The 2008 Spanish GP Preview

The Spanish Grand Prix is held at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, and is a circuit that all the teams are intimately familiar from considerable testing. During the three weeks since the last event, most of the outfits have rolled out significant upgrades to their cars in the quest for performance, which should make the prospects for the weekend all the more interesting.

The Circuit de Catalunya is known as a strong test of the whole package. The long straight stresses engines, aero efficiency and braking; the high speed corners work the aerodynamic grip; the slow corners the mechanical grip and traction; and with so much time invested in testing time there, the drivers all have a very good idea of how to get the best out of their cars, so, even without traction control, they are a less significant part of the equation than at some other tracks. Tyres are usually given a proper pounding at this circuit, so there is some reward for teams that are able to look after their rubber - they will be able to run long stints on the option compound, if their strategy requires it.

Temperatures should be significantly down on the three hot flyaway races that started the season, so expect to see the cars more enclosed and attacking aerodynamic efficiency in the search for the tiny advantages over rivals: the midfield is particularly tightly packed, so, even a few thousandths could prove significant.

Not only is overtaking usually very particularly here (placing a premium on qualifying well) but the teams are very familiar with the circuit from frequent testing, which tends to mean that the cars tend to line up on the grid in a good approximation of the limits of the package. Often, the event is quite processional, but good strategy can deliver some surprising results, and with so much at stake on a good start, the opening few corners of the race are always entertaining!

Flashback

In 2007, the McLarens and Ferraris appeared close matched in qualifying, with Massa taking pole from home favourite Alonso by three hundredths of a second, whilst Raikkonen led Hamilton on the second row. Further back, Trulli's Toyota split the BMW-Saubers of Kubica and Heidfeld, and Coulthard had a top ten showing to put his Red Bull between the laggard Renault duo of Kovalainen and Fisichella. Rosberg just missed the top ten for Williams, whilst Sato was a surprisingly quick thirteenth for Super Aguri!

Come race day, Trulli suffered a fuel pressure problem, causing an extra formation lap; as the lights went out, Alonso pulled slightly ahead of Massa on the drag down to turn one, with the Ferrari controlling the inside line. Alonso tried to squeeze Massa through the corner, with the resulting touch sending the McLaren across the gravel at turn two, sending him back to fourth. The whole grid tussled for position through the lap, resulting in a trip through the gravel for Fisichella, an early exit for Wurz and a precautionary inspection for Schumacher.

At the front of the grid, Massa proceeded to generate a gap from Hamilton at the rate of more than half a second a lap; Raikkonen was not so fortunate, retiring early from third with an electrical fault as Alonso drifted back from the leaders. More early exits ensued, with Webber suffering hydraulic failure, Trulli's fuel pressure problem returned, Speed parked on the pit-straight after a dramatic tyre blow up and Liuzzi lost hydraulics.

The first stop saw a scare for Massa's pit crew over spilt fuel, fortunately extinguished as he accelerated away. Alonso stopped at the same time, attempting to recover with a long middle stint on hard tyres, to little avail. Hamilton proved to be fuelled three laps longer than Massa, but too far off the pace to recover the nine seconds lost ahead of the stop.

Heidfeld proved to be even heavier, potentially in a position to take third off Alonso, but his race was compromised badly when he left the pits without a wheel nut: a slow lap to have it restored kept him in the race but out of the points until a gearbox failure put him out of his misery.

Fuel rig problems saw Kovalainen forced on to a three stop strategy, dropping him behind Rosberg, though illustrating a strong pace in the car. Fisichella was likewise impacted, and discovered he was going to need a splash and dash third stop just before the end of the race - arguably costing him a point.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1h31:36.230
 2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     6.790
 3.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +    17.456
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +    31.615
 5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +    58.331
 6.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  +    59.538
 7.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +  1:02.128
 8.  Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest race lap: Massa, 1:22.680

Qualifying best: Massa, Q2, 1:20.597

Weather

There is little chance of rain and wind should remain fairly light and consistent throughout the weekend, so expect little impact from the elements. Temperatures should seventy degrees, leading to a hot track under the sun, so teams might misjudge their cooling requirements and be forced to back off in order to control reliability concerns.

Strategy

Usually a two stop race, there is little to be gained from three stops - running light is compromised by the difficulty of passing - though a front runner who discovers themselves at the back of the grid will probably be tempted to try a single stop, if they can control the tyre wear.

