The 2014 Spanish Grand Prix Thread

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 10 May 2014, 13:01

Horner says Vettel lost 2nd gear.

Post by **mario** » 10 May 2014, 13:06

Fetzie wrote:Horner says Vettel lost 2nd gear.

It seems from Vettel's comments over the radio that he might have lost more than just that, as it seems that he might have lost third gear as well - and was lucky that he wasn't collected by Hamilton who nearly crashed into the back of him. It sounds as if Vettel's luck is going from bad to worse this weekend - first the wiring loom failure, and now a possible transmission failure that might earn him a penalty to boot.

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 10 May 2014, 13:10

Yeah, the BBC pitlane reporter said that he heard a significant drop in revs from Vettel's car as it passed him in the pitlane before the stall protection kicked in.

Hamilton takes pole by 0.17 seconds

Hamilton 1:25.232
Rosberg + 0.168
Ricciardo + 1.053
Bottas + 1.4
Grosjean + 1.728
Raikonnen + 1.872
Alonso + 1.908
Button + 2.103
Massa + 2.17
Vettel no time set

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 10 May 2014, 13:12

Grosjean in 5th, take a bow son!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 10 May 2014, 13:13

So much for the Lotus being a shite car.

Post by **Miguel98** » 10 May 2014, 13:14

The Lotus is improving, though definetelly helped by Grosjean ability. 5th is probably an amazing result for them, especially after what happened to Pastor.

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 10 May 2014, 13:15

Mr Bottas take a bigger bow- well done great 4th!!

As for Vettel- Make sure you and Maldonado don't have an accident on lap 1.

Good Work Lewis and great Result Daniel Riccardo!!!

As for Romain-Thrashing the Pastor!!!

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 10 May 2014, 13:15

FullMetalJack wrote:Grosjean in 5th, take a bow son!

Well deserved. Pastor who?

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 10 May 2014, 13:17

CoopsII wrote:
FullMetalJack wrote:Grosjean in 5th, take a bow son!

Well deserved. Pastor who?

The guy who crashed. AGAIN.

Post by **mario** » 10 May 2014, 13:29

Fetzie wrote:He got the rear wheel on the astroturf and instead of backing off the speed he hung in there trying to correct it that way. Didn't get the car under control and shoved the nose and the front-right suspension into the wall.

Rosberg goes 2 seconds clear, and he was lifting a lot.

Hamilton backed out of his first flying lap because he fluffed T4/5.

Hamilton complaining on team radio that the car is a pig to drive.

It says something about the effect of the cut in downforce that cars could quite easily run over that strip of astroturf in previous years and not notice it, whereas this year it is causing all sorts of issues - not to mention how many drivers are struggling to keep the car under control through the final corner when in the past they'd comfortably be on full throttle.

FullMetalJack wrote:Grosjean in 5th, take a bow son!

I tell you what, Grosjean's 5th place and Bottas's 4th place are both surprising and going to give Ferrari plenty to think about given that they seem to have expected that they'd be taking those positions (especially with Vettel out of the equation due to mechanical issues).

Even if both of those drivers slip back a few places, it is plausible that they could both manage a respectable enough points finish - which would be a shot in the arm for both teams right now, particularly for Lotus. OK, the Lotus looks like a real handful to drive, with Brundle commenting that the car was behaving in such a different way between the braking/initial turn in phase and the behaviour of the car through the middle of the corner and into the exit, but if either driver can hold on it looks like a quick car.

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Not bad Max. Good effort Marcus

That was the bigger surprise for me - firstly, that Chilton should have had such an advantage (over 0.5s) given that, by his own admission, he was a little out of sorts in practise (a few errors were beginning to creep into Bianchi's laps), and even more so to see Ericsson beat Kobayashi, even if it was by a much smaller margin (about 0.06s).

girry · Post by **girry** » 10 May 2014, 13:34

You've gotta say Enstone team is really really capable, that turnaround has been miraclous. Makes me wonder what if they actually had money behind them...

