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20 minutes to qualifying and no thread, so I created one.

Any qualifying result without Lewis on top will be a big surprise.

haven't seen it advertised, but for those that don't have sky sports f1, it's on Sky 1.

Good morning, afternoon, evening etc...wherever you are.

Lewis still three tenths up on prime tires.

anthdci wrote:haven't seen it advertised, but for those that don't have sky sports f1, it's on Sky 1.

Catch it on +1

Ferrari seems far behind Mercedes

anthdci wrote:haven't seen it advertised, but for those that don't have sky sports f1, it's on Sky 1.

thanks for the heads up. I
I would have missed it

That McLaren looks awful out there. Yeesh. What a waste of two world champs...*sigh*

Very close positions 3rd-6th, should be a great battle between the Williams and Ferraris in there. Can't see anything other than a Mercedes front row lockout unless a driver makes a mistake or the car breaks.

TheBlackFlag wrote:That McLaren looks awful out there. Yeesh. What a waste of two world champs...*sigh*

Taking steps forward. It's all about progress 14th and 15th is better than 17th and 18th.

They just need to keep taking steps forward and they are doing just that.

The McLaren joke continues.

McLaren are still an entire second off the top 10. That's woeful for a team like McLaren, especially given the two bad years they had previous to this one. Can you even call them a top team anymore?

Mercedes look uber dominant. Hamilton likely to cruise to the win tomorrow afternoon. The Ferrari looks a handful for both drivers. Tyre wear could see them close on Merc under race conditions but they won't pass them.

Red Bull still slower than Toro Rosso despite that new nose Horner claimed would give them huge chunks of lap time. Perhaps the absence of Newey is finally being felt at Red Bull.

Grid to be:

Ham, Ros, Rai, Vet, Bot, Mas and the rest IMO.

Rosberg for pole?

So pessimistic.

Gracious just give them time, you should have known this was going to take time. Can't make up a second in three weeks, it won't be until about the second half of the season until we start seeing their pace.

I guess McLaren chassis isn't as good as we thought too. I don't think it's all about Honda power.

dizlexik wrote:I guess McLaren chassis isn't as good as we thought too. I don't think it's all about Honda power.

I agree. They are dealing with more than one challenge, that's for sure. The engine is clearly a rookie effort, but the chassis reacts to upset more like a load of spare parts rolling in close formation than a completed race car. It really seems to dislike Alonso's style of chucking the car around and wringing every bit out of it.

In the old days with lots of testing I would have more faith that Honda and McLaren might get it together later in the year.

Great job from Nico. Will be very hard for Hamilton to pass on track at this circuit. Kimi and Massa should have done better.

That's what we want to see from Nico! Brilliant lap.

Shocking lap from Kimi. 7th

hittheapex wrote:Very close positions 3rd-6th, should be a great battle between the Williams and Ferraris in there. Can't see anything other than a Mercedes front row lockout unless a driver makes a mistake or the car breaks.

Well looks like I tempted fate. Great laps from the Toro Rosso drivers. Hoping for a good contest tomorrow between Rosberg and Hamilton.

Redbull............

Yikes. Kimi is a second off of Vettel.

The way Lewis has been on recent race starts, I see him leading the race into turn 1

cmax wrote:The way Lewis has been on recent race starts, I see him leading the race into turn 1

Spain is certainly a track that gives plenty of room into turn one for that scenario, doesn't it?

Great from Rosberg but I still have Hamilton leading into T1. Lewis has been starting better all season.

Go Carlos!
This kid is growing on me fast, specially because MV seems to be getting all the praise in TR...

Kimi slaughtered by SV...

That was a rubbish performance from Kimi. Behind both Toro Rosso's, for crying out loud. What a joke

By the fifth race you'd think they could find a pair of overalls for Vettel that fit.

I had a feeling. Can Nico keep it together and drive an error free race?

• Pole Position - Check!
• Track where it's difficult to overtake - Check!

A Nico win is the most likely result.

Great job from the Toro Rosso kids! Happy for Carlos in his home GP!

Seb awesome as always.

That's the qualifying expert from 2014. I hope this pace translates into the race. Spain was one of the few weekends last year where Nico looked as fast or faster than Lewis in race trim.