Conclusions

Although McLaren arguably had off weekends in Bahrain and Malaysia, they are widely expected to bounce back strongly, taking the challenge back to Ferrari. BMW-Sauber's continued improvement makes the battle at the front very interesting - if any of the front runners is off form in qualifying or makes a mistake in the race, they are likely to find themselves behind the BMWs, which will not be easy to re-pass!

Ferrari remain favourites to win, with McLaren a very close second, and is a very good chance that a couple of the front runners will encounter mechanical trouble or make a mistake, letting a BMW on to the podium.

Behind, the midfield is very close. Renault are trumpeting the scale of their improvements, and are perhaps challenging Toyota; for the 'best of the rest' status, but Williams and Red Bull have almost the same performance, so also remain quite capable of snatching those final points.

A lap of Barcelona with Alex Wurz

"Over the years, the Circuit de Catalunya has lost some of its edge because it's no longer the high speed challenge that it once was. All of the fast corners have gone, except Turn 3, which is still big G-force, very fast and very demanding.

"Of course, the track still remains an interesting place to drive. The key to a quick lap is to find a good rhythm and to make sure that your car works well in slow-speed corners, which is most of sector three. In days gone by, Barcelona required a high-speed car set-up, whereas now it needs a slow-speed set up, and I think that's disappointing.

"You approach Turn 1 at about 310kph (193mph). You stamp on the brakes and shift down to second gear for Turn 1, before taking Turn 2 in third gear. Next comes one of the best corners on the lap, Turn 3, before you're again braking hard for the hairpin at Turn 4. Another hairpin follows, where it's easy to lock up a wheel on the downhill approach, and you then have two very interesting corners.

"Turn 6 is medium-speed and requires you to use a lot of kerb on the exit, and Turn 7 is a right-hander taken at about 215kph (133mph). It's important to carry a lot of speed through Turn 7 because it leads you onto the back straight, where you're back up to 300kph (186mph). The last part of the lap is slow and it includes the new chicane before the final corner. Again, it's very important to have a good exit because you carry that speed all the way down the pit straight.

"The track was resurfaced a couple of years ago, so the infamous abrasive asphalt is gone. As a result, the race strategies are more or less the same as at other races because tyre degradation is quite flat.

"I advise anyone visiting the race to check out Barcelona because it's a cool city. I love it. The Catalan people are very open and friendly, and Barcelona has a great culture for art and food. If you have kids, take them to the Natural Museum - they'll love it."

Team by Team

Ferrari

A year ago, Ferrari looked like the trailed McLaren right through the practice periods, before pulling out all the stops in qualifying and on race day - a strong weekend from Massa saw him take all honours, though Raikkonen went home early after retiring with electrical problems.

The weekend in Bahrain was close to ideal for Ferrari, who dominated on race day, coming away with the lead in the drivers Championship whilst their anticipated rivals appeared to self destruct.

In the three week interim, testing has been working hard on a new package for this weekend, debuting an new nose cone that caused lots of excitement in the media (who clearly appreciated obvious differences for a change) but it should not be lost that the mechanical side has been improved too. The team is expected to show an aggressive step forward as they seek to retain their advantage going in to Europe.

1. Kimi Raikkonen: a mistake in qualifying last year pushed Raikkonen down to third, but he still looked on for a podium finish until the car stopped. This year, clearly on top of the machine, he has to be considered as likely to put the car on pole and win as his teammate - provided the consistency gremlins from Bahrain don't raise their head again, anyway.

2. Felipe Massa: last year, pole position led to an aggressive defence against Alonso in to the first corner, seeing the Spaniard off and setting the Brazilian up for a dominant win. A year later, coming off the back of a fine performance in Bahrain, he has to be slight favourite to repeat the show.

Objectives: Win the race.

BMW Sauber

What should have been a very strong 'best of the rest' weekend for Sauber last season proved to be somewhat disappointing, after a mistake in the pits led to Heidfeld tiptoeing around the track to have a wheel re-attached. Fourth would have been so much the sweeter for taking fifth too!

The Bahrain weekend marked a big milestone for the team, as Kubica took their first pole position. Finishing a fairly close third and fourth behind the dominant Ferrari outfit is certainly a result to be proud of.

Despite having a raft of improvements available for the Spanish Grand Prix, the team will probably struggle to put on the same show. Not only are McLaren likely to return to their more usual front of the field form, but taking out enough fuel to make the front of the grid would probably be a significant compromise on race day: on the other hand, the team is primarily concerned with bringing home their first win, not the overall season, so an aggressive strategy would not be surprising.

