The Official 2013 Spanish Grand Prix Thread (***SPOILERS***)

So, what do we think will happen this year? Let's get speculating, peeps!

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I fear it will be a Vettel cake walk. I can see him getting pole by a tenth or two, then getting his 1 sec gap by lap two and then not being headed for the remainder.

Alonso will fluff a corner in qualy and line up third or fourth on the grid, but will be second by lap three and control his race from there, not quite ever able to match Seb.

Mark, Kimi, Felipe, JB and Romain will squabble amongst themselves for the minor placings after Lewis drops away towards the end of the race, just holding off a fast finishing JEV and Ricciardo whose Toro Rosso updates will work wonders. Nico will be largely anonymous all afternoon and bring it home in 10th, a nose in front of Checo.

The Force Indias, Saubers and Williams will be battling tooth and nail all race long with them finishing in roughly that order. The Caterhams will be back on form with Charles outpacing Guido, while Bianchi will trounce Chilton.

Assuming everyone finishes of course

Maldonado to have a scrap at the front against the home darling. The Venezuelan will come through though and score a shock win.

Pah. Like that could ever happen!

That was one for the ages wasn't it?

It was the kind of result everyone remembers years later, and for all the right reasons. Epicness.

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Mercedes 1-2... hattrick of pole positions... damn you schumi, why didn't you sign the contract!!!!

Brilliant quali by Mercedes - and that sets up the prospect of an exciting race too, since they're unlikely to be able to back up that pace in the race.
Great job by Nico!

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EC83 Wrote:
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> Brilliant quali by Mercedes - and that sets up the
> prospect of an exciting race too, since they're
> unlikely to be able to back up that pace in the
> race.
> Great job by Nico!


Every F1 race there has been since 1991 at Circuit de Catalunya, that was completed in dry weather, has seen a winner from the front row. We will probably see that statistic broken tomorrow.

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

It will be interesting to see. Merc are getting on top of this deg issue.

Other interesting thing to note is like many suspected Rosberg is very swift, I think swifter than Barrichello or Irvine ever were and explains the battle MS had with him, particularly in practice/quali.

elpasho2005f1 Wrote:
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> Mercedes 1-2... hattrick of pole positions... damn
> you schumi, why didn't you sign the contract!!!!


i believe that even if he had signed the contract, he would not have enjoyed racing with those tyres, anyway.

mitadumapaga Wrote:
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> i believe that even if he had signed the contract,
> he would not have enjoyed racing with those tyres,
> anyway.

I think Schumacher's problem was more to do with the other car than him 'enjoying' the tyres...

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what do you mean, "the other car "... you mean with rosberg?

Yes. I think he struggled to understand the tyres, and Rosberg was too close for comfort.

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everyone has his or her own opinion. in my view though, schumy, just as webber, did not enjoy racing mainly because of the tyres. Nico being a tough nut to crack could have been a factor too, but honestly, pointing this one is only a pure speculation.

Given that Rosberg and Hamilton are so close (though you still get the impressive he'll end up the Webber to Mercedes's Vettel), I do now believe that had Mercedes been able to deliver a car capable of winning the title, Schumacher would have been the guy to take it to the Red Bulls, McLarens and Ferrari rather than Rosberg.

I was a fan of Rosberg before he joined Mercedes, and said so many times (even going so far as to say he was the best performer in 2009), but the moment Schumacher joined the team, there was always going to be a question mark over both of their heads. Just how much had the old timer lost?

Clearly, he hadn't lost an awful lot of his ability, but it was a very different sport to the one he left, with 6 or 7 potential champions at the start of each season. I'm not sure his return tarnished his reputation at all (though specific incidents such as the Barrichello one did) - personally I thought more of him after his return, as I still believe to come back in your 40s and be as competitive as he was, in such a demanding sport, do it with a smile on his face and with a seemingly new-found respect for his peers... credit to him. Some others weren't anywhere close to that competitive even when switching teams mid-season (Fisichella), let alone after years out of the car.

I read once that it was merciful that Gilles Villeneuve died when he did, as the then-imminent fuel economy years would have sucked the life from him. In a similar sense Schumacher, with his pointy-front-end style was always going to fail to recapture the same dominance over his peers, irrespective of how fast he was.

We could argue about Schumacher for eternity. I think on balance despite the lack of headline results his stint at Merc was fairly impressive. Remember he was competing against drivers of more than ten years his junior who presumably had more untapped potential and were physically able to adapt quicker. He also had to contend with the recovery of a neck injury he sustained whilst racing bikes. And yet he was basically on the pace. Ok, he wasn't giving the likes of Vettel and Alonso anything to worry about but they're the cream of the crop and at the top of their games as well as having more competitive machinery at their disposal.

Back to this weekend. Interesting tactics so far by Merc, concentrating mainly on race runs in practice and STILL taking the front row of the grid. I'll be intrigued to see if it means another Sepang type chase of the Red Bulls. Certainly at the moment I expect Vettel to be clear favourite, with Alonso and Raikkonen the closest challengers for the podium. On evidence of Bahrain we could expect Rosberg at least to sink without a trace, but many of us expected that at China last year and yet he won it by a country mile. Hamilton has been talking down his chances and claiming that he wasn't happy with the car... he talks a lot of fluff. He'll be a factor in the podium chase until the very end as always unless of-course he gets into a squabble with old sparring partner Massa.

I think the lower points region will well worth keeping an eye on today as well... I don't think Force India will be able to hold on to Red Bull, Lotus and Ferrari today but I do think they will have a dog fight battle with Toro Rosso. It will also be interesting to see if Hulkenberg can work miracles, throw the cat amongst the pigeons and drag that Sauber into the points again. I don't think Williams will trouble the points at all. The car may be working slightly better but it's still visible awkward and fundamentally simply slow.

At the back the wannabe "Joss the Boss" is heading the queue, Bianchi needs to reassert his early best of the also rans authority and fast.

Great tactical race right now between Fernando and Kimi, this is awesome to watch.

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Well done Fernando!!
Immaculate drive.

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Wow, got that a bit wrong didn't I?

Good race I thought, for Barcelona I mean. Fizzled out a bit towards the end but they usually do. Brilliant stuff by Alonso, once he emerged ahead of Vettel after the first round of pit stops then it was only going to be him who won. Excellent race craft on lap one, around the outside of both Raikkonen and Hamilton at turn three. Kimi still knows what he's doing as well what a pass on Vettel... you just know had that been Webber stuffing himself down the inside there of Vettel there'd have been carbon fibre flying in all directions. Epic day for Ferrari with Massa up on the podium even if he was a country mile from Alonso.

Merc still gobbling up those tyres aren't they? I think Britney held on reasonably well under the circumstances and I got it completely wrong thinking that Hamilton would be in the podium fight... out of the points and scrapping with a Williams for goodness sakes

Other creditable drives today... Ricciardo seemed to be going constantly forwards at one point, a solidarity point seems scant reward but with a Red Bull drive probably up for grabs his current form is doing a good job of shouting his case. Gutierrez... 0.3 seconds from scoring his first point. Wow, who'd have thought that before the weekend? Good drive by him today.

Points for both McLarens. Horrible first stint for Button, but drove well throughout afterwards. Brilliant qualifying by Perez, didn't make his strategy pay over Button today but probably could have passed him at the end if it wasn't for being afraid of a Bahrain repeat.

Williams' year is now as good as written off. I mean Bottas barley scraped over the line ahead of the Caterham... and Maldonaldo was paying enough attention to fail hilariously in the pitlane.