[Official] Round 05: Spanish Grand Prix

[frostie]

The opening four races of the 2012 season have seen four different winners from four different teams and showed just how competitive Formula 1 has become in recent years.

The Pirelli tyres have played a crucial role in developing this level of competition throughout the last yea but while some within the paddock, notably Michael Schumacher, have been critical of the role of the Italian rubber in races fans are genuinely excited about each race weekend.

Last year in Spain Sebastian Vettel held off Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling battle for the win. Vettel’s ability to make overtaking moves on his outlaps gave him a key edge and put him in position to win the race.

With tyre wear playing a key role in last year’s race it seems almost certain that tyre degradation and management will be a major factor in deciding the outcome of this weekend’s race.

Circuit de Catalunya

Having hosted Formula 1 since 1991 the Circuit de Catalunya has been a stable on the Formula 1 calendar for over two decades. The financial crisis however has struck Spain exceptionally hard and it now seems that in future it will alternate with Valencia as host of the Spanish Grand Prix.

With Barcelona also a very popular winter testing venue for the teams there is little that they do not know about the track. This was a point that Sebastian Vettel was keen to stress as he talked about the challenges of this weekend:

"Of all the current GP tracks, Barcelona is the one that we know the most because we have done so much testing there in recent years,” commented the reigning World Champion. “That said, the knowledge that you gain at the tests doesn't always help due to the changing wind direction that occurs there, which can sometimes give you a nasty surprise, especially into Turn 1.”

[YOUTUBE]79rN4UxAPes[/YOUTUBE]

Can Lotus make it five different winners?

Following a double podium in Bahrain and topping the timesheets at the Mugello test the Lotus team are now under pressure to challenge for race wins.

The Enstone based squad has been very consistent thus far in 2012 and with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean driving at a very high level it is clear that there is the potential for the former Renault team to spring a surprise.
The team will bring a host of upgrades to Spain in the hope of capitalising on their new found status as a potential race winner.

The strength of Lotus has been their tyre management but, as China showed, they are still lacking tactically. At Shanghai Raikkonen was in line for a potential podium finish but a refusal to pit left him trailing in the midfield.

With the Pirelli rubber making races such a lottery it is crucial that teams are adaptable and can think on their feet. If Lotus have the confidence to adjust their strategy “on the fly” they could be very well placed to finish on the podium once again and challenge for the victory.

Ferrari looking to bounce back

The opening quartet of races have been miserable for Ferrari. Even with Fernando Alonso winning in Malaysia the team has been off the pace throughout and challenging for the title seems all but impossible.

The Scudderia will bring a major upgrade to Barcelona and will pin their title hopes on the new parts. Fernando Alonso knows the importance of the upgrades and the Spaniard is hoping for a strong showing at his home Grand Prix:

“In Montmelo, we will be counting on making a step forward,” said the double world champion. “We won't know until Saturday if we have and if so, how big a step it is. We have updates on the F2012, some of which we tested in Mugello last week and others which we will try out on Friday in free practice. Clearly, having limited the damage in the first four races this year, we must turn things around.”

The team has been racing with one hand tied behind it’s back for much of the last year with Felipe Massa floundering alongside Alonso. The Brazilian showed some signs of progress in Bahrain but Barcelona will be an acid test for him. If he can show good speed in qualifying and the race the unrelenting pressure of the last 18 months might let up on Massa and he will be able to relax.

The struggles of Felipe have not been easy to watch but until he starts to show that he can challenge Alonso there is already an air of inevitability that he is simply closing out his time as a Ferrari Formula 1 driver.

McLaren bring upgrades

Having seen their early season speed advantage eroded McLaren will bring a host of upgrades to Barcelona. The most obvious of these is a new front wing which sees the Woking based squad fall more into line with the stepped nose of the rest of the field.

The Mercedes engined MP4-27 has started on the front row of the grid each race but with only Jenson Button’s season opening Australian GP victory it is clear that they haven’t been able to take advantage of their potential performance.

Barcelona has always been seen as an acid test of a car with, generally, the most aerodynamic car making its way to the front of the field. The McLaren is a very stable car that has shown clear flashes of its speed, now it needs to get back to the front and win races again.

The most interesting part of McLaren’s decision to introduce the new wing is that with both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button having sat out the Mugello test neither driver has used the new front wing.

Challenges facing engineers at Barcelona

Even though the teams know the Barcelona track intimately from endless laps during winter testing it still provides a challenge for the engineers to find the right setup.

Sauber’s Giampaolo Dall’Ara, the team’s head of track engineering, spoke about the contrasts of Barcelona.