Laura23 wrote:Great from Rosberg but I still have Hamilton leading into T1. Lewis has been starting better all season.

Hamilton has to be very careful. Rosberg needs to try and make up a lot of points so will force Hamilton off the track into turn 1 if he gets a better start than him.

If I was Hamilton, I wouldn't try and force anything into turn 1 unless it's a superb start and he gets a little air between him and Rosberg. I would cruise in 2nd place and try and attack at the start of the 2nd stint on the brand new softs.

Lewis has to bear in mind that 2nd is a good result as Spain is one of his weaker tracks unless he nails the set-up like in 2012. Patience and a 8 or 9 race podium streak will win him the championship.

Great lap from Rosberg! If he can keep the lead into T1 it will be very difficult for Hamilton to do anything about him in the race. A couple of other revelations from this weekend thus far:

1. Raikkonen's performance in qualifying is shocking at times. What a horrific lap to be a full second down from Vettel. Sure Kimi is still quick on race day but he stands no chance to beat Vettel with qualifying performances this poor.
2. The perfromance between the Ferrari and Mercedes power units is pretty much identical. When you look at the numbers from Williams or FI and compare them to Sauber, there is no indication of any substantial difference in bhp. Indeed it seems that the difference between the Ferrari and Mercedes teams is actually the chassis.

Looking forward to seeing Lewis start P2 behind Nico. It has been 5 races since we have had Lewis behind in a race, the races are always a lot more interesting when Nico is in front.

What is Lewis' best option if he is behind in the first stint? Run alternative tyres to Nico. Medium-Hard-Medium. I assume the lead Mercedes will run Medium-Medium-Hard.

He seems to have the advantage on the hard tyre. Running the hard for the middle stint means he could keep in touch with Nico, use his good hard tyre pace in clean air as Nico will pull away on the medium. Then come the end he will get the advantage. Also if there is a SC in the 2nd or 3rd stint it favours the guy who runs Hard earlier.

RaggedMan wrote:By the fifth race you'd think they could find a pair of overalls for Vettel that fit.

He has always gone more towards the "Jacques Villeneuve Fit" for his overalls.

lamo wrote:What is Lewis' best option if he is behind in the first stint? Run alternative tyres to Nico. Medium-Hard-Medium. I assume the lead Mercedes will run Medium-Medium-Hard.

I don't see that happening. I don't think Mercedes will risk the one-two by running Hamilton on the prime in the middle stint. I'd love it if Mercedes tried it in the race as it would add another fascinating dimension.

lamo wrote:Running the hard for the middle stint means he could keep in touch with Nico, use his good hard tyre pace in clean air as Nico will pull away on the medium. Then come the end he will get the advantage.

The reason I don't think that they'll run a hard middle stint is because it will give Vettel and opportunity to catch and pass Hamilton which will cost Mercedes the one-two.

Maybe Ferrari will be closer. But when they have been close on Sunday they have previously been very close on race sims on the Friday. This Friday they were 1 second per lap slower on race simulations. I don't think Vettel will feature in the fight for the win. Hamiltons hard tyre pace was faster than Vettels soft tyre pace wasnt it?

F1Tyrant wrote:

Laura23 wrote:Great from Rosberg but I still have Hamilton leading into T1. Lewis has been starting better all season.

Hamilton has to be very careful. Rosberg needs to try and make up a lot of points so will force Hamilton off the track into turn 1 if he gets a better start than him.

If I was Hamilton, I wouldn't try and force anything into turn 1 unless it's a superb start and he gets a little air between him and Rosberg. I would cruise in 2nd place and try and attack at the start of the 2nd stint on the brand new softs.

Lewis has to bear in mind that 2nd is a good result as Spain is one of his weaker tracks unless he nails the set-up like in 2012. Patience and a 8 or 9 race podium streak will win him the championship.

That's what I think too.

Rosberg should make it clear to the team and Hamilton that Hamilton is not going past him on the outside.
There is no point in Rosberg playing safe - he has to be as aggressive as Hamilton or he will never win the title.

How did Mercedes and Mclaren compare to there pre-season pace? Does anybody have a good site for testing times, it would be interesting to see how much each gained.