2011 Spanish GP Discussion Thread

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 21 May 2011, 12:55

Nice one, Mark.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 21 May 2011, 12:55

WWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEERRRRRRR!!

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 21 May 2011, 12:56

Has Webber just stolen the limelight? I hope so, be nice to see Vettel actually have a true challenge this weekend

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 21 May 2011, 13:01

Wow unlucky for Alonso just 3/1000ths of a second behind Hamilton!

I think a rule needs to be implemented that if someone does not set a time in Q3 they get a penalty.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 21 May 2011, 13:02

"Alonso splits the Renaults to go 4th..."

Martin Brundle having a Murray Walker moment there.

S951 · Post by **S951** » 21 May 2011, 13:02

monster lap by alonso split the big macs

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 21 May 2011, 13:04

Yellow on Hamilton's race suit? Looks weird.

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 21 May 2011, 13:05

What was Schumacher doing? "I know, let's go out on hards and not set a flyer anyway."

Of course, he is about to make me look like a colossal idiot as his grand plan springs into action, but oh well.

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 21 May 2011, 13:07

A very interesting qualifying session, with stand-out efforts from Webber, Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen, although the latter's impressive 15th is slightly false, given the tyre position against the Force Indias.

Having said that, though, unlike Martin Brundle I don't mind qualifying seeming a bit second-rate - if it sets up a better race, then I'm all for it. And even with all the strategy and caginess over the tyres going on, I still think it was a very interesting session.

Will Webber be able to hold on to his advantage? Will Schumacher's tyre gamble finally see him springboard himself into a decent result? Will Hamilton's flat-spotted tyre cost him off the line?

Can't wait for tomorrow, which isn't something you usually say about the Spanish Grand Prix! And it's the first race of the season I'll be able to sit back, relax and watch in the comfort of my own home, too!

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 21 May 2011, 13:24

sswishbone wrote:I think a rule needs to be implemented that if someone does not set a time in Q3 they get a penalty.

I second this

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 21 May 2011, 13:25

solarcold wrote:
sswishbone wrote:I think a rule needs to be implemented that if someone does not set a time in Q3 they get a penalty.

I second this

Why? Because they're utilizing the advantage that 11th and 12th will have?

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 21 May 2011, 13:27

Can we confirm whether Webber was using KERS? If he was, then it's not as great a psychological boost as it seems, and I think Vettel was trying to play some mind games on that point in the post-session interviews.

Apart from the stand-out performances, which people have already mentioned, I still can't get over the stupidity of some teams' approaches to quali. What was Mercedes and Alonso doing going for a second run in Q1? Heidfeld looking unlikely to run, Barrichello with problems ... anyone ahead of Kovalainen after the first run probably didn't have to go again (which means Massa did have to).

What was Force India doing wasting tyres (albeit just primes) in Q2 - if you don't run you start 16th and 17th. If you run primes, you think Lotus won't try to do the best they can and put Heikki on softs? So you still finish 16th and 17th but risk either Di Resta or Sutil binning the car in the process. And did Sutil block Kobayashi's last run that might have pushed Massa out?

Is Schumi not doing a lap in Q3 a concession that he can't hack the one-lap pressure-cooker at the end of a session (or at least saving him from overdoing it like in Turkey) as well as saving tyres for the race?

GroupLotusRenault · Post by **GroupLotusRenault** » 21 May 2011, 13:31

If Webber KERS was working, he still hasnt really beaten Vettel. I dont like the way the 2011 Q3 system is, like brundle said its not important now to qualify for a race asnymore.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 21 May 2011, 13:32

Every reference to food in this thread (see "Pressure cooker" and "big macs") is making me starving. Stop it. Please!

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 21 May 2011, 13:35

Schumacher has claimed that his KERS didn't work at all and they were just out there in case someone wouldn't go so they could snatch a few positions. Once they realised nobody would not go out, they aborted the lap in order to have free tire choices.

Post by **mario** » 21 May 2011, 13:35

the Masked Lapwing wrote:What was Schumacher doing? "I know, let's go out on hards and not set a flyer anyway."

Of course, he is about to make me look like a colossal idiot as his grand plan springs into action, but oh well.

Perhaps Ross Brawn might be trying an unusual strategy variant - using the hard tyres early on leaves Schumacher with more fresh sets for the race - especially since Mercedes used up a set of soft tyres during Q1. But, even if he is on fresh soft tyres when everybody else has to use scrubbed hard tyres in the final stint, he'll be a long way behind on the track and have a lot of work to do.