3. Nick Heidfeld: after the disaster in the pits a year ago that robbed Heidfeld of a fourth place finish, Quick Nick must be looking forward to an opportunity to out-perform his young teammate this time out: somewhat eclipsed by Kubica's rising star, the German needs to find a way to bring his experience to bear. Mind you, even if he does nothing out of the ordinary, he will still expect to finish in the top five!

4. Robert Kubica: a decent showing in qualifying last year belied the relatively light car being run by Kubica, though he finished fourth. Following on from his qualifying performance in Bahrain, there will be a lot of attention paid to the Pole this weekend as he attempts to repeat the feat.

Objectives: At least one car on the podium.

Objectives: Both cars in the points - perhaps one on the podium.

Renault

Last year, some strong development before showing up at Barcelona saw Renault's form improve in qualifying as both drivers made it to the final session; unfortunately, they then struggled with the fuel rigs, under-fuelling both cars in the race, compelling them to make extra stops and drop positions.

The car has, frankly, disappointed the team and their drivers this year, as they were all expecting an uptick in performance: scraping in to Q3 in Bahrain before finishing outside the points is really not what anyone had in mind.

Heading to Spain and Alonso's home Grand Prix, they are looking to give their star driver a chance to show something in front of his people - so a big step forward has been planned for the weekend. Quite how it impacts reliability (which has not been perfect) remains to be discovered, but anticipation over the new package is that it meeting the goals set.

Although other teams are also planning evolutions for Spain, Renault are of the opinion that they have gained a little more than their immediate rivals, which could see a noticeable change in fortune, considering how closely matched this group has been.

5. Fernando Alonso: it has been a difficult start to the season for Alonso, who has seen the car apparently drop back as the midfield improves; the weekend ahead will be an important yard-stick not only for the revisions the team have brought to the car, but also for the driver, whose commitment to the team is going to be stretched if the improvements do not materialize.

6. Nelson Piquet Jr: although he is struggling to match his teammate in qualifying and the race, Piquet junior is undoubtedly getting himself a fine education. Working alongside the multiple World Champion in a car that is not the class of the field offers unique insights that held drive the Brazilian along the learning curve. Quite what he'll be get out of the revised car will be interesting, though it would be a surprise to see him able to match Alonso quite yet.

Objectives: At least one car in Q3 and the points.

Williams

It was an interesting weekend for Williams in Spain last year, where Wurz was in the wars in the race, running in to Schumacher, whilst Rosberg put together an example of what would soon be his signature style; the dogged pursuit of pace throughout his race, to finish in the points.

Bahrain showed that the team is quite capable of running well in the midfield in testing and qualifying - but on race day, it was apparent that Red Bull and Toyota had something of an advantage.

With the return to Europe, the team is going to be showing aerodynamic and mechanical enhancements that ought to help with the race day performance problems, but it remains to be seen if they have done enough to match their midfield rivals: there is the very real danger that Renault have done enough to return to the front of this pack, which would make it very tough to score points from the weekend.

7. Nico Rosberg: with a couple of strong races in Spain behind him, Rosberg can probably be expected to produce a decent qualifying lap, before putting together a strong, consistent race for points. Quite why he was unable to do that for the last couple of races remains to be explained, but there is every reason to believe he will be back on form: that said, getting in to Q3 would be impressive, as would scoring points.

8. Kazuki Nakajima: less new to Spain than the fly-away circuits that opened the season, Nakajima will finally have the chance to race at a place he knows well. How this impacts his performance relative to Rosberg is going to be a strong indicator of how his performances will pick up next season.

Objectives: Get a car in to Q3 and then in the points.

Red Bull Racing

It was an mixed weekend for Red Bull in Spain last year, where they saw Webber struggle with hydraulic issues on the grid, then retire, whilst Coulthard made it to Q3 then brought home fifth.

In Bahrain, neither driver made it to Q3 - indeed, Coulthard was knocked out in Q1, and proceeded to have a disastrous race. Webber was able to make something from the middle of the pack, driving hard to eventually come home in seventh place.

This car has shown some strong performances, though there have been some questions raised concerning reliability. After testing a collection of improvements, it is clear that the team has made progress - the car appears to have better balance at any rate - but how that will stack up in comparison to the tight midfield should be interesting. Renault, Williams and Toyota might each have stolen a march.