“It has all kinds of features - low speed, medium speed and high speed corners as well as changes of direction,” said the Italian. “In some places the circuit is quite bumpy, and the tarmac is abrasive. Although we know this track well from testing it's always a challenging one.”

McLaren’s team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, stressed how difficult it is to find the perfect setup at Barcelona.

"I think the drivers and the engineers enjoy the tricky technical challenge of Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya,” said the Englishman. “You really operate your set-up on fine limits around here: every team's balance is so refined that even the slightest imperfections become highlighted. Get it right and you tend to have a serene afternoon, get it wrong and you'll be hitting trouble, and traffic, throughout the race.

Formula 1 revolves around Pirelli tyres

Formula 1 has been dominated by Pirelli tyres over the course of the last year with last year’s Barcelona race was one of the most exciting since the introduction of the Italian rubber.

Barcelona is one of the toughest tracks of the season on tyres with the never ending turn three placing a tremendous load on the left hand tyres. The Pirelli rubber makes its grip using mechanical rather than chemical means-in effect it is now the tyre interacts with the track surface rather than a molecular level within in the compounds-and this means that an abrasive track surface, such as Barcelona will always provide an exceptionally tough race for these tyres.

During last year’s race the softer compound saw degradation of approximately one tenth of a second per lap. With the harder rubber also available this weekend, and an expected performance difference of over 0.5s per lap, it will be crucial to be able to stay on the option tyres for as long as possible.
Pirelli’s motorspot czar, Paul Hembery, knows that this race will be the toughest test of his companies rubber for much of the season.

"The Spanish Grand Prix weekend should present something of a contrast to the last pre-season test in Barcelona, where low ambient temperatures meant that it was difficult to get heat into the tyres!” said the Englishman. “This time we're expecting warmer weather, which only adds to the many challenges that the tyres will face here. We've nominated the soft and hard tyre in order to highlight performance differences that will create a different challenge for the teams, showcasing both the speed and durability of our products.

“There is a whole step in between our two nominations for the first time this year and this should allow the teams to come up with a number of different tyre strategies that could make a big difference to the final outcome. With many teams having expanded their knowledge of our tyre range and tested new components at Mugello, we're expecting a closely-fought Spanish Grand Prix - and maybe even the fifth different winner in five races..."

Potential for rain this weekend

While sunshine and warm weather is the expected norm in Barcelona at this time of year there is a potential for rain on Sunday. The weekend is expected to start with a cloudy Friday before clearing on Friday but Sunday will see a 60% chance of rain affecting the 66 lap race.

[Born Racer]

Nice one Frostie. I've made it a 'hot topic'.

McLaren are bringing the higher nose they ran in Mugello. I wonder if they're switching from a focus on qualifying pace to more race pace.

[phoenix]

[QUOTE=frostie;3071921]

Formula 1 revolves around Pirelli tyres

Formula 1 has been dominated by Pirelli tyres over the course of the last year with last year’s Barcelona race was one of the most exciting since the introduction of the Italian rubber.

Barcelona is one of the toughest tracks of the season on tyres with the never ending turn three placing a tremendous load on the left hand tyres. The Pirelli rubber makes its grip using mechanical rather than chemical means-in effect it is now the tyre interacts with the track surface rather than a molecular level within in the compounds

Thanks. A great intro to the weekend (as usual!) but the comment I have hi-lighted intrigues me - can you point me in the direction of some further reading?

[Marbot]

Nice one frostie.

Originally Posted by Born Racer

I wonder if they're switching from a focus on qualifying pace to more race pace.

I wondered if they were just following a trend? It's quite a big change to be making, particularly as it's at the front of the car.

[Bononi]

Thanks frostie !

Spain, here we go.

[JeremySmith]

Thank you frostie! great intro....

[frostie]

Originally Posted by phoenix

Thanks. A great intro to the weekend (as usual!) but the comment I have hi-lighted intrigues me - can you point me in the direction of some further reading?

I find Mark Hughes on Autosport to be pretty good for this sort of thing. I'll have a look online and see if I can find anything from him about this

[ECW Dan Selby]

Nice one, Frost. Lovely stuff, as per usual.

Selby

[frostie]

Thanks guys,
Have to say Im really looking forward to this race. Last year's was really good so hopefully this one can have an exciting finish as well and its my first F1 race of the year to go to which always make it more exciting!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by frostie

Thanks guys,
Have to say Im really looking forward to this race. Last year's was really good so hopefully this one can have an exciting finish as well and its my first F1 race of the year to go to which always make it more exciting!

