Round 5 - Spain 2015 - Preview

Greetings Internet, 

Today this little Island has awoken to the results of its general election, one which has been about as well received as the collection of bounty chocolates at the bottom of a tin of Celebrations. Nobody wants them there but somehow people haven't voted them out... So as a result most people seem reasonably disappointed, which in itself is a state of great ambiguity, if that many people are displeased... where did the votes come from... Who are these people and why are they everywhere. But before this turns into some uneducated political rant of which I am far and away not qualified to take part in, it might be a good idea to turn things back to safer ground. All I know is nobody in the subset of people I figured were worth voting for did well, so in the end my contribution to British democracy yesterday evening turned out to be utterly pointless. One of the problems of the North East is that it is a foregone conclusion to start off with. 

Like I said, time to get back on point - and the arrival of the Spanish GP, marking the start of the European season as it has done for several seasons now. With the slight exception when Turkey assumed that role in 2011. The Catalunya circuit is generally the site of the first big set of upgrades and updates of the season - simply because of the logistics of transporting components from the team factory to Spain rather than half way across the world for the opening Australasian leg of the season. 

Kyvat in one of his happier moods

There is also the matter of the three week break we've endured since Bahrain for teams to sort out what developments are going to be brought to the car. Renault have proposed a new fuel mixture, which on the basis of FP1 has made roughly no difference to Red Bull or Toro Rosso's performance -  as illustrated in the obviously cheery expression on Daniil Kvyat's face. While everyone else appears to be embroiled in a discussion over the 2016/17 engine regulations. Will V8s race alongside V6s and will that arbitrarily determined goal of 1000hp be appearing in the near future. I reckon Renault and Honda would be be pleased to get anywhere near that figure at the moment.

Cue the Imperial March theme tune

Speaking of Honda, in the interim break McLaren seem to have gone a little mental - Ron Dennis adding to his as of yet unfulfilled statement of landing a title sponsor with the idea that 'McLaren will win dominantly'. He didn't specify when, but at present the green party stood a better chance of winning dominantly than they do. So in the meantime the team have turned to the dark side of the force with their new livery - which in the highly airbrushed release photos looked quite menacing. Adding more black and red. Perhaps this new McLaren Empire under the guise of Emperor Dennis might be a little closer allowing Darth Button and Sith Lord Alonso to conquer the points positions. 

Circuit De Catalunya

Spain at the moment holds the monopoly on F1 pre-season testing - starting in Jerez and concluding in Barcelona - since Bahrain was shuffled off the testing schedule. So when the Spanish GP rolls round to start the European leg of the season it is generally considered one of the clearest indicators of season long performance. Or at least it was before rules and regulations started changing mid-season, banning FRIC and re-engineering tyres to name a couple. The Barcelona circuit is used in testing in part due to it's location and consistent climate, but also due to the nature of the layout testing multiple facets of car performance. It has high speed, tyre destroying corners and slow hairpins, there is the long main straight and the high curbs of the final chicane. Each of which places differing stresses and strains on a car's capabilities - in many respects the more average and universal the chassis is means a stronger performance in Spain. If anything it could be compared to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin which also tries to include a little bit of everything. 

As mentioned the main straight is rather long - at one point in time it held the accolade for the longest distance between startline and turn one. Later in the season Mexico will likely assume that title. The first sequence of corners begins with a medium speed chicane - which has rather been afflicted by the ever spreading curse of excessive taramac run-off space off track. Even so it is a reasonably decent opener to the lap. Turn three is one of those corners that give the Pirelli engineers nightmares because it is exceptionally hard on the left front tyre. The long, high speed turn was the corner where Fernando's testing accident began, before coming to rest against the inside wall between turns three and four. Turn four - Repsol - is an almost completely symmetrical smooth 180 degree turn opening out into a slight descent on the exit feeding into the hairpin of turn five. 