That was a somewhat peculiar session - Heidfeld and Barrichello are going to be pretty frustrated, being stuck at the back (Barrichello said that the team stopped him going out again because of a gearbox problem, which is why he couldn't set a better lap). Judging by Maldonado's performance, Williams are finally beginning to improve, so Barrichello, who'll be sitting on lots of fresh tyres, must at least hope he can make it into the top 10, as does Heidfeld.
As for Heikki, it's great to see him in Q2, even if he did benefit greatly from retirements - and it's worth noting that he was still the best part of 1.2-1.3s behind the Force India's when they were on the soft tyre in Q1. Improvements there might have been, but their single lap pace is still not there - though their longer runs are a little more encouraging.

Overall the strategic position is a little more ambiguous this weekend, with such a sharp difference in tyre performance - although the hard tyre is so much slower that I think that most teams will simply run almost all of the race on the soft tyre, and make a very late switch to the hards if they can get away with it.

solarcold wrote:
sswishbone wrote:I think a rule needs to be implemented that if someone does not set a time in Q3 they get a penalty.

I second this

We do not know the full circumstances behind Schumacher's failure to set a lap - OK, it's most likely to be strategic, but it may be that he hit mechanical problems. Incidentally, I assume that you'd have to include a clause within your rule that exempts those who could not set a time for non strategic reasons i.e. mechanical failure or an accident?

eytl wrote:Can we confirm whether Webber was using KERS? If he was, then it's not as great a psychological boost as it seems, and I think Vettel was trying to play some mind games on that point in the post-session interviews.

I think that Webber was using KERS during qualifying - at the very least, Kravitz did confirm that Webber had no problems in Q2, whilst Vettel's system had failed in Q1 (and Red Bull now need to see if they can repair it under the "parc ferme" conditions). So, unless it turns out that Webber's system also failed in Q3, or Vettel's system was restored during Q2 and Q3, I think that Vettel does still have the upper hand in terms of pace - and he does seem to be trying to unsettle Webber by pointing that out to him.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 21 May 2011, 13:37

@ Cynon: - No, it is because it is deliberately not playing by the rules of qualifying, in that each session you have to qualify. For me if you deliberately don't run, you should have a penalty. If someone has a problem, like Heidfeld for instance, that is different, but if you go around and deliberately don't set a time to me you have brought the sport into disrepute

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 21 May 2011, 14:03

Paul Hayes wrote: unlike Martin Brundle I don't mind qualifying seeming a bit second-rate - if it sets up a better race, then I'm all for it. And even with all the strategy and caginess over the tyres going on, I still think it was a very interesting session.

Completely agree. Personally, I love all this strategy and caginess over the tyres going on (although having said that it would be nice to see more running in Q3...but I suppose you can't have it both ways). Anyway, we have very different approaches throughout the entire grid, so its probably best to summarise my thoughts team by team;

Red Bull - Did anyone else notice Mark Webber's face, when he learnt Vettel had a KERS problem during the post quali interview? It was hilarous...he didn't too happy about that (EDIT; Seb saying this in front of Mark was defiantly mind games IMO). Apart from Vettel's KERS issue Seb also said he made a slight mistake on his Q3 run (EDIT; which he also conveniently pointed out in front of Mark in the post Quali interview), so I suspect Vettel to have more pace than Mark. Whether he can translate that into a win is of course another matter.

Ferrari - Great lap by Alonso, great race pace also (not too far off RBR), but they used an extra set of softs during quali & Alonso is starting on the dirty side, so that could hurt his start. Also through FP Ferrari's look worse on the hard tyres compared to RBR & Mclaren. Massa struggling big time, especially on the hards.

Mclaren - Saved soft's for the race, Lewis may get the jump on the RBR's at the start (better KERS that them) but they are unlikely to match RBR pacewise. Alonso will be a massive threat to them.

Mercedes - The car still doesn't seem quite as balanced through the high speed stuff, so that may wreck their tyres on Sunday. Very interested to see which driver finishes ahead in the race. I think Nico has got a tenth or two over Schumi, but Schumi may have the better strategy. Shades of Prost v Lauda 1984!!!

Williams - Suprising flashes of good pace throughout the weekend. Again like Merc driver's two drivers on completely seperate stategies. So interesting to see who wins that inter-team battle. Also can Pastor handle fighting the top guys in the race?

Renualt - Another team with two drivers on seperate stategies (although forced this time). Can Petrov ultilse Renualt's suposely great start system?

