2014 Spanish Grand Prix Sunday - Spanish GP
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Max Chilton
It was a good qualifying for Max Chilton, who will start 17th and beat Marussia team-mate Jules Bianchi by six tenths yesterday. After an up-and-down start to the season, he credits a changed approach for the step forward.
"I've come into this weekend with a bit of a different mindset," Chilton told EDD STRAW. "I've always been confident in qualifying and in the past I know I can get good laps together. But for some reason it seems to be very rare that I do get a lap together. I get loads of corners right, but not the whole lap.
"This weekend I've come in slightly behind myself, learned the limits early – I've gone off twice this weekend, which I rarely do – and then it's much easier to get a lap together with no mistakes. I'm really happy with the lap."
Valtteri Bottas will start from the second row of the grid for the second time this season, after delivering a stellar performance in qualifying.
The Finn had to work hard to get on the pace after again giving up his car for Williams reserve driver Felipe Nasr in first free practice. He hopes to be able to challenge for the podium today, but admits it will be tough to take the fight to Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull, says BEN ANDERSON
"It's going to be a really close race after all the Mercedes GP cars," Bottas said. "It will be a nice fight. At the moment it seems Red Bull is still quicker than us, on the long runs too.
"We know it's going to be difficult. [But] we have the advantage in straightline speed so you never know.
"We are going to aim to go forward rather than backwards. We'll do everything we can to keep the position or even gain."
The Finn had to work hard to get on the pace after again giving up his car for Williams reserve driver Felipe Nasr in first free practice. He hopes to be able to challenge for the podium today, but admits it will be tough to take the fight to Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull, says BEN ANDERSON
"It's going to be a really close race after all the Mercedes GP cars," Bottas said. "It will be a nice fight. At the moment it seems Red Bull is still quicker than us, on the long runs too.
"We know it's going to be difficult. [But] we have the advantage in straightline speed so you never know.
"We are going to aim to go forward rather than backwards. We'll do everything we can to keep the position or even gain."
Jean-Eric Vergne starts this race 21st thanks to a 10-place grid penalty earned when his Toro Rosso shed a wheel during Friday practice.
Since last year's accident at the German Grand Prix, when FOM cameraman Paul Allen was struck by a wheel from Mark Webber's Red Bull, the FIA has taken loose wheels very seriously, hence the draconian penalty.
EDD STRAW caught up with Vergne after qualifying and discovered the Frenchman, who opted not to run in Q2, remains upbeat about the race.
"We knew we didn't have the car to take pole position and be P11 so we just did Q1," said Vergne. "So we wanted to save as many tyres as possible for the race. We are going to have an aggressive race and see what we can do from here. What's important now is to maximise our chances in the race."
He is also happy that the "technical reason" for the lost wheel has been resolved and there will be no repeat of the problem in the race.
Since last year's accident at the German Grand Prix, when FOM cameraman Paul Allen was struck by a wheel from Mark Webber's Red Bull, the FIA has taken loose wheels very seriously, hence the draconian penalty.
EDD STRAW caught up with Vergne after qualifying and discovered the Frenchman, who opted not to run in Q2, remains upbeat about the race.
"We knew we didn't have the car to take pole position and be P11 so we just did Q1," said Vergne. "So we wanted to save as many tyres as possible for the race. We are going to have an aggressive race and see what we can do from here. What's important now is to maximise our chances in the race."
He is also happy that the "technical reason" for the lost wheel has been resolved and there will be no repeat of the problem in the race.
If you want to catch up with all the drivers' comments on their weekend so far at a glance, head to our statistics partner FORIX:
Full Spanish GP driver quotes and data on FORIX
After the race there will also be a wealth of race information for each driver accessible from that page, including their full race laptimes and gap charts
Full Spanish GP driver quotes and data on FORIX
After the race there will also be a wealth of race information for each driver accessible from that page, including their full race laptimes and gap charts
Pirelli Spanish Grand Prix 2014
Let's talk strategy, shall we EDD STRAW?
