F1 2008 round 4 - Spanish GP, Catalunya (25/04/08-27/04/08).

[Knowlesy]

Already onto round four of the year and it is the Circuit de Catalunya this time around, for the Spanish GP.

This is the second in a three race mini-series designed to give Felipe Massa as much of an advantage as possible in the hunt for this years drivers title. It is a shame he didn't bother to turn up for the first two races really, otherwise he'd be well in, but never mind.

McLaren should return to some form of acceptable form this weekend, they were quite quick over winter testing here, but enough to challenge Ferrari? A tough ask, the red team seems to have a frightening development pace on what was already a class leading car. BMW are similarly strong in moving forward, so the chrome people have their work cut out (i.e. all hope is lost).

And Flavio Briatore reckons Renault can fight BMW this weekend. Yes, they will come out of midfield mediocrity to fight for the win it seems! Presumably they have completely redesigned the car and drafted in Nelson Piquet Jr to take over driving duties from his dad in the second Renault...

Still, ambition is a good thing. My ambition is for it to rain in Spain on Sunday.

Drivers standings

	Driver	Team	Nationality	Points
	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Finland	19
	Nick Heidfeld	BMW-Sauber	Germany	16
	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	Britain	14
	Robert Kubica	BMW-Sauber	Poland	14
	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	Finland	14
	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Brazil	10
	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	Italy	8
	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	Germany	7
	Fernando Alonso	Renault	Spain	6
	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	Australia	4
	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	Japan	3
	Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	France	2

Constructors standings

	Team	Points
	BMW-Sauber	30
	Ferrari	29
	McLaren-Mercedes	28
	Williams-Toyota	10
	Toyota	8
	Renault	6
	Red Bull-Renault	4
	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	2

Car graphics by www.andyblackmoredesign.com.

Spanish GP: recent results

Year	1st place	2nd place	3rd place
2007	Felipe Massa	Lewis Hamilton	Fernando Alonso
2006	Fernando Alonso	Michael Schumacher	Giancarlo Fisichella
2005	Kimi Raikkonen	Fernando Alonso	Jarno Trulli
2004	Michael Schumacher	Rubens Barrichello	Jarno Trulli

	Driver	Laptime
2007 fastest lap	Felipe Massa	1m22.680
2007 pole position	Felipe Massa	1m21.421
Lap record	Felipe Massa	1m22.680 (set in 2007)

Circuit stuff
Track map
Timetable
Event artwork

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Predictions competition
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[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Still, ambition is a good thing. My ambition is for it to rain in Spain on Sunday.

That's what I'm hoping for, but I won't bet on it...the forecasts right now say 18 degrees and sunny.

I'd like to see a McLaren win this weekend (well actually, I'd like a BMW win, but if it has to be one of the 'big two'...) - that would keep things suitably interesting in the championship. A Raikkonen win may just kill off any hopes I have of the rest of the season being exciting.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

[SIZE=2]

Still, ambition is a good thing. My ambition is for it to rain in Spain on Sunday.

My ambition is to hope that you are right.

Rain has been forecast by some obscure weather websites.

[Sodemo]

Rain on Saturday or Sunday might save this from being a dull race.

[Bononi]

Fingers crossed, you never know.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

Rain on Saturday or Sunday might save this from being a dull race.

Unless something weird happens I can't see this one scoring more than 4 out of 10.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66808

I dunno,they test on it relentlessly and then we expect there to be close racing.Go figure!

Maybe the midfield battle will be OK,which is where most of the directors attention will be focused anyway.

And sadly it looks like the field will be down to 20 cars.

[Matthopps]

It needs two things to be proved this weekend. Mclaren need to have the pace to battle BMW and the red cars. And Williams, Renault, Red Bull and the rest need to keep pushing hard to challenge them for the decent points finishes, otherwise this season may become quite a boring one.

[Red Bulldog]

Where'e your optimism people?
All we need is some unforced (no TC) errors, a couple of safety cars, a sprinkle of rain and some stunning drives (Alonso perhaps) and a 4oo10 can become an 8oo10 - just like that

[Ralf's Girl]

Oh, is that all?

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Red Bulldog

Where'e your optimism people?
All we need is some unforced (no TC) errors, a couple of safety cars, a sprinkle of rain and some stunning drives (Alonso perhaps) and a 4oo10 can become an 8oo10 - just like that

Most likely scenario: Exciting first corner followed by an hour and a half of understanding why everyone wants to make up places in that first few seconds.

[Bononi]

The old TGF perfect scenario.

[JeremySmith]

I wish for Super Aguri to start this race...Great job as always Knowlesy!

[botsquad]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

[SIZE=2]

And Flavio Briatore reckons Renault can fight BMW this weekend.

flavio should become an nascar owner for all his blather.

[Marbot]

There will be 22 cars on the grid.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66821

For now at any rate.

[paddy]

Just watched the first session online. Ferrari fast with only Hamilton looking a threat. Massa produced a performance that wouldn't look out of place in novice Formula Ford. One fast lap and 2 spins! He certainly seems to be the driver finding it hardest to cope without TC in my opinion. You cannot just keep your foot in now if the cars not balanced and you can't turn the car in on the brakes in the same way as last season.
Alonso's 6 tenths not there as he is only a gnat's ahead of Piquet.
The first half hour of the session notable for the fact that nobody did a timed lap! Pictures of garages, people eating picnics and marshals reading books! Just makes you wonder why anyone would pay good money for that.

[Knowlesy]

Renault look quite decent thus far. Flavio, I'm sorry I laughed.

[paddy]

I'm sure Flav won't hold it against you Knowlesy, he's got one or two compensations in his life!

[Knowlesy]

OK, I'm watching the ITV practice online feed properly for the first time.

Two questions:

1) Does the picture ever stop jerking?

2) Does the sound ever bear even a passing relationship to the pictures? The pictures go onboard and we get external sounds. The camera goes trackside, we get Robert Kubica talking to his engineer. Eh?

Awful stuff. This is little more advanced than watching the sessions via teletext.

[mp356a]

Will there be any live internet coverage?

[Last2LiftOff]

The rabbit ears on the Hondas are a little embarrassing, even as a fan. They're in big trouble with that car.

[Knowlesy]

Force India one-two at the moment!

[mp356a]

The radio chats from the two Sebs has been pretty cool.

[Last2LiftOff]

Yeah, the word frustration was used in the commentary as you know, probably. Did Speed say they're covering the GP2 race on Sunday MP? Just caught the tailend of that bit.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Awful stuff. This is little more advanced than watching the sessions via teletext.

I find it much easier to just watch the little highlights videos they compile after practice. It cuts out all the dull stuff as well. Maybe the BBC will do a better job with the whole online thing next year.

[Marbot]

If anyone can read anything into that second session I'd like to hear your explanation now please!