After a spate of modern sanitised racing circuits the teams set down on the first 'traditional' circuit on the calender and the first time we encounter corners that have names not just numbers on a map. Barcelona should see the second wave of important updates, where teams are implementing the second stage of the design modifications before the madness of Monaco next week. Some teams like Mercedes and Force India will be looking to get new parts on the car after not bringing too many to the track in Turkey.
Spain now does hog a larger amount of the F1 process, not just with holding two GPs since the introduction of the 'street' track in Valencia, but also dominating the pre-season testing. Three locations in the country are used for the preparations in Jerez, the permanent track in Valencia and of course the track the competitors will be visiting this weekend in Calatunya.
 |
| Source FIA.com |
Finally the world is free from the pain of a Tilke abomination - although Turkey was a far better effort by the designer but that may not be on the calender next year through low attendance. Here, or more accurately there I not being here not there - may not be the most entertaining of layouts and because of it's flowing and often long corners overtaking is a rare occurrence.
Changes have been made to the circuit in recent years starting off with the sharpening of La Caixa at the end of the back straight - and has been the most effective change to the layout. In 2007 a new rather daft chicane was placed before the final corner, now I like a good chicane as much as the next guy sometimes a little more. But this one is not one of the good efforts it may be fit for touring cars or low class GTs but doesn't work too well with big powerful Formula One machinery.
Tyres are going to be very important this weekend, because the nature of the track is very hard on tyres because of the long fast corners which induce understeer and the acts like a cheese grater especially on the left-front. The same tyre we saw fail on the McLaren of former grumpy face Hamilton and Kovalainen in 2008, so with much less durability available this year things will be more of a problem.
Overtaking opportunities are also down to a minimum as as result of the format, only two decent zones are present around the 2.9 miles of twisting tarmac. The most accessible is la Caixa after it was re-profiled but staying close enough through Campsa does lower the possibility, the other possibility is after the front straight down into turn one. Barcelona previously held the longest straight on the calender before a global game of oneup-manship began first with Bahrain and China then Abu-Dhabi claimed the title before being pipped by South Korea last year. This time with KERS and DRS in effect and with the tyres degrading the race could be quite different.
 |
| The new Blogmobile - with soft 'reds' tyres fitted |
Now it comes to the point where I get to unveil my latest attempt at making a video to demonstrate the lap as it currently exists - with a little difference from the three previous outings. This weekend the car that I shall be using to complete the lap is a little different - a car from the American Champcar World Series from 2006. A vehicle that is a little older than the 2010 Indycar previous used for the videos - the change offers a lot more speed for a more representative lap time. The lap would have qualified my 21st on the grid for the 2010 Spanish GP and other laps not recorded brought me within 0.2 of the two lotus cars and a 18th place grid slot.
What to expect
This weekend should throw up some different results than two weeks ago in eastern realm of Turkey - the flowing layout will favour the cars with the greatest level of downforce which will be of greatest benefit in sector one with the fast turn three. Looking at this you'd expect things to play once again into the hand of the Red Bull pairing who could still have a powerful advantage. With McLaren being the closest challengers and if Turkey's form is reproduced Ferrari not much further back.
It is highly likely to see the final session of qualifying locked out by the top five teams as is was in Turkey with Mercedes showing their qualifying pace far exceeds the early race speed with full fuel. Where they could fall victim to the Renault Squadron as Schumacher found out in Turkey dropping out the points after starting inside the top ten.
The mid-pack which has now firmly engulfed the two Saubers will be the most hotly contested section of the grid but with a five team breakaway in qualifying, breeching the final session will not be easy placing more pressure on the group. There will be a lot of fighting to be the head of the mid-field to capitalise if anything goes wrong with the top five, and with the gaps being so small from the tail of the lead group to the middle there could well be some interlopers if they put in a good run.
Then there is the final three teams, the newcomers from last year - Lotus have easily claimed the title of being better then their fellow tail-enders and are making significant inroads into the cars in front closing the deficit to under a second. This pretty much moves Lotus into their own special division ahead of Virgin/HRT and behind everyone else. The other remaining two teams have been drifting closer to each other which is nice for HRT because then they won't be so lonely at the back of the grid - giving Narain and Vitantonio another two people to play with.
DRS and KERS
As like last time in Turkey (may have something to do with actually doing some research) the FIA have released the zone information for the DRS this weekend and I have found it through the powerful weapon that is google, turning up the following diagram.
The map shows that the detection line lies between that stupid chicane and the neutered final corner - as cars will likely be bunched up by the preceding chicane being in the 1s window could be easier but does raise a problem. If a driver runs wide at the chicane - something which is inevitable across the weekend they could easily find themselves close behind the car in front. This does open up some possibilities for some dubious driving and penalty points for anyone abusing the system.
Once the driver is in that range the DRS becomes active at the start/finish line and is open for the longest stint of the season. After we saw the system making overtaking unstoppable in Turkey extending that zone does sort of suggest we are in for some more of the same diluted racing. The consolation is that the run up to the zone isn't as fast as in Turkey so that may counteract the speed differential and make passing less of a formality.
As for KERs there are a few areas on the layout where applying the button or a magic paddle for those folk in the Mercedes team whatever that really does. It can be combined with the DRS for yet more power on the main straight but also could be applied to good effect on the back straight into La Caixa where passes have been made before mainly in the support series' but they've shown it can be done. There is also a small KERs chance on the exit of three on the short straight running into Repsol corner which does present a chance for a lunge if the driver in front makes a complete mess of things.
So how is the outlook for the Spanish GP of 2011, I wouldn't hold your hopes up for masses of excitement and close racing - you'd have to look to GP2 and GP3 for plenty of that if Turkey was anything to go by with three wide racing and cars sailing through the air. Maybe this weekend Louis Razia won't be landing upside down again - but I digress. Back to the main game and I'd expect the race to be a foregone conclusion with an almost certain Red Bull victory and a McLaren filling up the podium - but of course anything can happen and in the words of Murray Walker "it usually does" so the prospects for the race may not to be rosy but I'd happily be proved wrong. So I'm still looking forward to the race of course, but the support package will be more entertaining.
Once the driver is in that range the DRS becomes active at the start/finish line and is open for the longest stint of the season. After we saw the system making overtaking unstoppable in Turkey extending that zone does sort of suggest we are in for some more of the same diluted racing. The consolation is that the run up to the zone isn't as fast as in Turkey so that may counteract the speed differential and make passing less of a formality.
As for KERs there are a few areas on the layout where applying the button or a magic paddle for those folk in the Mercedes team whatever that really does. It can be combined with the DRS for yet more power on the main straight but also could be applied to good effect on the back straight into La Caixa where passes have been made before mainly in the support series' but they've shown it can be done. There is also a small KERs chance on the exit of three on the short straight running into Repsol corner which does present a chance for a lunge if the driver in front makes a complete mess of things.
So how is the outlook for the Spanish GP of 2011, I wouldn't hold your hopes up for masses of excitement and close racing - you'd have to look to GP2 and GP3 for plenty of that if Turkey was anything to go by with three wide racing and cars sailing through the air. Maybe this weekend Louis Razia won't be landing upside down again - but I digress. Back to the main game and I'd expect the race to be a foregone conclusion with an almost certain Red Bull victory and a McLaren filling up the podium - but of course anything can happen and in the words of Murray Walker "it usually does" so the prospects for the race may not to be rosy but I'd happily be proved wrong. So I'm still looking forward to the race of course, but the support package will be more entertaining.
No comments:
Post a Comment