With eyes starting to look ahead to delivering for the revised rules of the 2009 season, this weekend will be a chance to evaluate how fast the team needs to progress this season, and consequentially what resources are not going to be available for developing the next car...

9. David Coulthard: a strong weekend from Coulthard in 2007 saw him finish well in to the points - a repeat performance would not go amiss this year, particularly after his disappointing showing in Bahrain. Clearly, he has to ensure that he makes it out of Q1 this time, but the pressure is mounting to score points - particularly with rumours that Red Bull are looking to promote Vettel from the junior team...

10. Mark Webber: known as a qualifying specialist, Webber is overdue a spectacular Saturday session, though it would be particularly impressive if this is the weekend he puts on a show - there is relatively little that the drivers can add to the package here. On the other hand, it is not unknown, and followed by a strong race, points would be on the cards...

Objectives: At least one car in Q3 and scoring points.

Toyota

Last year, the team saw to very contrasting Saturday performances, leading to the same results on race day: Schumacher hit traffic in qualifying, getting stuck in Q3 then ends up retiring from the race as a result of collision damage; Trulli qualified sixth and ran strongly before retiring with fuel pressure problems.

A year later and Trulli at least is having a ball in the Toyota. In Bahrain, he put the car in the top eight, then finished sixth - a solid result, leading the way for the midfield teams. More to the point, the car seems to be a consistent performer, so regular points finishes are on the cards.

The new package for Barcelona seems to be a reasonable step forwards, but even though it will not be known who has made the best job of it until the weekend, there is some concern that the Renault step forward is enough to put them on a par with the team.

11. Jarno Trulli: historically Trulli has shown the capacity to pull particularly decent qualifying laps out of the bag in Barcelona, so keep an eye on him come Saturday - should he get the car in to the top six again, then another points finish is on the cards.

12. Timo Glock: although he did not score in Bahrain, the run to ninth place took place despite running with heavy fuel and working around gearbox problems - the youngster is starting to get to grips with the car, and perhaps will be able to start closing the gap to his far more experienced team mate this weekend, on a circuit he knows well.

Objectives: Get both cars in to Q3 and challenging for points.

Toro Rosso

A year ago, Toro Rosso looked strong in practice, but ultimately have a miserable weekend, with poor reliability leading to indifferent qualifying and a double retirement on race day - not something to write home about.

Starting the year with the old chassis must have seemed smart in Melbourne when everyone seemed intent on going home early, but by the third race of the season, it was not much fun, as performance disadvantage left Toro Rosso looking anonymous.

The new car is supposed to be ready for use in Turkey: the STR3 was made available for testing during the three week break, though Bourdais crashed it (not only depriving Vettel of a chance to try it out but ensuring there is no chance of bringing forwards the introduction) he spent enough time in it to be optimistic that it represents a considerable step forward.

Until the new car is available, the team is going to struggle to make any impression on any race weekend.

14. Sebastian Bourdais: there is little for Bourdais to do this weekend besides race his teammate, hope for high attrition, and take any opportunities that present themselves; the car is a year old, not entirely reliably and expected to be even further off the pace of the midfield this weekend.

15. Sebastian Vettel: like Bourdais, there is little for Vettel to do this weekend besides race his teammate and hope for attrition, until the new car is ready to drive!

Objectives: Beat Super Aguri...

Honda

Spain was yet another embarrassing stop for the Honda outfit in 2007, despite the ray of hope that shone when both drivers made it to the second session in qualifying. Unfortunately, they then collided whilst racing and finished well outside the points.

A year later and fortunes are somewhat different - results remain hard to come by, but the team made it in to Q3 in Bahrain and saw some competitive racing, though Button retired after a collision and Barrichello had some gearbox gremlins during qualifying.

With a significant upgrade to the aerodynamic and mechanical packages coming on line for Spain, the team is anticipating a further step in their performances: if the improvements deliver as expected, they could well be seen fighting Toyota, Williams, Renault and Red Bull for regular points.

16. Jenson Button: a poor performance by the Briton last year left him well short of scoring points; it was a difficult weekend, spent largely behind his teammate. Following a promising return to form in Bahrain, the Briton will be looking for another Q3 performance, this time followed by staying out of trouble on race day!

17. Rubens Barrichello: the Spanish weekend saw a strong drive from Barrichello last year, though the car was not good enough to reward his efforts. Another strong performance should be expected - he will be looking to take the car in to Q3, after which points have to be the target.

