Ladies and Gentlemen,

This time is Lewis in front of Nico after another contested battle for the pole between the silver machines. But the headlines are going to the Red Bull cars taking the second row in front of Ferrari -”It’s not they are fast -said VET- it’s that we are slow!” Ferrari couldn’t point to exactly what made them drop speed as QF progressed. VER at the wheel of the Red Bull for the first time was very impressive, actually faster than RIC and even splitting the Mercedes until the last seconds of Q3 when the Australian put together a fantastic lap, but still almost 7 tenths behind HAM’s. Williams came next with BOT but screwed up their timing leaving MAS out in Q1. SAI produced a last effort screamer to take 8th ahead of PER, the Mexican comfortably in the top 10 all day, and taking the last

spot is ALO, a McLaren in the Q3 for the first time since Abu Dhabi 2014.

In CFA qualifying we continue on with our rather mediocre results. Six of us -Maria, Danny, Rocco, Joe, Fredrik, Cato- should be happy with 2 points from the Merc drivers in the right order as none of us except Rodrigo (1 pt) check RIC in the 3rd box. Uwe save a little face too with ROS in second, but that was it.

The grid for tomorrow:

HAM  ROS  RIC  VER RAI VET BOT SAI PER ALO

The start of the 66-lap race will be critical because passing here is almost non-existent. The combination of high downforce set-up makes following almost impossible in the fast sectors 1 & 2 and sector 3 is too slow to find any advantage. The only clear overtaking area is the end of the main DRS-straight but the cars can’t get any close exiting the last corner (T16) because the turbulence makes them very loose and can’t get the power down to catch the slipstream.

Depending on track temperature we shall see a 2-stopper ideally using the medium in the second stint. Today’s high temperatures are affecting Ferrari more than the other front runners, so that could be an issue for the Italians tomorrow. There are clouds and passing showers in the forecast for Sunday but this will be a dry race almost for sure.

Mercedes has won 36 of the last 42 GPs, tomorrow they could tie McLaren’s record 11-consecutives victories set in 1988 with Senna & Prost. Spain has seen 9 different winners in the last 9 races; ALO & RAI the only drivers to win 2 times.

In the past this has been called “the Siesta Grand Prix” for a reason. The pole-sitter has won 13 of the last 15 races.

Crunch time: will the start decide this race? Consider the ‘grip side’ of the grid, the even numbers: (HAM, RIC, RAI, BO , PER) and get ready for a mighty battle between Red Bull and Ferrari!

Cato - HAM  ROS  VET  RIC RAI VER

Have a good race, enjoy!