Spanish GP 2012 - Barcelona

[raymondu999]

Kimi was quite a bit unlucky in 2007. Relative to the field, he also had a better car in 2007 than he does right now.

[n smikle]

Yeah - the added friction under high speed cornering was putting more heat into the tyres.

According to Franz Tost material degradation (breaking down) can come from not only chemical changes but wear as well. This is understandable. I think there needs to be a definition of tyre degradation that everybody can refer to.

"On the pit wall it runs at quite a pace coming up to the stops, and teams have to understand the degradation - is it wear based or thermal based? It is all about reaction."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99168

[foxmulder_ms]

This is really a hard race to call. I find Mclaren, Redbull and Lotus quite close to each other.

[n smikle]

I hope Mclaren is out in front again. Everybody except HRT should know how to set the car up too. Gonna be close.

[raymondu999]

HRT have at least setup data from the last two years though, and Pedro de la Rosa isn't exactly shabby at setting a car up

I think on paper this will be a McLaren walkover. Good, efficient downforce, coupled with a car that is mighty in the mechanical stuff

[godlameroso]

That and they're using the hard tire so Hamilton will be able to push, he could potentially make a two stopper work.

[raymondu999]

Hard of this year is at best the same as last year's medium. 2 stopper I think is impossible. Last year the common strategy was a 4 stopper, and there were serious considerations for many teams for a 5 stopper. Last year Button on a 3 stop finished some half a minute down on Hamilton on a 4. I think the "tyre management" strategy will at best be 3 stop, with some going for the racier 4 stop.

[Mr.S]

Hard of this year is at best the same as last year's medium. 2 stopper I think is impossible. Last year the common strategy was a 4 stopper, and there were serious considerations for many teams for a 5 stopper. Last year Button on a 3 stop finished some half a minute down on Hamilton on a 4. I think the "tyre management" strategy will at best be 3 stop, with some going for the racier 4 stop.

He had a racing incideny if I am not wrong. That was more like emergency strategy after some goof up. Otherwise he would have been on par with Hamilton

[alelanza]

smikle, alelanza - I don't remember specifics, but it was mentioned by several team engineers in post-race quotes and the like. Downforce reduces wear, not degradation. When you have bundles of downforce, you go through corners quicker, putting more energy through them. Part of that energy would be the friction between the surface and tyres, which goes to heat the tyre quicker and causing heat deg quicker.

I think I was slightly wrong about the timing though - most teams started doing that post-Silverstone, not post-Barcelona. In terms of specific races I seem to remember it being mentioned in Suzuka and Hungary in post quali or race comments.

Post Barcelona there was an engineer (not in a post-race quote) who said that it looked as if the Red Bull had too much downforce in the race, which caused them massive degradation because of the heat they were generating through Turn 3 and Turn 9. Similar comments were made post-Silverstone, when Red Bull were initially quicker than Ferrari through Sector 2 (with Copse, Maggotts, Becketts) and as stints wore on - that advantage would switch to Ferrari's side, and the last 10 or so laps from the race saw Fernando pulling consistently 8 tenths a sector for every time they did sector 2.

Hungaroring - don't quite remember specifics of what was said. Suzuka - I believe it was a McLaren or Renault engineer who said that Red Bull took out up to 7 tenths of performance off Sector 1 (Esses) so that they didn't fry their tyres. Post quali or post race.

Sounds like a lot of speculation and assumptions to me. I doubt any teams do what you initially suggested, at least not for tyre wear reasons.

[godlameroso]

Hmm I'm beginning to think that we shouldn't count out Ferrari for this race, maybe not for the win but a possible podium.

[raymondu999]

Hard to say, given the season has been seesawing the whole way through, and even from Q1/2/3. I'm reserving judgment until the end of FP3.

[scuderiafan]

Alexander Rossi will be driving in FP1 for Caterham
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... tU2jlBiug#!

BRILLIANT!!!

[ArchAngel]

4 different winners from 4 different teams in the first 4 races of the season. What're the odds of a 5th new winner emerging from Barcelona? Have Webber or Raikkonen gone well there in the past? I was gonna include Schu among the choices, until I remembered that with his ridiculously pathetic luck, even Grosjean has got better odds than him of winning there.

[raymondu999]

Webber's very strong here. But again - driver plays a minuscule role in terms of making a difference in laptime.

[Nando]

Hmm I'm beginning to think that we shouldn't count out Ferrari for this race, maybe not for the win but a possible podium.

One thing Alonso has taught us is to never count him out