2013 Spanish Grand Prix

[rage2]

Great qualifying lap by Rosberg!

McLaren's major upgrade was a bust.

Can't really predict anything from the qualifying results, since MB sucks in the first 2 race stints.

Sorry for the brief post, posting from my phone. Can someone copy and paste the qualifying results?

Oh, and the A45 commercials in India are awesome haha. I want one so bad.

[Mibz]

Fuck F1

[statick]

Impressive qualifying from Mercedes GP indeed, but I don't know if they'll stick out for all 66 laps, particularly with Vettel and Raikkonen right on their heels.

[chongkee_]

Originally posted by statick
Impressive qualifying from Mercedes GP indeed, but I don't know if they'll stick out for all 66 laps, particularly with Vettel and Raikkonen right on their heels.

Can't forget Alonso, he'll take two positions at least by the first corner.

Really disappointed with McLaren, was hoping the Spain updates would give them a boost but it seems to have sent them back.

Wow at Nico for P1 and also out-qualifying Lewis. I hope they actually get a win out of this one.


1. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 20.718s
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 20.972s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.054s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault 1m 21.177s
5. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 21.218s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 21.219s
7. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1m 21.308s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 21.570s
9. Sergio Perez Mexico McLaren-Mercedes 1m 22.069s
10. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes 1m 22.233s

11. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 22.127s
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 22.166s
13. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 22.346s
14. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 22.355s
15. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1m 22.389s
16. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1m 22.793s

17. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Renault 1m 23.260s
18. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault 1m 23.318s
19. Giedo van der Garde Holland Caterham-Renault 1m 24.661s
20. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Cosworth 1m 24.713s
21. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Cosworth 1m 24.996s
22. Charles Pic France Caterham-Renault 1m 25.070s

[rage2]

Barcelona is tough to pass. With the DRS zone at the start finish and Mercedes killing it in S3, it'll be tough for the other guys to pass on track even with DRS. It'll be all down to pit stops and undercuts tomorrow. Mercedes will have a good chance to win if they can pit the same window as Lotus and Ferrari.

Their race pace has improved based on Friday practice too. It's not going to be as bad and backwards as Barain.

[rage2]

Mercedes getting destroyed in race pace. Terrible. Can't believe I'm saying this, but Go Alonso!

[Kramerica]

I'm surprised Red Bull seem to be in a similar position to Mercedes, but a little bit less extreme. Good on Ferrari doing the extra stop and having Alonso pushing like mad, made it a great race to watch.

[cloud7]

Quite impressed again with Renault/Kimi's pace on worn tires. Alonso was in a class of its own today. Massa, too, looked good for a while at the end but his tires went off half way into the last stint for some reason.

[killramos]

Was at the race today. What was really amazing was just how fast the ferrari's were performing compare to the other cars. The Mercedes just couldn't keep up at all it was really sad to see them keep dropping back(just bought a new set of Mercedes amg wear for the race to...).

I was really impressed with kimi for pulling say massa for the third. Overall a great race though. There was solid sun for a full hour befpre the race really heating up the track which I think was a big boon to the ferrari's. Mercedes just didn't have the pull to pass today where grip was so plentiful.

[MustangSVT]

I am very happy that Alonso won, it was awesome. What surprised me the most was the pace/stints that Raikkonen was able to pull out. He's the only one of the front runners that did 3 pit stops, and seemed to have no issue to keep up with Alonso's general pace, so the Renault (or the driver) must be coping really well with the tyres at least for this race, versus how Vettel had to do 4 stops even though he only planned 3.

[chongkee_]

Originally posted by MustangSVT
I am very happy that Alonso won, it was awesome. What surprised me the most was the pace/stints that Raikkonen was able to pull out. He's the only one of the front runners that did 3 pit stops, and seemed to have no issue to keep up with Alonso's general pace, so the Renault (or the driver) must be coping really well with the tires at least for this race, versus how Vettel had to do 4 stops even though he only planned 3.

The Lotus-Renault cars has always been easy on their tires. Same case for last season as well. They just have to dial in quali pace and they'll have a top car.

Nice to see Alonso winning in front of the home crowd. Definitely out-drove everybody. At the beginning I was expecting Vettel to go up front and just run away with it. Didn't think RBRs would be struggling like that.

Really disappointed with Mercedes, it was almost as if it was driving in reverse. I'm pretty sure they'll be better in Monaco but we'll see.

The McLarens seems a be a bit better but definitely need a lot more work.

[DJ Lazy]

What a kick in the nutz for Mercedes.

Front row lock out and then 6th and 12th in the race..

[rage2]

I hate these narrow window Pirelli tires. Rewarding teams that don't have the best cars and making the drivers let off around corners. As much as I hate RBR, they have the best car and have to drive slow. Poor Mercedes, the drivers had to go easy in braking zones to not overheat tires and just got raped in every passing zone.

[Mibz]

Originally posted by rage2
I hate these narrow window Pirelli tires. Rewarding teams that don't have the best cars

Right now the best car is the one that handles the tires well.

[rage2]

Ya, which really isn't racing haha. It's a who can drive the fastest delta time competition lol.

[Kramerica]

Originally posted by rage2
Ya, which really isn't racing haha. It's a who can drive the fastest delta time competition lol.

To be fair Ferrari were the only ones who didn't drive to a delta time and eschewed conventional wisdom that a four stopper wouldn't work in order to drive flat out.

I personally think this whole tire thing is a bit of a knee jerk reaction that red bull are capitalizing on and the F1 media are following. This certainly wasn't worse than the season opener and nobody complained then.

If Red Bull really thinks that an 8-10 stop strategy is needed to get the maximum out of the car why aren't they maximizing their pitstops like Ferrari did? As far as I can remember Red Bull has always made their drivers drive to a delta, changing the tires isn't going to make this disappear.

[AaronK]

Originally posted by rage2
Ya, which really isn't racing haha. It's a who can drive the fastest delta time competition lol.

+1

Was a great race by Alonso and Kimi, but the tires are fuckin awful.

[Mibz]

EDIT: I wrote a post disagreeing with rage2 and then, 30 seconds later, realized that I don't necessarily disagree.

I hate the fact that drivers have to second guess passing due to tire wear. That sucks. I don't mind the extra pit stops or the fact that extra strategy is involved, but when a driver has to ask his team whether he's allowed to pass somebody, something's gone wrong.

[rage2]

Originally posted by Kramerica
To be fair Ferrari were the only ones who didn't drive to a delta time and eschewed conventional wisdom that a four stopper wouldn't work in order to drive flat out.

You are on crack if you think Ferrari wasn't driving to a delta. They just had a better delta than the other teams because their car worked the tires better.

Originally posted by Kramerica
If Red Bull really thinks that an 8-10 stop strategy is needed to get the maximum out of the car why aren't they maximizing their pitstops like Ferrari did? As far as I can remember Red Bull has always made their drivers drive to a delta, changing the tires isn't going to make this disappear.

There's not enough tires available for an 8-10 stop strategy. Teams are already running less in qualifying so they have enough tires to run the current 4 stop strategy.

Red Bull is a pretty new team, there's not much to remember haha. In the Bridgestone days, drivers were running flat out. No delta driving.

[DJ Lazy]

To add to this, we've had 3-4 tires de-laminate in 2 races. 1) Massive safety issue, 2) makes the teams even more nervous to put pressure on the tires.

Pirelli is RUINING F1 this year..