Spanish GP review

aveek · 11th May 2005, 02:02

Was just wondering... even with so amny Ferrari andd F-1 fans around, why no post on the Spanish GP??! True, both Ferrari's really sucked in the race, but still... ok Ferrari fans forgiven, but McLaren fans??!! So, I will start, in the most biased way ever. Here Goes:

The Spanish circuit (Circuit De Catalunya) saw the comeback of formula-1 giants McLaren-Mercedes - something that wasw coming for some time qith the super-competitive pace of the new McLaren of 2005 from the beginning of the season. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through the length of the 4.62 Km track to come third in the first qualifying session, and then took to the track yet another scorcher during second qualifying to gain pole position, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya could only get a mere 7th, though still ahead of the two struggling Ferrraris of Michael Schumacher(8th) and Ruben Barrichello(16th).
As the five red lights went out to start the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi got of to (yet another) flying start, pulling away from title leader and second-placed Fernando Alonso by a second in the first lap.

But this wasn't just a one flying lap by Kimi - he kept this blistering pace up through the entire race, moving a second aa lap quicker than Fernando, and two seconds quicker than almost everyone else. His McLaren team-mate JPM, however, had a very interesting race, spinning most mysteriously through turns 7 and 8 but making a fantastic recovery and proceeding to pretend nothing happened at all.
By the first round of pit-stops, Kimi was 26 seconds in fromt of Alonso, which got him into andd out of the pits still ahead of him, though only just. However, Alonso still had to stop for fuel, so Kimi was under no real threat.
By about lap 35 Kimi lapped a most stubborn Barrichello, who almost refused to move over when the Silver Arrow of the Finn shot by him:

The other Ferrari had absolutely no luck either, with reigning world champion Michael Schumacher, who was fighting for 8th place with McLaren's JPM, was exiting the pits just as the two Mclarens of JPM and Kimi Raikkonen respectively bored down on the Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi lapping JPM and in the proscess cutting off Schumachers exit, giving JPM the advantage by lettting him follow just behind his team-mate to get the btter of Schumi. Michael was finally beginnig to look good, when he suddenly had to pit for a deflated rear tyre. Things got no better for hime either, as on his outlap while on a quick right hander his front-left Bridgestone also deflated, throing the front of his car into the gravel and severely damaging the under-carraige and the side pods of his Ferrari. The German ace limped back to the pits to retire shortly afterwards.
By the second round of pit-stops around lap 49, Kimi Raikkonen had stapmed his authority allover the Catalan circuit and over all the cars and their drivers. The last time McLaren had won here was thee hands of another Fying Finn - Mika Hakkinen - and Kimi has kept the Finnish flag flying high.
Kimi has earned his Champagne, and may he win every race there is. All hail the next world-champion!!

(Do pardon me if I got the pals of pit entrance and exit, and the overtaking of Barrichello wrong - was highly elated seeing Kimi demolish everyone.)

Abhay · 11th May 2005, 10:43

I did notice the lack of Spanish GP thread immediately but I attributed it to most Ferraroi (or rather Schumacher) fans being very sad etc...:-)
Anyways McLaren are back with a bang! It could easily have been 2 in a row had Kimi not had problems in Imola...but Monaco watch out.
It can only be good for the title though as now it doesnt look as easy for Renault.

Gordon · 11th May 2005, 10:48

Spanish Grand Prix. Worst Race Seen. Best Race Kimi. Hard Luck Alonso. Bridgestone Loser. Bad Show Montoya. Good Comeback Barrichello. Good One Trulli/Toyota. Boo Karthikeyan. Finish.

Dippy · 11th May 2005, 10:51

What a race for Kimi !!!. The Finn just demolished the field and notched up a great win. Mclaren seemed to have got everything right with their car. Kimi simply had a blistering pace and there was nothing really Alonso could do about it. Bad times continue for Ferrari and 2 tyre failures came in the way of what might have been a podium for Schumi. I am a Schumi fan but now the championsip is really a concern for Ferrari. The main issue is with the tyres. I really dont know if Ferrari will hang on to the title this year or not but Schumi does have that never say die attitude.

I dont see a good race for Ferrari at Monaco either since they are struggling for the one lap qualifying. And a low grid position wont help at Monte Carlo. Bridgestone has to up their game if Ferrari has to fight back for the championship contention.

I am also very happy to see the performance of Toyota. Great reliability and Trulli was awesome. I really hope to see a Toyota win this season.

