2017 Gran Premio de España Thread

Post by **Ataxia** » 08 May 2017, 21:57

As Spain rolls around, F1's paddock is expecting various mega-updates for Barcelona. Red Bull should be bringing a load of new bits, Ferrari and Mercedes will continue battling each other on-and-off track, and the unholy midfield tussle will rumble on.

So, expect overtakes galore as...oh no, wait, forget I said that. Is that final chicane gone yet? No? Goddamnit...

...so, expect some cars to circulate around the Circuit de Catalunya, resulting in one of them emerging as the quickest. Other things may or may not happen depending on the flow of events, but what's guaranteed is that I will be sat in front of the TV wishing that the Ricardo Tormo circuit was holding the Spanish Grand Prix instead.

...sigh...

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 09 May 2017, 04:31

#BringBackOurMontjuic

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 09 May 2017, 06:01

Well, I like the place... I seem to have a minority opinion on most tracks, though.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 09 May 2017, 08:59

I'm just glad it's not this place:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 09 May 2017, 09:05

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Well, I like the place... I seem to have a minority opinion on most tracks, though.

I do too, it's a classic track steeped in racing history and perversely even when I know the race has been dull I've always enjoyed it. More cricket than Scalextric.

TheFlyingCaterham · Post by **TheFlyingCaterham** » 09 May 2017, 11:02

Still better than this circuit.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 09 May 2017, 11:39

dr-baker wrote:I'm just glad it's not this place:

Wow. Was Bernd Maylander wrong except for the 2012 event. :badoer:

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 09 May 2017, 11:43

Ataxia wrote:...so, expect some cars to circulate around the Circuit de Catalunya, resulting in one of them emerging as the quickest. Other things may or may not happen depending on the flow of events, but what's guaranteed is that I will be sat in front of the TV wishing that the Ricardo Tormo circuit was holding the Spanish Grand Prix instead.
...sigh...

*off topic* That was the place where Alex Caffi Motorsports dominated the weekend for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Yes THAT Alex Caffi.

The Chicane · Post by **The Chicane** » 09 May 2017, 11:50

The Circuit de Catalunya...one of the calendars most boring tracks...yay

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 09 May 2017, 12:28

Good to see the forum at its optimistic best!

So which two title challengers are going to knock each other off on the first lap this year?

My bets are on......Vettel and Bottas :twisted:

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 09 May 2017, 12:30

Rob Dylan wrote:Good to see the forum at its optimistic best!

So which two title challengers are going to knock each other off on the first lap this year?

My bets are on......Vettel and Bottas

Ericsson and Palmer :pantano:

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 09 May 2017, 22:22

TheFlyingCaterham wrote:Still better than this circuit.

Nothing wrong with that circuit, except that the owners went bankrupt before the first race.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 10 May 2017, 06:45

AdrianBelmonte_ wrote:
Rob Dylan wrote:Good to see the forum at its optimistic best!

So which two title challengers are going to knock each other off on the first lap this year?

My bets are on......Vettel and Bottas

Ericsson and Palmer

Well, if the title is RotY, I'm going for McLaren and... McLaren.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 10 May 2017, 08:14

Weather report for Barcelona is a nice sunny weekend. That'll cheer us all up, won't it?

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 10 May 2017, 15:15

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Well, I like the place... I seem to have a minority opinion on most tracks, though.

I have no real opinion either way, although i do prefer Jerez. But I am in the minority on the last turn chicane. I prefer it.

Normal32 · Post by **Normal32** » 10 May 2017, 20:20

pi314159 wrote:
TheFlyingCaterham wrote:Still better than this circuit.

Nothing wrong with that circuit, except that the owners went bankrupt before the first race.

Yeah, a great circuit, probably one of my favourite Spanish circuits. The circuit is still up and although in disuse, it's structure has been relatively intact.

Speaking of good Spanish circuits...

TheFlyingCaterham · Post by **TheFlyingCaterham** » 10 May 2017, 20:37

Normal32 wrote:
pi314159 wrote:
TheFlyingCaterham wrote:Still better than this circuit.

Nothing wrong with that circuit, except that the owners went bankrupt before the first race.

