Preview: At the end of last year’s European Grand Prix in Valencia, a certain Sebastian Vettel could be heard proudly declaring ‘We’re back on track!’ over team radio. For 2011, the rest of the world continues to wonder how on earth the reigning Champion can be stopped, although a glimmer of hope shone on a dull day last time out in Canada. As a city, colourful Valencia seems to have something for everyone; an eclectic blend of old and new, history and science, hectic nightlife and beach relaxation and, since 2008, Formula 1. As a track, you’ll probably find more critics than lovers, with all three events so far having featured a distinct lack of overtaking, with a 25-corner setup not exactly contributing to a flowing track nature. That said, the street circuit is popular with more drivers than you’d imagine and there’s always been something interesting to talk about. The race debuted as Spain experienced a surge of interest in the sport thanks to Alonso’s double title successes; whether with Renault or Ferrari, though, Fernando has never been blessed with luck in what is the home of Paella. More than a helping (of luck, not Paella) might well be required if anybody is going to present themselves as a genuine contender for knocking Vettel off the top of the standings. On paper, Valencia should be one of the German’s trickier dry races of the year; McLaren have picked up four podiums from six starts and, in fact, have never finished outside the top four with either of their two drivers – be it Hamilton, Button or Kovalainen. The 2011 Ferrari may lack downforce although the Scuderia also fancy themselves for a bit of a triumph as their number one driver comes home… No matter who wins, we’re certainly having a season of fantastic track action, which is especially great if you’re watching from the stands because F1 remains pretty difficult to follow if you’re actually at the venue - which seems silly, but it’s true. It just struck me how great the on-track drama is this year when I was watching the inaugural Valencia race back last week. Leader Felipe Massa was released into the path of Adrian Sutil as he exiting his pit box, prompting TV commentators and several journalists to label the race ‘controversial’. If that happened now, I very much doubt it would be the most dramatic part of the afternoon. After Massa won that opening event, Rubens Barrichello celebrated Brazil’s 100th Grand Prix win and his first for half a decade in 2009, before the aforementioned Vettel put himself back in the picture after a difficult run of races last year. And as the teams revved up for the England-Germany World Cup match as last year’s race went on, it ended up being Mark Webber’s high-flying accident which grabbed the attention. Now, DRS. We’ve had it since the start of the season but the overtake-boosting device continues to generate a lot of talk. In Canada, we had not one but two DRS zones for the first time – which was met by mixed opinions – and that remains for Valencia. The start/finish straight won’t be one of those zones; instead it’s the run from the swing bridge to Turn 12 and then the second long left-handed section from Turn 14 to 17. What some argue is unfair is the fact that only one detection zone remains (in this case, placed just before the swing bridge, at the exit of Turn 7). It allows a driver, should he be within one second of his opponent through the detection zone, to use the system and attempt a pass, as usual; but should that pass be successful, he’s then able to deploy DRS again – thus allowing him to pull out a healthy gap – through the second zone. It certainly seems contentious and kind of defeats the objective, so a second detection zone seems the fairest solution from a neutral point of view. Perhaps the more interesting point this weekend is the fact that we have a new unknown to contend with – Pirelli’s Medium compound tyre (marked with white logos). It’s the last new tyre Slick to be used this year and is joined by the Super Soft (red markings). This means that, throughout practice, the teams and drivers will be hurriedly experimenting to see just how much they can get out of it, to hopefully end Friday with a good idea of which pit-stop strategy will be best for the race. If there’s one thing Vettel loves, it’s his statistics. Back in Montreal he notched up a 21st career pole position to move ahead of both 1996 Champion Damon Hill and 2010 rival Fernando Alonso. The Red Bull pilot, incidentally, is tied on 15 race wins with Lewis Hamilton, so I doubt that’s something he’s failed to notice. Perhaps Vettel could start off his European weekend by bagging a 31st front row start? He’d be equalling Niki Lauda and, oddly enough, Hamilton if he did so - so surely that’s a good enough reason to do it yet again, Seb?