Torro Rosso - Suprising speed in Quali, & another great effort from Buemi (0.5 ahead of Jamie). Although Torro Rosso can sometime fall back during the races.

Sauber - Bit dissapointed with their Quali, however they have showed great race pace over the FP sessions. Watched them closely during quali & I don't think they used a hard set at all. So could they be planning a completely different stategy in the race compared to other teams I wonder?

Force India - Clever Tactics, can't wait to see how they go. Great performance by di Resta, is it time Sutil should go?

Lotus - Got the feeling they shot their bolt (i.e. soft tyres) to early, but they have little prospect of beating the other midfield teams by matching their strategy, so why not try something different?

Virgin - Decent performance by Glock, but still miles off where Virgin should be.

HRT - Karthikeyan about a tenth off Liuzzi. :lol:

As their is such a split by drivers. I wondered whether we may see a couple of drivers such as FI drivers or M Schumi or Heidfeld 'do a Webber from China' i.e. start on hards to basically get them out of the way (remember the car & therefore tyre wear is at its heaviest at the start of the race), then change to softs after a few laps. Also I am very interested to see what Sauber do, as I reckon they may be trying something different to others. Paul Hembrey (Pirelli bloke) said

"Some teams have a very high estimated lifespan – I don't want to say who they are because that will be very important for their strategy come race day. In terms of performance, we have seen two seconds, which is more than we saw in testing. But the degradation levels between the hard and the sort are high. The soft is degrading about two tenths per lap, and the hard about one tenth per lap – so there is going to be a cross-over point. And it means the hard tyre will actually come into play for once in terms of strategy, which it hasn't done before."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/91545

So I think these comments might be in reference to Sauber?

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 21 May 2011, 14:19

Paul Hayes wrote:Will Webber be able to hold on to his advantage?

Well he's on the clean side of the track and functioning KERs for a change!

Post by **Londoner** » 21 May 2011, 16:58

Apparently it was a KERS problem which was the reason why Schumacher didn't set a time in Q3.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/05/21/kers-problem-delays-schumacher/

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 21 May 2011, 17:12

The biggest battle tomorrow will be between both Red Bulls. Webber is starting from pole and I wonder if Vettel's comments have stung him and he'll be desperate to beat Vettel on a straight fight in the race. Also, superb effort by Alonso to qualify only 0.003 seconds away from Hamilton despite the whole rear wing issue. Let's see how will the hard tyres behave tomorrow on the Ferraris.

Really a shame about Barrichello's troubles, he could have been quite competitive in Q3. Williams seems to be picking up the pace at last. And what's going on with Force India to be so far off the pace, as well with d'Ambrosio?

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 21 May 2011, 17:19

I know D'Ambrosio wasn't running the upgraded car on Friday, so my guess is he's still in the older car whilst Glock has the upgrades (minus the blown floor as has been mentioned).

Webber didn't seem too happy initially after qualifying did he? I'll make a prediction and say all is not well between the two drivers (if it ever was since Turkey 2010). I doubt there'll be anything too spectacular at the first corner (I hope I'm wrong though!) though both will be going for it like bats out of hell, and we know how aggressive Vettel can be off the line if he gets a bad start (see China, Germany last year, amongst others) and if he doesn't have KERS and Mark does, that's almost a certainty...

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 21 May 2011, 21:22

Phoenix wrote:And what's going on with Force India to be so far off the pace, as well with d'Ambrosio?

The former is gambling on tyres, the latter using an older-spec car & is just plain shite anyway.
(Well, it looked to me as if it still had the low nose...)

Pointrox · Post by **Pointrox** » 21 May 2011, 21:44

Red Bulls took another 1-2 in the qual, only difference being the order, so nothing new in front.
Alonso - after a long streak of P5s, finally got one position up, between Hamilton and Button.
Mercedes is... meh. Really, this team doesn't give me any emotions. They're just good midfielders.
McDonaldo's performance - given the car and the fact that it is (if I remember correctly) Williams' first Q3 of the season - was pretty decent.
I'm quite disappointed with Sauber and Force India, the latter being outqualified by Kovalainen by half or over a second.
Heikki's performance is worth mentioning, although he will have to make a sensational start - and T128 never was brilliant in that matter... so far.
HRT might - as usual - outrun the Simteks... Virgins with reliability

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 21 May 2011, 23:11

kostas22 wrote: is just plain shite anyway.

Just outqualifying Glock and keeping up with him. Oh well, Glock isn't worthy a place in F1...