Yeah, a great circuit, probably one of my favourite Spanish circuits. The circuit is still up and although in disuse, it's structure has been relatively intact.

Speaking of good Spanish circuits...

Well, Sitges appears a bit too simple for my liking for GP racing, hence why I put it there.

Jarama's a fun little circuit though, although I kinda prefer driving the reverse layout than the proper one (on Grid Autosport, to clarify).

CarloSpace · Post by **CarloSpace** » 11 May 2017, 15:57

How would Aragon suit Formula 1?

FR3.5 used to race there and what I remember those races weren't that bad, no?

girry · Post by **girry** » 11 May 2017, 16:42

Honestly I think Barcelona is the best possible place for a Spanish GP.

Aragon is just a slightly duller Tilke version of Catalunya, with even dulker lanfscape; Ricardo Tormo and Jarama are fun circuits but too small for F1 racing; Jerez is great for bikes but too tight for four wheel racing; and Valencia street circuit didnt have any cool features and produced bad races.

So if we can't have Montjuic, well...

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 11 May 2017, 17:29

I miss Valencia Street GP. Yeah, produced boring races, but the track was beautiful. Maybe a layout change could had fixed most of the problems.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 12 May 2017, 10:34

Alonso. First lap. Engine failure.

Go home Honda, you're drunk.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 12 May 2017, 11:25

As I said to a friend, Honda is the Donald Trump of engines. They both barely know how to function in their intended roles at the best of times, and at worst look about 5 minutes away from a total breakdown.

Though I suppose Trump hasn't been caught pissing up a wall. Yet.

golic_2004 · Post by **golic_2004** » 12 May 2017, 11:46

Alonso should just quit and stay in Indycar after the Indianapolis 500. Just saying.

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 12 May 2017, 16:19

golic_2004 wrote:Alonso should just quit and stay in Indycar after the Indianapolis 500. Just saying.

I honestly think he's trying to get fired. During the drivers press conference, Vettel was asked who he wanted to be battling with at Turn 1. Alonso excitedly said "Pick me! Pick me! That way you can blow right by me on the straight!"

Then after today's FP1 failure, NBC is claiming he left the circuit and went back to the hotel, and had to be coaxed out for FP2.

Post by **mario** » 12 May 2017, 21:15

CoopsII wrote:Alonso. First lap. Engine failure.

Go home Honda, you're drunk.

At least it was an engine that seems to have had a moderately high mileage on it (having reportedly been run in Melbourne, China and in the qualifying sessions in Bahrain) - at the moment, the speculation is that it may be related to the MGU-H issues they had in Bahrain.

Wallio wrote:
golic_2004 wrote:Alonso should just quit and stay in Indycar after the Indianapolis 500. Just saying.

I honestly think he's trying to get fired. During the drivers press conference, Vettel was asked who he wanted to be battling with at Turn 1. Alonso excitedly said "Pick me! Pick me! That way you can blow right by me on the straight!"

Then after today's FP1 failure, NBC is claiming he left the circuit and went back to the hotel, and had to be coaxed out for FP2.

Of course, given what Alonso's luck is like, Honda would probably then go on to fully fix their issues and the car would then turn out to be extremely competitive, just as the team he moves to dives in performance.

That said, there is the question of where Alonso would go if he were trying to engineer a situation where he was fired from McLaren - assuming, that is, he wanted to stay in F1.

Renault might be one of the few viable options - as a works team, it would offer him the chance of getting a reasonably competitive car in the near future. From Renault's point of view, they know that they'd have a much better chance of scoring points in a very tight midfield battle at the moment, and even just a few more points could lead to a big swing in the WCC standing - the gap between themselves in 8th in the WCC and Williams in 5th is 12 points right now.

andrew · Post by **andrew** » 13 May 2017, 13:02

That was frankly heroic from Alonso.

went · Post by **went** » 13 May 2017, 13:04

Alonso reminding McLaren why they can't afford to fire him despite how much he mocks them: he is their only hope to score any points this season.

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 13 May 2017, 13:04

Nice to see the two championship leaders lining up at the front of the grid - especially after Vettel came so close to disaster in Q1!

