[BTCC frog]

Thanks for the intro, Born Racer, I am particularly enjoying them for these more historical Grands Prix. There was one typo in that the 1979 edition was won by Patrick Depailler, not Patrick Tambay.

Personally, I have always considered this track to be very underappreciated, as although it often doesn't provide the best racing, it is a track that the cars look good to watch on, and there are some nice corners which I think would provide fantastic racing if cars could follow more closely (and there was no DRS). I think the removal of the final chicane is probably a very good move, and wonder if a similar thing could be done in Monza, eliminating the first chicane and allowing them to go straight into Curva Grande, with better barriers on the outside of the track in case of a crash. In fact, perhaps all the chicanes at Monza could go and it could become more like the track until 1971, which would make it a more unique and special race.

The DRS zones have not been altered this year so I fear the race could be a little dull with overtaking being too easy (last year there was an excellent battle between Russell and Verstappen when Verstappen's DRS wasn't working and Russell was able to defend his position), but historically this race has been quite hard to pass on so hopefully that will cancel out the fact that it has been too easy this season to give us some proper battles. But it will be nice to watch the cars on a proper race track for the first time this year, as opposed to all the street races we have had so far. I think generally it is best if the edge of the track is defined by grass or gravel, rather than walls or runoff, and that is very much the case in Catalunya.