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 10 May 2014, 14:03

mario wrote:It says something about the effect of the cut in downforce that cars could quite easily run over that strip of astroturf in previous years and not notice it, whereas this year it is causing all sorts of issues - not to mention how many drivers are struggling to keep the car under control through the final corner when in the past they'd comfortably be on full throttle.

The lower downforce coupled with increased torque really isn't helping.

You can see it in Vettel's driving style as he likes to be on the throttle as soon as he passes the apex - the last few years this worked due to clever engine maps and the blown diffusers keeping the rear of the car firmly attached to the track. He doesn't have the downforce to be able to drive like he did last year and Daniel Ricciardo, who didn't have the experience driving a blown-diffuser non-turbo Red Bull Racing car, hasn't really had to re-learn how to drive and has thus had the track advantage over his veteran team-mate.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 10 May 2014, 15:18

As far as that non-paying Renault team is concerned: maybe Red Bull have decided to literally give up on this season and will start producing their own engines for 2015. :lol:

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 10 May 2014, 15:35

Its a shame Maldonado crashing in his first lap. He was in top 10 in all practice sessions and was the driver who did more laps in the entire weekend.

Post by **Ataxia** » 10 May 2014, 16:34

I've been singing the praises of the potential of the Lotus car for a little while; Nick Chester was VERY optimistic about the wind tunnel numbers, and finally they seem to be back where they belong. I'm so happy to see Romain in 5th, I'm hoping he can do something good tomorrow.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 10 May 2014, 16:36

Dj_bereta wrote:Its a shame Maldonado crashing in his first lap. He was in top 10 in all practice sessions and was the driver who did more laps in the entire weekend.

He'll be worth keeping an eye on in the race; he's certainly a combative driver and the Lotus is showing some very encouraging pace at the moment. Having said that, #ThisIsRomainsRace

first time since last summer that I've felt compelled to use that

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 10 May 2014, 16:37

Vettel has a 5-place grid drop for changing the gearbox. He'll start 15th.

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 10 May 2014, 16:39

takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:Its a shame Maldonado crashing in his first lap. He was in top 10 in all practice sessions and was the driver who did more laps in the entire weekend.

He'll be worth keeping an eye on in the race; he's certainly a combative driver and the Lotus is showing some very encouraging pace at the moment. Having said that, #ThisIsRomainsRace first time since last summer that I've felt compelled to use that

If I were driving that race, I'd be keeping an eye on Maldonado for a completely different reason, but that's just me being cynical.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 10 May 2014, 17:01

Grosjean has better race pace than Bottas, Ricciardo's car fails, then Hamilton and Rosberg have a wheel-to-wheel battle that ends in disaster... I can see it....

sw3ishida · Post by **sw3ishida** » 10 May 2014, 17:04

Cynicism? On the F1 Rejects forum? Perish the thought.

Okay, sarcasm aside, cynicism is good. Especially when applied to Maldonado. Yes he'll fight and probably gain a fair few places, but one has to worry if it's only a matter of time before he makes that over ambitious move and ruins his race.

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 10 May 2014, 17:12

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Grosjean has better race pace than Bottas, Ricciardo's car fails, then Hamilton and Rosberg have a wheel-to-wheel battle that ends in disaster... I can see it....

Let's face it, that's about the only way that Mercedes will drop any points this season.

JJMonty · Post by **JJMonty** » 10 May 2014, 18:09

It was great so see Lotus back in the top 10 today!

Shame Maldonado had to bin it...

No doubt Vettel will get a penalty, what a miserable weekend he's having! :O

Mercedes 1-2 tomorrow no doubt, but I expect it to be Hamilton winning ... (not sure if that is a good or bad thing though!)

Forgive me if I'm reading too much into this, but after quali, it looked like Hamilton and Rosberg aren't speaking anymore - Rosberg went to put his arm around Hamilton for the usual top 3 pose, but Hamilton flicked it away quite aggressively! I noticed something like this also happened in Bahrain.... I can see this turning very nasty, very quickly

Post by **mario** » 10 May 2014, 18:37

Fetzie wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Grosjean has better race pace than Bottas, Ricciardo's car fails, then Hamilton and Rosberg have a wheel-to-wheel battle that ends in disaster... I can see it....

