Formula 1 CFA Comments
Monaco GP 2013 - Preview, First day of practice
by Cato Batista, 23/05/2013 23:15:01
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you may remember the Monaco GP has its own particular timetable. Free Practice Sessions FP1 & FP2 take place today Thursday and there are no activities tomorrow Friday. So you’ll have all day today and tomorrow to think carefully about your QF picks.
Instead of our regular preview with all the relevant gossip since the last race, we will jump straight into what’s transpired after the first day of lapping around the tight streets of the Principality.
After 3 straight poles Mercedes continues to be the fastest single-lap machine out there, and that will be the most intriguing question for this race: if they can conquer the critical front row, would they be able to hold the pack at bay for the entire race distance?
Rosberg was fastest on both sessions but Ferrari is just as quick, Alonso missing the top spot by 87 thousands of a second. In fact, only Grosjean’s Lotus in P2 was able to break into the top positions held by Mercedes & Ferrari. Red Bull has admitted that they don’t have the qualifying pace to match Mercedes, the best they could do was Webber in 5th in the afternoon session 6 ½ tenths behind Rosberg. The RB7s can’t find the right set-up for the (prime) red super-soft tires. The ‘option’ Pirelli is the yellow-soft (no medium or hard compound for this race)
The top 10 today:
P1- ROS (1.16.195) ALO GRO MAS HAM MAL WEB BUT PER VET
P2 – ROS (1.14.759) ...
Spanish GP 2013 - Results - Lou's back in the limelight
by Cato Batista, 13/05/2013 20:18:06
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ferrari delivered a 1-3 punch winning the tactical contest dominated by tyre-wear management. We were treated to yet another good race with battles up and down the field, but ultimately Alonso was as fast and dominant as he can be when provided with a strong mount, not even Raikkonen’s Lotus with one stop less (3) was able to challenge him. Mercedes electrifying QF speed translated into another disappointment. Red Bull surprised this time by finishing so far back (38 secs.) from the front; Vettel in 4th blamed the rubber for his troubles.
Lou is back in the winning circle after two seasons without a victory. Eleven points was a great result given the odds we are facing forecasting GPs these days. Our average today was 6.3 points with more than half the group scoring 5 points or less. Alberto did well also with 3 correct positions for 10 points; Carlos, Manbos, Sebastian, Joe and Santiago had double golds and should be very happy with 8 points. Tim & Uwe did ok with 7 but for the rest of us this race was a disaster.
We forecasted five different winners with VET taking the most votes (8) followed by HAM (6) but only four members –Alberto, Manbos, Santiago & Lou- picked the Spaniard to win in home soil. RAI in second was our best mark with support from 8 colleagues; then we had 3 each for VET’s 4th and WEB’s 5th, only one correct 6th with ROS and nobody guessed MAS in 3rd ...
Spanish GP 2013 - Race
by Cato Batista, 11/05/2013 20:31:36
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Mercedes has taken the front row on top of favorites Vettel-Raikkonen-Alonso. Teammates Massa-Grosjean-Webber managed to take the rest of the front 4 rows with Perez and DiResta as best-of-the-rest in Q3.
It has surprised us once again the single-lap speed of the W04, this is their 3rd pole in a row, and again we fail to predict it. In fact, this was one of our worst records ever in QF: 3 points in total, one each for Fredrik (HAM-2nd), Fernando & Ricky (VET-3rd). Let’s move on...
It was expected to be a close battle for the pole between the leading Red Bull-Ferrari-Lotus drivers, as they had been apart only hundreds of a second all sessions, but in the end both Mercedes were able to find one or two tenths on sector 3 –the most critical for lap times- during Q3. Some blamed the strong head winds that have a negative effect on this particular circuit, but somehow that didn’t bother the Mercedes when it matter the most: on the last Q3 flyer.
The grid for tomorrow including the latest revision – Massa was demoted 3 places for impeding Webber:
ROS HAM VET RAI ALO GRO WEB PER MAS DIR
The big question will be Mercedes race-pace. There’s not a lot of optimism in the German camp despite locking the all important front row, so far this year they hadn't shown consistency on long-race stints, low or high fuel loads, although ...
Copyright 2001-2025 MANBOS
Spanish GP 2013 - Race
by Cato Batista, 10/05/2013 23:25:01
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The rain came from the start of P1 frustrating most teams from testing their upgrades, but the picture emerging from Friday’s running is that the established order has not changed: Red Bull is numero uno with Ferrari and Lotus close behind. A lot of expectations coming McLaren’s revised car but reality is that they are still one second away from the front, and still behind Mercedes, Force India...and now Toro Rosso.
If Ferrari presented a F138 with a new front wing, sidepods and floor to try to catch Red Bull, the Champions from their part brought a heavily updated RB9. This development war is serious business. Mercedes is more concerned in solving their rear-tyre temperature problem; they will have their next round of aero-parts until the next GP in Monaco.
Today’s practice results:
P1 – ALO (1.25.252) MAS VER GRO SUT HAM BOT RAI ROS DIR
P2- VET (1.22.808) ALO WEB RAI MAS HAM ROS SUT VER DIR
Ferrari and Lotus were the best cars in race simulation today, quick and consistent, getting 17-18 laps from the medium tyres – a good indication of what we can expect on the opening race stint. Mercedes was working on the same area, Rodberg showing a very good pace on the medium-options too doing up 18 laps without any significant tyre degradation. Red Bull as usual was hiding it’s cards, but it was clear that those ...
Copyright 2001-2025 MANBOS