Round 5: Spain 2013 - Preview

Greetings Internet,

It has been a while hasn't it - at the end of another one of these oddly placed three week hiatus' the second of which we have faced this season - it does seem like the calender has been hashed together in some drunken state leaving plenty of space to recover from a metaphorical racing hangover. Fortunately in this recent void of inactivity, there has been plenty of alternate series to provide more than enough entertainment with BTCC and the V8 Supercars being at the top that particular list. Back in the world of Formula One things have been a little on the quiet side - everyone keeping their developmental plans to themselves before the start of the very important European season. This is the part of the season where the raft of upgrades start to make their appearance, updates that exist to correct early season performance droughts. A problem that both Williams and McLaren will be looking forward to, because the first four races have not been a flood of points and success in those particular garages.

But there is another more disappointing development here a Blog HQ - because the FIA are up to something, a devious plan that verges dangerously close to theft of my theoretical intellectual property - that is of course if anything round here counts as being intellectual. Because they are considering introducing a penalty points system - handing them out for certain infractions over the course of a race weekend.... something that I have been running at HQ for the past three seasons. Some of the offences which incur points include: Causing a collision - 2pts, Ignoring a blue flag - 2pts,   corner cutting - 1pt, and 3pts for a dangerous collision (or a Grosjean penalty) Upon reaching 12 penalty points a driver will be enforced with a single race ban. Anyway these systems are merely a theory, seven of the team principles have agreed to the procedure, and we shall see where this concept leads.

The Track

All other matters aside this is the run up to the Spanish GP, the traditional starting point for the European season, ever since we stopped going to Imola all those years ago - because this is a perennial testing facility Barcelona is well known among teams and drivers alike. Which as a result means everyone will have a setup tuned to the track and supported by the new parts and pieces brought along for good measure. As a result this will be one of the races of the season, where speed and results will be dominated by car speed rather than driver ability, a reality which will is reinforced by the nature and topology of the Barcelona Circuit. It's position on the calendar was planned in being alternated with the harbour with some lines on it we call the Valencia Street circuit, but that seems to have been completely neglected and thus we might be spared from it for a long time.

Before the addition of that painful final chicane was added, the Spanish circuit was a flowing epitome of European circuit design, where the corners exist for the sake of being corners rather than some contorted ideal swept off a designer's desk. The opening sequence is among the best we've seen at the point in the season (but in reality it is only competing with Australia - the others are poor) - an ascending chicane that continually tempts driver to carry that little bit too much speed through the apex. Trying not to compromise the line on the approach to the full speed flat turn three. Across the remainder of the opening sector the corners, just seem to appear roughly where you expect them to be, in the right place. Where the camber of the track follows the apexes and holds the car in place.

One of the highlights of the lap is the blind apex at the top of the hill through Campsa, a corner that has seen several cars fire off into the scenery - most memorably in recent years Heikki Kovalainen ending up under the tyre barrier after a tyre failure of his own at turn in. This turn sets up drivers before one of the primary overtaking zones at La Caixa - a corner that has occasionally been named as 'Curva Dry Sac'... which frankly sounds painful and like an unfortunate symptom. It is here where one of the dual DRS zones on the track, the other being on the main straight, it that is really the only other place to put it on the layout. The final sector of the lap has been a little compromised by the addition of the chicane which removed the high speed double apexed finale to the lap, with the dream of making cars closer when travelling down the main straight... the curse of track manipulation was not spared in Barcelona.

What to Expect

Team performance will dominate proceedings in most cases, so it is likely that teams will have cars in close proximity to each other especially by the end of qualifying on Saturday. A phenomena which is likely to be more prominent in the better designed cars, where the influence of the engineers and mechanics is more powerful than the extra edge a driver can bring to the table. So Red Bull are likely to be running both cars towards the front - perhaps even looking at a front row lockout, behind them there is the likelihood of Ferrari and Lotus being not too far behind. Where this places McLaren and Mercedes in the grand scheme of things is completely unknown - especially considering the updates everyone is bringing could rearrange that order comprehensively. For example Caterham gained over half a second from updates in Bahrain - granted they have a lot more time to find - but if they can make those gains who knows what is possible with a much larger budget.

But in the middle of the park there are some other gains to be made, especially for Williams and Torro Rosso who aside from China have been trading places in the relegation zone in the majority of the qualifying sessions so far. Aiming to catch up with the division leaders Sauber and more importantly Force India who came so close to taking the first podium since Fisichella in Spa 2009 last race all those weeks ago. The thing is that it is a moving goal post - finding a couple of tenths may close the gap down a little, but the team in front is trying to do precisely the same thing and will move further away at the same time. In a sense the entire grid will end up progressing forward and the status quo will remain unless someone can make a larger jump.

At the back of the grid there is less competition since HRT went missing, leaving us with only two teams in the picture, both Marussia and Caterham have made improvements - which got Pic in front of Bianchi last race. Both of the green cars will have the updates this weekend allowing Van Der Garde to attack his opposite number - Max Chilton. However I doubt Marussia will turn up to the start of the fast paced development race without a couple of upgrades of their own, and handing some extra speed to Bianchi should make the bottom end of the mid-field very scared indeed.

This race contains more intrigue than merely a series of laps on a Sunday afternoon, the process of sculpting the order for the rest of the season starts at this point in the year, this is the point where updates and developments define the hierarchy. The pre-season and opening races are a precursor to the European season, setting the base line for the events to follow, even as the concept of a series based on the home continent is dissolving in favour of a much wider ranging championship, this phase of the year remains incredibly important. So until Saturday this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.