P1 driver,team,time,laps 1. Mark Webber Red Bull 01:40.403 22 2. Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:41.227 20 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:41.239 22 4. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 01:41.510 23 5. Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:41.580 24 6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:41.758 23 7. Jenson Button McLaren 01:41.926 14 8. Adrian Sutil Force India F1 01:41.955 20 9. Nico Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix 01:42.043 22 10. Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:42.216 29 11. Michael Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix 01:42.270 26 12. Daniel Ricciardo Scuderia Toro Rosso 01:42.412 27 13. Rubens Barrichello Williams 01:42.704 23 14. Sergio Perez Sauber 01:42.738 20 15. Pastor Maldonado Williams 01:42.841 28 16. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 01:42.941 21 17. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 01:43.201 18 18. Nico Hulkenberg Force India F1 01:43.769 7 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus F1 01:44.136 17 20. Jerome d` Ambrosio Virgin Racing 01:45.026 17 21. Timo Glock Virgin Racing 01:45.221 19 22. Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT F1 Team 01:45.494 24 23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT F1 Team 01:46.926 27 24. Karun Chandhok Lotus F1 no time 2
Unfortunately I'll be on a plane while the race is on but I'm so excited for this after the fantastic race in Canada! I got my hopes (for the Pirelli GP Challenge) on: 1. Hamilton 2. Vettel 3. Button It's a bit too optimistic, but I'm a big McLaren fan. Hamilton is great at bouncing back from bad race weekends and I'm sure he'll do so on Sunday.
Hahaha qualifying was a joke. Mclaren, Ferrari and Mercedes were rubbing their hands hoping that limiting the after burners to 10% off throttle and banning qualifying engine maps would implicate Red Bull. This is so embarrassing for the FIA in trying reduce Red Bull's advantage. As qualifying proved, Red Bull still remain half a second faster in quali. Disappointing to say the least. There are no more 2011 inventions for Mclaren and Ferrari to campaign against in search of Red Bull's weakness. In qualifying trim the RB7 is simply a master piece. But I wouldn't bank on Vettel to win the race. Jenson Button pitted close to 5-7 times in Canada but still went on to win the race. If Lewis and Button keep their cool, stick behind Vettel for half the race, they'll be able to pass him in the closing stages. Like the previous 3-4 races have proved, the Mclaren is the fastest car on low fuel in race trim. 01. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m36.975 2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.163 + 0.188 3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.380 + 0.405 4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m37.454 + 0.479 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m37.535 + 0.560 6. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m37.645 + 0.670 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.231 + 1.256 8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m38.240 + 1.265 9. Nick Heidfeld Renault No time 10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes No time 11. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m39.068s + 1.763 12. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m39.422s + 2.117 13. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m39.489s + 2.184 14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.525s + 2.220 15. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m39.645s + 2.340 16. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m39.657s + 2.352 17. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m39.711s + 2.406 18. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.232 + 1.819 19. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m41.664 + 3.251 20. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m42.234 + 3.821 21. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m42.553 + 4.140 22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m43.584 + 5.171 23. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m43.735 + 5.322 24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m44.363 + 5.950 Shame about the Sauber struggling for speed. I've been rather disappointed by its qualifying pace in the recent GPs.
damn speed channel are not hosting f1 race this week, and fox wont show it live, where can i watch it? do u guys know any good live streaming websites?
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS The European Grand Prix Valencia, Spain; 57 laps; 310.080km; Weather: Sunny. Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h39:36.169 2. Alonso Ferrari + 10.891 3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 27.255 4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 46.190 5. Massa Ferrari + 51.705 6. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1:00.000 7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1:38.000 8. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 10. Heidfeld Renault + 1 lap 11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 14. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap 15. Petrov Renault + 1 lap 16. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap 17. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap 18. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap 19. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 20. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps 21. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 22. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps 23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps 24. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:41.852
World Championship standings, round 8: Drivers: 1. Vettel 186 2. Webber 109 3. Button 109 4. Hamilton 97 5. Alonso 87 6. Massa 42 7. Rosberg 32 8. Petrov 31 9. Heidfeld 30 10. Schumacher 26 11. Kobayashi 25 12. Sutil 10 13. Alguersuari 8 14. Buemi 8 15. Barrichello 4 16. Perez 2 17. Di Resta 2 Constructors: 1. Red Bull-Renault 295 2. McLaren-Mercedes 206 3. Ferrari 129 4. Renault 61 5. Mercedes 58 6. Sauber-Ferrari 27 7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16 8. Force India-Mercedes 12 9. Williams-Cosworth 4
All 24 cars finished the race, yet no one talked about it. I think this is the 7th or 8th race ever to have all starting cars finish. Last one should have been the disastrous US GP when only six cars started.
It's because the race snoozed everyone to a siesta. Valencia GP should not be on the calendar. It's a terrible design circuit with no redeeming qualities what so ever.
