2018 Spanish Grand Prix - Catalunya, May 11-13

[Juzh]

Had a quick look at kubica's onboards from FP1. He's basically driving entirely one handed. I bet had this been any other driver FIA would laugh him out of the room. He's got almost zero movement in his right arm.

[netoperek]

Had a quick look at kubica's onboards from FP1. He's basically driving entirely one handed. I bet had this been any other driver FIA would laugh him out of the room. He's got almost zero movement in his right arm.

Kubica's response to that: https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/44086164

[godlameroso]

There's zero chance that it rains during the race or qualifying, but it will be cloudy, this means that track temperatures go down. Expect the super soft to come into it's own now. What a development, to mirror 2012 the sun's effect on the track temperature determines whether a tire works or not.

In testing Ferrari did a 1:17, I think 16's are possible obviously.

[foxmulder_ms]

Just seen paddock pass. Ricardino lost his team. He is apologizing when there is nothing to apologize. He is accepting to be the #2. Shame. Because I think he is the better driver.

[Zynerji]

New spec engine for Raikkonen, or original 2018 spec?

Nahh, I heard it's a V8 2012 spec.

I imagine Seb is super interested, as it could give his teammate an unfair advantage for the next 2 races...

[PlatinumZealot]

Ferrari and RedBull race pace is looking ominous. Merc better tune it balls to the wall for qualifying.

[JPBD1990]

Race pace seems to be a real “tell” right now. Top 3 are neck and neck, so I’m strongly suspecting Ferrari have the engine in ‘comfort’ mode while the others are at least in ‘race’ mode for one lap pace (it’s an analogy people, nobody better correct me).

Like I said earlier on, I think it’s business as usual frankly. Redbull once again making the most noise about their updates... we’ll see where they end up in quali. Personally, I think they need to learn ferrari’s lesson from 2015/2016. Races aren’t won on Friday... and shut up and drive.

[Szabi1112]

Has anyone get information about top speeds?

[giantfan10]

Race pace seems to be a real “tell” right now. Top 3 are neck and neck, so I’m strongly suspecting Ferrari have the engine in ‘comfort’ mode while the others are at least in ‘race’ mode for one lap pace (it’s an analogy people, nobody better correct me).

Like I said earlier on, I think it’s business as usual frankly. Redbull once again making the most noise about their updates... we’ll see where they end up in quali. Personally, I think they need to learn ferrari’s lesson from 2015/2016. Races aren’t won on Friday... and shut up and drive.

Cant agree more... i'm so tired of red bull talking and talking and talking ....Come qualifying they will be behindd Ferrari and Mercedes as usual..

[F1Krof]

Ferrari and RedBull race pace is looking ominous. Merc better tune it balls to the wall for qualifying.

Formulaone dot com have it otherwise:

Long-run pace deficit
POSITION TEAM
GAP (S/LAP)
1 Mercedes
2 Red Bull +0.6
3 Ferrari +0.9
4 Renault +1.8
5 Haas +1.9
6 McLaren +1.9
7 Force India +1.9
8 Sauber +2.6
9 Toro Rosso +2.6
10 Williams +3.3

[TNTHead]

The longrun analysis of AMuS tells another story:

https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... e-sekunde/

they state that RedBull is ahead of Merc and Fer on both SS an S tyres suggesting that the update is performing well.

[JPBD1990]

Ferrari and RedBull race pace is looking ominous. Merc better tune it balls to the wall for qualifying.

Formulaone dot com have it otherwise:

Long-run pace deficit
POSITION TEAM
GAP (S/LAP)
1 Mercedes
2 Red Bull +0.6
3 Ferrari +0.9
4 Renault +1.8
5 Haas +1.9
6 McLaren +1.9
7 Force India +1.9
8 Sauber +2.6
9 Toro Rosso +2.6
10 Williams +3.3

Further back in this thread someone posted the actual consecutive laptimes, and the above seems very contradictory. I wonder who has provided the more accurate data...

[johnny vee]

https://www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/2385 ... -barcelona
Long stints in FP2

Supersoft:
Ham 24.028, 23.274, 23.794, 23.188, 23.140, 23.431 average 23.476
Bot 23.045, 22.935, 22.962, 23.095, 22.820, 22.988, 22.819 average 22.952
Vet 23.024, 22.722, 23.921, 22.765, 23.182, 22.923, 22.996, 23.146, 23.049 average 23.082
Ric 23.326, 22.779, 23.209, 22.672, 22.798, 22.547, average 22.881
Ver 23.001, 22.805, 22.835, 22.080, 23.822, 22.702, 22.642, 22.233, 22.571, 22.382, 22.189, 22.595, 22.802 ave 22.666

Soft:
Ham 21.729, 21.847, 22.049, 21.519, 21.586, 21.750, 21.504, 21.038, 21.613, 21.850, 21.765, 22.312 ave 21.342
Vet 21.513, 20.928, 21.585 average 21.342
Ric 21.851, 21.498, 21.265, 21.423, 21.234, 21.304 average 21.429
Ver 21.656, 22.577, 21.030, 21.543, 21.325, 22.204, 20.634 average 21.567

Medium:
Bot 21.761, 21.568, 21.554, 21.804, 21.920, 21.828, 22.554, 21.506, 21.742, 21.807, 22.155, average 21.836

[Phil]

I hate to put it to you guys, but calculating average times is not the complete story. It's about stint length too. You can either drive long at a slower delta or short at a faster delta. Obviously, varying fuel loads will also sway the picture.

The big story lies here:


Everyone was struggling with the SS tire. Some managed to just beat their best times on the soft tire, but overall, yesterday during FP2, it seemed that the SS was running far too hot for most of them. Some of this is down to the high track surface temperature which has a lot to do with the new tarmac (very dark, absorbs lots of energy/heat from the sun).

Anyway, from the above chart, we can see that Mercedes only brought 5 sets of SS, Ferrari brought 7 sets and RedBull brought 6 sets. The soft tire which looks like the best tire currently, Mercedes has 5 sets while Ferrari and RedBull each have 4. RedBull so far and from FP2 seems to be the least vulnerable on the SS tire.

Williams is in big trouble, they gambled on 9-10 sets of the SS at the expense of both the soft and medium tires.

How much this will impact these teams highly depends on track temperature during QF and the race. For FP3, it seems the track will be cooler so that could work in the SSs favor, but qualifying and the race should be warmer again.

My best guess is that the Mercedes and Ferrari may qualify in Q2 on the soft tire again. RedBull will depend on how much better they can get the SS tire to work. Q1 and Q3 will be using up the SS tires. The race last year was a 2-stop race for most, Hamilton winning on a S-M-S. Last year however, the S was the softest tire. This year, I'm not sure if it's another 2-stop or if teams could make a single stop race work. Obviously, Mercedes has an extra set of soft-tires, so if it is a 2-stop race and they save up some tires they may have an advantage if they can go into the race on an extra set.

Obviously, pole is nice, but I think P2 might actually be the better position to start given the long run into the first corner. Usually, it's easy for those behind to get a nice tow and get to a better start.

[dp12]

Weather forecast??