So we're headed for the first European race of the season. I can't say I'm a much of a fan of the Barcelona circuit though. T1 is quite fast so overtaking is tough, and it is by far the best spot on the track to make a move. The new chicane doesn't serve its intended function either. It has some fun fast corners though.

Most of the teams will make some steps forward in terms of development, so the order will probably be shaken up a bit. Here's how it looks so far:

Driver points after Round 3:


Constructor points after Round 3:



There have been four days of testing among nine teams this week at the track in anticipation of the GP next weekend. Some of the teams have been running 2009 tires and aero packs though, so it's quite tough to draw any conclusions from the times:

Unofficial Monday times from Barcelona, Day 1:
1. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:18.613
2. Alexander Wurz, Honda, 1:21.059
3. Pedro de la Rosa, McLaren, 1:21.566
4. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:21.679
5. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 1:21.913
6. David Coulthard, Red Bull, 1:22.193
7. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 1:22.431
8. Timo Glock, Toyota, 1:22.590
9. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 1:22.846

Unofficial Tuesday times from Barcelona, Day 2:
1. Rubens Barrichello, Honda, 1:18.928
2. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 1:19.721
3. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:20.283
4. David Coulthard, Red Bull, 1:20.392
5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:20.452
6. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1:20.616
7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 1:20.800
8. Timo Glock, Toyota, 1:20.870
9. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 1:20.981

Unofficial Wednesday times from Barcelona, Day 3:
1. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 1:18.483
2. Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1:19.323
3. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 1:19.424
4. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1:19.785
5. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 1:19.841
6. Rubens Barrichello, Honda, 1:19.920
7. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1:20.591
8. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 1:20.715
9. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:20.849
10. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:20.867

Unofficial Thursday times from Barcelona, Day 4:
1. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 1:21.953
2. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 1:23.589
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:23.619
4. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 1:24.715
5. Jenson Button, Honda, 1:24.873
6. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 1:24.927
7. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 1:26.100
8. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 1:32.150


The Spanish GP has a reputation of being a bit boring because of the nature of the track and because the teams test at Barcelona so much, so the cars tend to run two-by-two. Hopefully that isn't the case this year. Some nicely-timed rain in quali would be nice, sticking some fast guys at the back of a generally scrambled grid. Dry and sunny on race day. Then we'd see some overtaking.

Those testing times are somehow useless because some of the drivers were testing with slicks.


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I think Messi will score first but Manchester United will probably win. But I still hope Liverpool beat them in the final.

What?

Wrong topic Kev :P

Will ferrari be there with their open nose?

Quote from Primoz :

Wrong topic Kev :P

Will ferrari be there with their open nose?

im actually more concern about the new dumbo ears on the RA108.
but i think they will break into top 8 next race.

Hope to see a wet race next week. Raining alot lately here in Barcelona.

Hope it rains too, the top teams seem to be equal with the others when that happens.

Weather is quite crazy those last couple of weeks, so who knows what will happen at race time.

It would be interesting to see rain, it would be one of the few times that it would have rained on a spanish track with F1 cars racing there, and it would make the championship more entertaining - messing driver's points and positions a bit.

Let's see what happens, I expect a couple of surprises, but not in the top spots (I am expecting Ferrari to get the upper hand there), although I do hope I'm wrong and Kubica-BMW Sauber gets his first 1st position.

Ofcourse rain would be nice , however according to this forecast it looks like that won't be happening.

I hope BMW has some nice improvements in Spain to come even closer to the top, would be nice to have a 3rd time in the mix

Quote from Mark webber about the upcoming Spanish Grand prix:
MW: Barcelona is a track which everybody knows very well. I wish we would race in the other direction, as we are all bored driving this way around.

Pretty much sums up the weekend.

Quote from Mustafur :

Quote from Mark webber about the upcoming Spanish Grand prix:
MW: Barcelona is a track which everybody knows very well. I wish we would race in the other direction, as we are all bored driving this way around.

Pretty much sums up the weekend.

