Official 2012 Formula 1 Barcelona GP Thread

[Binary Star]

FP1 is only a few days away... lets rock this!!

[10Ten]

i really cannot wait for this one... i feel this is where the meat of the season begins.

i've spent all week running Catalunya on F1 2011 just to get ready for the weekend... it's an awful lot of fun watching when you know those tricky corners yourself (albeit gaming).

[kfzmeister]

Hmmm, whoever makes pole has won the last 11 GPs there. Will that still hold true after next weekend???
Last i saw, it was 60% chance of rain raceday.
McLaren has a revised (higher) nose and pitcrew , Ferrari (hopefully) some effective updates .....
I'm rooting for Lotus and Kimi.
Who really knows what's gonna happen. Schumacher still says the Pirellis are like driving on soft eggs. "They're a yolk!"
Can Rosberg repeat???

[rscshakespeare]

I'm thinking red bull at the front.

Mclaren with new nose set higher. Practice they were hiding some upgrades and consistently sitting down the charts.

Renault to be up there but not sure on mercedes, although I hope Schumacher to finally get a podium

Let's hope its exciting at least, normal a boring race

[darren p.]

it's an awful lot of fun watching when you know those tricky corners yourself (albeit gaming).

This...definitely adds to a race weekend when you have intimate knowledge of the track, gaming or otherwise.

RedBull is back on form, count it. McLaren -> Lotus -> Mercedes. I'm hoping Webber wins it to dice up the points battle and a 5th different winner in 5 races.

[kfzmeister]

This...definitely adds to a race weekend when you have intimate knowledge of the track, gaming or otherwise.

RedBull is back on form, count it. McLaren -> Lotus -> Mercedes. I'm hoping Webber wins it to dice up the points battle and a 5th different winner in 5 races.

Hamilton's never won it.

BTW, how do you deduce that RB's back on form??

[J-Tim]

Hoping that Lotus is in even better shape. Not holding my breath though.

Have to kill my evenings by watching Giro D'Italia until then.

[kfzmeister]

No Ross Brawn in Barcelona this weekend. Not attending due to "health reasons". Hope he's doing o.k.

[24vEngineer]

Would love to see Kimi win! It would also be acceptable to see webbo out qualify and place high in this race than Vettel...you know something better than 4th Place. I am willing to bet Ferrari destroys their tires trying to put Fernanny on pole for the home crowd.

[Kidstar]

McLaren has fallen victim to the high profile platypus nose....

They just made a Carmen Electra look like Rosanne Barr!

[gizmopop]

McLaren has fallen victim to the high profile platypus nose....

They just made a Carmen Electra look like Rosanne Barr!

And yet Button posted the fastest time in the 2nd Practice Session. Vettel and Rosberg are close behind though.

[dubsix]

from the pics i seen looks like Button ran the new nose and Hamilton ran the old one

[24vEngineer]

from the pics i seen looks like Button ran the new nose and Hamilton ran the old one

Correct, Hamilton was running the old version and Super Smooth had the update:

[kfzmeister]

Nice pole, but Lewis not sure why he had to stop on track. (waiting to hear about engine change and penalty). That would leave Maldo a sitting duck for Alonso into turn 1. Wishful thinking.
Button and Webber are gonna have a crappy race and what happened to Vettel?? I thought they were back on form.

Either way, gonna be a great race. Watch out for the Lotus'......definitely a threat for the win.
I like Alonso's chances.

[GTIVRSEX2]

Can someone please explain to me the BS strategy of Michael and Vettel by not posting a fast lap in Q3???? For god sake Mercedes and Redbull must be faster than a Williams and a Ferrari...

[philf1fan]

Can someone please explain to me the BS strategy of Michael and Vettel by not posting a fast lap in Q3???? For god sake Mercedes and Redbull must be faster than a Williams and a Ferrari...

In the BBC post race Horner said they are saving tires for the race, after seeing how much the availibility of extra tires benefits a car during the race e.g Kimi during the last race
I am doubtful though as Barcelona is usually a parade-fest.

We will see tmw i guess...

p.s. Go Lotus

[Imola Yellow GTi]

Ouch for LH!!! How much of this BS has to happen to one person again and again?

[dubsix]

'07 lewis lost the championship for mclaren, seems in '12 mclaren is returning the favor

[Binary Star]

Yup! I mean, really, was Maldonado that much of a thread to send him out with such low fuel?? Not to mention that they already knew what would happen from their own incident in Canada... That was just a decision, really.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooo Alonso! Sucks that he doesn't have many soft tires left but looks like harder tires are the way to go during the race. But if we're to see used softs - hards - hards from him tomorrow, that gives Kimi and Grosjen a much better chance of getting to him.

Oh man, race is going to be awesome tomorrow! Lotus has come alive this season... and Williams - where the hell did they come from?? Sauber is looking great also!!