Off to Monaco then

Dippy

shravan316 · 11th May 2005, 12:03

Spanish GP was a treat to watch for McLaren fans! What a race by Kimi, never did he once decide to cool off.. he was absolutely FLYING!! The first few laps were simply awesome... with Kimi lapping almost 2 seconds a lap faster than Alonso who inturn was 1 second a lap faster than the guys behind him!!
It was a terrible day at the office for Ferrari.. both cars not finishing in the points.. Barrichello did well to finish 9th after starting towards the end of the grid..Ferrari and Bridgestone now have some serious work to do... two tyre failures in quick succession leading to MS's retirement from the race.
Speaking of retirements, one noticeable retirement apart from Schumi's was JV. He was looking great the previous race with his stay in F1 being doubted, well, IMO, i really think he should retire now and let someone else take his place. Clearly he isn't the same JV we know, the 1997 champion.
Alonso and Trulli had a good race too, but, the day or rather the entire weekend, clearly belonged to McLaren and Kimi. Montoya, well, he looked a bit rusty at the beginning of the race, but, i guess he'll do well in the coming races.

Predictions for Monaco?? Simple, if McLaren can keep the quick Renaults behind them, and dont land up in serious reliability issues, i dont see why Kimi can do a repeat perfomance. But, Renault with their awesome traction control and a really really quick car will most definitely put up a great fight in the narrow streetlanes of Monaco. I feel the Renault would dominate at Monaco. I dont see any other team apart from McLaren threatening Renault in Monaco. But, i could be wrong...

normally_crazy · 11th May 2005, 14:18

Do any of you guys feel that a certain mr. Sachin tendulkar turned out to be a bad omen for our NK ?

i mean he went there , hogged media attention when he went to meet NK, had the Photographers clicking away , sat in NK's car and posed and generally caused a ruckus which could have disturbed NK's concentration ?

Yeah agreed NK isnt driving the hottest car in the F1 season but still ..what do you fellas say ?

cheers

Abhay · 11th May 2005, 15:42

I am pretty sure NK is a good enough driver/professional to not let Tendulkar media craze/hype get to him...he just had a bad day. He still outqualified his team-mate though ..just a wander around the dirt let Tiago past Narain.

Gordon - nice summary lol
but Montoya didnt exactly have a bad day due to his own doing..of course he was a little rusty (since he was driving after a month) and he was out 1st in qualifying session 1...and of course his race was screwed when he pitted but no fuel went in due to the rig problem and he had to pit again next lap!!

I have a feeling that we might see a McLaren 1-2 soon (maybe at Monaco)...the car is very fast, was reliable and Montoya already knows what it is to win at Monaco.
Kimi is looking ominous and I'm sure Alonso will fight to save his lead...
Qualifying session 2 at Monaco will be crucial !!!!

SCARLET · 11th May 2005, 17:01

well sachin had once met MS before a race and handed him a personally signed cricket bat
MS won that race, its to do with experience that these things are learnt to be dealt with
give NK some more time,only next season we should start judging him i guess

Gordon ---- really nice summary,

and about MS, it was just bad luck, hats off to the ferrari stratergy, even though they have a not so fast car their stratergy seems to be going right all the time, so once the car is perfect god bless other teams,
MS doesnt have anything to loose so no problem for ferrari and MS fans , he already has 7 world titles and 5 in a row, someone in the current driver line up match that and then we shall talk

Hatari · 11th May 2005, 21:59

i quite enjoyed the spanish gp..
it was good to mclaren conquer their inner demons, revealing their true pace
they will have to keep a watchful eye on reliability.. and i think kimi will kick montoya's ass all season

ferrari's qualifying pace ( not only due to bridgestone ) is hurting them more than anything else..
their race pace is right up there.. reliability needs lookign into

renault are doing all they should.. consistency is all that is required of them now

toyota look better than ever.. it was really nice to see jarno fighting all the way, inspite of a car that wasnt handling as well as ralf's.. their perfect reliabilty so far has helped them tremendously
..in reality, they arent quicker than mclaren, renault or ferrari.. and have 'scavenged' on their rivals problems ( qualifying, tyre, reliability etc ) brilliantly..

williams need to pick up their socks.. pretty average effort from them

BAR were looking good at imola... they will certainly mix things up when they are able to race again

red bull will understandably will not be able to match their efforts from the beginning of the season... their low budget will not fuel the constant development that is needed to stay on top

sauber usually start the season well and fade due to lack of development.. their new wind tunnel will give them a big boost
Jv though still needs to improve a lot.. he is letting them down

jordan & minardi have their hands tied to their budget.. all they shud focus on is reliability

Hatari · 11th May 2005, 22:38

gordon.. i'm curious..
who's ure fav drivers / teams ?