"This afternoon's race will be a choice between two or three stops. Three stops is reckoned to be faster in terms of pure time, but this is not the easiest circuit to overtake at even with the help of the DRS zone on start/finish.
"Running a two-stop strategy could give you an advantage in terms of track position so any team that can pull that off is likely to lean towards it.
"Whatever happens, the medium-compound Pirelli will be the favoured tyre. So expect the conventional strategy to be to start on the mediums, then either a two-stopper (medium/medium/hard) or a three-stopper (medium/medium/medium/hard) with the inevitable dissenters who try to get the slower hard out of the way earlier in the race."
And the constructors' table. Good reading for Mercedes and Force India, not so great for Red Bull, concerning for McLaren:
1. Mercedes 154
2. Red Bull 57
3. Force India 54
4. Ferrari 52
5. McLaren 43
6. Williams 36
7. Toro Rosso 8
1. Mercedes 154
2. Red Bull 57
3. Force India 54
4. Ferrari 52
5. McLaren 43
6. Williams 36
7. Toro Rosso 8
Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Here's a look at the drivers' championship with just over an hour until the race start:
1. Nico Rosberg 79
2. Lewis Hamilton 75
3. Fernando Alonso 41
4. Nico Hulkenberg 36
5. Sebastian Vettel 33
6. Daniel Ricciardo 24
7. Valtteri Bottas 24
8. Jenson Button 23
9. Kevin Magnussen 20
10. Sergio Perez 18
11. Felipe Massa 12
12. Kimi Raikkonen 11
13. Jean-Eric Vergne 4
14. Daniil Kvyat 4
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Fernando Alonso, Spanish Grand Prix
And from Alonso himself:
"It’s going to be difficult, but not impossible," he told the media on Saturday. "Starting seventh we’re on the clean side, so we need a good start, a good strategy and it's still possible.
"It is quite important if both cars; we can overtake some positions, because we need some points for the constructors.
"Force India is struggling this weekend, and we have a good opportunity, and Red Bull with Sebastian's problems, we will finish ahead of them if we can."
Of course, what the partisan Catalan crowd is here for is a certain Ferrari driver. But, as JONATHAN NOBLE explains, it's not looking spectacular for Fernando Alonso.
"Despite a podium finish in China a fortnight ago, Alonso had arrived in Spain eager to play down talk that he expected to repeat a top-three finish this time out.
"Having qualified seventh, it looks like his prediction was pretty spot on as he knows Ferrari does not yet have the performance to guarantee itself the slot as Mercedes’ closest challenger.
"He knows the mountain that Ferrari has to climb to get to the top – but with a bit of luck and some of the brilliance he has shown in the cockpit over recent years – a podium cannot be completely ruled out."
"Despite a podium finish in China a fortnight ago, Alonso had arrived in Spain eager to play down talk that he expected to repeat a top-three finish this time out.
"Having qualified seventh, it looks like his prediction was pretty spot on as he knows Ferrari does not yet have the performance to guarantee itself the slot as Mercedes’ closest challenger.
"He knows the mountain that Ferrari has to climb to get to the top – but with a bit of luck and some of the brilliance he has shown in the cockpit over recent years – a podium cannot be completely ruled out."
Sebastian Vettel Spanish Grand Prix
While the Mercedes drivers continue their strong form at the front, Sebastian Vettel’s troubled season has continued so far in Spain this weekend.
The four-times world champion lost Friday’s free practice to an electrical problem, despite reverting to an older chassis as part of a "reset" on his campaign.
Then a gearbox problem ruined the final segment of his qualifying session yesterday, consigning him to a row seven start because of a penalty. BEN ANDERSON heard from the Red Bull driver.
"It's obviously tough because I don't have as much information on the car and I can't get into a rhythm having missed both practice sessions," Vettel said.
"It's not a 'nightmare' as such, as we're able to learn a lot of things, especially after pre-season testing.
"Obviously Mercedes has a big advantage and it will take time to catch up. We know that the time we are losing to them is on the straights so we have to deal with that, but it's not that easy to improve."
