fr3.5 motorland

[bella]

so we've already got a predicions thread, but... who do we think is going to get the upper hand in this one? motorland hasn't been a particularly good indicator for the rest of the season in the past few years, but will that change?

schedule is as follows:
friday
fr3.5 testing 1 - 9.50am-11.05am
fr3.5 testing 2 - 14.55pm-16.10pm

saturday
fr3.5 qualifying - 9.50am-10.20am
fr3.5 race - 14.30pm-15.17pm

sunday
fr3.5 qualifying - 9.50am-10.20am
fr3.5 race - 14.30pm-15.17pm

weather: http://www.accuweather.com/en/es/alc...weather/302604

you can download the wsr app for your iphone from itunes - it has the schedules and live timing which'll be handy.

[BackmarkerUK]

Hard to tell, there's an awful lot of good drivers and decent teams. The winner could be anyone from Magnussen, Frijns, Bird, Korjus, Bianchi, Stanaway, Sorensen, Aleshin, Rossi or Williamson! If I had to guess, I would say wins for Korjus and Frijns this weekend, with Korjus winning the title. But I wouldn't be surprised to be wrong.

Will be good to see the new T12 chassis with the new ZRS03 engine actually racing, and it will be interesting to see if the DRS system produces good racing - I don't actually think Formula Renault 3.5 needed it, but I suppose it makes the series a bit more like F1.

[Peat]

The entry list has me salivating. It has all the markings of a vintage season.

[ptclaus98]

Wouldn't it be something if Magnussen or Stanaway just ran away with the title and the races were a bit ****?

[skells22]

want time on british eurosport will we see race 2? no headaches for race 1 at least.

[JackN]

I believe there are highlights scheduled at 6.30 on BE1 for the second race.

It'll be live on Eurosport Player too, if my information is correct!

[ivanalesi]

I would take solely testing times and I would bet on Frijns, Muller, Magnussen and Korjus. Both Frijns and Muller are the hot favourites for me, at least for round 1
Bianchi and Bird may have very big advantage at Monaco, but I don't expect them to shine Let's be honest, they must be head and shoulders above everyone else and they're not currently.

[chunterer]

Ivan, testing is one thing, racing is another matter entirely....

I'm not sure that I would automatically put Bianchi or Bird as 'should be better than the rest' on anything other than experience, they're as new to these cars as the other entrants.

I reckon it's experience of Motorland that will count for more than anything else this weekend, therefore the guys who did well last year might have the upper hand like Rossi?

[bella]

bear in mind motorland has always been a bit of a red herring in terms of race performance. your champion might be on the podium but statistically it's unlikely he'll win.

[ivanalesi]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Ivan, testing is one thing, racing is another matter entirely....

I'm not sure that I would automatically put Bianchi or Bird as 'should be better than the rest' on anything other than experience, they're as new to these cars as the other entrants.

I reckon it's experience of Motorland that will count for more than anything else this weekend, therefore the guys who did well last year might have the upper hand like Rossi?

Yeah, but this time testing was a bit more about reliability and some teams did very well, while others struggled to find all the gremlins. If my memory serves me well, it was the same in F1 2006 winter testing when they moved to V8s, but here we don't have huge differences between the teams in budgets or head count, so this initial momentum may turn out to be gold In Monaco it will be so hard for all as they still learn about the cars and some may do compromises for reliability, so Bianchi's and Bird's experience must count there and of course the direct lap times battles against GP2. So, bring on tomorrow!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

Yeah, but this time testing was a bit more about reliability and some teams did very well, while others struggled to find all the gremlins. If my memory serves me well, it was the same in F1 2006 winter testing when they moved to V8s, but here we don't have huge differences between the teams in budgets or head count, so this initial momentum may turn out to be gold In Monaco it will be so hard for all as they still learn about the cars and some may do compromises for reliability, so Bianchi's and Bird's experience must count there and of course the direct lap times battles against GP2. So, bring on tomorrow!

Yes, experience must count somewhere along the line, it is a fascinating opening weekend in prospect!!

