Track map and DRS activation zones:




Weather/times for each session*




*Times listed are Catalunya local time.

Hurray for two DRS zones in Bahrain format.

Gosh I hope Webber makes one up on Vettel this time round.

I feel like we get almost no coverage of Bottas. I mean, I know the Williams is shit, but so far this year he's done better than Maldonado who I swear we see as much as the frontrunners.

I couldn't even identify Valterri's helmet until today.

Ok, Webber is officially useless.

Bottas gets always good mention amongst skyf1 commentators.

Like Barcelona was never won from under p2, surely great chances for difference this time. Go Nando.

Merc only team in 27's final sector.

Ros 27.7
Ham 27.8

Quote from N I K I :

Ok, Webber is officially useless.

Oh dear, this is usually a good track for Mark. Going to have to start thinking about I'll be transferring my allegiences to in 2014. Leaning to Alonso.

LOL JB's moral rock bottom of all time.

HELL YEAH. This is the Ferrari I remember from my childhood. \o/

Alonso go away!

ohhhhhhhhhh Ricciardo real beauty driving. Just showing how old Webber is, how useless Vergne is.

Time for Hamilton to start making a comeback!

ah shit, Ferrari on a plus stop... It's gonna be interesting I'd say.

P.S. 4 stopper winning comfortably. If my memory serves me right, it's the first time in history and I guess Pirelli has just hit the limit. I don't mind a 4 stopper race, the whole race is very interesting so far. Just don't push it any further Pirelli.

At last a brave and smart strategy at the same time for Ferrari. I'm loving this.

This is boring because it's a fake race. All of the pilots have been told to lift off for saving tyres. Hard tyres can't last more than 15 laps, WTH is that ? Non sense.
And I agree with Jacques Villeneuve who said on French TV: "F1 is becoming a pit stops competition with some racing laps in between."

Quote from Lotesdelere :

This is boring because it's a fake race. All of the pilots have been told to lift off for saving tyres. Hard tyres can't last more than 15 laps, WTH is that ? Non sense.
And I agree with Jacques Villeneuve who said on French TV: "F1 is becoming a pit stops competition with some racing laps in between."

Or maybe teams need to stop producing qualifying cars.
And maybe some teams that produce qualifying cars need to make more advantageous strategy of making an extra stop (5 stopper) rather than a stop less (3 stopper) compared to winner strategy. Obviously talking about Mercedes and RedBull here.

what a boring race it was. lets be honest, those pirelli tyres suck
it has nothing to do with racing, when you're told to slow down,
because even the primes aren't able to last longer than 12-13 laps.
this is becoming a big joke

Dunno, guys... Ferrari were aggressive with the tires and it paid off.

I want to see drivers pushing themselves and theire cars to the limit. This is just getting rediculous. Also DRS brought much more overtaking, but not the kind of overtaking i'd like to see. F1 is on the wrong path if u ask me. Also i think this whole f1 adventure is just damaging the reputation of Pirelli, i mean i don't want that shit under my car.

Quote from reason0809 :

what a boring race it was. lets be honest, those pirelli tyres suck
it has nothing to do with racing, when you're told to slow down,
because even the primes aren't able to last longer than 12-13 laps.
this is becoming a big joke

I completely agree.

https://twitter.com/GrassRoots ... status/333589020397432832


There is hope!

Quote from ChristijaNL :

I want to see drivers pushing themselves and theire cars too the limit.

How's it overtaking on the outside with tire lock from Massa into that hairpin, twice not pushing to the limit.
Not all of the drivers were told to save tires, top 3 certainly weren't, nor would Vettel had he been not taken a safe way out. The only driver that can save tires is Kimi and it's clearly obvious why when you watch him onboard. Let's be honest some cars just simply suck and are stuck in old fashioned thinking of driving the entire race over the limit.
Alonso showed how it's done and personally this is the best season F1 has since 2008 aerodynamics were banned in terms of racing, challenge in every area of car development and drivers skill.

And overtakes are also beautiful, nothing like a straight pass in middle of the straight, unless some driver really sucks at that moment and is like two seconds off pace, which is what you would expect really.

This is by far the best Barcelona race. It just can't be better than this at Barcelona!

Quote from vipex123 :

https://twitter.com/GrassRootsBlogg/status/333589020397432832


There is hope!

Got a real source for that?

Quote from CrAZySkyPimp :

Got a real source for that?

Quoted Paul Hembrey when he spoke to BBC on their "F1 Forum". Mourice Hamilton also tweeted about it.

Why would a puncture not caused by a design-lead structural failure be cause for changing the construction of the tyre :| If it's debris, shit happens. If it's a kerb, change the kerb or don't drive on it. When the kerbs started falling apart at Bathurst, they didn't go with "must modify tyres", instead, they warned the drivers to stay off the kerb at T2.

If it was due to the construction of the tyre, calling it a puncture is a bit misleading.

from the horses mouth: https://twitter.com/PaulHembery/status/333590110316658688