There's a slight chance of rain. Take a brolly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3128760

[frostie]

Originally Posted by Marbot

There's a slight chance of rain. Take a brolly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3128760

Yeah hopefully it passes over, dont want my camera getting wet!

[Born Racer]

Originally Posted by frostie

Last year's was really good so hopefully this one can have an exciting finish as well

Seemingly any track can produce exciting races with these regulations. Hell, even Bahrain was a corker. Valencia to have its first good Grand Prix?

[JamesH]

[QUOTE=phoenix;3071936]

Originally Posted by frostie

Formula 1 revolves around Pirelli tyres

Formula 1 has been dominated by Pirelli tyres over the course of the last year with last year’s Barcelona race was one of the most exciting since the introduction of the Italian rubber.

Barcelona is one of the toughest tracks of the season on tyres with the never ending turn three placing a tremendous load on the left hand tyres. The Pirelli rubber makes its grip using mechanical rather than chemical means-in effect it is now the tyre interacts with the track surface rather than a molecular level within in the compounds

Thanks. A great intro to the weekend (as usual!) but the comment I have hi-lighted intrigues me - can you point me in the direction of some further reading?

Indeed. That doesn't sound right at all. For example, apparently, up till now we have been using chemical grip rather than mechanical. Which is odd, since cars have actually been going round corners up to this point, and without mechanical grip, they won't have been doing that.

[frostie]

[QUOTE=JamesH;3072208]

Originally Posted by phoenix

Indeed. That doesn't sound right at all. For example, apparently, up till now we have been using chemical grip rather than mechanical. Which is odd, since cars have actually been going round corners up to this point, and without mechanical grip, they won't have been doing that.

It's how the tyres generate their grip. The Pirelli's do so using the interaction between the tyre and the point of contact with the track surface. In effect the current spec will look to "bite" into the track surface whereas in the past the Bridgestone and Michelin tyres looked to "bond" with the track surface through a chemical process caused by heating the tyres and, in effect, changing the molecular makeup and structure of the tyre

[JamesH]

[QUOTE=frostie;3072232]

Originally Posted by JamesH

It's how the tyres generate their grip. The Pirelli's do so using the interaction between the tyre and the point of contact with the track surface. In effect the current spec will look to "bite" into the track surface whereas in the past the Bridgestone and Michelin tyres looked to "bond" with the track surface through a chemical process caused by heating the tyres and, in effect, changing the molecular makeup and structure of the tyre

Sorry, but that really does sound like a load of old cobblers. Have they invented a completely new form of rubber for this miracle?

[frostie]

[QUOTE=JamesH;3072320]

Originally Posted by frostie

Sorry, but that really does sound like a load of old cobblers. Have they invented a completely new form of rubber for this miracle?

Ive had Pirelli engineers pretty much tell me this so Ill take their word for it

[phoenix]

[QUOTE=JamesH;3072320]

Originally Posted by frostie

Sorry, but that really does sound like a load of old cobblers. Have they invented a completely new form of rubber for this miracle?

Although I always try to keep an open mind, I am with you on this.

All tyres produce 'grip' at a molecular level by "engaging" with the road surface as far as I know. Give me a peer-reviewed paper to read that demonstrates that Pirelli do it in a 'new' or 'different' way and I will read it happily - I am open to being convinced.....

[Bononi]

Wow, this sounds like sci-fi features...

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Wow, this sounds like sci-fi features...

You never know just how interesting that those 'round black circles' could be.

[JamesH]

[QUOTE=phoenix;3072343]

Originally Posted by JamesH

Although I always try to keep an open mind, I am with you on this.

All tyres produce 'grip' at a molecular level by "engaging" with the road surface as far as I know. Give me a peer-reviewed paper to read that demonstrates that Pirelli do it in a 'new' or 'different' way and I will read it happily - I am open to being convinced.....

Indeed. If Pirelli have invented a completely new way for tyres to work (which is what that statement appears to say), I'm sure it would have been in the news somewhere!

As you say, open to being convinced, just not seen the evidence.

[Born Racer]

The Red Bull looked fairly planted. McLaren had loads of understeer in FP1 and in the start of FP2, but they looked a bit better at the end. Lotus are quick, that's "for sure". Mercedes don't look all that to me. Ferrari the usual poor. No doubt Alonso will pull a rabbit out of the hat in the race though.

[Bononi]

Teflonso is at home, looks pretty fast and maybe Ferrari has a trick or two...

[Born Racer]

Grosjean stopped out on track with a fuel pressure problem after not much running, so I hope that doesn't set him back much.

[Born Racer]

They might be biased Fernando fans (), but by God, isn't it good to see fans at a circuit again? (Re: Bahrain).

[CTD]

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