[bella]

qualifying suggests it does - exactly half the field count as rookies, and there were only 4 in the top 13

[JackN]

Originally Posted by bella

qualifying suggests it does - exactly half the field count as rookies, and there were only 4 in the top 13

Nice stat!! Don't be surprised to hear that this afternoon

[bella]

Originally Posted by JackN

Nice stat!! Don't be surprised to hear that this afternoon

who shall i invoice?

yelloly took his first win, bianchi in second and magnussen from 19th on the grid in 3rd. bianchi caught yelloly once he got past huertas but he reckoned he started to get some hesitation from the engine so he eased off. a pity because that'd have been a cracking last 2 laps.

was it venturini who caught the side of stanaway's car on the grid? that was seriously close...

edit: forget the edit, i wasn't looking hard enough

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by JackN

Nice stat!! Don't be surprised to hear that this afternoon

Was a real pleasure having you commentate this weekend Jack. Is it only a one-off for now or will you be doing the championship, or at least the races that clash with WTCC?

[Mekola]

For me, it's a return to the FR 3.5 moniker this year. Surprising win by Yelloly for me, followed by more expected Bianchi and Magnussen.

[Jacques Rabbit]

So what's the deal with Rossi?

Is Arden Caterham a heavy downgrade in team? Rossi not adapting well to the new car? I figured with his experience he'd be a factor, but then I saw the testing times and got worried, and this weekend was more of the same. I know it's early but there are no indications that Rossi's going to accomplish a whole lot this year, which is a shame, because I've only just recently warmed up to him.

[JackN]

Thanks As far as I know, Martin is doing the rest of the season. I just wait for the call! It's great to be doing the opening weekend though, shame the first lap carnage robbed us of a more representative race.

Did anyone expect that pace from Yelloly? And do Carlin really have speed, or did they just end up lucky?

[JackN]

It's just been announced that Jules Bianchi has been disqualified. Presumably something to do with stopping on the return lap to the pits. Perhaps fuel related.

[ivanalesi]

Incredible Yelloly! He seems to love powerful cars, last year in GP3 he wasn't anywhere near as impressive as in WSbR with the financially struggling Pons team and now he takes this brilliant win. He's probably himself very surprised at this fast turn around!
Btw, just read - Bianchi is disqualified for unauthorized parts in the differential! Shame for him, he did a great race.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

So what's the deal with Rossi?

i suspect he's asking himself the same question... he was a bit over ambitious at the first corner though.

yelloly is a surprise, but then he isn't. bianchi said he didn't make a single mistake whilst he was stalking him, which i think is much the same as his guest appearances last year. looking forward to seeing him keep the momentum going. it'll be hard going at monaco though.

tech1 will obviously lose the appeal against bianchi's disqualification which is a real pity. i suspect that could cost him at the end of the year - he demonstrated why he's a classy driver today and why he's bound to have a good run this year. he's my tip for the monaco race, but perhaps we should be looking to someone like magnussen who drove a stormer today. i'm sure it was his exhaust that sounded off too?

[Go_For_Pole]

bella who leads the championship?

(sorry, couldn't resist )

[nobster]

So is this weekend the shape of things to come, Robin Frijns already a winner in this championship in his second race after producing the drive of the race yesterday.
Surely this guy is a championship favourite!

[bella]

patience, young grasshoppers. it's a great start for frijns, particularly to win by that much but does it not almost mirror rossi's success there last year with fortec too?

sam bird found his pace in race 2 which was good to see since he was a bit quiet in race 1, but said he felt there was a lot of work to do. isr struggled a bit last year too so let's hope that's not the case this year. good start for venturini too with a points finish, particularly considering he was a long way back in every test session.

bianchi was awesome in race 2 as well. it's all very well having the car underneath you to make your way through the field from the back but actually doing it is another matter. looking at it away from the rulebook it seemed harsh that he got a penalty as well as starting from the pitlane but that's the rule, that's the punishment for having team members working on the car.

does anyone know why they were investigating p1 and rfr after race 2?

[ptclaus98]

At this rate, Conor Daly is gonna have a rough go of it in Barcelona.