Gran Premio de España Emirates 2018Formula 1

[TenEightyOne]

Racing in Europe for the first time this season although teams did visit in the snow for a pre-season test. This is the track where the dream came true for Verstappen and after a rocky start to 2018 he says that this weekend's race will define his season. That may well be true.

Kubica will drive the Williams in Friday practice - his lap times might vindicate Sirotkin/Stroll in terms of the seemingly poor times they've extracted from the car thus far... or lead to a sacking.

The European races are traditionally where the teams begin to add serious upgrades and several teams including Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren will run considerably revised cars this weekend.

 

[BrainsBush]

Ready for P1. One year ago was indeed a dream comes true. Wasn;t it with some help from Mercedes when they did a kind of Daniel-Max
Have a lot of fun this weekend. Hopefully we will see some good action on the track which leaves us much to be discussed. As long as we're having fun!

 

[Dennisch]

Ready for P1. One year ago was indeed a dream comes true. Wasn;t it with some help from Mercedes when they did a kind of Daniel-Max
Have a lot of fun this weekend. Hopefully we will see some good action on the track which leaves us much to be discussed. As long as we're having fun!

2 years already.

 

[BrainsBush]

2 years already.

We're getting old....again my brains let me down.

The way they introduced Kubica (on Dutch Ziggo TV) --> it looks like he has become a cult hero

 

[Jimlaad43]

The Kubica/Stroll times will be skewed as Stroll is using the old car, while Kubica has all the upgrades, so he should be faster.

 

[BrainsBush]

Already pretty fast in P1.

Slippery when dusty (because wet & ice is not plausible)

 

[Jimlaad43]

Low grip and windy conditions means about 3 cars have gone through the gravel and a lot more have spun already. 1:18.7 for Bottas

 

[Jimlaad43]

RED BULL IN THE WALL

(and it's not Max )

 

[BrainsBush]

Low grip and windy conditions means about 3 cars have gone through the gravel and a lot more have spun already. 1:18.7 for Bottas

And unfortunately Daniel the first who hit a wall....

 

[BrainsBush]

RED BULL IN THE WALL

(and it's not Max )

I was just going to write that all drivers except Max and Daniel did a 'slip & slide'. While typing Max missed a corner and seconds later Daniel hit the wall.

 

[Dennisch]

RED BULL IN THE WALL

(and it's not Max )

It was this moment I turned on my tv and went, oh man, again Max?! And then pfeew.

Also.

The Ferrari halo with the mirrors. Wat.

 

[TenEightyOne]

The Kubica/Stroll times will be skewed as Stroll is using the old car, while Kubica has all the upgrades, so he should be faster.

Quite, and Kubica may get his eye in faster. 1.3 seconds is not an insignificant margin but it bears noting that it's 3 seconds off the current top pace.

The Ferrari halo with the mirrors. Wat.

It was @LMSCorvetteGT2 who had the idea here first!

BBC reckon it looks like this:

 

[Dennisch]

Magnussen being the dick again.

 

[BrainsBush]

Magnussen being the dick again.

That what a close encounter

Mercedes very fast in P1. Different compounds but still. Others could be sandbagging as it is just a P1 but we know that also Mercedes does not push to the limits yet. We'll see what P2 and the rest of the weekend brings.

 

[PeterJB]

Ms Calderon is actually attending this race though there are no signs of her getting into the Sauber any time soon.

 

[adb]

Unnecessary and silly of Magnussen, it would be a tough move in a race on last laps, but at the end of FP1, after blocking earlier in lap? IMO, the only really dangerous driver on grid.

Other than that, Merc working on qually pace? Red Bull looking strong on mediums, usual Ferrari on fridays.
Won’t try judging McLaren until, hopefully, Q3
Sauber looking good as well

 

[Jimlaad43]

Ms Calderon is actually attending this race though there are no signs of her getting into the Sauber any time soon.

It's the first GP3 race this year, so it makes sense for her to be in Spain, seeing as she's racing in it.

 

[Tajima]

Robert Kubica put Lance Stroll to shame with a laughable 1.2 sec gap in FP1.

Money can give you a seat but can't buy talent.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Robert Kubica put Lance Stroll to shame with a laughable 1.2 sec gap in FP1.

Money can give you a seat but can't buy talent.

As pointed out earlier in the thread it's a meaningless comparison. It seems that Kubica was testing upgrades that Stroll didn't have on his car and we don't know either driver's fuel load. Personally I'd like to see Kubica race the car so we could have a meaningful (instead of meaningless) comparison.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Robert Kubica put Lance Stroll to shame with a laughable 1.2 sec gap in FP1.

Money can give you a seat but can't buy talent.

Robert Kubica got a full session on softer tyres with car upgrades going for glory laps. Stroll got half a session with the old spec car doing long runs to assess the old car and use it as a benchmark. You cannot compare them.

 

[adb]

As a Pole, I would love Robert to get a race seat so my opinion might be a bit biased, but with a hindsight of this car being a handful and neither of drivers doing well, it was silly of Williams not to jump on this 7 race deal for Robert.

Having said that, I was concerned with Robert's onboards. His inputs looked very lazy and sort of hesitant, and while it was likely forced on him by Williams' chassis not being any good, his right hand in left-hand corners worried me (the way he had to push the wheel). It made me feel he would've caught T13 slide if he was 100%.

 

[adb]

By the way, I wonder if Liberty has noticed that Barrichello/Schumachers was in old T10/T11

 

[Milouse]

Unnecessary and silly of Magnussen, it would be a tough move in a race on last laps, but at the end of FP1, after blocking earlier in lap? IMO, the only really dangerous driver on grid.

And he's bragging about it.
He got a 1 point penalty for this move on Leclerc this morning. It's the point he just got back from the 12 months sliding points system.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Grosjean has just spun into the gravel. Again

 

[BrainsBush]

Grosjean has just spun into the gravel. Again

"sorry"

 

[wolfsburgraz]

Grosjean has just spun into the gravel. Again

I'm guessing he won't be racing for HAAS, or maybe even F1 next year, huh?

It's too bad really, I like the guy. Coming from a Maldonado beginning to some good success in the Lotus, to performing poorly, always complaining about brakes and damaging the car.

EDIT - Speaking of HAAS, have any pieces flown off the car yet?

 

[DesertPenguin]

"sorry"

I think Ericcson hit him

 

[adb]

Love the Estrella Galicia ad on Renaults

 

[BrainsBush]

End P2 for Kimi. Looks like engine failure. Result from the trip through the gravel or another cause?

 

[TenEightyOne]

End P2 for Kimi. Looks like engine failure. Result from the trip through the gravel or another cause?

Could be gravel damage to the coolers in the sidepod perhaps?