2014 Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli

  • Thread starter NotThePrez
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Driver of the day? Hard to say... Vettel drove very well at points, and Rosberg and Hamilton were just sailing away.
Villian of the day? Pastor Maldonado. Again. Someone just strip him of his licence.

Funniest moment of the day for me? Button tailing Hamilton for a few laps. And Hamiltons radio messages!


Loved the racing itself, throughout the field it was good. The cars in my opinion are still much too slow, but that I can deal with. The two things that upset me today were the asthetics of the cars, and the sound, as always. Though at one point (with the two Ferraris passing through the grandstands at close range, the sound actually was impressive. But sadly it was only for a second...)
 
Only problems I had with the race was Alonso finished a bit too high for my liking, and Rosberg didn't win. Other than those, it was an awesome race.
 
1. L.Hamilton 1:41:05.155
2. N.Rosberg + 0.600
3. D.Ricciardo + 49.000
4. S.Vettel + 01:16.700
5. V.Bottas + 01:19.200
6. F.Alonso + +01:27.700
7. K.Raikkonen Lapped.

It's astonishing how far Mercedes are ahead of everyone else, if anything the gap has widened after the updates teams brought to Barcelona. A Red Bull.....a Red Bull in 3rd was 50 seconds from first. Alonso was 1 and a half minutes behind in 6th place and one lap later would have been lapped for christ sakes.
 
Am I the only one who thinks Maldonado could get kicked mid season if he continues this form? Surely the money he brings is just spent on fixing his car after every session.

Hope he does, he doesn't deserve a drive at all, and I don't think anyone could really argue that, could they?
 
He's continually shown that he has a dangerous lack of spacial awareness, finesse and overall skill. Lotus need to be seriously evaluating his place in the team.
 
He's continually shown that he has a dangerous lack of spacial awareness, finesse and overall skill. Lotus need to be seriously evaluating his place in the team.
I'm sure they think that every race but then they see the dollars he brings to the balance sheet and realise they don't have a choice.
 
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My bad. Cross-eyed. Was looking at the full qualifying record for last year. He was, indeed, faster in Q3, even though Hamilton pipped him in the other sessions. That's kind of what I'd hoped he would do this year, also.


While part of that is due to the aero... I think they can tackle it with a relaxed fuel flow limit. Really, who doesn't want to see the return of 1,000++++ horsepower qualifying engine trims... :D :D :D
I hoped Hamilton would turn the tables this year at tracks he got beat last year and so far he is doing a great job.

Problem is race pace is so slow, it looks like a lower formula in speed. I find it amazing that only Vettel managed to beat Grosjean's GP2 race lap from 2008 considering F1 car has more horsepower and probably weighs a lower amount. I think F1 teams need to look at how Dallara GP2/08 based GP2 cars were so fast given power and weight. I would have thought an F1 car with so much technology and so much more money and best constructors and drivers in the world would have an easier time of beating a dated GP2 car fastest lap.
 
Mercedes whitewash silverwash, expected.

Hamilton beating Rosberg, expected.

Laughable McLaren and Ferrari performances, expected

Vettel having a great drive and making it to 4th place, not expected.

Not much on-track action today. It's a shame really, I thought that the new regulations could even make this historically boring track less so.

Mercedes' performance today mirrors what McLaren were doing back in 1988. It probably won't be long until this happens again. I honestly feel they could lap the rest of the field if they really pushed themselves, they are still just playing it safe each race so as to ensure that no reliability issues occur.

At this rate, what are the odds of the engine developmental freeze being lifted so that things could even out? I honestly can't see the FIA sitting back and letting one engine and team continue to be so dominant for several years in this day and age.
 
As I'm sure regular readers know; I find Vettel to be an odious goit.

That said, today's drive showed (in my en-aled opinion) that the lad does have some actual talent. This year's IRBR clearly doesn't light his fire but he raced it from 15th to 4th. That really does take talent, even if he is Actually Foreign. Which must drive him simply mad.
 