Objectives: Fight for points in the midfield.

Super Aguri

Last year, Spain was a landmark occasion as Sato qualified well in to Q2 before bringing the car home in eighth, scoring the team's first point. This year, in Bahrain, the team filled the back row on the grid and then run off the pace, collecting valuable data but frankly never in danger of racing any other outfit.

Since then, the buy-out that enabled Super Aguri to make the grid has fallen through, once more putting the future of the team in jeopardy: even though they are attending the Spanish weekend, it is possible that they only be showing up ensure they meet their participation requirements. Should the cars be on the starting grid on Sunday, without doubt the instructions will be to ensure they go home in one piece.

Clearly, the team is struggling to survive, and cannot even begin to consider developing the car without a future that includes a cash pipeline in place.

18. Takuma Sato: having scored a point last season, there is no doubt that Sato has the wherewithal to deliver the goods, given a half way decent platform, so he can be expected once again to drive the wheels off the car in hopes of retirements ahead... provided he is given the opportunity...

19. Anthony Davidson: having finally out-qualified his teammate in Bahrain, it seems that Davidson might be starting to get the most out of this package in qualifying. If they race, then his teammate represents the only attainable competition this weekend.

Objectives: Start the race...

Force India

A year ago, in their guise as Spyker, the team delivered nothing worth remembering, qualifying at the back, then providing a mobile chicane service in the race that saw Albers handed a drive through penalty for blocking.

The Bahrain weekend showed some interesting promise from the team: they still failed to get through Q1, but Fisichella's race pace was pretty solid, and proved equal to the task of holding up a Honda until the pit-stops. They are clearly improving every weekend.

There has been little talk from the team about the progress they have made in the last three weeks. Even with the improved budget their new owner brings, they have to invest very carefully, and cannot attempt to evolve with quite the same aggressiveness as their midfield counterparts. Which is not to say there is nothing new: Mike Gascoyne has been delivering small interim improvements consistently, so another step or two should be forthcoming this weekend.

20. Adrian Sutil: the German believes he is getting to grips with setting the car up, so he will be expecting steady improvements as the season progresses - though Barcelona, where everyone else will be working on fine tuning their set-ups from numerous practices is not the place where that type of breakthrough is likely to be visible. Accordingly, another relatively anonymous weekend is to be expected, but beyond that, the future looks brighter...

21. Giancarlo Fisichella: with numerous strong races in Spain, Fisichella has to be considering the possibility of making a difference this weekend, though it is unlikely that the team will provide the platform to achieve it. Having comprehensively out-performed his young teammate so far this year, a repeat performance is expected, but Q2 will probably remain illusive, and points even harder to come by.

Objectives: Get away from the back of the grid - fight more than the Super Aguris!

McLaren Mercedes

The Spanish Grand Prix really did not deliver up to McLaren's expectations last year - taking their reigning World Champion to his home event, the team was looking for a compelling win, but in the end, had to settle for second and third, after Alonso came off worse on a first corner contact with Massa.

In Bahrain, McLaren never quite got on to the pace of Ferrari in practice, and Hamilton wrote off a chassis by colliding heavily with wall. He did pull third out of the bag in qualifying, but completely stuffed the start, before colliding with Alonso and then racing well out of the points. On the other hand, although Kovalainen took fastest lap of the race, he lost places after flat spotting a tyre, and could only manage a distant fifth place.

Without doubt, McLaren had an off weekend and would expect to perform far better in Spain this weekend, even if they did not have improvements coming. Which, of course, they do. A number of revisions have been tested, promising definite steps forward for both mechanical and aerodynamic packages, and there may be a couple more advances available to test during Friday practice.

Like Williams, who had a disaster in Malaysia before bouncing back in Bahrain, it is perilous to write McLaren off too soon, and Ferrari continue to consider them their main threat for this season.

22. Lewis Hamilton: despite putting together a decent race last year, Hamilton proved no match for Massa's Ferrari. With such a short track record, it would be foolish to denounce this as a weak circuit for the Briton, but he must fear a similar outcome this weekend, unless the step forward puts them back on a par with Ferrari.

23. Heikki Kovalainen: having beaten Fisichella in qualifying last year, Kovalainen's race was derailed by a refuelling problem, putting him down the order. Make no mistake, this is another opportunity for the youngster to take advantage of a strong affinity for this circuit to again finish ahead of his teammate.

Objectives: Win the race.

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