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 21 May 2011, 23:52

Force India can run the hard tires all they want, but if they were going to do so, can't they at least get out of Kobayashi's way so that he can bump Massa out of Q3?

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 22 May 2011, 03:53

Can't sleep as too exicted about the race (unusual for Spainish GP). This is useful, thanks to F1 Fanatic.co.uk: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/05/21/v ... us-chance/

0 Sets of Soft Tyres left
04 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
06 - Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
08 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
09 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
12 - Sergio Perez (Sauber) * Think this is wrong see below...
13 - Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso)

1 Set of Soft Tyres left
01 - Mark Webber (Red Bull)
02 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
03 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
05 - Jenson Button (McLaren)
07 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
10 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
11 - Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso)
14 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)**
15 - Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus)
18 - Jarno Trulli (Lotus)
20 - Timo Glock (Virgin)
21 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT)
22 - Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)
23 - Jerome D’Ambrosio (Virgin)

2 Sets of Soft Tyres left
16 - Paul di Resta (Force India)
17 - Adrian Sutil (Force India)

3 Sets of Soft Tyres left
19 - Rubens Barrichello (Williams)
24 - Nick Heidfeld (Renault)

* I think this is wrong as James Key, technical director @ Sauber said "Then we did a quick lap on used tyres in Q2 and a single lap on new tyres at the end of the session." So Perez might have saved a new set of options.

** aborted his final Q2 stint due to being held up by Sutil, so effectively got 1 & a half new sets of options (if you follow me). Also does anyone know whether Sutil will get Penalised? As Kobayashi appeared to have the pace to challenge for the top 10.

Other things of interest to note. Vettel as 0.3 seconds quicker than Webber in Q2 even without his KERS. Interesting. Martin Brundle said that KERS was around 0.5 secs in the commentary. Also RBR was using DRS where others weren't so the relative gap in quali should be slightly reduced.

Ferrari's pace on the hard tyres in Q1 was simliar to Mercedes & Renualt. Whislt Schumi was a bit slower relative to Rosberg on hards (both could be as a result of turning down the engine, or a bad lap, traffic or simply not pushing as hard etc).

Pastor's car looked good through the high speed corners but struggled under braking into the slower speed corners (his spin in FP1 was evidence to that). Also he made a couple of small mistakes into T10 & the T12. So perhaps there was more time in the car, good for Barrichello, but Pastor hasn't got any new options left. Ditto with regards to Petrov & Heidfeld, as the Renault looks nicely balanced.

Option tyres expected to last circa 10 -12 laps, (drop off is 0.2 secs per lap) whislt the prime expected to last 20 - 25 laps (drop off is 0.1 secs per lap). Race length is 66 laps.

Although I am sad enough to look into this amout of detail for the race, I am unable to work out the theorical strategies, since don't know the effect of reduced fuel load will have on this & rubbering in track etc (believe me, I tried :oops:

)

But I'm quite interested to see if anyone is going to be brave enough to 'do a Webber from China'? So say start on Hards, then Softs & Softs again (assuming reduced tyre wear in later stages). Also I have a sneeky suspection that Sauber may try their Australia tactics & try & got for a one / two stopper depending on tyre wear.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 May 2011, 04:28

eytl wrote:And did Sutil block Kobayashi's last run that might have pushed Massa out?

I swear that was the third time this season that Mass has made it into Q3 through sheer dumb luck alone.

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 22 May 2011, 07:49

sswishbone wrote:@ Cynon: - No, it is because it is deliberately not playing by the rules of qualifying, in that each session you have to qualify. For me if you deliberately don't run, you should have a penalty. If someone has a problem, like Heidfeld for instance, that is different, but if you go around and deliberately don't set a time to me you have brought the sport into disrepute

There are few certainties in life, but I can find you one right here: The less subjective judging is done by Formula One stewards, the less they're going to get in the way and/or cause controversy, and the less everyone is going to hate them. This would inherently be a subjective call, because there is no way to judge a mechanical fix, and a team could always say there's an issue just for there to not be one. (How many issues did Virgin have last year that were strange and mysterious [and how easy would it be if they were never announced publicly]? Those could just as easily be faked by midfield teams that don't want to put their cars on the track if they don't have to.)

The teams in question earned their 16th and 17th starting positions by getting through Q1, so why should they be forced to go back out and jeopardize their already-earned starting position?

Post by **mario** » 22 May 2011, 08:04

Wizzie wrote:
eytl wrote:And did Sutil block Kobayashi's last run that might have pushed Massa out?

