.:: 2008 Spanish GP Thread ::.

.:: 2008 Spanish GP ::.

Welcome to the 2008 Spanish GP thread, where you can discuss anything to do with this weekend's race. cjek will update the thread with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Since 2000, only Mika Hakkinen (McLaren, 2000), Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren, 2005) and Fernando Alonso (Renault, 2006) have been non-Ferrari race winners in Spain. Massa won for the Scuderia in 2007, and Schumacher won from 2001-4.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. EveryRace: With what happened during Winter testing for Lewis Hamilton, how necessary is this? And to what significane is it that Max Mosley will not be there to support it?
2. Testing took place here last week, where slicks running took place, as well as some 2009 aero work among the 2008 regs running. What is your impression of the teams' standings at the moment?
3. Honda promised another big aero update which would "bring them another second". Where do you feel they now stand among everyone else?
4. Renault and Toro Rosso both debuted a Red Bull "Shark Fin" to their cars - is this a sign of thins to come?
5. BMW are leading the constructor's championship after just 38 GP's into the team's career. Nick Heidfeld feels BMW can challenge the Ferraris, Mario Thiessen says talks of a title push is too early, and Raikkonen and Massa are unsure of BMW's potential - who do you feel is most likely to be right in their statements?

ITV-F1 PRESENTS LIVE STREAMING OF THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX WEEKEND: FRIDAY PRACTICES, QUALIFYING & THE RACE

1). Personally, I don't think that Mosley not being there will make much of a difference. The Spanish authorities know the consequences if there is more racist abuse - they will probably police more tightly.

2). Force India and Honda could be quite dangerous, but McLaren really need to sort it out. If they're not careful, they could even be overhauled by Renault.

3). If Honda do 'find another second' they'll probably be duking it out with Renault for a few points. I can't see them catching McLaren or BMW.

4). Possibly - but some aero techniques come and go, such as the McLaren 'horns' on the airbox, and zero-keel.

5). Theissen - he knows precisely where the team is. They'll want to pick up regular podiums and maybe even a win at some stage of the season, but they won't be consistently pushing Ferrari or McLaren for the title.

Anyone else getting a much better streaming service this time round? Tis much better for me this time round.

And darn, I'm not gonna be around for Quali :( off to Yarmouth for the day, so taping it and avoiding all news :lol:

Good lord almighty - can Felipe Massa really get any worse? Two rookie spins in FP1 alone - one in the revised section of last year (never even touched anything) and then a wide run into turn 8 pitches him off again - this is poor. Really, really poor. It's actually making me question how he didn't bin it at all in Bahrain.Redders1989

But the fact is he didn't and that's all that really counts. That said, it does seem that he's reverted back to his pre-Ferrari days; exceptionally quick, but prone to being a car-wrecker. Hopefully he gets his act together.

Practice 1:

First post updated with working link to live streaming. And streaming is MUCH better now.

Meh, whoever really. Oh, and if someone could do the quali report for the main page, that'd be helpful (because I have no clue what time I'd end up doing it myself really.)

Apologies for no mention of the race in Bahrain on the home page too... I was uninspired at the time to write anything good :lol:

I shall post the times, Saturday practice as of now finishes in 45mins, Expect those times to be up here after the session is over, I shall also do Qualifying times.

I shall post the times, Saturday practice as of now finishes in 45mins, Expect those times to be up here after the session is over, I shall also do Qualifying times.

kipi19

i would have but since kipi has volunteered i wont have to :P

Its been a very interesting session, but i still feel we will see Ferrari dominance this weekend. What are your views on this?

Interesting session, McLaren's bogged down on 3rd row, We'll see how race pans out, but i think Ferrari will run away with it.

If McLaren are to have any chance of getting anything out of this race from the 3rd row, they need to banzai turn 1 at the start and get it right, otherwise, being stuck behind Alonso is gonna ruin the race for them.

Alonse is very light on fuel, so Lewis and Heikki need to dispose of him ASAP, getting to the Ferrari's and Kubica will be a whole different task at hand, they'll need to run the longer strategy to TRY and catch them for the podium positions, this is their main goal for the race i would presume.

I'm back people :)

I have to say as well Alonso must be running very light. He'll have to be defensive too, Massa & Kubica are likely to swamp him into turn one if he's not careful. I'm also gonna be interested to see what's up with Nick. He struggled all session, whereas Robert was flying, although not as impressively as we've recently expected from BMW; nonetheless, can't take anything away from them for the start they've made.

And, welcome back Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Nice to see you've grown up again.

SYMONDS CONFIRMS ALONSO ON LOW FUEL:

Renault's Pat Symonds confirmed to ITV Sport that Fernando Alonso's shock front row qualifying slot was aided by a low-fuel strategy.

The Spaniard produced the qualifying surprise of the season so far as he just missed out on pole position to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen at Barcelona.

And although the team has made clear progress with its vastly upgraded R28 car in Spain, confirmed by Nelson Piquet Jr's first top 10 grid slot, Renault's engineering chief told Steve Rider after qualifying that Alonso had been fuelled lighter in Q3.

"Well obviously there is some strategy involved," he told Steve.

"But I'm really pleased to see the proof of the work that we have been doing over the last few months and to see Nelson up there in the top 10, it is his first time there and it proves it is a team effort.

And when asked if the 'strategy' involved Alonso running light, Symonds said: "Well, I don't think it would be any secret to say Fernando and Nelson are not on the same strategy."

Symonds says the team decided to send Alonso out with the more aggressive strategy due to the Spaniard's greater experience.

"It is a question of how each driver can use it [the strategy]," he said.

"We really have improved the car, we have made the car a lot nicer to drive, a lot more competitive, as you have seen right through the weekend I think.

"Nelson still needs to learn, he still needs to get the races under his belt and it is probably not the best thing to be very aggressive with it."

Renault had been hoping to return to the front of the field with its R28 car this year - but had struggled to score points in each of the opening three flyaway races.

Symonds admits the team is desperate to start picking up some stronger results, and is hopeful these will finally start to come in Sunday's race.

"Well [it means] a lot, but it's Sunday that counts and I think that with the season we had last year and the way we started this season, we just want to see some solid results.

"Of course it's nice to be up there and we have a history of being quite creative with the way we go racing and this is another example of it.

"It means a lot to us, but Sunday is when it really counts."

SOURCE: ITV-F1

Heikki's crash certainly was scary. My initial thought was that it reminded me of Schumacher's crash at Silverstone. Thankfully, it appears he's suffered no more than a concussion.

It was certainly an almost identical failure to Hamilton's last year, although rather than a wheel gun fault, Ron Dennis said there may have been something stuck between something in the wheel, I forgot his exact words.

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN'S CRASH

Still nothing confirmed, but the prediction at the moment is wheel rim failure, which may or may not have been caused by debris of some variety.

(hurry before Formula 1 Administration claim copyright! :P)