Let's face it, that's about the only way that Mercedes will drop any points this season.

On current performance levels, I agree that is the most likely reason for Mercedes losing points - the only other situation would be if, as their engine racks up higher mileage towards the end of the season, we see a repeat of some of the issues that crept in towards the end of the pre-season testing in Bahrain.

JJMonty wrote:It was great so see Lotus back in the top 10 today! Shame Maldonado had to bin it...

No doubt Vettel will get a penalty, what a miserable weekend he's having! :O

Mercedes 1-2 tomorrow no doubt, but I expect it to be Hamilton winning ... (not sure if that is a good or bad thing though!)

Forgive me if I'm reading too much into this, but after quali, it looked like Hamilton and Rosberg aren't speaking anymore - Rosberg went to put his arm around Hamilton for the usual top 3 pose, but Hamilton flicked it away quite aggressively! I noticed something like this also happened in Bahrain.... I can see this turning very nasty, very quickly

It's been confirmed that Vettel will have a five place penalty as Red Bull have stated that there is a mechanical issue with his gearbox - as you say, with the low top speed of the RB10 and the difficulties with passing around most of the corners of this circuit, it looks like it'll be a very long afternoon for Vettel from 15th on the grid.

As for the Hamilton-Rosberg post session behaviour, in Bahrain that would be understandable after such a hard fought race where both drivers must have been on an extreme adrenaline high and would therefore be naturally combative out of the car as well. As for qualifying today, it is worth noting that Rosberg spent much of the build up to this weekend talking about how he was hoping to stop Hamilton's momentum and extend his lead in the WDC - I can imagine that would have got a little under Hamilton's skin and might explain his slightly brusque response.

As to whether it will turn nasty or not, I think that will depend on how much of a head of steam Hamilton can build up in the next few races. If he leaves Rosberg in his wake in the next few events, I think that things might be tense but manageable as he would have a clear upper hand. Similarly, if Rosberg can turn his form around and opens up a gap to Hamilton, again I think that the situation would be difficult but manageable.

If, on the other hand, the situation remains tight and the two drivers are more evenly balanced, then I think things might become more acrimonious as it would then become more important to eke out smaller advantages elsewhere. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, but right now I think that Hamilton has such clear momentum behind him that it will be difficult for Rosberg to match him, reducing the odds of a severe clash of personalities.

Fetzie wrote:
takagi_for_the_win wrote:
Dj_bereta wrote:Its a shame Maldonado crashing in his first lap. He was in top 10 in all practice sessions and was the driver who did more laps in the entire weekend.

He'll be worth keeping an eye on in the race; he's certainly a combative driver and the Lotus is showing some very encouraging pace at the moment. Having said that, #ThisIsRomainsRace first time since last summer that I've felt compelled to use that

If I were driving that race, I'd be keeping an eye on Maldonado for a completely different reason, but that's just me being cynical.

And so will all of the other drivers around him, no doubt - it's a shame since he does genuinely seem to have enough pace to run with the other major teams this weekend, but has frittered it away by overdriving. I'll be interested to see what Grosjean can do from his position though - I guess that his main aspiration would be to challenge Williams, McLaren and Ferrari for a top 8 finish, with the top 6 being on the upper end of feasibility.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 10 May 2014, 18:39

dinizintheoven wrote:And Max shows his talent! See, Jocke, I told you he was unleashing his inner Viking!

Trust me, I have never once doubted the existence of Viking DNA inside Max Chilton's magnificent body.
But however great he may perform in Q, I was referring to the races. The era of finishes is over.
Now is the time for DNFs. And it breaks my heart to say that :cry:

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 10 May 2014, 20:06

I wasn't able to watch qualifying because of a track meet. Typical fare from the Mercs, but it's great to see Bottas in fourth! Maybe a chance at a Williams podium tomorrow?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 10 May 2014, 20:49

tristan1117 wrote:I wasn't able to watch qualifying because of a track meet.