The coverage of those last 6 laps was disgraceful.
It wasn't that bad. The director had to guess which battle between Hamilton-Rosberg, Vettel-Bottas and Alonso-Räikkönen was most likely to pay off. The cut to Rosberg's girlfriend was inexcusable, but they did okay for the rest, catching Alonso's pass and staying with Hamilton and Rosberg for most of the fight.
 
I like how Horner is claiming Red Bull made up some ground to Mercedes and the final timings are misleading. Claiming they were held up by Williams (which is fair imo to remark on).

Well I guess being behind by 49 seconds is better than 50 seconds. Mercedes still pretty much wiped the floor. Rosberg does have that sheer race pace, but world champions have more in their bag of tricks than just race pace.
 
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Just watched it on iPlayer, pretty dull race with the exception of the last 10 laps. Mercedes dominating as expected with Hamilton keeping the edge, good drive by Vettel, not much else to say really.

Whose brilliant idea was it to cut to Rosberg's girlfriend a moment before Rosberg got to the place that was his last chance at passing Hamilton?

I hate when they cut to the garage at any time. I don't care if it's the dullest race in the history of the sport, I'd still rather see an F1 car taking a corner during an F1 race rather than someone in the garage.
 
I didn't find this year's race quite as exciting as last years. Seeing Alonso throw tire strategy out the window and pretty much go for sheer pace was really thrilling. Was also super surprising to see Mercedes not have at all good tire wear yet qualify great.

This year it just wasn't as thrilling. Sure, Lewis was stressed out and Rosberg was a legit threat, but it felt obvious Lewis had it in the bag.

Was more entertaining to see Alonso and Raikkonen duke it out, especially with a car that doesn't want to behave.

Honestly wish there was some more coverage of Vettel. Sounds like he had one hell of a drive and all we had for it was the timing, minus two or three times we saw his overtakes.
 
So the MP4/4 had:

15/16 wins (93.75%)
15/16 poles (93.75%)
10/16 one-twos (62.5%)

Can this year's Mercedes outdo even those records? Currently they are obviously, but can they keep it up?

5/5 wins (100%)
5/5 poles (100%)
4/5 one-twos (80%)

Based on that huge gap today, I'd say they have every chance in terms of performance, it'll just come down to reliability.
 
Could've done with 2-3 screens for the race. :) I found it really enjoyable but the gap between the teams is pretty wide. Red Bull seem to be best of the rest although Vettel did a great job. Team battles are very good to watch, would've liked to see how Ricciardo vs Vettel would've faired.

I can see why some might not like today's race or this season but F1 to me is a technology team sport and pretty much always been like that. Today was a great poster child of what the core appeal of F1 is for people like me. Some people ask how can you watch F1, more so Americans and I can point to this race as a clear example instead of explaining.

Only thing lacking is going against the bleeding edge of reliability. Teams would try to build stuff that would just last a race. This would generate some unusual results.

Anyway, Monaco next. Can't wait to see how the car of Mercedes and Red Bull fair at this track. Mechanical grip of the Reb Bull. That's another example of F1 at its heart. I only need this little thing, not wait to see if there's some "pure racing" going to happen then enjoy it.
 
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Could've done with 2-3 screens for the race. :) I found it really enjoyable but the gap between the teams is pretty wide. Red Bull seem to be best of the rest although Vettel did a great job. Team battles are very good to watch, would've liked to see how Ricciardo vs Vettel would've faired.

I can see why some might not like today's race or this season but F1 to me is a technology team sport and pretty much always been like that. Today was a great poster child of what the core appeal of F1 is for people like me. Some people ask how can you watch F1, more so Americans and I can point to this race as a clear example instead of explaining.

Only thing lacking is going against the bleeding edge of reliability. Teams would try to build stuff that would just last a race. This would generate some unusual results.

Anyway, Monaco next. Can't wait to see how the car of Mercedes and Red Bull fair at this track. Mechanical grip of the Reb Bull. That's another example of F1 at its heart. I only need this little thing, not wait to see if there's some "pure racing" going to happen then enjoy it.

This thank you for this. Completely how I've always felt about F1 and WEC
 
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