Official 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Thread **SPOILERS**
Discussion
It’s Spain, and it’s going to be hot. Good news maybe for Max and Red Bull if they can cause Mercedes to eat their tyres again. Note though that tyres are back to the harder, British GP compounds.
Away from the front, Albon needs to start qualifying better, and soon. Vettel may be in his final races before a mid-season retirement/sacking; it’s all looking a bit Alain Prost in 1991.
Date(s): Friday 14 August 2020 – Sunday 16 August 2020
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1; only highlights are shown on Channel 4:
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/championship/events/fia-formul...
Weather forecast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3128760
Tyre Choices:
2019 Qualifying Result:
2019 Race Result:
2019 race highlights:
https://youtu.be/xsWaxYlCbac
Last year, Lewis Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas to the fifth consecutive Mercedes one-two at the start of this season after dominating the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton, who started second, passed Bottas into the first corner and eased away to an ultimately comfortable win, despite a late safety car.
A long way behind, Ferrari used team tactics yet again but lost out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen for third, but it was a disheartening performance from the Italian team on a weekend they hoped would make a step forward only emphasised the emerging sense that Mercedes were in a league of their own in 2019.
Away from the front, Albon needs to start qualifying better, and soon. Vettel may be in his final races before a mid-season retirement/sacking; it’s all looking a bit Alain Prost in 1991.
Date(s): Friday 14 August 2020 – Sunday 16 August 2020
UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)
All sessions are live on Sky F1; only highlights are shown on Channel 4:
Live timing for all sessions available here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html
Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:
https://www.fia.com/championship/events/fia-formul...
Weather forecast:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/3128760
Tyre Choices:
2019 Qualifying Result:
2019 Race Result:
2019 race highlights:
https://youtu.be/xsWaxYlCbac
Last year, Lewis Hamilton led Valtteri Bottas to the fifth consecutive Mercedes one-two at the start of this season after dominating the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton, who started second, passed Bottas into the first corner and eased away to an ultimately comfortable win, despite a late safety car.
A long way behind, Ferrari used team tactics yet again but lost out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen for third, but it was a disheartening performance from the Italian team on a weekend they hoped would make a step forward only emphasised the emerging sense that Mercedes were in a league of their own in 2019.
HardtopManual said:
Hulk to Ferrari? Unlikely, but it's it a possibility, or is he contracted to RP for the rest of the season?
He won't be contracted in the traditional sense but it may be the case that the terms of his fee agreement prevent him from stepping immediately in to another team - that would be a fairly standard consideration.Also, do Ferrari actually care? At present seb is making himself look bad, not the car. Are Ferrari really going to sack him and go shopping around for a 'better' driver for a car they themselves say will never be competitive?
TheDeuce said:
He won't be contracted in the traditional sense but it may be the case that the terms of his fee agreement prevent him from stepping immediately in to another team - that would be a fairly standard consideration.
Also, do Ferrari actually care? At present seb is making himself look bad, not the car. Are Ferrari really going to sack him and go shopping around for a 'better' driver for a car they themselves say will never be competitive?
Of course Ferrari care. You don't pay someone $40m pa to come 12th, while his team mate is scoring podiums and points. Also, do Ferrari actually care? At present seb is making himself look bad, not the car. Are Ferrari really going to sack him and go shopping around for a 'better' driver for a car they themselves say will never be competitive?
The real question is whether Vettel cares, or whether he's looking for the exit, just like Damon in 1999. Unlike Damon though, I don't think SV will see the season out.
Edited by Piginapoke on Tuesday 11th August 07:48
tobinen said:
Unless Mercedes sorts out the tyre issue then it's VER to win IMO
Harder tyres this weekend, back to the c1 hard. Forecast is cooler than the UK last weekend. The key will be whether Pirelli mandate very high pressures, if not And there isn’t the same loading here as Silverstone, Mercedes should be fine. I hope 
Piginapoke said:
TheDeuce said:
He won't be contracted in the traditional sense but it may be the case that the terms of his fee agreement prevent him from stepping immediately in to another team - that would be a fairly standard consideration.
Also, do Ferrari actually care? At present seb is making himself look bad, not the car. Are Ferrari really going to sack him and go shopping around for a 'better' driver for a car they themselves say will never be competitive?
Of course Ferrari care. You don't pay someone $40m pa to come 12th, while his team mate is scoring podiums and points. Also, do Ferrari actually care? At present seb is making himself look bad, not the car. Are Ferrari really going to sack him and go shopping around for a 'better' driver for a car they themselves say will never be competitive?
The real question is whether Vettel cares, or whether he's looking for the exit, just like Damon in 1999. Unlike Damon though, I don't think SV will see the season out.
Edited by Piginapoke on Tuesday 11th August 07:48
What has happened in the past when they have ejected a driver mid season? Have they managed to 'save' money by doing so? I would have thought they would be stuck with his fee irrespective of choosing not to keep him on at the team.
tobinen said:
Unless Mercedes sorts out the tyre issue then it's VER to win IMO
They don't have a tyre issue to sort out really - they're just very marginal in that area (for performance reasons) and last week at Silverstone combined with the softer compounds pushed them the wrong side of what is a very fine line between getting the most from the tyre, and destroying it.I think they'll run just fine here - although I do also expect RB to run very well here, which is good.
TheDeuce said:
He won't be contracted in the traditional sense but it may be the case that the terms of his fee agreement prevent him from stepping immediately in to another team - that would be a fairly standard consideration.
Well yeah we can all speculate - was more wondering if anyone has seen RP publish any info about Hulk's terms, as I can't find anything myself.TheDeuce said:
They don't have a tyre issue to sort out really - they're just very marginal in that area (for performance reasons)
Of course they have an issue to sort out, Wolff himself said that they need to come up with a solution for Barcelona. They didn't design the car to chew tyres up in hot conditions "for performance reasons".HardtopManual said:
TheDeuce said:
They don't have a tyre issue to sort out really - they're just very marginal in that area (for performance reasons)
Of course they have an issue to sort out, Wolff himself said that they need to come up with a solution for Barcelona. They didn't design the car to chew tyres up in hot conditions "for performance reasons".Harder tyres, cooler track and the circuit is less brutal on the tyres. They should be similar here to Silverstone 1 (British GP), but without the tyres being stretched to breaking point. The Mercedes will always push the tyres towards failure ahead of RB but that is a symptom of their very effective downforce -and generally not a problem other than in extreme conditions. It's marginal by design.
HardtopManual said:
TheDeuce said:
Whatever he says publicly, Barcelona on the harder tyres is very different to Silverstone on the softer tyres last week
OK I'll ignore what Toto Wolff says and take your word for it instead.It's in Toto's interest on many a level to go alone with the dramatisation of their 'struggle at Silverstone', but do you really think the team in advance of Silverstone didn't expect to struggle with tyres given how heavily they load/utilise those tyres? Even before the race on the GP thread there was discussion about how fast the modern cars are at Silverstone and subsequently how tyre limited the cars might be. That took place without Toto saying a word..
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