That's no excuse. I was at Brands Hatch today for a Mini Festival and I watched qualifying - 2 TVs, one showing Sky, the other showing BBC, and I had BBC R5 Live in my ear. Plus one of the racers in his racesuit was following the TV coverage as well...

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 10 May 2014, 20:57

dr-baker wrote:
tristan1117 wrote:I wasn't able to watch qualifying because of a track meet.
That's no excuse. I was at Brands Hatch today for a Mini Festival and I watched qualifying - 2 TVs, one showing Sky, the other showing BBC, and I had BBC R5 Live in my ear. Plus one of the racers in his racesuit was following the TV coverage as well...

To add to that I had to go to work during qualifying but I put it on record to caught up with Q2 and Q3

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 10 May 2014, 21:07

dr-baker wrote:
tristan1117 wrote:I wasn't able to watch qualifying because of a track meet.
That's no excuse. I was at Brands Hatch today for a Mini Festival and I watched qualifying - 2 TVs, one showing Sky, the other showing BBC, and I had BBC R5 Live in my ear. Plus one of the racers in his racesuit was following the TV coverage as well...

Surprised you wasn't on uni placement, baker.

Post by **mario** » 11 May 2014, 07:25

As an aside, it now looks as if we've got a new instruction from Whiting over the speed of the formation lap.

Whiting has reportedly asked the drivers to maintain a more consistent speed as they come round to the grid amid complaints from some of the drivers towards the back of the grid that the formation laps are too slow, with one or two drivers even claiming that they have had to stop on track in order to avoid passing or colliding with another car. If drivers continue to behave in what he considers an erratic manner, he has threatened to start applying penalties for erratic driving. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113885

OsellaFA1L · Post by **OsellaFA1L** » 11 May 2014, 07:44

That was some top rejectful driving from Maldolan there, you could tell he was going to have a major accident ever since he entered turn 2 :lol:

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 11 May 2014, 08:15

Maldonado's accident was pathetic, why he didn't just lift, run over the astro in a straightish line and on the extra run-off I have no idea.

Also why were driver being allowed to go all four wheels off at turn 9? I didn't see one lap where a driver stayed in the white line there. I know it is an old topic, but either enforce the penalties or go home stewards!

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 11 May 2014, 08:35

OsellaFA1L wrote:That was some top rejectful driving from Maldolan there, you could tell he was going to have a major accident ever since he was born

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 11 May 2014, 09:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1A8zM-8h54

And again, the way he tells the team is pure reject gold. :lol:

Nobody is even close to take RotY from him at the moment!
Better get yourself together Pastor.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 11 May 2014, 09:53

Maldonado's 2014 radio transmissions

Shanghai FP2:

I crash. Sorry.

Catalunya Q1:

I lost the car.

Monte Carlo FP1:

I'm in the water.

Montreal FP3:

I'm in the water again. Sorry.

Hockenheim Q2:

I'm in the forest.

Monza race lap 21:

I'm in Curva Sud. Where are the others?

Suzuka FP1:

I'm in the ferris wheel. Sorry.

Sochi FP1:

I'm in Red Square. Sorry.

Austin FP1:

I crash into a cowboy. What do I do?

Sao Paulo FP2:

I think I crash. I think turn 5. Sorry.

JJMonty · Post by **JJMonty** » 11 May 2014, 10:20

Plausible or sheer arrogance?

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/157553.html

RonDenisDeletraz · Post by **RonDenisDeletraz** » 11 May 2014, 10:28

JJMonty wrote:Plausible or sheer arrogance?

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/157553.html

Yes, there was a problem with the tyres. The issue was who was driving the car they were attached to.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 May 2014, 12:02

Is 17th Chilton's best grid slot?

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 11 May 2014, 12:02

Please Romain, win win win!

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 11 May 2014, 12:12

Maldonado already under investigation for a collision? That took longer than expected.

I just realized he won this race two years ago.

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 11 May 2014, 12:12

Oh look, Maldonado under investigation for hitting Ericsson (no question about whether he did it or not) after only 5 laps.

Jesus, 7 laps in and the Mercs are past the pit garages before anybody else is on the home straight.

5 second Stop/Go for Maldonado.