Gordon · 11th May 2005, 23:45

Michael Schumacher/Ferrari
After this I like all of them, except for David Coulthard and JP Montoya.....
Fisichella/Renault
Button/BAR Honda
Sato/BAR Honda
Sauber Petronas

Aditya · 12th May 2005, 00:18

Being a McLaren fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish GP - McLaren domination! Kimi Raikkonen was absolutely unstoppable. Like Abhay said, had it not been for problems at Imola, it would have been two in a row for him.
Fernando Alonso did well to preserve his car. It was clearly not in the same league as the McLaren, but, Alonso made good use of whatever he had. The way he is going, I'm tempted to think that he'll be the 2005 Champion.
Scuderia Ferrari? Don't push too hard or else....

X-Machine · 12th May 2005, 03:44

What a race it was!! Im really happy that Ferrari could'nt make it again and i hope they never do.McLarens proved better than the Renaults putting an end to the Alonso era of 4 races.Finally,some car could live up and be faster than the Renaults.
Although i would've loved to see the Montoya-Schumi clash for the 7th and 8th position after Schumi made the 2nd pitstop.But the Bridgestones gave up and he had to retire.No issues,as they are many more races to whip Ferrari.

X

Gordon · 12th May 2005, 10:58

1998 - Goodyear Blown.
1999 - Ferrari changes to Bridgestone. Bridgestone - Only Supplier.
2005 - Bridgestone Blown.

Notice, this year 70% of the teams use Michelin and they are all competitive teams. Only Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan are on Bridgestone. But make no mistake about it, last year at every race you've see the two Bridgestone runners in the Top 10, and they are Ferrari.

Hatari · 12th May 2005, 13:54

Quote:

Michael Schumacher/Ferrari
After this I like all of them, except for David Coulthard and JP Montoya.....
Fisichella/Renault
Button/BAR Honda
Sato/BAR Honda
Sauber Petronas

Quote:

Spanish Grand Prix. Worst Race Seen.

no wonder !
there was no BAR & ferrari, sauber did real badly..

