Join Paul and me as we review the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. We cover each team as they finish, review each driver, talk about how not to spin a car, how much you can learn racing against Alonso and unpack the tire conspiracy in Barcelona.
We even hand out some awards. Pass, Donkey and drive of the race. Bobby K. didn’t win any awards unfortunately.
Photo by: www.kymillman.com/f1
"You can't take F1 to America, you have to take America to F1."
tpf@theparcferme.com
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Re the Spanish GP tyre conspiracy, I might not be 100% correct in this but I believe that a decision has been made that at the next two GP’S (France and UK) were the new tyre is intended to be used, anyone can now chose to use the normal tyre if so he wish.
Conspiracy or not, I’m not in favor of spec tires deciding if teams ‘show up’ anymore than I would be in favor of the spec CE being a deciding factor. If it turns into something like the 2005 USGP or even the 2013 British GP, nobody wins (fans, teams, F1). At least this year they had some warning that the tires were not holding up for quite a few teams in cold conditions and could tweak them. Having said that, since the tires are from a sole manufacturer I don’t believe any team should be able to dictate compound changes… Read more »
At the winter testing time everybody was effected by tyre blistering to some degree the weather was playing a big part into the problem. Most were managing the blistering to different levels of management. the only team that could find no cure was Mercedes so they resorted to their 2013 tactics and asked Pirelli for help, specifically they actually presented Pirelli with the Recommended remedy of which Pirelli agreed too. this amounted to an in-season change in tyre specification, (moving of the goal posts). Pirelli would have actually needed 70% approval for this short term in-season tyre change which they… Read more »
I need to go back and look but that’s kind of how I recall the press explaining the situation back then, too. And that’s why Merc used Mediums for the majority of the testing. I may be wrong, but that’s how I am remembering it.
Here’s what the Ferrari looked like today with the original, pre-‘Mercedes’ compound;
https://twitter.com/diegofmejia/status/996426031597785088
Those FERRARI rear tyres in those pictures at today’s Barcelona test are the Pirelli/Mercedes in-season goal post changing tyres that were used in Sunday’s race. in fact for today and tomorrow test at Barcelona Pirelli offers the teams both type of tyres for comparison.
Also I can now confirm that today Mario Isola said on Italian television that teams can switch back to normal tyres for Silverstone and Paul Ricard. which means that the Mercedes hope for an un challenged three critical races is now down to only one (Barcelona).
You sound more desperate than normal. Todd, are we suppose to just deal with this guy spreading fake news on purpose?
I don’t see any links or stories about Mario saying teams can use whatever they want in Silverstone. You have a link for that Sunny?
This story suggests that they did use the original tires and they were worse, as Pirelli suggested they would be:https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/136052/vettel-normal-tyres-even-worse-for-ferrari
NC. As I said Isola was speaking on Italian television two days ago about the change for (tyre chose offer) for Silverstone and Paul Ricard. he also said that at the test both type of tyres will be on offer for comparison. As to what autosports reported Vettel as saying. I am still trying to get my head around that, not easy at all, Everybody including those at autosports were saying FERRARI was the fastest and best car in the four opening races on all tracks and on all tyres (the best car package) also indorsed by Ross Brawn. now… Read more »
Yesterday after the test FERRARI confirmed through twitter that they had been running both old and new version of Pirelli tyres, also confirmed that Vettel 3rd best time (0.131) behind best time was on Pirelli original old tyre. also confirmed that they were not in favor of Pirelli new gauge tyre.
So this (FERRARI running both types of Pirelli tyres at the test) confirms one of the two things Mario Isola said on Italian television.
But the blistered tyres in the Diego Mejia pics are the old pre-Spain GP tyres that Vettel said would have made them worse off and not the new tyres that were just introduced.
Even Mejia points it out in Spanish.
Times don’t mean anything because it was the longevity of the tyres that were the issue.
Which actually makes sense that the old tyres were the ones that blistered because Vettel was pushing and setting fast times on them.