A short straight separates the initial sequence of corners with the middle of the lap, and the second of the three Spanish chicanes... and the last good one. Turns 7 and 8 carve up the side of a slight hill, much in the same way the second part of Aqua Minerale does in Imola - the exit of the first part places the car against the curb of the second. A curb which has been raised given the tendency of drivers to be more liberal with the track limits. Switching to the opposite side of the track sets the car up for the blind turn in point for Campsa - one of Catalunya's more recognisable corners. One we are fortunate to still have a reasonable quantity of gravel on the outside to attenuate some speed before making contact with the outside barrier. After exiting Campsa the cars enter the second DRS zone on the back straight - because one of the more effective passing zones on the circuit needs even more help. Aside from turn one La Caixa is the heaviest braking zone and a prime overtaking spot.

The final sector of the lap starts of with an uphill clone of turn four - with a slightly more consistent radius without the freedom on the exit. A few years ago now, this would be followed by two increasingly faster corners building up onto the front straight. In fact those corners are still there, but for some reason probably a combination of insanity and lunacy - we don't use them any more. I remember on the older F1 games set before the modification these final corners were a definite challenge, a car-park style abomination continues to take their place. The epicentre of the disarray is the final chicane, designed to close gaps between cars before turning onto the main straight, only serves as a trap for errant front wings. It by far and away hasn't worked and is a scar and ruins the flow of the final part of the lap, it is clumsy and horrid... and not long after it's introduction DRS came into the picture and delivered the functionality it couldn't. At least the rest of the lap is reasonably decent. 

The Form Guide

Technically this section is sort of obsolete given the slight delay in writing this particular contribution to the internet. Because at this point in time both Friday practice sessions have been completed, giving us a rough idea of what the relative performance levels are this weekend. As you'd expect Mercedes opened their account with a dominant FP1, both drivers a second clear of the nearest rivals - which on the surface seemed rather ominous. But in FP2 Ferrari struck back and close the gap considerably to Mercedes, even overtaking one of them. Catalunya's infamous reputation for tyre wear, and estimated high temperatures play more into Ferrari's hands on race day, but on a single lap - Mercedes should claim a comfortable front row. Williams on the other hand appear to be dropping further away from the front two teams - Bottas their highest placed car in FP2 only managed 8th. 

Despite FP1 not looking two promising - the second practice session proved to be more fortuitous for the Renualt powered teams. Daniil Kvyat, and his death stare finished the session as the highest non Ferrari/Mercedes car... still a second off the top time. Verstappen was 6th less than a tenth slower than the scary Russian - but this weekend the Dutch teenager could be forgiven if he got into the wrong car. Because Lotus are running decals featuring the new Mad Max film on their bodywork - bodywork that Grosjean lost in FP2 as it exploded down the main straight. The mid-field as a whole seems to include everyone who isn't Manor as the McLaren Empire has advanced into the middle of the pack. Darth Button finished FP2 in a very respectable 7th place, Local Sith Lord Alonso  only two tenths slower. 

Where there are winners, there are also losers - which today does include the British public... Force India have seem have failed to continue the form they showed glimpses of in Bahrain and have slipped to the penultimate row, while Sauber have fallen almost as far. Worlds away from Felipe 'Fred' Nasr's high flying performance in Australia. But I suppose they can take some comfort in the knowledge that Manor will be propping up the back row for the foreseeable future as rumours suggest that their B-spec 2015 chassis might not make any appearances this year as the team may decide to place a more focussed effort on the 2016 car. To a degree that is a shame for this year, as a fully finished car would be nice to see, but there is an air of optimism in that idea, and it is only an idea, suggesting that the team will still be around in 2016. Maybe a collaboration with Haas is on the cards, I can only speculate as to what is happening down the road in Yorkshire. 

Admittedly the Spanish GP isn't one of those events on the calendar you put a special marker around because of the level of anticipation it generates, but it is a hugely significant part of the championship. It signals an acceleration in the development race throughout the succession of European races, relative team performance becomes more variable as the balance of power shifts - especially in the middle of the pack. We'll see the McLaren Empire make the imperial march forward, and Ferrari hopefully take the fight to Mercedes. You could say that the first four races of this season were the warm-up act, and the main show begins this weekend.