperate radio calls.
Shocking pace from Mercedes, they've really dropped the ball this season and are not in the championship hunt. They're in a solid 4th place ahead of Renault but they have nothing on the top 3.
Disappointing for Button, but he only ever had one real chance at Schumacher and he was too cautious to try it (which may or may not pay off later in the season). Pretty gutting for Hamilton too.

Alguesuari was impressive but then showed his rookie colours again, Petrov and Kobayashi showed a lot more maturity, especially Koba who has finished his first race this year!
Buemi was terrible today, he should be worried about his seat in such a volatile team.

Good recovery from Barrichello and Williams, though they still lack pace. Kubica and Sutil were ordinary, Liuzzi was slow again.

Also congrats to Virgin for finally getting two cars to the finish! The new teams all had ordinary days, some reliability gremlins and generally off the pace and causing trouble for the top teams. I feel sorry for Chandhok and Di Grassi as they seem to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[PeterJB]

Aye, boring race, as usual for Catalunya. And we still have Valencia and Turkey left!
Thankfully, Valencia and Turkey is the only real dud left, Monaco and Hungary don't have much overtaking but they tend to have a fair bit of action and surprise results.

Fixed.

 

[Ardius]

Turkey can be alright, its never been so dull as far as I can remember...then again I don't remember many races there .
The only thing I can remember from Turkey is when Piquet Jr had his brief moment of glory fending off Hamilton last year I think.

 

[yeti]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but F-ducts are joining double diffusers as banned pieces of kit for 2011.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8670795.stm

Also, Monaco won't have split qualifying. Bring on the mayhem.

I think this is a retrograde step - especially as they're blaming "budget issues" for it... From what I can see it's an incredibly cheap way of doing things!?

At least if they want to blame it on something then call it something like "lack of connection to road use" or something?!

C.

 

[red7]

Despite the fact passing may be scarce at this track, I'm convinced bringing back KERS will improve the show. All too often cars can catch but then become stuck behind unable to get by.

 

[Tired Tyres]

I don't think KERS will help at all. If all cars have KERS then the one attacking will use to to try and overtake and the one defending will use it to defend. Net result. No more or less overtaking that now.

To increase overtaking, I would ban diffusers completely along with all other aero devices except single element flat plane wings.

This, I believe, would create many more overtaking opportunities.

 

[red7]

I don't think KERS will help at all. If all cars have KERS then the one attacking will use to to try and overtake and the one defending will use it to defend. Net result. No more or less overtaking that now.

To increase overtaking, I would ban diffusers completely along with all other aero devices except single element flat plane wings.

This, I believe, would create many more overtaking opportunities.

Those are valid ideas, however when it comes to KERS use I doubt each driver will use it exactly the same each lap though.

 

[The Outlaw]

I saw it coming, really. We all know how hard he is on his tires and when he set the fastest lap time 10 laps before the end I just knew something had to give. I bet he'll now keep those tires more in mind in the next races.

Your statements are unreasonable. Not even Mclaren know the cause of the tire failure atm...so how can you put it down to Hamilton being too hard on his tires?

 

[Bram Turismo]

Your statements are unreasonable. Not even Mclaren know the cause of the tire failure atm...so how can you put it down to Hamilton being too hard on his tires?

Is it so surprising that he had a punctured tire after beating his tires for so many laps? Remember, he was the only driver who mixed himself with the Red Bulls, and Alonso to a certain extent. Corner 3 is known to be brutally hard on the front left tyre, which is also the one that punctured. For now we don't know what caused it, no, but I suspect him of just being too hard on his tires. Nothing surprising really since those tires have to last so long. I await Mclaren's statement eagerly, but for now I'm sticking with a usual puncture due to tire wear.

 

[Fastas]

I'm trying to find/waiting for a reply of Hamilton's incident. The BBC have a clip on their web site however, it is difficult to freeze-frame the event. My initial reaction to the deflation is that there was a failure within the wheel or brake system. When it was shown live and with the ensuing replay in slow motion; there did seem to be two foreign objects in the air before the deflation occurred but whether or not those objects came from the car are difficult to say.

I don't think it was due to Hamilton's driving style. The tyres were not especially worn. The fact that the tyre seams to be undamaged after the impact suggest it was probably a wheel rim failure.

This 'part' came from within the wheel rather than the tyre.

The video I'd like to see again was from the camera mounted on the side of the engine cover, not this one which is mounted on the role bar.