I swear that was the third time this season that Mass has made it into Q3 through sheer dumb luck alone.

Massa has really cut it fine several times this year, although to be fair to him the F150th does not seem to have great single lap pace (and suffers from horrendous understeer - Brundle pointed that out during qualifying that both drivers were really struggling to get the front end into the corners). He's been fortunate for now, but his luck is going to run out one day if he struggles to maximise his qualifying lap pace - moreover, with Ferrari using their fresh sets of soft tyres very early on, he could well find himself outside the top 10 with no fresh sets to boot.

As for Sutil, though, according to Kobayashi in a post qualifying statement, he held Kobayashi up unintentionally - basically, Sutil made a mistake going into Turn 10 whilst trying to better his previous lap time. That in turn held Kobayashi up - but, judging by the fact that no penalties have been announced, and the tone of their press statements, it seems that they have not protested to the stewards.

Kamui Kobayashi - 14th: "On my last lap, when I was on new soft tyres, a Force India was in trouble in front of me, he made a mistake in turn ten and that was it for me. It is a shame because our new aero package is working well. We have clearly made progress and the car was definitely good enough for a place in the top ten. However, for the race we should be okay and dealing with the super hard tyres will be tricky for everyone."

ibsey wrote:
Option tyres expected to last circa 10 -12 laps, (drop off is 0.2 secs per lap) whislt the prime expected to last 20 - 25 laps (drop off is 0.1 secs per lap). Race length is 66 laps.

Although I am sad enough to look into this amout of detail for the race, I am unable to work out the theorical strategies, since don't know the effect of reduced fuel load will have on this & rubbering in track etc (believe me, I tried )

But I'm quite interested to see if anyone is going to be brave enough to 'do a Webber from China'? So say start on Hards, then Softs & Softs again (assuming reduced tyre wear in later stages). Also I have a sneeky suspection that Sauber may try their Australia tactics & try & got for a one / two stopper depending on tyre wear.

Williams do give a preview of the races which includes a little basic data about factors like fuel consumption, brake wear etc. According to them, the fuel penalty is 0.3s per 10kg (which is similar for most venues - a few, like China, see that rise to 0.4s per 10kg), with fuel consumption around 2.4kg/lap. http://www.attwilliams.com/news/view/1794
I would take the fuel consumption figure with a pinch of salt, though - that would equate to nearly 160kg of fuel over a full race distance, but the teams probably fuel the cars up with 130-140kg of fuel and turn the engines down in the latter half of the race (so about 2.1kg/lap would be closer to the mark).

Rubbering in is more difficult to judge - Pirelli are said to be using a quite different construction technique to Bridgestone by cutting the amount of synthetic rubber compounds in the tyres, so the tyres wear out more quickly. The tyres used by Bridgestone did leave a noticeable amount of rubber on the racing line, so there the effect was quite pronounced. By comparison, these new tyres tend to break up into chunks instead. So, the net result is that there is relatively little build up of rubber on the racing line, with a much more pronounced build up of marbles off line instead.

As for who is most likely to "do a Webber" (the BBC commentary team are using that phrase in their interviews), I reckon that Heidfeld is more likely to try it, since Renault are keener to try unorthodox strategies. But, with the hard tyre being about 2s slower than the soft, that could make passing the tail end of the field a little more tricky, and he really does need to clear them pretty quickly, as he needs to be at least in touch with the Force India duo if he wants to try and beat them.
That said, he's likely to have a pretty sizeable straight line advantage over the back markers - Petrov was clocking over 320kph down the straight, whilst HRT, Virgin and Team Lotus were under 310kph. The Force India pairing might be a stumbling block, though - Heidfeld is probably going to be quicker than them, but the VJM04 is still pretty quick down the straights, so he could end up stuck behind them for quite some time if they use the same strategy.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 22 May 2011, 09:01

@ Thehemoglobin: - Simple really, in each session you have to qualify, otherwise why bother having three sessions and just bring it back to the four runs from the early days? Technical things can be looked into, when under investigation for this the team have to divulge exactly what happened, then the qualified scrutineer for the weekend makes the call as to whether it is genuine. Case in point, Schumacher apparently had a kers problem, so did Vettel, he qualified second! Ultimately, if you make it through to Q2 you should have to run, as you should have to cover roughly the same mileage as everyone else in that session. Yes, I know that stewards seem frightened of making the clear cut ecisions, but either way, I still believe a penalty should apply if you fail to run in any qualifying session without a reason that is justifiable to the scrutineer and stewards.

