Formula 1 2019 - Round 5 - Spain

skipper_G

Spanish Grand Prix from the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit.

First Grand Prix: 1991
Number of Laps: 66
Circuit Length: 4.655km
Race Distance: 307.104 km
Lap Record: 1:18.441 Daniel Ricciardo (2018)

TV coverage:
All sessions live on Sky Sports F1
Friday - FP1: 10:00-11:30
Friday - FP2: 14:00-15:30
Saturday - FP3: 11:00-12:00
Saturday - Qualifying: 14:00-15:00 (highlights 19:30 on Channel 4)
Sunday - Race: 14:10-16:10 (highlights 19:00 on Channel 4)

Predictions:
everybody brings upgrades
Toto says Ferrari are the favourites
Mercedes 1-2

Nic_Col

Predictions;

I think (hope) this will be the race where Ferrari finally get the finger out. But I think Vettel will just about edge Leclerc.

Hamilton will finish 15+ seconds ahead of Bottas.

Gasly fastest lap.

Both Renault's to make Q3 but not score points...

AMKC

I see Williams say they have some big exciting upgrades for here. Lets hope it can help get them a bit closer even with the other teams upgrades.

Renault have big organisational changes. Both Renault and Ferrari have got engine upgrades for here.

Toto Wolff to be the new F1 CEO?

supremenovice

This is Leclerc's come of age weekend. Total domination.
This is me speaking through my pocket as I have the second leg of a double going onto him

Joeface

Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m17.951s - 19
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m18.066s 0.115s 20
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m18.172s 0.221s 20
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m18.575s 0.624s 22
5 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1m18.943s 0.992s 25
6 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 1m19.155s 1.204s 31
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1m19.180s 1.229s 27
8 Pierre Gasly Red Bull/Honda 1m19.285s 1.334s 30
9 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso/Honda 1m19.364s 1.413s 34
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m19.450s 1.499s 25
11 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1m19.511s 1.560s 24
12 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1m19.844s 1.893s 14
13 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1m19.855s 1.904s 28
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m20.021s 2.070s 28
15 Alexander Albon Toro Rosso/Honda 1m20.030s 2.079s 25
16 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1m20.066s 2.115s 33
17 Sergio Perez Racing Point/Mercedes 1m20.459s 2.508s 26
18 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1m20.591s 2.640s 22
19 Robert Kubica Williams/Mercedes 1m20.889s 2.938s 27
20 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1m20.990s 3.039s 23

Not much from FP1 , Norris and Stroll crashed out at the very end ( 1or 2min left) Max V had an oil leak.

AMKC

What about FP2? I seen Stroll crashed. Anything else happen?

Itssoeasy

Is the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this year than other years ? I might be wrong but I don’t remember it being this early in the recent past.

Edit: it appears I was wrong and it’s normally held in May. I’ve been watching F1 for years and for whatever reason I saw the Spanish Grand Prix was this weekend and something in my mind said this is too early. Clearly my brain was really wrong.

Sonny noggs

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Is the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this year than other years ? I might be wrong but I don’t remember it being this early in the recent past.

Edit: it appears I was wrong and it’s normally held in May. I’ve been watching F1 for years and for whatever reason I saw the Spanish Grand Prix was this weekend and something in my mind said this is too early. Clearly my brain was really wrong.

Same weekend in 2016 anyway, went with my brother, it was his birthday while we were there.

skipper_G

Hamilton half a second clear of Leclerc in FP3. Bottas spun into the gravel early on but still managed 3rd. Ominous pace

Sonny noggs

supremenovice wrote: »

This is Leclerc's come of age weekend. Total domination.
This is me speaking through my pocket as I have the second leg of a double going onto him

Unless he fecks up again in qualifying.

2011

supremenovice wrote: »

This is Leclerc's come of age weekend. Total domination.

I hope you are correct, but I very much doubt it

Ferraris seem to be substantially slower than Mercedes.

I am predicting not very exciting qualifying results:

1 Hamilton
2 Bottas
3 Leclerc
4 Vettel
5 Max

...and the race results for the top 6 will be in exactly the same order as they qualified.

Ghost Train

Top 10 all within about a second

Santan

Can't believe how quiet the stands are

skipper_G

4 different teams in the bottom 5, the midfield is super tight. Williams are also rans

ayux4rj6zql2ph

Kubica & Russell swapped cars or at least the chassis for this race, it appears to have made no difference.

Jordan 199

Renault suck.

Sonny noggs

Sonny noggs wrote: »

Unless he fecks up again in qualifying.

“Charles Leclerc has gone wide at turn nine and that means he will not be safe so will have to go again. Remember, Leclerc was impressive all weekend in Azerbaijan before he crashed in qualifying to ruin his race win chances.

Is he going to mess up in qualifying again?”

Itssoeasy

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Renault suck.

mclaren don't and neither do Haas this weekend.

Itssoeasy

Well McLaren haven't done great in Q2.