Unfortunately i have to agree. Set´s are perfectly studied and overtaking is really hard, so most of the race will be decided on saturday

They should make T1 much much tighter. As tight as T1 at Sakhir. Then immediately cut back with another 180-degree left and back onto the normal T3.

anyone has pics of the new chincane

http://www.avenuevine.com/archives/07SpainChicane-w.jpg
there ya go

1 Kimi Raikkonen 1 Ferrari Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'20''649
2 Felipe Massa 2 Ferrari Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'20''699 00'00''050
3 Lewis Hamilton 22 McLaren Mercedes Bridgestone 00:01'21''192 00'00''543
4 Robert Kubica 4 BMW-Sauber BMW Bridgestone 00:01'21''568 00'00''919
5 Heikki Kovalainen 23 McLaren Mercedes Bridgestone 00:01'21''758 00'01''109
6 Fernando Alonso 5 Renault Renault Bridgestone 00:01'21''933 00'01''284
7 Nelson Piquet Jr 6 Renault Renault Bridgestone 00:01'21''936 00'01''287
8 David Coulthard 9 Red Bull Renault Bridgestone 00:01'22''118 00'01''469
9 Nick Heidfeld 3 BMW-Sauber BMW Bridgestone 00:01'22''278 00'01''629
10 Jenson Button 16 Honda Honda Bridgestone 00:01'22''632 00'01''983
11 Timo Glock 12 Toyota Toyota Bridgestone 00:01'23''002 00'02''353
12 Nico Rosberg 6 Williams Toyota Bridgestone 00:01'23''003 00'02''354
13 Mark Webber 10 Red Bull Renault Bridgestone 00:01'23''015 00'02''366
14 Jarno Trulli 11 Toyota Toyota Bridgestone 00:01'23''141 00'02''492
15 Kazuki Nakajima 8 Williams Toyota Bridgestone 00:01'23''153 00'02''504
16 Adrian Sutil 20 Force India Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'23''156 00'02''507
17 Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'23''196 00'02''547
18 Rubens Barrichello 17 Honda Honda Bridgestone 00:01'23''353 00'02''704
19 Sebastien Bourdais 14 Toro Rosso Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'23''952 00'03''303
20 Sebastian Vettel 15 Toro Rosso Ferrari Bridgestone 00:01'24''082 00'03''433
21 Takuma Sato 18 Super Aguri Honda Bridgestone 00:01'24''278 00'03''629
22 Anthony Davidson 19 Super Aguri Honda Bridgestone 00:01'25''068 00'04''419



It seems Renault got a improvement in their performance, also great time for Coulthard

Don't take anything from practise times.

Quote from Mustafur :

Don't take anything from practise times.

Only a little excuse to give the thread a little bump

Last round I missed watching my first Grand Prix in 24 years, and next up is Spain - the dullest Grand Prix since we dont race at Hungaroring anymore. Oh woop.

Any decent racing on this weekend instead?

Come to Silverstone and watch me race! Nearly always quite exciting, plus Nippon Challenge (MX-5 vs RX-7), Allcomers, Tintops...

£12 on the gate (I think). Sunday 27th April. Silverstone National circuit. All welcome.

Quote from tristancliffe :

plus Nippon Challenge (MX-5 vs RX-7)

Sounds great!

Will you race that too?

Erm, no. My MX-5 is a road car. I have a much better vehicle for racing (in my opinion).

Quote from tristancliffe :

Erm, no. My MX-5 is a road car. I have a much better vehicle for racing (in my opinion).

Yup, I know... only asking if you will race your MX-5 too
Anyway, have luck and report us another victory!

Yeah right. If I'm on the podium it'll be a very good result. Expecting strong opposition here within my own class (Classics) let alone the modern stuff!

I think we will see a good performance from Mclaren. Maybe Alonso will pull something out of the bag, you can never count Fernando out especially at his home circuit.

Good luck on Sunday TC.

If you're too far from Silverstone/don't like Tristan you can always go to Croft and watch [SR] Kristján in British F3 national class Much better than F1 ofc

Good luck for your race, Tristan