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

Stunning move by Alonso in turn 3. He does like a good start here!

Equally stunning tyre shredding by Mercedes and Hamilton in particular. Perhaps they've designed the car with the intention of being so bad that Pirelli are forced into making a Bridgestone clone? That was a shocking performance.

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J i m
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.

It was only Vettel realising at the last minute that stopped the carbon fibre explosion. Kimi misjudged that one for me, and was rescued by Vettel.

The thing which grabbed my attention most about that move was that the Marussia was being held up by Vettel. :D

Yeah... actually that grabbed my attention for a couple of laps. In general the lap-times of the whole field were yo-yoing about due to the tyre performance deg.

Morbid Wrote:
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> 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.

Spot on brother.

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REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

gav Wrote:
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> Equally stunning tyre shredding by Mercedes and
> Hamilton in particular. Perhaps they've designed
> the car with the intention of being so bad that
> Pirelli are forced into making a Bridgestone
> clone?

Mercedes should've been made to run the entire race on a single set of the supersofts, just for comedy value - no half measures! :P
I knew they wouldn't be capable of winning, but for them to just melt away like they did was pretty unbelievable. It's a long time since I saw a pace differential like that amongst the frontrunners - it reminded me of the early Michelin tyres which used to go through their "graining" phase after a handful of laps.


gav Wrote:
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> It was only Vettel realising at the last minute
> that stopped the carbon fibre explosion. Kimi
> misjudged that one for me, and was rescued by
> Vettel.

For me it balanced out the moment half a lap earlier when Kimi dived down the outside and Vettel squeezed him. Altogether I thought they both battled really well with each other.

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that Mercedes is dressed up pretty nicely, isn't it?

Alonso was inmense, i think Alonso won the race at the start, that double overtake on the outside of turn 3 was quite crucial.
Kimi looks heavy strong for the season, i wonder where is Grosjean vacationing

Kimi has to be a very real title contender. If he combines the speed he showed in 2005 with the consistency he showed in 2003 and last year(and he already is doing that to an extent), he'll be hard to outscore over the whole season. Last year he managed an amazingly high final Championship position in a car which should never have done it; the Lotus is a better car this year, and Kimi is back in the zone as well.
He's capable of anything now.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2013 05:46AM by EC83.

I said at the beginning of the season.... I would not ' hold my breath' believing that Mercedes had overcome their tire problem.
It seems a repeat of last year where the car seemed initially to be good over short bursts.... quick laps. They also had pretty decent top speed.
This year the car has taken a step forward especially where balance is concerned but 'alas' those tire gremlins are still prevalent.

It seems that after three years of development Mercedes still do not understand how their car works in relation to the modern day tire 'deg'.
Like last season they showed some form in Quali .... This year even better but fundamentally their outright performance is still a false economy both to their drivers and fans.

I see this problem going on for the remainder of the season as it will be something inherent to the chassis. Some circuits may flatter the car in the future but more often than is desired there will more like Catalunya that expose Mercedes and frustrate the drivers.

I think that both drivers are equally matched although I do think that as time goes by Rosberg's better understanding of the car may pay dividends.

Based on what is unfolding this year I am more than convinced that Schumacher had lost very little of his race craft and that Lewis has not proven Miraculous in comparison in any way.
Driving for Mercedes is simply a lottery where the car can either make you look good or bad depending on the day.


Great job by Ferrari and Alonso ..... what a racer. Good to see Massa back. Raikkonen is right up there proving that consistancy is always 'Key'. Very good strategy from Mclaren hopefully as the car 'beds' in we may see the updates taking some effect.
As for the Bulls ....? Well just was not there day this weekend but Vettel did well all the same. Mature drive by Di resta.
Strong drive from Vergne before retirement.


" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."

Member of R.S.C.T Group

Going back to comparing drivers, it's starting to look like if Button had stayed at Brawn/Mercedes, Rosberg would have had a relatively comfortable upper hand on him.

Whereas Button was able to exploit Hamilton's weaknesses and end up in a similar place at the end of the year, Rosberg is a far more complete driver than Hamilton. Pace wise he's roughly level with Hamilton, but he's better at protecting the tyres and doesn't trash the car often (neither himself nor other cars bashing into him). He isn't as ruthless as Hamilton and, just like Jenson, is arguably too soft.

So in an incomprehensible sort of way, I think on balance Hamilton will be the stronger driver for Mercedes, yet Rosberg would have had the beating of Button, despite Button and Hamilton I'm guessing averaging out at around at similar points over their 3 years at McLaren together... odd.

Nico surely one of the best drivers so far this year. It puts Schumachers return in a much better light too!

I honestly believed, based on the last two years Nico was not as good as I thought, and was perhaps a level below even Button, let alone Lewis.

This year however has proved Nico can step up when he needs to. Anyone who can make Lewis look... slow has something special. I always hoped he could do this! And

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

It's good to see people finally starting to release how good Nico is and this indeed show as well just how good Michael still was.

Interesting to see how monaco will go from Mercedes duo, both are excellent on that track and it shouldn't be too bad for mercedes either...howeve supersoft and soft tyres could make it very difficult for them.

Canada onwars pirelli will change the tyre structures and this could change the whole championship title fight....Lotus and Ferrari can suffer a bit more while Red Bull and Mercedes will gain but I hope it wouldn't change anything in results side because it really wouldn't be fair at all if we will start to see the Red Bull dominance like even pirelli has warned us about.

vesuvius Wrote:
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> Canada onwars pirelli will change the tyre
> structures and this could change the whole
> championship title fight....Lotus and Ferrari can
> suffer a bit more while Red Bull and Mercedes will
> gain but I hope it wouldn't change anything in
> results side because it really wouldn't be fair at
> all if we will start to see the Red Bull dominance
> like even pirelli has warned us about.

Indeed it wouldn't. F1 is about the survival and success of those that are best to rise to whatever challenge may be presented to them. Ferrari have done that, and Lotus especially, and Red Bull have not. The points table must reflect that. It's pathetic that Red Bull are whining the way they are now. In their successful years, they positively gloated about their superiority in dealing with the same logic of the sport.

At least Merc are not whining but trying to figure out what they are doing wrong. I saw Lewis on Autosport reflecting on it might not even be the car, but the way they treat the tyres before they enter the car. Has anyone considered the fact that all of Räikkönen's tyres had done 1 lap before the race? Just ten years ago, Ferrari used to scrub their tyres in to get the shiny bit off the tread, and to make them more durable (without loss of grip) through the application of a controlled heat cycle. This trick was also used in sports car racing. If it worked back then, why wouldn't it work now?

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

It's the way Alonso was treating the tyres even in the race last year. He mastered being able to nurse the tyres up to temperature while not being overtaken - the reason he was often really slow at the start of stints but super quick at the end of them. I've not noticed him doing that this season though.

I've long considered Alonso to be the most "complete" driver on the grid. He's been exceptional since he first stepped into a Minardi (I must say that I found his interview with Webber where he said he didn't even know where to find neutral for his first FP1 quite amusing) and he's still getting better now. I'd already rank him alongside the all time greats.

As for Rosberg, I've always been an advocate of his. I'd be interested to see how well he'd go now at this point of form of his performance in a car that didn't treat it's tyres quite so hilariously.

I want to see the Mr 4th Place 5th Place Cardboard Box Rosberg of 2009 return.

The guy has brilliant consistency and pace, but just seems to lack that killer bite that makes the others a cut above.

Is that the cars restriction? Possibly. He was racey in GP2.

His day will come I am sure!


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it