11-05-2012, 18:25
Button heads tight Spanish GP field as Red Bull and Lotus challenge
It’s going to be a very closely contested Spanish Grand Prix, with McLaren looking like the pace setters but Red Bull and Mercedes there on qualifying pace and Lotus right right there on race pace, judging from today’s practice sessions.
Jenson Button set the fastest time in Friday’s second free practice session, ahead of Vettel’s Red Bull and Rosberg’s Mercedes, but it was the performance of the Lotus cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean (5th and 6th today), which caught the eye on the long runs. They both managed long runs on the soft Pirelli tyre which were both fast and consistent and hint at them challenging for the win on Sunday as they did in Bahrain. Lower temperatures are forecast for Sunday, so that could make things more difficult for them.
The high track temperatures certainly helped. It was 44 degrees for most of the afternoon, which suits the Lotus and they will be hoping that the temperatures stay high for Sunday.
There was a lot of expectation going into this weekend about the heavily revised Ferrari; the team have at least six major changes on the car this weekend, including a new nose, front wing details, turning vanes, sidepods, exhausts, rear wing and floor. Alonso was managing expectations yesterday in his press briefings, saying that this was only the first step to closing up the gap to the front runners, which had been around 1.2 to 1.5 seconds per lap. It’s likely that the gap will turn out to be around 0.9s, once we see the outright pace in qualifying. Alonso was only 14th today, as he had to abort his first lap on his soft tyre run and set the time on his second lap, when the tyres were past their best in sector three. Team mate Massa was 11th fastest on 1m 24.4s a second off the McLaren’s pace.
Lewis Hamilton also had a messy lap on new soft tyres, with lock ups, he set his fastest time on the second lap, so there’s more to come from him.
There are many changes and updates on the cars this weekend, as one would expect for the first European race of the season, especially after a three day test like the one in Mugello last week. Many of the updates we saw there are on the cars here, some are not, like the revised exhausts on the Williams and Caterham, which ran in Mugello but are not on the car here.
There’s a lot of emphasis across the board on the front wings, improving the air flow to the rest of the car and on exhaust positioning. There’s no sign yet of anyone copying the Mercedes double DRS system.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/05/bu...challenge/
It’s going to be a very closely contested Spanish Grand Prix, with McLaren looking like the pace setters but Red Bull and Mercedes there on qualifying pace and Lotus right right there on race pace, judging from today’s practice sessions.
Jenson Button set the fastest time in Friday’s second free practice session, ahead of Vettel’s Red Bull and Rosberg’s Mercedes, but it was the performance of the Lotus cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean (5th and 6th today), which caught the eye on the long runs. They both managed long runs on the soft Pirelli tyre which were both fast and consistent and hint at them challenging for the win on Sunday as they did in Bahrain. Lower temperatures are forecast for Sunday, so that could make things more difficult for them.
The high track temperatures certainly helped. It was 44 degrees for most of the afternoon, which suits the Lotus and they will be hoping that the temperatures stay high for Sunday.
There was a lot of expectation going into this weekend about the heavily revised Ferrari; the team have at least six major changes on the car this weekend, including a new nose, front wing details, turning vanes, sidepods, exhausts, rear wing and floor. Alonso was managing expectations yesterday in his press briefings, saying that this was only the first step to closing up the gap to the front runners, which had been around 1.2 to 1.5 seconds per lap. It’s likely that the gap will turn out to be around 0.9s, once we see the outright pace in qualifying. Alonso was only 14th today, as he had to abort his first lap on his soft tyre run and set the time on his second lap, when the tyres were past their best in sector three. Team mate Massa was 11th fastest on 1m 24.4s a second off the McLaren’s pace.
Lewis Hamilton also had a messy lap on new soft tyres, with lock ups, he set his fastest time on the second lap, so there’s more to come from him.
There are many changes and updates on the cars this weekend, as one would expect for the first European race of the season, especially after a three day test like the one in Mugello last week. Many of the updates we saw there are on the cars here, some are not, like the revised exhausts on the Williams and Caterham, which ran in Mugello but are not on the car here.
There’s a lot of emphasis across the board on the front wings, improving the air flow to the rest of the car and on exhaust positioning. There’s no sign yet of anyone copying the Mercedes double DRS system.
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2012/05/bu...challenge/
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