Presentation – Spanish GP: From the Shadows to the Sunlight of Barcelona
After three weekends in the shadows, Lewis Hamilton won his first race of the season in Baku and enters Europe with the Championship lead in his pocket. Meanwhile, McLaren hopes to make the same leap forward in terms of performance with the new version of its car. The European tour begins now with MotorsInside.
Barcelona is probably the circuit on the calendar that each driver knows better than any other, which spices things up when it comes to finding an advantage over a teammate or any other driver. It’s a pleasant track to drive and offers a bit of everything. Qualifying is really important because overtaking is difficult. Tire management is also important because, even in qualifying, you need to keep the rear alive for the last sector where you need traction. It’s easy to destroy the rear tires in the first half of the circuit with the large fast curves, so it’s one of the crucial points during a “quali lap.”
Being the most frequented circuit, whether in a single-seater or a simulator, the Montmeló circuit is, de facto, the most familiar to the drivers. That said, a driver’s personal preference can work in favor or against them compared to another, as beyond the mechanical reflexes developed by completing hundreds of laps, the human aspect can remain significant.
The challenge this weekend is the resurfacing of the track, already tested during winter trials. Tire management will be a key point, as Brendon Hartley mentions in his remarks. Pirelli has brought a softer range this year, while announcing a thinner tire tread – about 0.4mm. The new asphalt is less aggressive on the tires, but the manufacturer expects rather warm temperatures on the track, so caution is advised.
The tour of the property
Tout ce qu’il faut savoir sur Montmeló.. Les pneumatiques #Pirelli sont en cours d’acheminement vers l’Espagne. #Fit4F1 #F1 #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/FI6iokc264
— Pirelli France (@PirelliFR) 7 mai 2018
The next #F1Esports qualification race gets underway at 20:00 BST! ⏰
Ten drivers. Three Pro Draft slots. One race on @Formula1game 🎮
Even @alo_oficial can’t resist a tour of the #SpanishGP circuit 😉 pic.twitter.com/YPfeJuZfnG
— Formula 1 (@F1) 8 mai 2018
For posterity
And one, and two, and three legends.
Twenty-five years ago 🗓️
Alain Prost won the 1993 #SpanishGP for Williams
He was joined on the podium by Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher
It was the only time the legendary trio shared the rostrum 🍾 pic.twitter.com/SsgLDzndY1
— Formula 1 (@F1) 9 mai 2018
In twenty-seven editions of the Spanish Grand Prix on Catalan soil, the Barcelona circuit has been the venue for symbolic moments. Damon Hill’s victory for Williams-Renault four weeks after the fatal accident of his teammate Ayrton Senna in 1994, Michael Schumacher’s first victory for Scuderia in 1996, Pastor Maldonado’s only win at the wheel of the Williams-Renault in 2013… Find these moments among others in this compilation (Follow “Watch on Youtube”)
Tarmac and mistral
Last time it was #F1Testing, but this time it’s the real deal! Here are the sets that will make up the #SpanishGP race strategy! https://t.co/iFQAK1r3zP pic.twitter.com/g3UmjBH2pC
— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) 1 mai 2018
The new asphalt at the Circuit de Catalunya has forced Pirelli to reconsider their options for this season. Much less abrasive, it allows the Italian manufacturer to bring the super-softs, which was unthinkable with the old surface. The soft and medium complete the range for this Spanish Grand Prix.
Still grappling with tire degradation, Mercedes made a very conservative choice for this Spanish weekend by minimizing the number of sets of the softest compound, opting for the intermediate tire instead. In contrast, Ferrari made a rather aggressive choice, focusing on the super-softs. The extreme choice comes from Williams, who sacrificed the soft to achieve ten sets of super-softs.
A spring sun will predominantly reign this weekend, with the only uncertainty being the weather for the end of the qualifications, as stormy passages are expected around 4 PM, turning into showers in the evening. For Friday’s testing, temperatures will be between 20 and 22°C, with winds exceeding 15 km/h to note for the afternoon session. The Saturday morning practice session will take place under the same conditions as Friday morning.
At 3:00 PM on Sunday, the drivers will find a track washed by the previous day’s showers, but the sky will be clear. Temperatures are expected to be around twenty degrees, accompanied by winds blowing at less than 15 km/h.
The TV program!