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Lewis Hamilton Spanish Grand Prix
EDD STRAW has more on that Mercedes battle.
Hamilton is only four points behind team-mate Rosberg in the championship and victory today will give him the lead. But he is hoping for a straightforward win in the style of Malaysia or China rather than having to battle Rosberg hard as he did in Bahrain.
"I'm ready for whatever but we are going to work as hard as we can tonight to make sure that [a Bahrain style race] is not the case," he said.
"Generally this weekend I have been more comfortable with my car, Nico was struggling with the car yesterday so it was one of those days where it came towards us set-up wise. There are still things you can tweak for the race so we will just try to get it as well balanced as possible.
"I don’t plan on having a race like Barhain, but if it is then I’m ready for it."
BEN ANDERSON: "Don't expect a classic race today, like the one we had in Bahrain last month. Most drivers I spoke to are expecting to rely on strategy to move forward owing to the difficulty in overtaking on this track.
"That said, they are finding this new breed of car quite difficult to drive thanks to the downforce taken away by this year's regulations, so we could see some lairy moments and big mistakes as the tyres go off."
"That said, they are finding this new breed of car quite difficult to drive thanks to the downforce taken away by this year's regulations, so we could see some lairy moments and big mistakes as the tyres go off."
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Nico Rosberg Spanish Grand Prix
Yesterday's result means Rosberg has been outqualified by Hamilton for the fourth time in five races, but the German insists that the pressure isn’t a problem mentally.
EDD STRAW heard from him a few hours after qualifying.
"Well, obviously that gives him momentum and momentum is part of the sport,” said Rosberg, who thought he had Hamilton beaten after his lap. "[The] mental [aspect] is part of it and that does give him momentum. That's the way it is and I just need to stay on it, stay strong – which I am – keep pushing and just try to turn it around into my favour.
But with 14 races still to come after today, Rosberg is not getting too hung up on the possibility that he will lose his championship lead in Spain.
"I am not really looking that far ahead at the moment. I'm just focused on Barcelona knowing that there is still everything to play for. Being second on the grid is actually only a small disadvantage. It's a long straight and all it takes is a bit of a better start and then I’m the guy in front."
Breaking news
And some news this morning, of a sort. It's actually more a quelling of the paddock rumours.
There was a bit of noise doing that rounds that NASCAR Gene Haas was set to visit Lotus' F1 factory as the American weighed up the option of purchasing the Enstone squad - or possibly Caterham - instead of building his new-for-2015 team from scratch back in the United States.
That, as AUTOSPORT's BEN ANDERSON found out, doesn't look to be the case at all:
Haas not looking to buy F1 team
There was a bit of noise doing that rounds that NASCAR Gene Haas was set to visit Lotus' F1 factory as the American weighed up the option of purchasing the Enstone squad - or possibly Caterham - instead of building his new-for-2015 team from scratch back in the United States.
That, as AUTOSPORT's BEN ANDERSON found out, doesn't look to be the case at all:
Haas not looking to buy F1 team
Lewis Hamilton Spanish Grand Prix
No doubt you'll be aware that qualifying was just another chapter in the Mercedes fairytale that is the 2014 season.
Yes, it was another pole for the Silver Arrows - but there are signs of a fantastic battle brewing between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton edged it to claim pole position for today's race. You can read how that happened with our comprehensive qualifying report:
Hamilton beats Rosberg to Spanish GP pole
Hello, hola, and welcome to AUTOSPORT Live for our coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix.
It's raceday at the Circuit de Catalunya and after overnight showers and a damp start to today's first GP3 race - the sun is back out in Barcelona.
It's raceday at the Circuit de Catalunya and after overnight showers and a damp start to today's first GP3 race - the sun is back out in Barcelona.
Spanish Grand Prix Romain Grosjean Lotus
By: Scott Mitchell, Ben Anderson, Matt Beer, Edd Straw, Andrew van Leeuwen, Dan Cross
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