Rossi IRL

Bottas on fire

Pace wise

Ghost Train

Bottas with 0.6sec over Hamilton
Final run should be good

Ghost Train

No change, Bottas well ahead, he's having a good run with qualifying
Ferrari strategy was strange with Leclerc, youd wonder why they give him a long run , when it puts him at a disadvantage

Button doing a decent job

thisonetaken

The gap between Mercedes and Ferrari just grows and grows, it’s almost farcical at this stage. I can’t help but think that Mercedes are holding back too.

Killinator

The plucky underdogs somehow come up with another 1-2!

Inquitus

Killinator wrote: »

The plucky underdogs somehow come up with another 1-2!

Aye what's changed so drastically since the Barca pre-season testing, anyone seen some good analysis they could share, it performance gap has well and truly been turned upside down and inside out!

chicorytip

Ghost Train wrote:

No change, Bottas well ahead, he's having a good run with qualifying Ferrari strategy was strange with Leclerc, youd wonder why they give him a long run , when it puts him at a disadvantage

...but, of course, Lewis will prevail where it counts - in the race.

Burkie1203

Until Max/Seb get in amongst the Mercs on lap 1 tomorrow it's another procession

AMKC

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Renault suck.

I don,t think they done ro bad. Riccardo got into Q3 and Hulkingberg would have to had he not gone of into that the corner into the gravel and ruined his new spec front wing in Q1.

Ghost Train wrote: »

No change, Bottas well ahead, he's having a good run with qualifying
Ferrari strategy was strange with Leclerc, youd wonder why they give him a long run , when it puts him at a disadvantage

Button doing a decent job

What was Button doing?

chicorytip wrote: »

...but, of course, Lewis will prevail where it counts - in the race.

Not Guaranteed. Its Bottas race to win or lose now. I would like to see him or one of the Ferrari's or Red Bulls win tomorrow.

skipper_G

Can't say I'm looking forward to this tomorrow, usually a pretty dull race and Mercedes have the beating of Ferrari as usual. Long run down to turn 1, I expect Hamilton to do one up the inside and another Merc 1-2 snoozefest.

At least with such low expectations I might stand a chance at being surprised.

elperello

AMKC wrote: »

What was Button doing?

He was doing a pretty good job as part of the Sky team.
I was surprised how well he got on. Maybe a future replacement for MB?

mickdw

Button is pretty good at the tv stuff - you
Could see that back when he was racing. He was always relaxed when doing links to camera etc.

Burkie1203

skipper_G wrote: »

Can't say I'm looking forward to this tomorrow, usually a pretty dull race and Mercedes have the beating of Ferrari as usual. Long run down to turn 1, I expect Hamilton to do one up the inside and another Merc 1-2 snoozefest.

At least with such low expectations I might stand a chance at being surprised.

The one chance Max, Seb and LeClerc have is at the start getting a good slipstream down the long straight

2011

Burkie1203 wrote: »

The one chance Max, Seb and LeClerc have is at the start getting a good slipstream down the long straight

That would be great, but short lived.
The Mercs will regain their positions during the pitstops. The only "action" at the front (if any) might be the Mercs swapping places or Max swapping with Vettel.

Cool_CM

Haha, Neymar didn't have a clue what Brundle and Button were saying to him!

wally1990

Cool_CM wrote: »

Haha, Neymar didn't have a clue what Brundle and Button were saying to him!

Ya, I felt sorry for him. Seemed a bit uncomfortable taking the questions.
He was caught off guard, haha

wally1990

Let's go Bottas

Burkie1203

Grandstand looking very sparsely populated 10 min before the start

risteard7

And that's a wrap folks

skipper_G

Hamilton in front, Vettel mistake. Groundhog day

risteard7

Safety Car is badly needed! Where's Grosjean or Kvyat

Rossi IRL

Ferrari ruining their own race, need to swap their drivers around.

Ghost Train

Good to see ferraris fighting a bit
Bit silly though
Vettel was never great with team orders

Rossi IRL

2 laps too late for Ferrari

Cool_CM

Hope it's not, but looks to be game over

Ghost Train

Good to see redbull go for two stop

skipper_G

Nice move from Kvyat on Kimi, the commentators got it wrong on Sky

skipper_G

Vettel and Leclerc are on different strategies, wtf are Ferrari doing?! Get on the radio and tell Leclerc to move over, they are completely inept at even basic strategy calls

Grim.

Ferrari truly are the most inept team on the grid when it comes to strategy

skipper_G

Christ on a flaming bike, one race engineer thought they were on the same strategy and the other didn't. It took them all those laps to figure out...... how utterly incompetent that is for a top team. And this is exactly why Mercedes will win the championship again this year

Burkie1203

Stand on main straight looks very empty.

Stands around the circuit look fairly empty too.


Might wake Liberty up to how crap this is

skipper_G

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Stand on main straight looks very empty.

Stands around the circuit look fairly empty too.


Might wake Liberty up to how crap this is

It's the reason why this will be gone next season. The stand that is filled to the brim with Dutch fans in orange shirts at every race is why we're off to Zandvoort instead.