Of course there is no link and we all know it. Why even entertain an obvious lie? Do you secretly wish what Sunny is saying is true but want to keep your distance? Because if it was true, it would be a major story on every F1 site. Can you imagine if Pirelli descided to go back to the old tires or show up with both options for teams to choose from? The logistics and manufacturing of both tires makes Sunnys fake news laughable. We can’t have a respectable site and have moderators let Sunny act this way. The fact… Read more »
The fact is that one of the two things Mario Isola said on Italian television before this two days of testing started happened (teams will have the chose of the new and old gauge tyres to use during testing so that they can do their own comparisons). that was certainly no fake news. As to the other one Isola said (in Silverstone and Paul Ricard teams will be able to chose between old gauge and new gauge tyre) we will have to wait a bit longer to see if it materializes or not. But if it does Pirelli with a… Read more »
Arrow044, I agree with you. There seldom is a link provided. Copy and paste of a url is also next to impossible concept. Just round a bout words that can be interpreted any number of ways, or not at all. It’s a confrontational tactic he has used since he started posting on this and other sites. I sometimes feel I’m the only one who feels this way so I just try to ignore, but I also feel the fake news is at times counter to this sites ideals. On the topic of two different compond specs, I would also agree… Read more »
I don’t secretly wish anything, mate. What I will do is give you or anyone else the benefit of the doubt in supplying some sort of backup to what I would consider major news and if this happened, I have to assume that the F1 press would be on top of this story given the controversy from Spain. That said, what I am growing weary of is the definitives in sentence architecture and stating things as an insider who has access and a view to inside news no one else does. When pressed about it, it gets dodgy (personal attacks… Read more »
NC. Will you please go to top of page and read what I said in my first post. and then my other post when asked by you for a link telling you were I got it from. I honestly cannot understand how all that can be classified as me pushing out fake news. if the second part of what Isola said on Italian television does not materialize/happen, the first part actually did materialize/happen, it will be him that had told Italian TV something that did not materialized and not me pushing fake news. I would like to assure you and… Read more »
Because what Mario Isola told Italian TV surprised me no less than I seem to have surprised others by carrying it over here, I stated from the very outset that “I might not be 100% correct in this”. Disagreeing and it being even labeled as fake news didn’t bothered me much, am now used of such attitude towards me. When NC asked for a link I stated were the link originated from. When the fake news label was pushed onto me being the fake news maker, I re-checked the Isola statement to the Italian TV, As can be assumed Isola… Read more »
That’s all fine and good. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. There is no such thing as an unbiased observer. I think everyone knows you’re a Ferrari fan and that’s absolutely fine. We should all support a team. I feel it’s much better to be motivated by rooting for a squad rather than being motivated by a dislike for a driver or team. However I have to say your Ferrari allegiance does get in the way at times. Case in point would be your coverage of the Spain tire controversy and an unwillingness to confront those fanning the flames of… Read more »
The poster below awfully sounds like the poster that Mark Hughes of Motorsport Magazine just banned. They have the same 2nd name, stivala and his talking points are eerily so similar. Some of his points have been deleted but you could tell that Mr. Hughes was pressing him for the same things – the truth and his sources. Predictably, he couldn’t produce any.
Yep, one and the same…
I know Mark and he’s a really nice guy and I think you’d have to work very hard to get banned at his site. He’s very embedded in the F1 paddock and knows his stuff. If things don’t change quickly, I will also follow Mark’s lead here.
Yes in winter testing Mercedes encountered blistering problems helped in no small way by the weather forced them into using mainly only mediums.
If you think those tyre look really bad just google and watch what a bad tyre looks like “Pirelli modifiziert reifen formel1 news.
As for F1 TV, after hearing comments on its performance for Spanish GP FP1, I decided to hold off on signing up for it.
I have to decide between F1 TV and its archival footage vs. YouTube TV, which may have only the last few races to stream, but almost an entire “basic cable” streaming package.
First world problems!
I thought I was was joking by suggesting in the Q&A section
that Ver-crash-en is aiming to hit every car on the grid this season.
He’s keeping on track with a sneaky tag on Stroll this weekend, good skills!
Bringing his tally to, Himself (Australia – driver induced collision), Hamilton (China), Vettel (Bahrain), Ricciardo (Baku), Stroll (Barcelona).
Who will he nail in Monaco????
That should be the fantasy league question this week. My pick, safety car, safety car! LOL!
LOL! Bernd wouldn’t even see him coming.
I’m picking he’ll go for Magnussen, just to show us who really is F1’s biggest Badass (Bad Verst-ass-en).
Not much talk about the Halo in F2 race. Some new photos came out in the last days which to me look like this guy was pretty lucky. I don’t think I’m overstating when I say a few months in and already a potential life saved. At a minimum this guy was heading for some serious hospital time.
http://hanabi.autoweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/gen-932-524/public/Untitled-2_62.jpg?itok=A6ajiJez
Halo definitely did its job. I will always vote for function over aesthetics. Unfortunately we still have a huge fan base of F1 fans who think noise and appearance are paramount.
We’ve seen what the torque behind those grippy tyres can to a mechanics leg, I’m glad we didn’t get to see what it would do to Makino’s head and neck.
It was looking like Grosjean was trying to give the halo its first F1 live test. He, Hulkenberg and Gasley were lucky that his whirling dervish move didn’t end up far worse.