EDIT: Gary Anderson said the following about McL:

" the fuel guy had the handle on hose set to drain fuel. And so he switched it over to pump fuel. This mistake meant that Hamilton left the pits with too little fuel. He then went on to say that McLaren need to think more on their feet, because they had time to correct the problem, it only would have cost them 3 seconds, when they had 20 seconds to spare."

[Mk1Racer]

Wow, what a crappy deal for Hamilton. I can't believe that he was .5 seconds faster than Maldonado just because he had a low fuel load. Why is Schu ahead of Kob, if Kob had the faster Q2 time? And other than Hamilton, Alonso improved the most from Q2 to Q3. Is that because he used up a bunch of his Option tires?

[Binary Star]

IIRC, his best run in Q3 was on used set of options because he had already used up his other pairs. I have to double check this though.

[Vento]

That's a pretty harsh penalty for not having enough fuel... Martin Brundle tweeted that his last lap should have been invalidated instead bumping him to the back of the grid.

What a disappointment...

[JuanManuelFangio]

I feel bad for Hamilton, but I'm excited to see Alonso on the front row now. 7 different cars in the top 8! Thats crazy. I would love to see Alonso and Kimi on the podium.

[kfzmeister]

I would love to see Alonso and Kimi on the podium.

Looks like a good chance!!

[Oliver@triplezoom]

WTF was Schumacher doing?

And McLaren needs to get their s*** together in the pits. That little error definitely costed Hamilton a place.

[Oliver@triplezoom]

Great race for Maldonado!

Glad to see Hamilton get points. Too bad he couldn't get by Rosberg at the end, but still a great result for starting from the back.

[kfzmeister]

WTF was Schumacher doing?

The replay actually showed Senna moving right and Schumacher chosing left, then Senna came back over to the left and Schumacher tried countering, when he hit him. Tough to call. Curious to see whether they call that two moves, or simply coming back onto the line fro Senna......

Alonso another good result. Great race for Maldonado/ Williams. Could Sir Frank have possibly asked for anything more on this weekend??

Kimi said this time that he just needed another lap. Back in Hockenheim '05 he pleaded for one less lap!!!

[Cabby-Blitz]

My DVR messed up and didnt record so I have been avoiding the regular F1 news sites until Yahoo decided to post what seems to have happened after the race.


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar...215903493.html

[Imola Yellow GTi]

Ouch for LH!!! How much of this BS has to happen to one person again and again?

Watching the race now. Lap 15... LH pit. WTF!!! How is the pit crew so drastically different from years before? Is it an entirely different crew?

[mx5er]

I think one of the guys on Hamilton's left placed the old tire carelessly on the wrong spot and didn't pay attention. Fortunately Hamilton didn't get penalized. Kinda surprised the FIA didn't fine the team.

Anyways, a great victory for Williams and Sir Frank and Maldonado

It would just crazy if one of the Lotus wins in Monaco. Then it would be the 6th race, 6th constructor and 6th driver this season

[J-Tim]

Is it just me or Maldonado looks like Petrov's brother who grew up in a rough area ?

[atoson]

Apparently after the race a fire broke out from the Williams pit.






Pastor Maldonado grabbed Williams F1 team's first victory in the series in eight years on Sunday at Barcelona, but shortly after Maldonado's win, an explosion happened in the team's garage.Seven people were hospitalized because of the explosion, which happened in the fuel area.
From Reuters:
Williams said the fire had "originated from the fuel area" and three of their staff were in hospital.
"The team, the fire services and the police are working together to determine the root cause of the fire and an update statement will be released in due course," Williams added.
Caterham, who have an adjacent garage to Williams, said four of their staff had been taken to the medical centre for examination - one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.
Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley said one of his staff had suffered smoke inhalation
Maldonado was photographed carrying his 12-year-old cousin -- who was clutching the winner's trophy -- from the garage area just after the explosion.

As you can see from the photos above and below, it was quite the scary scene. Our thoughts are with those involved and hope that there are no serious injuries.

[atoson]

My DVR messed up and didnt record so I have been avoiding the regular F1 news sites until Yahoo decided to post what seems to have happened after the race.


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar...215903493.html

Sorry I didn't know you posted it ahead of time.

[The Ninja]

McLaren

Button's got no pace and the pit crew is playing amateur hour. The team is throwing away what should have been a great season.

It was a great race for Pastor. I hope that everyone involved in the fire has a full recovery.

And what is up with teammates.

Williams - 1. Pastor 19. Senna
Ferrari - 2. Alonso 15. Massa.

[kfzmeister]

Did anyone overhear the SPEED crew talk about the wheelman for McLaren during the race?
Apparently the guy that caused the faux pas during one of the previous races has left the team and the current guy is a brand new one. Not sure if the previous one got fired, or whatever......but the fact that they now have a new one and that this is the worst that they could have done. Those pitcrews practice these stops over and over again.....

Also, one of the other teams has hired Michael Johnson's (Olympic medalist) consulting company to help with pitcrews and specific excercises for the movements that they go through at each stop to help them really nail it.....

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...2/1/12921.html