Spanish GP: Preview

This is the perfect time for JPM to bow out of F1 without admitting total defeat. According to one report he has a muscle atrophy problem. If Ron Dennis is smart, he'll keep Wurz in again this go around. The stats speak for themselves if you compare Wurz and de la Rosa to JPM for all the races thus far. It's definitely going to be a good race - only spoiler is that we have to watch CBS first - thankgoodness for the computer! I'll go with MS.

Carol

 

Where can I watch it on the computer?
Can I get David Hobbs too?
Winston

 

What are you smoking? Wurz does deserve a ride that much i agree with but Montoya isn't gonna bow out. He'd have to be smoking the same stuff you are.....

 

Alonzo will win, MS will come in second. Montoya will be out for the next two races recovering from his motorcycling tennis injury.

 

Renault and Alonso said Ferrari was lucky with special circumstances at Imola, but will remain their biggest rivals for the Spanish GP. Also they will come out with an improved (read more HP) version of their engine. OTOH MS has won the last five Spanish GPs. So here is my pick:

1) Alonso
2) MS
3) Kimi

At any rate the stage is set for a fantastic race. Can't wait. I'm just thankful I went there last year. This year it will be a madhouse with Alonsomania and an expected 115,000 fans. Yikes!

 

Ferrari was too much quicker than everyone else, so they must have just had the perfect set up for Imola. Since that was the first race completed by the F2005, that conclusion does not necessarily represent the facts of the race. I realize that Ferrari had not been setting records during testing, but my thoughts are that Bridgestone finally was able to construct a tire that would last an entire race. It will be very interesting to see if the Ferrari can again get seemingly better as the race goes on (they did say that qualifying was a problem due to not getting the tires up to temperature). Either Bridgestone really made a quantum leap in Imola, or their tires are better in moderate temps than high temps.

I think that a hot day probably is an Alonso win, cooler temps give Schu (or Rubens) the win.

 

Imperial is with you on that one for sure.

I also think that MS is a shoo-in for a win here - he drove with magnificent fire last weekend. He is going to annihilate Alonso. I think Raikkonnen will also podium in this race.

 

This was the second race for the F2005. The first was Bahrain.

I think your right about the tires. In the prior races the rear tires on the Ferrari had looked shot. We didn't get a good look at them at the end of the last race, thanks CBS , but from what I could tell from what we did see they looked in good shape. Groves were still present and MS did have a fast car under him at the end.

A new track surface this winter changes some things but from what I've read the surface is very smooth and slippery but, tire degradation is down from what it's been in the past.
My prediction is:
1)Kimi if his car can finish
2)Alonso
3)MS
4)Fisi
5)Jarno, I think the Toyotas will be back on pace
6)JB
7)RB
8)Takuma Sato
9)Ralf S.
10)Wurtz/Pedro (Who's driving?)

Also a very nice addition to the F1 site is the technical analysis for each race:
http://www.formula1.com/insight/technical_analysis/race/2005/732/86.html

 

The stats speak for themselves? Really?

JPM has received 8 points in two races. 4 on average per race. Which is exactly the same as de la Rosa.

JPM's best result is a fourth place, which is exactly the same Wurz did in Imola.

I fail to see the advantage of any of these drivers over the other. With the small difference that JPM is a GP winner.

I agree that we haven't seen much from him so far (which is hard to do in 2 races), but I don't see the logic in saying any of the other two guys is clearly better.

 

Agree

If you go points alone - he got more than Kimi did over the same two races. The current Mclaren car is quicker than the one in Melbourne.

 

I hope MS wins.

I'm sorry but it's been sooo many years that in Spain the F1 was totally forgotten by the TV.
Now, becouse Alonso wins, everybody wants to know about F1 and everybody is an Alonso fan, and in every newspaper, every magazine, they critisize MS. ****!

I'm sorry, but always I have been a tifosi, and now even more.

