.:: 2010 European GP - 25-26-27 June ::.

.:: 2010 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX ::.

Welcome to the 2010 European GP Thread. cjek and mjk1 will keep the thread updated with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

In both races at the Valencia Street Circuit so far, a Brazilian has won the race with Lewis Hamilton 2nd.

CIRCUIT STATS

2010 Race Number: 9
Circuit Event Number: 3
Circuit Length: 3.367 miles
Number of Laps: 57
Lap Record: 1:38.683 (T.Glock, 2009)

2009 Podium
1. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP)
2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. With an upgrade coming for this circuit, can Ferrari power Alonso to a victory on the streets of Valencia?
2. Similar characteristics to Canada, Valencia is another street circuit with long straights and tight corners - will Red Bull face the same struggles?
3. Now with the championship lead and finishing 2nd place in both races here so far, can Hamilton make it a win and extend the lead?
4. In Canada, a big difference in tyres caused a choice of strategy which differed from team to team for the first time this year. Bridgestone have stated they will consistently do this in a few races' time, but should whichever tyre manufacturer comes in to 2011 ensure their tyres do the same for all races?
5. What are your thoughts on the Valencian Street Circuit? GP2 has managed to produce great races, but F1 hasn't.

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND (All Times UK)

Fri 25 Jun: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430

Sat 26 Jun: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300

Sun 27 Jun: Race 1300

WEEKEND WEATHER

FRIDAY: Light Rain Shower, Max. 24 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Light Rain Shower, Max. 24 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Sunny, Max. 26 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY:Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari), Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber), Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) & Vitaly Petrov (Renault). 1PM BST.

FRIDAY:Aldo Costa (Ferrari), Colin Kolles (HRT) Vijay Mallya (Force India) & Peter Sauber (Sauber). 2PM BST.

QUALIFYING:Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Mark Webber (Red Bull) & Lewis Hamilton (McLaren).

RACE:Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) & Jenson Button (McLaren).

BBC CIassic GP's
2009

The Red Light: European GP Preview

BBC Presents the 2010 European GP

PREVIOUS SESSIONS
Friday Practice 1
Friday Practice 2
Qualifying
Race
Forum

1. I wouldn't put money on a victory for Alonso, but Ferrari should certainly be alot closer to the front than they have been. Included in said upgrade are floor exiting exhausts according to footage from a promotional film from Fiorano last week which should help decrease drag and increase efficiency of the diffuser.
2. They're quite different places really, the circuit here is less likely to fall apart but is also a little rougher in places. Valencia is also a far higher downforce circuit which would suit the Red Bull a little more - not to mention the potential introduction of their F-Duct.
3. I have my doubts about a Hamilton win, he'll be close but no cigar.
4. You know F1 is in a sad state when the tyre manufacturer has to create the excitement by giving teams tyres that just can't generate enough heat to get them to work properly. That said, it DID make for a great GP and if it dispels the current 1 stop races then I'm all for it.
5. Why is it still here?

1. What about Massa?? No not expecting a Ferrari victory but might be closer between the top 3 teams :)
2. Didn't realise Valencia was on an island in a river!
3. Hope so and see no real reason why not. Don't expect the Ferrari or Red Bull to be hugely dominante and since Lewis is argueably the best driver out there......
4. I agree with sam SuperSoft and Hard for all races :lol:
5. Bernie must get a lot of money to have a race here otherwise why keep coming back??

2. Similar characteristics as Canada? You're high again this week too.XSamFisherX

*Should not listen to Jonathan Legard*

FRENTZEN TO ADVISE STEWARDS IN VALENCIA

Heinz-Harald Frentzen will be the drivers' representative on the stewards' panel at this weekend's European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The German, who raced for Sauber, Williams, Jordan, Prost and Arrows during his F1 career, spent his post grand prix-career competing in the DTM and Speedcar Series.

Frentzen will be working alongside Dr. Gerd Ennser, Radovan Novak and M Vidal Perucho.

SOURCE: Autosport

For the UK peeps, thanks to Jason Donovan, the European GP has been shafted to BBC Two.Redders1989

Not sure it makes a lot of difference though :P

Makes no difference to me as i'm working, just as long as the ol Sky+ is set :P

Apologies for my lack of appearence, have had no keyboard and only just got one :)

FRIDAY PRACTICE SESSION 1 RED-FLAGGED AT 9:36AM BST.

SESSION RE-STARTED AT 9:41AM BST.

FRIDAY PRACTICE SESSION 2 RED-FLAGGED AT 1:31PM BST.

SESSION RE-STARTED AT 1:36PM BST.

FP1: RED FLAG DETAILS

1 - Caused by Bruno Senna (BRA, Hispania Racing). Debris from broken wing mirror on racing line required cleaning.

FP2: RED FLAG DETAILS

1 - Caused by Felipe Massa (BRA, Ferrari). Spun out in dangerous position on track.

Massive accident in today's GP2 Sprint Race for Josef Kral, which took a lengthy amount of time to get him out of the car and in to the ambulance. I'll update on his condition when I hear the latest.

UPDATE: Kral is concious, and complaining of pain in his back and right arm.

Holy ^#&!. That was a massive accident for Webber, almost exactly like Kral's.

NINE of the drivers to be investigated after the race:

Jenson Button
Rubens Barrichello
Nico Hulkenberg
Robert Kubica
Vitaly Petrov
Adrian Sutil
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Sebastien Buemi
Pedro de la Rosa

...I think I'll wait a while before I do the predictions!

You can now choose your Driver of the Day and Star of the Day.

DotD: Kamui Kobayashi

SotD: Alonso's race engineer

Going to have to agree with you Redders. Kobayashi drove a fantastic race all the way through and LOL @ Alonso's engineer.

DotD: Kobayashi

SoTD: Alonso's Engineer

The BBC Forum has been cancelled due to technical problems affecting the whole of Valencia.

Webber's horror crash

Well what an interesting race - better than the previous 2 years by a mile. Incidents galore and thank god Webber was OK. Busy day for the stewards but this season has just got better and better throughout!

DotD: Kobayashi - No other contenders really

SotD : Webber's Car - for not seriously injuring Mark or worse.......

The nine drivers have been given, get this... FIVE SECOND PENALTY. The only difference this makes is Alonso up to 8th ahead of Buemi, and Nico Rosberg takes 10th from Pedro de la Rosa. Everything else remains the same.

How strange - wonder if that's a reflection of how many were involved??

You can get on with the prediction scores now then :P

How strange - wonder if that's a reflection of how many were involved??SadPSPAddict

I have a feeling it's to do with where Jenson was on the track. Once the Safety Car is confirmed to have come out, the drivers get a lap time appear on their steering wheel as to what lap time they must circulate in, and they have to do it immediately. Button was on the pit straight before the line when it showed up, so it was either continue on as you were or stop and wait for the time to pass. Therefore my guess is, the stewards had to be lenient to Jenson because of the lose/lose situation he was in, and because eight others did the same they can't hand different penalties out to them.

The one race I decide to miss since Japan 2008 (which I missed not of my own choice) and it's one of the most eventful. Dang.KimisApprentice