11th May 2005, 02:02	#1
aveek BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 294 Thanked: 2 Times	Spanish GP review Was just wondering... even with so amny Ferrari andd F-1 fans around, why no post on the Spanish GP??! True, both Ferrari's really sucked in the race, but still... ok Ferrari fans forgiven, but McLaren fans??!! So, I will start, in the most biased way ever. Here Goes: The Spanish circuit (Circuit De Catalunya) saw the comeback of formula-1 giants McLaren-Mercedes - something that wasw coming for some time qith the super-competitive pace of the new McLaren of 2005 from the beginning of the season. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through the length of the 4.62 Km track to come third in the first qualifying session, and then took to the track yet another scorcher during second qualifying to gain pole position, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya could only get a mere 7th, though still ahead of the two struggling Ferrraris of Michael Schumacher(8th) and Ruben Barrichello(16th). As the five red lights went out to start the Spanish Grand Prix, Kimi got of to (yet another) flying start, pulling away from title leader and second-placed Fernando Alonso by a second in the first lap. But this wasn't just a one flying lap by Kimi - he kept this blistering pace up through the entire race, moving a second aa lap quicker than Fernando, and two seconds quicker than almost everyone else. His McLaren team-mate JPM, however, had a very interesting race, spinning most mysteriously through turns 7 and 8 but making a fantastic recovery and proceeding to pretend nothing happened at all. By the first round of pit-stops, Kimi was 26 seconds in fromt of Alonso, which got him into andd out of the pits still ahead of him, though only just. However, Alonso still had to stop for fuel, so Kimi was under no real threat. By about lap 35 Kimi lapped a most stubborn Barrichello, who almost refused to move over when the Silver Arrow of the Finn shot by him: The other Ferrari had absolutely no luck either, with reigning world champion Michael Schumacher, who was fighting for 8th place with McLaren's JPM, was exiting the pits just as the two Mclarens of JPM and Kimi Raikkonen respectively bored down on the Scuderia Ferrari, Kimi lapping JPM and in the proscess cutting off Schumachers exit, giving JPM the advantage by lettting him follow just behind his team-mate to get the btter of Schumi. Michael was finally beginnig to look good, when he suddenly had to pit for a deflated rear tyre. Things got no better for hime either, as on his outlap while on a quick right hander his front-left Bridgestone also deflated, throing the front of his car into the gravel and severely damaging the under-carraige and the side pods of his Ferrari. The German ace limped back to the pits to retire shortly afterwards. By the second round of pit-stops around lap 49, Kimi Raikkonen had stapmed his authority allover the Catalan circuit and over all the cars and their drivers. The last time McLaren had won here was thee hands of another Fying Finn - Mika Hakkinen - and Kimi has kept the Finnish flag flying high. Kimi has earned his Champagne, and may he win every race there is. All hail the next world-champion!! (Do pardon me if I got the pals of pit entrance and exit, and the overtaking of Barrichello wrong - was highly elated seeing Kimi demolish everyone.) Last edited by aveek : 11th May 2005 at 02:19.
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11th May 2005, 10:43	#2
Abhay BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 727 Thanked: 11 Times	I did notice the lack of Spanish GP thread immediately but I attributed it to most Ferraroi (or rather Schumacher) fans being very sad etc...:-) Anyways McLaren are back with a bang! It could easily have been 2 in a row had Kimi not had problems in Imola...but Monaco watch out. It can only be good for the title though as now it doesnt look as easy for Renault.
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11th May 2005, 10:48	#3
Gordon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,546 Thanked: 483 Times View My Garage	Spanish Grand Prix. Worst Race Seen. Best Race Kimi. Hard Luck Alonso. Bridgestone Loser. Bad Show Montoya. Good Comeback Barrichello. Good One Trulli/Toyota. Boo Karthikeyan. Finish. Last edited by Gordon : 11th May 2005 at 10:51.
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11th May 2005, 10:51	#4
Dippy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 7,558 Thanked: 2,462 Times	What a race for Kimi !!!. The Finn just demolished the field and notched up a great win. Mclaren seemed to have got everything right with their car. Kimi simply had a blistering pace and there was nothing really Alonso could do about it. Bad times continue for Ferrari and 2 tyre failures came in the way of what might have been a podium for Schumi. I am a Schumi fan but now the championsip is really a concern for Ferrari. The main issue is with the tyres. I really dont know if Ferrari will hang on to the title this year or not but Schumi does have that never say die attitude. I dont see a good race for Ferrari at Monaco either since they are struggling for the one lap qualifying. And a low grid position wont help at Monte Carlo. Bridgestone has to up their game if Ferrari has to fight back for the championship contention. I am also very happy to see the performance of Toyota. Great reliability and Trulli was awesome. I really hope to see a Toyota win this season. Off to Monaco then Dippy
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11th May 2005, 12:03	#5
shravan316 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,029 Thanked: 9 Times	Spanish GP was a treat to watch for McLaren fans! What a race by Kimi, never did he once decide to cool off.. he was absolutely FLYING!! The first few laps were simply awesome... with Kimi lapping almost 2 seconds a lap faster than Alonso who inturn was 1 second a lap faster than the guys behind him!! It was a terrible day at the office for Ferrari.. both cars not finishing in the points.. Barrichello did well to finish 9th after starting towards the end of the grid..Ferrari and Bridgestone now have some serious work to do... two tyre failures in quick succession leading to MS's retirement from the race. Speaking of retirements, one noticeable retirement apart from Schumi's was JV. He was looking great the previous race with his stay in F1 being doubted, well, IMO, i really think he should retire now and let someone else take his place. Clearly he isn't the same JV we know, the 1997 champion. Alonso and Trulli had a good race too, but, the day or rather the entire weekend, clearly belonged to McLaren and Kimi. Montoya, well, he looked a bit rusty at the beginning of the race, but, i guess he'll do well in the coming races. Predictions for Monaco?? Simple, if McLaren can keep the quick Renaults behind them, and dont land up in serious reliability issues, i dont see why Kimi can do a repeat perfomance. But, Renault with their awesome traction control and a really really quick car will most definitely put up a great fight in the narrow streetlanes of Monaco. I feel the Renault would dominate at Monaco. I dont see any other team apart from McLaren threatening Renault in Monaco. But, i could be wrong...
