At Barcelona it’s all about the fine details the atmosphere here is really, good. The people are huge motorsport fans and, of course, Alonso is their hero so they come to support him in big numbers. It’s like a football match: when you drive the formation lap, everybody is so excited.
The Red Bulls should be faster than everyone but not by a far margin. Teams should be thinking hard after FIA’s aim to ban blown diffuser’s gas pumping work. It’s interesting to see if DRS would give the same number of overtaking like Turkey.
“You can’t find different lines or new ways to attack a corner because everybody knows the circuit so well”
Generally it’s a very close weekend. Everybody knows the circuit and the optimum car setup. It’s all about finding small margins if you’re going to be quick here. That’s the challenge for the weekend: finding the last hundredth of a second. It’s also about trying to find the absolute optimum setup, making the tiniest of adjustments and getting the tyre pressure spot on. A lot depends on the temperature, a lot depends on the wind and a lot depends on getting the aero balance just right. It’s all about small modifications.
[singlepic id=156 w=320 h=240 float=left]You’ll never find big chunks of time from the setup because people have been testing here for such a long time. You can’t find different lines or new ways to attack a corner because everyone knows the circuit so well. It’s all about the small stuff: that’s the only way you can make a difference. It’s what you’re chasing all weekend.
CIRCUIT STATS
Round 5/19
Track length: 2.892 miles
Race length: 190.825 miles
Laps: 66
Direction: Clockwise
F1 debut: 1991
Lap record:
1 min 21.670secs
Kimi Raikkonen (2008)
Last five winners:
2010 Mark Webber
2009 Jenson Button
2008 Kimi Raikkonen
2007 Felipe Massa
2006 Fernando Alonso
Tyre allocation
Prime: Hard
Option: Soft
TOP OVERTAKING SPOT
I think Turn 1 is probably the best chance at overtaking because you’re coming out of a slow chicane, but even so it’s still very difficult to achieve.
First of all you struggle to get close enough and then by the time you are getting close to the other car it’s too late.
CIRCUIT HIGHLIGHT
Turn 9 is a fast, blind, right-hand comer where. You take it in fifth gear, at 150mph — not quite flat-out. Well — maybe the Red Bulls can go flat-out.
INSIDE TIP
Wind speed and wind direction affect aero a lot at Barcelona because it’s such a high-speed circuit. For example, if you get a tailwind through Tum 3 that’s really hard. But if you get a good headwind from the middle to the exit of Tum 3, you gain a lot of downforce and the car