 

[Sureboss]

Is it so surprising that he had a punctured tire after beating his tires for so many laps? Remember, he was the only driver who mixed himself with the Red Bulls, and Alonso to a certain extent. Corner 3 is known to be brutally hard on the front left tyre, which is also the one that punctured. For now we don't know what caused it, no, but I suspect him of just being too hard on his tires. Nothing surprising really since those tires have to last so long. I await Mclaren's statement eagerly, but for now I'm sticking with a usual puncture due to tire wear.

I didn't see any signs of it being caused by tyre wear. The team are constantly monitoring the tyre wear and the various other readings they have, they'd know if the tyre was getting to the point where degradation from gradual wear would cause the problem to catastrophically fail.

 

[The Outlaw]

Is it so surprising that he had a punctured tire after beating his tires for so many laps? Remember, he was the only driver who mixed himself with the Red Bulls, and Alonso to a certain extent.].

That all depends on what your idea of "beating his tires" is. Just because you set a string of fastest laps together as fuel burns off doesn't mean he was beating his tires to the point of failure, or in this case a blow out.

Corner 3 is known to be brutally hard on the front left tyre, which is also the one that punctured. For now we don't know what caused it, no, but I suspect him of just being too hard on his tires. Nothing surprising really since those tires have to last so long. I await Mclaren's statement eagerly, but for now I'm sticking with a usual puncture due to tire wear.

Well your opinion and speculation seems to go against the grain of that of Mclaren and Martin Whitmarsh, in regards to what caused the failure. Mclaren are surely much more informed than you or me when it comes to monitoring the health of their cars tires.

 

[Bram Turismo]

That all depends on what your idea of "beating his tires" is. Just because you set a string of fastest laps together as fuel burns off doesn't mean he was beating his tires to the point of failure, or in this case a blow out. Well your opinion and speculation seems to go against the grain of that of Mclaren and Martin Whitmarsh, in regards to what caused the failure. Mclaren are surely much more informed than you or me when it comes to monitoring the health of their cars tires.

Correct, and I admit I've got it wrong:

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/5/10751.html

Since it's Mclaren that is puzzled by the failure, and Bridgestone also says it was not due to the tires, it could not have been tire wear. You can't really blame me for suspecting tire wear though, after all Hamilton likes to munch on his tires. I did not spot the article earlier though.

 

[Peter]

Woke up late, so I missed this race. Doesn't seem like I missed much though. It seems like the only overtaking that happened was because of either someone going off, pit stops, or someone crashing. Such a shame for HRT as well, Bruno got a nice start and was up to 17th, until the car lost control and he binned it, and unfortunate for Chandhok as well, taken out by Alguersuari, while in a decent place. Oh well, at least my fantasy F1 team wasn't bad. On to Monaco!!!!!!

 

[Alex.]

Correct, and I admit I've got it wrong:

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/5/10751.html

Since it's Mclaren that is puzzled by the failure, and Bridgestone also says it was not due to the tires, it could not have been tire wear. You can't really blame me for suspecting tire wear though, after all Hamilton likes to munch on his tires.

As well as it being on a corner that's notoriously tough on the most worn tyre of the car.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Such a shame for HRT as well, Bruno got a nice start and was up to 17th, until the car lost control and he binned it

You mean Bruno lost control (he's capable of it, you know).

 

[Seismica]

Kobayashi is clearly a strong driver and is actually turning out to be one of my favourites this season.

He had terrible luck in the earlier races though. Hydraulic failure in Bahrain, Front Wing failure in Melbourne, Engine failure in Malaysia and he was taken out by another driver in China.

And now he's got a good starting position, i'm hoping he does well. If he gets taken off in the first couple of laps, he's going to be annoyed lol.

What did I say...

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4848/kobayashin.jpg

He caught his rear-right wheel out of turn 3, in lap 1. He had enough space, he (Kubica) was just unwilling to lift off, tried to force him wide instead and caused a collision. Disgraceful. If they were wheel to wheel, fair enough. But he wasn't, Kobayashi had already passed him, and gave enough room for Kubica on the inside. Kubica could have easily taken the place back into turn 4 if he had kept the inside line, but no he acted like a complete muppet and effectively ruined Kobayashi's race, he should have picked up points, he would have finished in the top 8 easily.

EDIT: That image is just after the collision. It looks from that still image as if Kamui turned in on him, but Kubica let his car run out wide into the Sauber causing its back end to go way out.

I wish I could see the onboard cam from Kubica, to see if it was simply a mistake or if he purposefully ran out wide to squeeze him out. Either way, it wasn't Kobayashi's fault and once again misses a chance to gain points.