To relate this to the reject nature of the site, how many of you agree that Arrows France 2002 DNQ effort was potentially legal?

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 22 May 2011, 09:55

mario wrote:As for Sutil, though, according to Kobayashi in a post qualifying statement, he held Kobayashi up unintentionally - basically, Sutil made a mistake going into Turn 10 whilst trying to better his previous lap time. That in turn held Kobayashi up - but, judging by the fact that no penalties have been announced, and the tone of their press statements, it seems that they have not protested to the stewards.
Kamui Kobayashi - 14th: "On my last lap, when I was on new soft tyres, a Force India was in trouble in front of me, he made a mistake in turn ten and that was it for me. It is a shame because our new aero package is working well. We have clearly made progress and the car was definitely good enough for a place in the top ten. However, for the race we should be okay and dealing with the super hard tyres will be tricky for everyone."

Kobayashi has to be the least whiny driver on the grid. His attitude seems to be to just shrug and get on with it.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 May 2011, 10:26

I find it quite interesting to note that D'Ambrosio only cleared the 107% time by 2 tenths of a second.

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 22 May 2011, 10:30

LionZoo wrote:
mario wrote:As for Sutil, though, according to Kobayashi in a post qualifying statement, he held Kobayashi up unintentionally - basically, Sutil made a mistake going into Turn 10 whilst trying to better his previous lap time. That in turn held Kobayashi up - but, judging by the fact that no penalties have been announced, and the tone of their press statements, it seems that they have not protested to the stewards.
Kamui Kobayashi - 14th: "On my last lap, when I was on new soft tyres, a Force India was in trouble in front of me, he made a mistake in turn ten and that was it for me. It is a shame because our new aero package is working well. We have clearly made progress and the car was definitely good enough for a place in the top ten. However, for the race we should be okay and dealing with the super hard tyres will be tricky for everyone."

Kobayashi has to be the least whiny driver on the grid. His attitude seems to be to just shrug and get on with it.

I completely agree LionZoo, & it is so refreshing to see that attitude from Kobayashi - san. He also doesn't seem to moan to often about things like "dirty air" when stuck in traffic etc. I think it is perhaps a reflection on just how spoilt some of the other drivers have become. Something Martin Brundle mentioned in the qualifying commentary on the BBC.

BTW according to this site; http://twitter.com/#!/FrenchF1

Petrov apparently made a small mistake on his Q3 lap, touching the cluch paddle instead of the KERS one, losing him 6 tenths. So without this mistake he may possibly been 3rd?

Not sure how reliable this source is, but if that is true & that Renualt has got some pace. So if the Renualt has a good start they could prove to be a real menace, its just a question of whether the drivers are good enough to mix it with the big boys? Although it has to be said Petrov has no new tyres left, but then again, the car seems well balanced so maybe it will be easier on its remaining sets. Can't wait to see how Petrov & Heidfeld get on either (particularly if Heidfeld does gamble on 'doing a Webber').

P.s. thanks for the Williams link & useful insight as always Mario.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 22 May 2011, 10:49

LionZoo wrote:Kobayashi has to be the least whiny driver on the grid. His attitude seems to be to just shrug and get on with it.

That's another reason why we all love him. 6th place today please Kamui.

GroupLotusRenault · Post by **GroupLotusRenault** » 22 May 2011, 10:58

So guys do you think this couldbe the turning of Williams off form season?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 22 May 2011, 11:00

GroupLotusRenault wrote:So guys do you think this couldbe the turning of Williams off form season?

Hopefully. But it'll mean we can't laugh at Maldonado's ineptness anymore if that happens.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 22 May 2011, 11:15

Wizzie wrote:
GroupLotusRenault wrote:So guys do you think this couldbe the turning of Williams off form season?

Hopefully. But it'll mean we can't laugh at Maldonado's ineptness anymore if that happens.

It'll be a Williams a la 1999, Barrichello being Ralf and Pastor being Zanardi

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 22 May 2011, 11:38

Atmosphere seems great, grid seems set-up for a good race... Could we have that rarest of beasts ahead of us, an exciting Spanish Grand Prix?

QuickYoda41 · Post by **QuickYoda41** » 22 May 2011, 11:47

Today I saw on the streets of Budapest a woman wearing Toyota shirt and another wearing Jaguar shirt and cap. That's surely a sign for a great race for ex-Toyota and -Jaguar drivers 8-)

(I hope at least

)