Superb effort from Alonso, too. I've never been a big fan of his, but you have to stand up and admire that.

Enforcer · Post by **Enforcer** » 13 May 2017, 13:13

Alonso's way too good for that car.

That's the qualifying performance of a guy translating all his frustration into positive aggression. We'd all understand it if he just upped and left McLaren, or just plain out stopped trying. I mean why should he try? Great, he's qualified 7th, but the car almost certainly won't make it to 50% race distance. But he wants to make it clear that he's still got more ability than most of the grid.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 13 May 2017, 13:17

An absolutely phenomenal lap from Alonso, what could he do if he was in that Ferrari alongside Vettel?

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 13 May 2017, 15:03

IIDOTY to Alonso. Period.

Stroll and Palmer can't be long for this world, can they?

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 13 May 2017, 16:44

Wallio wrote:IIDOTY to Alonso. Period.

Stroll and Palmer can't be long for this world, can they?

Except we were thinking that about palmer this time last year and he still has a drive...

Post by **mario** » 13 May 2017, 19:17

Enforcer wrote:Alonso's way too good for that car.

That's the qualifying performance of a guy translating all his frustration into positive aggression. We'd all understand it if he just upped and left McLaren, or just plain out stopped trying. I mean why should he try? Great, he's qualified 7th, but the car almost certainly won't make it to 50% race distance. But he wants to make it clear that he's still got more ability than most of the grid.

Whilst there were some commentators joking beforehand that Alonso would be talking about that session being the best qualifying performance of his career, as he has done a few times already this year, it's fair to say that it might actually be deserving of that title. It was indeed a statement of intent from Alonso, and a demonstration that the fires still burn just as bright - even if, to adapt the quote from King Lear, he seems to have hitched his wagon to a falling star.

Fetzie wrote:
Wallio wrote:IIDOTY to Alonso. Period.

Stroll and Palmer can't be long for this world, can they?

Except we were thinking that about palmer this time last year and he still has a drive...

I agree that perhaps it is a little too hasty to write them off - both individuals can potentially put a fairly persuasive argument forward via their wallets...

To be fair, they weren't that far off their team mates either in Q1 - Stroll was about 0.27s behind Massa and Palmer about 0.31s, which is not dissimilar to some of the gaps that we saw between some more highly rated drivers on the grid - it's similar to the gap between, for example, Magnussen and Grosjean in Q2, and better than Vandoorne's relative performance against Alonso (about 0.5s off his pace in Q1).

I also have to say that, in some respects, I'm slightly disappointed by Hulkenberg's performance. Now, I did feel that he probably wouldn't be as competitive in qualifying as in the practise sessions, where he was 7th and looked fairly quick, but I had thought that he might at least sneak into the bottom of the top 10 - as it was, he only managed 13th and, had it not been for Grosjean's problems on his second lap, probably been in 14th.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 14 May 2017, 01:14

Every car that exited Q1 was from a different team - is that the first time that's happened?

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 14 May 2017, 01:16

AustralianStig wrote:Every car that exited Q1 was from a different team - is that the first time that's happened?

Well it's certainly the first time since Bahrain. And China. And Australia

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 14 May 2017, 08:33

Wizzie wrote:
AustralianStig wrote:Every car that exited Q1 was from a different team - is that the first time that's happened?

Well it's certainly the first time since Bahrain. And China. And Australia

Huh. Clearly I haven't been paying enough attention during Q1 so far this year.

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 14 May 2017, 13:45

Wehrlein scored, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, WEHRLEIN REALLY SCORED

andrew · Post by **andrew** » 14 May 2017, 13:47

Palmer is still behind a man who only did 2 races and crashed out in one of them in the championship. That's how refectufl he's been.

Henrique · Post by **Henrique** » 14 May 2017, 13:47

Portugal wins Eurovision, Benfica wins championship and now, Sauber scores. Great weekend for me :dance:

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 14 May 2017, 16:39

It's nice to have a year where the two leading championship contenders are from different teams, and seem to be fairly well-matched, regularly fighting each other at the front for race victories. It promises to be an exciting title battle!

And I know it was a blatant and slightly cynical PR move in some respects, but it was nice that that little Raikkonen fan got to meet him.