If for example, Alonso tried the same move on Hamilton, and Hamilton reacted the same as Kubica, there would have been uproar, there would have been pressure from the stewards from up and down the paddock and Hamilton would probably have been given a drive through penalty. But as it stands it was just a race incident, and everybody accepted that. The BBC commentators didn't acknowledge the contact even after showing the replay twice.

 

[Mad94d]

A bit late as I went straight to bed after the race (about midnight), but great win by Webber, great to see him drive faultlessly and I know as an aussie that everybody doubts him constantly. It was great to see him win last night.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I know as an aussie that everybody doubts him constantly.

The only reason I doubt Webber is because the Australian commentators make him out to be better than Ayrton Senna when he clearly isn't.

 

[freshseth83]

Just like the spanish media praising everything alonso does. he could have placed 5th and they would still love him. It's expected. The British audience doesn't seem to be that way for Hamilton much though. Maybe more so with Button but I don't see much hammy love.

 

[Mad94d]

The only reason I doubt Webber is because the Australian commentators make him out to be better than Ayrton Senna when he clearly isn't.

Yeah, but also the way the news talks him up constantly doesn't help the cause either. You know he may not even qualify on pole yet the news will talk him up massively and then when he doesn't win the general public (not interested in F1) will just say "Webber is hopeless". Not sure about you but I get a lot of people telling me Webber is crap. A shame really because he isn't, shows you what the media can make people believe though.

 

[Fastas]

Yeah, but also the way the news talks him up constantly doesn't help the cause either. You know he may not even qualify on pole yet the news will talk him up massively and then when he doesn't win the general public (not interested in F1) will just say "Webber is hopeless". Not sure about you but I get a lot of people telling me Webber is crap. A shame really because he isn't, shows you what the media can make people believe though.

It is obvious that Webber has put so much effort into his career and has worked tirelessly to get to where he is now, and to stay there is a credit to him. His performance over the weekend is a testament to his determination as much as his ability. A quality that perhaps his team mate could learn from.

Personally, I'd have to say that I have massive respect for all of the drivers equally. Having seen them in action and watching on tele I think the 'work' they do is astonishing. I don't doubt that anyone of them could be a world champion given the right equipment.

 

[Mad94d]

It is obvious that Webber has put so much effort into his career and has worked tirelessly to get to where he is now, and to stay there is a credit to him. His performance over the weekend is a testament to his determination as much as his ability. A quality that perhaps his team mate could learn from.

Personally, I'd have to say that I have massive respect for all of the drivers equally. Having seen them in action and watching on tele I think the 'work' they do is astonishing. I don't doubt that anyone of them could be a world champion given the right equipment.

Exactly.

 

[senamic]

Just like the spanish media praising everything alonso does. he could have placed 5th and they would still love him. It's expected. The British audience doesn't seem to be that way for Hamilton much though. Maybe more so with Button but I don't see much hammy love.

No, the Australian media has more than enough hammy love to go around.... I still shudder when I think of 2007.

 

[Anghammarad]

I can only recall one real overtaking maneuver in the entire race and that was when Rosberg passed Hülkenberg. All other passes was coming out of the pits or lappings.

 

[Ardius]

I can only recall one real overtaking maneuver in the entire race and that was when Rosberg passed Hülkenberg. All other passes was coming out of the pits or lappings.

Buemi on the Virgins, HRT and Lotus too.

 

[Seismica]

I can only recall one real overtaking maneuver in the entire race and that was when Rosberg passed Hülkenberg. All other passes was coming out of the pits or lappings.

Algersuari made a fair amount of overtakings on the first couple of laps. Then he ended up getting a pit stop penalty (Though it was his own fault) and he ended up losing all those places again.

Kobayashi was going to overtake Kubica. But as I stated above, Kubica let his car run out wide and effectively side swiped him. At which point 5 cars overtook Kobayashi.

And what about Barrichello overtaking Hulkenberg?

You can't discount any of those really.

We would have seen more, but we saw the likes of Schumacher driving very defensively. I feel Massa would have had a go at Button if it were not for his front wing.

 

[daan]

Jamie Unpronouncable passed Hulkenberg too.

 

[Anghammarad]

I stand corrected. Even though overtakes on Virgin, Lotus and HRT nearly doesn't count

It was interesting to note that after Nico finally had managed to pass Nico he was 3 seconds quicker per lap. There is something wrong with a track when you cannot overtake a car that is so much slower.