Barcelona Practice and Qualifying

[Timber]

You would have to be blind , deaf and dumb, not to see how Alonso would be set up to get the pole in his one and only home GP in 2007.

I am neither deaf or dumb . Is it just that maybe , Alfonso was quicker then Hamilton today , so were two other drivers . Alfonso has won 2 world championships a number of races beating 7 times world champion Schumaker but he need his team to help him beat Hamilton ..... Right !

[andreag]

You might want to add the first 2 parts of the qualifying session and than you get 4 times out of 5, which by any means it's 80%, and that's pretty much consistent.

And you might want to add Q3 and you'd get 4 out of 6, wich indeed means nothing, as the only important sixth is precisely Q3.

The race is after that the absolutely most important one, as it is where drivers get their points.

Come on, Ioan, you know it very well. Do you want a sumarized resume of last season (how many times every driver got a an advantage on P1, P2, P3, Q1, Q2, and Q3)?

Do you want me to remind you the final result of both championships (figures are slightly different than the addition of practice and qualifying sessions' results)?

They are all saying the same "WE" take a look at Kimi's answers in the post race conference, you'll believe that Him and Felipe have the same problems.

Do you think this is OK?

I've seen other drivers saying "we" when they were referring to their teams (I would say it too); but I have to admit I didn't realize how Kimi talks about it (maybe his speechs are so boring that I'm sleeping when I read them).

I thought the only one using this majestatic plural was the Pope.

[ioan]

And you might want to add Q3 and you'd get 4 out of 6, wich indeed means nothing, as the only important sixth is precisely Q3.

Which exactly when they surely run different fuel loads, that's why I didn't added it! :rollyes:

[Flat.tyres]

According to the legendarily accurate ITV commentary, whichever McLaren driver is faster in the second session has first choice for fuel load and race strategy.

If (big IF) that was the case today, then Hamilton would have first dibs, so his relatively disappointing 4th place on the grid could well translate into better race strategy.

The one saving grace about this current rediculous qualifying system is that there's some element of mystery which will only be revealed once the red lights go out tommorow!

I do agree that despite Alonso's protests to the contrary, he takes the threat from Hamilton very seriously indeed. To say that he's rattled may be taking things too far, I think Fernando's stronger than that, but he definately recognises that there's a talent and a determination in Lewis than simply wasn't evident in Fisichella.

There was a bit of fall out recently at mac. Someone (cant remember who) was quoted as saying they wanted to help lewis to the championship. Alonso apparently went ape**** saying he was being undermined. there was a sort of crisis meeting where alonso was reassured that he was the numero uno driver and the team was firmly behind him.

Make no mistake, alonso is the #1 driver and lewis is supposed to support if possible. what will be interesting is if a 1/2 time, they are still close or lewis is ahead, what the decision of ron will be. at the moment i think that fernando is very concerned about his team mate. he never expected the young englishman to be this good out of the blocks. not only him but kimi and massa as well. i wonder how many of the top 3 on the grid slept well last night knowing lewis was behind them on the grid. Perhaps ferrari might change their silly mirrors to make them a bit more useful in future

[Ian McC]

I think Pino will be swearing at the TV right now.

[ioan]

Perhaps ferrari might change their silly mirrors to make them a bit more useful in future

No need for that Felipe could barely see Hamilton after a few laps!

[Robinho]

Based on the times from Q1 and Q2, when they all run on the minimum necessary fuel loads. FM was 0.234 and 0.2 seconds faster than FA, that accounts for about 1 lap of fuel.

one thing we do now know, Alonso and Massa were on the same fuel in qually, as such it was still a great pole for Massa, but only an equal one, not one over a light car as surmised.

its a pity Mclaren can't extract the same race pace from the car, they seem to be very close over one lap, but the Ferrari does still seem to have an edge in race trim.

[ioan]

Yep, they were on similar fuel loads, my bad.

[airshifter]

It's fun watching everyone speculate on fuel loads and strategy, when so many times in the past it was quite the opposite!

I think Sato is sandbagging. He's going to run a no stopper strategy, and by timing traffic to avoid any lost momentum, he will switch to the soft tires with 2 laps to go. Then with fresh rubber he will overtake Kimi, Fernando, Lewis and Felipe on the final corner with a bold outside overtaking move.

And anyone that can't see how obvious that is should review the race weekend up to this point!

If not for Kimi's car failure, Takuma would have made his move to the front!