During the three weeks the series was on break life has been rather busy here in the realm of Blog HQ, mainly through the final days of preparation for the latest of the theatrical escapades that I tend to distract myself with (of which attendance was rather dismally low). It is so much more fun being someone who isn't me for a change and it is always an improvement on the faulty base product. However on the opposite side of the performance weekend the sudden descent in the dark miserable world of reality is never particularly pleasant, never particularly like having to back to my regular non-Uberwaldean Vampiric self, but it has to be done. On more cheery note I've also managed to gain access to the beta release of Duolingo - an interactive instructional service where you learn various languages for free, which is nice - apparently I am a level six German. At which level you are awarded leiderhausen and other Germanic paraphernalia is a little unclear at the moment.
But questionable accents and Germans aside there is a more entertaining matter of another race this weekend and the event comes on the back of an in-season testing session out in Mugello last weekend. A rare occasion considering that in-season testing has been off the schedule for a few years now in the aim of bringing down the costs of running an F1 team. What is more interesting is the setting of the testing session, using Mugello is a little suspicious as it is one of the venues Ferrari once used for testing when it testing was a free reign affair, it all seems rather hinky to me. With an Ex-Ferrari FIA president as well, it won't be long before the conspiracy theories start floating around - if only they fly here in Blog HQ because it isn't exactly the most social of environments. From track to another and moving swiftly on to another popular testing venue where the race is taking place and the Circuit de Calalunya for the Spanish GP.
The Track
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| Track map from the FIA |
Since I started using the simulator instead of generic console versions on older systems, tracks like these have become more fun to drive since I have more feedback from the car during the course of a lap. Barcelona has been the scene of many processional races in recent years on the grounds that it is a serial testing facility during the winter months and therefore all the teams and drivers know the track completely so gaining an advantage becomes so much harder. Additionally as a testing facility it has a greater tendency to separate out the relative speeds of the cars and which leaded to larger inter-team field spread and a less than enthralling race.
Before the latest modification to the track in 2007 it has been a reasonably high speed circuit, with some impressive corners, the highlight of which is the Campsa corner at turn nine, situated at the crest of a hill on the lap where the turn in point is unsighted on approach. Another notable corner sequence is the initial turn 1-2 chicane which always makes you think there is more speed that you can carry through it until the point you go a little too far and venture into the concrete run-off area which has engulfed the former gravel trap there. It leads into a long highspeed turn three which runs through 180 degrees without being irritating or tiresome, the same can be said for Repsol corner at turn 4, a technique which seems completely lost on the designers of these newer tracks.
But it is hard to ignore that there has been modifications to the track in the final sector, formerly two fast downhill corners exiting onto the front straight but there is now a rather unsightly chicane planted between the two bends. Originally in place to encourage some more overtaking in turn one, to counter the aerodynamic effect of cars following each other by slowing them down. Did it work and improve the racing, well frankly no, it only served to make the track worse. Now I am partial to a nice chicane, but this is not a nice chicane it is not even a tolerable chicane it can only be categorised as appalling, and is up there with turn one at Oscersleben as one of the worst updates to a track in the modern era.
Now here comes the more animated section of todays contribution to the internet, when I unleash that video I spent the early days of the week putting together even the adventure to the pub didn't cut down productivity at blog HQ. Only shuffled it into the earlier hours of the morning when no-one is using the internet so it didn't matter how much bandwidth I consume with the uploading process. However, this is where I get my excuses in early, as the venture to the pub did rather cloud the mind, the reason why I'm generally not allowed enjoyment. But after I had to leave my failing socialisation, bidding my farewells and all, I did return to the internet and this was the result.
What to expect
I would love to have all the answers right to that question and had the season come straight to Spain after packing up in Bahrain I might have some of them, even in the extremely competitive season that is unfolding in front of us at the moment. But there are some confounding factors surrounding the proceedings running up to this event firstly in the form of the fact this is the first event of the European season, the event where teams generally make a significant developmental change to the cars. This process is then exacerbated by the fact that there was this additional testing session on Mugello where teams will have experimented with all sorts of changes, we know Ferrari have been working on new bodywork designs on their car over in Italy.
But I shall not be put off by these factors, and there are some general assumptions we can make. The main one is that the top division is beginning to form again as it did this season, but this time it is a more populous division. Encompassing the top five teams - the division one from last year now joined by Lotus and Mercedes to form a very close pack. Four of which have claimed victories this season and the fifth came rather close in Bahrain in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen. Which order these five teams will line up is anyone's guess but it is more than likely they will be ahead of the mid-field group.
Speaking of which if the first group of cars was difficult to predict then this lot is even worse considering it is entirely possible that the top of this division could merge with the bottom of the previous one adding another variable into the mix. Previous events have shown that Sauber and Williams have been at the top of the rankings but Force India have been very close behind and steadily improving. This leaves Torro Rosso who after a stronger showing in Australia have been left behind a little since, especially Verge who has been a repeat visitor to the first relegation zone at the end of Q1 often a long way off the back of Ricciardo.
Then we have the bottom three, where here we can make some more assured decisions on who is going to place where, as the order has been pretty much set in stone since the teams entered the sport in 2010. Caterham are clearly the class of the third division, and slowly trying to scratch their way out and up into the mid-field leaving HRT and Marussia to hold up the back rows. Despite the additional testing the teams have had in the run up to this race I doubt that either HRT or Marussia will be able to escape the bottom rows or catch the faster Caterham cars.
Blog Predictions
Ah yes this section has rolled round once more, the part of the post that demonstrates that the quantity of things that I've written down so far make no impact on the actual result of the event and I demonstrate how little I actually know.
- Hamilton
- Vettel
- Button
- Webber
- Raikkonen
- Alonso
- Rosberg
- Massa
- Kobayashi
- Schumacher
Qualifying battle
- Red Bull - Vettel
- McLaren - Hamilton
- Ferrari - Alonso
- Lotus - Raikkonen
- Mercedes - Rosberg
- Sauber - Perez
- Williams - Senna
- Force India - Hulkenberg
- Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
- Caterham - Kovalainen
- Marussia - Glock
- HRT - De La Rosa
So there we have it, I've ticked all the boxes that need to be ticked and amazingly I've reached the end before I've run out of hours in the day, which was the case during video upload on Wednesday. But there was the nice distraction of being outside, a rare thing for the solitary residents of blog HQ, generally with good reason. That aside and now fallen into the annuls of my limited history there is a matter of another event to take care of this weekend, an event which will actually appear on the BBC away from the awful folk at sky. But there is a little problem with the timing this time around, as I won;t actually be in front of a television for the race on Sunday, having being sent out to a motor show in Hexham instead, which invokes the problem of not being able to be in two places at once. Suppose that is where the iPlayer will come in handy once more, instead of having to drop coverage for rehearsals or sky interventions this time it is other things.
On that note the final report could end up being as delayed as it has been for the rest of the season, hopefully by the race after this things will be back onto some form of normal schedule, but looking a little beyond that seeing that sky have the rights to the Canadian race. That really is going to mess up the schedule here at blog HQ as the BBC attempt will be delayed hideously and there may be a knock on effect on post timings. But that is a long way from now so will return focus to this weekend and on that note until next post this is farewell from now.
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