And now the good part: a friend of mine has some VIP tickets for his clients (he's a banker) and I will be able to go to the Ferrari box (yes, the tickets are becouse of an agreement between Ferrari Switzerland and the bank my friend is working for)...that's what I have been said.

That will only be on friday, becouse the clients deserve the best days.

Of course I will post pics if everything goes ok.

My prediction

1.MS
2.JB
3.RB
4.GF
5.KR
6.AW

 

Fernando is starting to get really cocky from all quotes that I have seen posted that have been said by him. How this will be the race of his career, how Ferrari is not as fast as they seem. He acts as if its only the car thats fast and not Michael. I think he has another thing coming if he thinks he is going to dominate the season like this. Should be a great race though.

 

I think ricksb meant that this was the first race that the F2005 actually finished, or atleast finished competitively.

The facts currently point to Renault having their **** sorted and Ferrari still working on it. If we analyse Imola (after the excitement abated) we realise that while Ferrari/MS did improve they did NOT surpase the Renault/Alonso pairing. Why do I say that?, Alonso was nursing home a 2 race old engine and this made MS's sprint at the end look far better than it was really (yes, yes I know I was just as excited watching it too ... but).

Also this meeting (ie. Spain) will see situations reversed, thus MS will have a 1 race old tired engine and Alonso will have a brand spanking new healthy big grunter. We also have had Ferrari engine failures this year and currently the Renault engine has proven to be a beaut.

On top of this we have the tyre situation, I still think Michelin have the upper hand, thus I have to say:

1. Alonso.
2. MS (hopefully).
3. Kimi (hopefully ... yes once upon a time, many years ago McLaren's could actually reach the end of a race )
4. Webber.
...


I do hope that MS can take it to Alonso though ... to keep the season interesting, and I also hope that Williams can get some speed into their car so both Webber (especially) and Nick can actually race against the rest of the field for once (instead of doing a Minardi).

Pete

 

Correct, I did mean the first race actually completed competitively by the F2005. (I know that Rubens did complete it, but something was way wrong)

Also, we debated this earlier, but it is not a certainty that Ferrari won't have a new engine for this race. Since neither car retired from Bahrain or Imola for engine failure, the FIA can apparently determine them to have satisfied the 2-race rule. I thought it was clear that you must complete 2 entire race distances, but another poster corrected that. So, Schu did have the same engine as he did in Bahrain and both he and Alonso may be on new ones for Catalunya.

 

Brundle clearly stated in his commentary of the Imola race that MS had a new engine ... thus surely he must keep that one for Spain.

Pete
ps: I'm going to check F1-live ...

 

JPM will drive the 2nd McLaren!

 

I think Brundle needs to spend more time researching his information. According to the FIA, the drivers who started Imola with new engines were:

Button(+ ballast fuel-tank)
Sato (+ ballast fuel-tank)
Heidfeld
Villenueve
Karthikeyen

No mention of Schumaker as having a different engine than in Bahrain. Since that car retired due to hydraulics, there was no reason to replace the engine.

 

Didn't Massa also use a new engine after his original one went belly up in practice? Or was that a previous GP?

 

Massa did change his after first practice. This was the list of drivers provided prior to the start of the race weekend. I thought the only question on Schumaker was whether he satisfied the 2-race requirement in the face of his retirement from the Bahrain grand prix. Apparently, although I'm still not sure of this, teams can petition the FIA to allow a new engine if they can prove the current one has been used enough.

I guess we'll know in a couple of days.

 

i think that Alonso will podium 2nd, if he is able to get past MS, or stay in front of him. Given that the F2005 was smokin fast at Imola, the Renault did have the RPM's dropped a few thousand, from 18000 to 15700 (I believe, not 100% sure).

with the torque the Renault makes, and the extra 100HP or so from revving the full 18K, it will be a damn close race, if the car will finish.

I hope Kimi can podium, if the car can finish.

 

Congrats on adding "to podium" to Webster.