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11th May 2005, 14:18	#6
normally_crazy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 4,369 Thanked: 528 Times View My Garage	Bad Omen ? Do any of you guys feel that a certain mr. Sachin tendulkar turned out to be a bad omen for our NK ? i mean he went there , hogged media attention when he went to meet NK, had the Photographers clicking away , sat in NK's car and posed and generally caused a ruckus which could have disturbed NK's concentration ? Yeah agreed NK isnt driving the hottest car in the F1 season but still ..what do you fellas say ? cheers
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11th May 2005, 15:42	#7
Abhay BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune Posts: 727 Thanked: 11 Times	I am pretty sure NK is a good enough driver/professional to not let Tendulkar media craze/hype get to him...he just had a bad day. He still outqualified his team-mate though ..just a wander around the dirt let Tiago past Narain. Gordon - nice summary lol but Montoya didnt exactly have a bad day due to his own doing..of course he was a little rusty (since he was driving after a month) and he was out 1st in qualifying session 1...and of course his race was screwed when he pitted but no fuel went in due to the rig problem and he had to pit again next lap!! I have a feeling that we might see a McLaren 1-2 soon (maybe at Monaco)...the car is very fast, was reliable and Montoya already knows what it is to win at Monaco. Kimi is looking ominous and I'm sure Alonso will fight to save his lead... Qualifying session 2 at Monaco will be crucial !!!!
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11th May 2005, 17:01	#8
SCARLET Awaiting Email Confirmation Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 219 Thanked: 2 Times	well sachin had once met MS before a race and handed him a personally signed cricket bat MS won that race, its to do with experience that these things are learnt to be dealt with give NK some more time,only next season we should start judging him i guess Gordon ---- really nice summary, and about MS, it was just bad luck, hats off to the ferrari stratergy, even though they have a not so fast car their stratergy seems to be going right all the time, so once the car is perfect god bless other teams, MS doesnt have anything to loose so no problem for ferrari and MS fans , he already has 7 world titles and 5 in a row, someone in the current driver line up match that and then we shall talk
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11th May 2005, 21:59	#9
Hatari Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 1,872 Thanked: 874 Times	i quite enjoyed the spanish gp.. it was good to mclaren conquer their inner demons, revealing their true pace they will have to keep a watchful eye on reliability.. and i think kimi will kick montoya's ass all season ferrari's qualifying pace ( not only due to bridgestone ) is hurting them more than anything else.. their race pace is right up there.. reliability needs lookign into renault are doing all they should.. consistency is all that is required of them now toyota look better than ever.. it was really nice to see jarno fighting all the way, inspite of a car that wasnt handling as well as ralf's.. their perfect reliabilty so far has helped them tremendously ..in reality, they arent quicker than mclaren, renault or ferrari.. and have 'scavenged' on their rivals problems ( qualifying, tyre, reliability etc ) brilliantly.. williams need to pick up their socks.. pretty average effort from them BAR were looking good at imola... they will certainly mix things up when they are able to race again red bull will understandably will not be able to match their efforts from the beginning of the season... their low budget will not fuel the constant development that is needed to stay on top sauber usually start the season well and fade due to lack of development.. their new wind tunnel will give them a big boost Jv though still needs to improve a lot.. he is letting them down jordan & minardi have their hands tied to their budget.. all they shud focus on is reliability Last edited by Hatari : 11th May 2005 at 22:06.
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11th May 2005, 22:38	#10
Hatari Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Calcutta Posts: 1,872 Thanked: 874 Times	gordon.. i'm curious.. who's ure fav drivers / teams ?
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11th May 2005, 23:45	#11
Gordon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,546 Thanked: 483 Times View My Garage	Michael Schumacher/Ferrari After this I like all of them, except for David Coulthard and JP Montoya..... Fisichella/Renault Button/BAR Honda Sato/BAR Honda Sauber Petronas Last edited by Gordon : 11th May 2005 at 23:49.
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12th May 2005, 00:18	#12
Aditya Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 17,830 Thanked: 77,012 Times View My Garage	Being a McLaren fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the Spanish GP - McLaren domination! Kimi Raikkonen was absolutely unstoppable. Like Abhay said, had it not been for problems at Imola, it would have been two in a row for him. Fernando Alonso did well to preserve his car. It was clearly not in the same league as the McLaren, but, Alonso made good use of whatever he had. The way he is going, I'm tempted to think that he'll be the 2005 Champion. Scuderia Ferrari? Don't push too hard or else....
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12th May 2005, 03:44	#13
X-Machine Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Mumbai/Tokyo Posts: 1,475 Thanked: 29 Times	What a race it was!! Im really happy that Ferrari could'nt make it again and i hope they never do.McLarens proved better than the Renaults putting an end to the Alonso era of 4 races.Finally,some car could live up and be faster than the Renaults. Although i would've loved to see the Montoya-Schumi clash for the 7th and 8th position after Schumi made the 2nd pitstop.But the Bridgestones gave up and he had to retire.No issues,as they are many more races to whip Ferrari. X
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12th May 2005, 10:58	#14
Gordon Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Mumbai Posts: 2,546 Thanked: 483 Times View My Garage	1998 - Goodyear Blown. 1999 - Ferrari changes to Bridgestone. Bridgestone - Only Supplier. 2005 - Bridgestone Blown. Notice, this year 70% of the teams use Michelin and they are all competitive teams. Only Ferrari, Minardi and Jordan are on Bridgestone. But make no mistake about it, last year at every race you've see the two Bridgestone runners in the Top 10, and they are Ferrari.
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