2010 Spanish Grand Prix Race day at the Circuit de Catalunya

Fabio Leimer took GP2 honours

Fabio Leimer took GP2 honours © LAT
Fabio Leimer survived a late push from Luiz Razia to win today’s GP2 Series sprint race. The start was delayed when Sergio Perez trialed oil around half of the formation lap, but when it eventually got going the Swiss driver took off from pole and opened a sizable gap during the middle part of the race.

Razia came back at him over the closing laps, and crossed the line just 0.7s behind. It was the second-ever win for the Ocean Racing squad, while third for Razia’s team-mate Pastor Maldonado secured a two-three for Rapax.

ART’s Sam Bird again charged through the field, with some bold overtaking moves to climb from ninth to fourth, while Oliver Turvey held on to fifth despite lapping around 1.5s off the pace with a train of cars behind him headed by a frustrated Dani Clos.

Leimer beats Razia to sprint win

Rossi wins in GP3

Rossi wins in GP3 © Sutton
ART's Alexander Rossi took a dominant win in this morning's GP3 Series sprint race. The American started from pole and led the entire race, controlling the field decisively from an early restart to lead by 9.6s by the flag.

Lucas Foresti held on for second, despite the advances of Esteban Gutierrez, who survived a late charge from Robert Wickens to hold on to the final podium spot. Dean Smith finished fifth, with Pedro Nunes edging out James Jakes for the final point.

Rossi dominates GP3 sprint race

Fans pack the Barcelona grandstands

Fans pack the Barcelona spectator areas © Sutton
Motor racing fans love to debate and discuss the action on track, and the live forum at the bottom of the screen is your chance to let everyone know your thoughts on events as they unfold at the circuit.

• Who will come out on top in the private Red Bull battle this afternoon? Perhaps more importantly, will Webber and Vettel send fans to sleep with a dominant performance again today?

• Can Kamui Kobayashi score his first points of the season today? He starts from tenth place on the grid.

• How will the new teams fare in the race? Lotus is once again the quickest of the three, but can Trulli and Kovalainen hang on a little better to the rest of the field?

Tell the world what you think.

Click the SHOW LIVE FORUM link in the red bar at the bottom of your browser window if you'd like to join the debate.

As expected, this morning dawned dry but with heavy cloud cover over Montmelo.

A passing weather system has moved north-east across the country overnight and this morning, largely missing Catalonia.

Further lines of showers lie to the west and south-west of the region, but the latest thought is that these won't become a factor now until after the race has been completed, leaving the Spanish crowd to enjoy a dry event with a maximum temperature of 18 degrees Celsius.

Trouble exiting the garage for Alonso

Trouble exiting the garage for Alonso © Sutton
At the beginning of the final ten-minute dash for the top spots on the grid, there was a pitlane altercation between Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso.

Rosberg was already traveling down the lane at the speed limit, when he had to brake and swerve as much as possible to the left - just missing the pitwall - as Alonso was released by the Ferrari mechanics straight into his path.

Stewards looked at the incident once the session was completed, and decided to hand down a $20,000 USD fine to the team. Alonso escaped any grid penalty, so will take up his second row spot this afternoon.

Also in the dock this weekend:

• Virgin Racing. The team did not inform the FIA technical delegate regarding which gear ratios it intended to fit on the cars of Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. This must be done within two hours following the end of Friday afternoon practice. Glock and Di Grassi have been handed a five-place grid penalty.

• Vitaly Petrov crashed at Turn 4 during Saturday morning practice, damaging the front and rear of his Renault R30. His gearbox was changed before qualifying and he also takes a five-place drop on the grid today.

• Karun Chandhok has also received a five-place grid penalty, again following a gearbox change. The Indian qualified yesterday in 23rd position. He loses one spot and falls to the back of the grid. Bruno Senna is the beneficiary of these penalties at the rear of the field and will now start 21st.

Webber was delighted to take pole

Webber was delighted to take pole © Sutton
Mark Webber got one over Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel in a battle to the wire to take pole for today's 66-lap race.

Qualifying began with the usual thoughts of who from the established teams would join the Lotus, Virgin and HRT drivers on the sidelines after 20 minutes.

Surprisingly it was Rubens Barrichello that was knocked out. He wasn't able to improve on his final lap - partly due to the team giving him information over the radio during the lap. This ultimately distracted the Brazilian and he wasn't able to nail a clean run.

For the second event in a row we saw no major shocks in Q2. Adrian Sutil and Pedro de la Rosa fought a private battle for some time over tenth place, which the German won - but neither of them had banked on Kamui Kobayashi coming round the blind side two-tenths of a second quicker than both of them. Kobayashi netted eighth spot, demoting Sutil to 11th and elimination. He joined De la Rosa, Hulkenberg, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and Liuzzi in the paddock.

So onto the final shootout for pole. In truth, it was a two horse race between Vettel and Webber, with Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari drivers left in the battle for the second row.

Webber was able to shade the early mark put down by his team-mate, but many expected Vettel to come back and cement another pole position. But the Australian was in the mood for it and beat Vettel's final attempt by just over one-tenth of a second to grab the eighth pole of his career.

Lewis Hamilton was almost a full second back in third spot, with Fernando Alonso doing his beat in front of the home crowd in fourth. Championship leader Jenson Button starts today from fifth and has alongside him Michael Schumacher, who is slightly happier with his Mercedes this weekend in sixth.

Race day at the Circuit de Catalunya

Race day at the Circuit de Catalunya © Sutton
Hello everyone and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for coverage of round five of the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The sport has returned to its European roots this weekend following an opening four-round stint in Bahrain, Australia, Malaysia and, most recently, China.

Teams have arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya pinning their hopes on upgrades in an effort to move towards the front of the pack, but so far this weekend the gap at the top of the time sheets has been smashed to smithereens by the dominant Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Even McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh conceded yesterday afternoon that the race was Red Bull's to lose, given the pace of the upgraded RB6 around the 4.655 km circuit.

The race itself begins at 12:00 GMT, but before then we will set the scene by reviewing yesterday's qualifying session, update you on today's weather conditions and support card activity, and focus on some of the major talking points heading into the race.