2015 Spanish Grand Prix - FP1 and FP2 Analysis

After the Friday practice sessions of the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, the current timings a lot different to that of Bahrain. Mercedes topped both sessions, with Hamilton and Rosberg one a piece. Vettel and Raikkonen were third and fourth in FP1, but Vettel split the Mercedes in FP2 with the 2nd fastest time.

Kimi Raikkonen crosses the line for Ferrari, he finished 4th in both FP1 and FP2.

The first practice session included the use of three reserve drivers. These were Jolyon Palmer for Romain Grosjean at Lotus. Raffaele Marciello for Marcus Ericsson at Sauber. And forty years after a woman last scored points in Formula One at Spain, we saw Susie Wolff replacing Valtteri Bottas at Williams. There were no major crashes during FP1, and the yellow flags were only waved a couple of times for a few spins on track. The session finished with Nico Rosberg leading Lewis Hamilton by seven hundredths of a second. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen followed them with three hundredths separating the two Ferrari's. FP1 went extremely well for Toro Rosso with them finishing with Sainz in 5th and Verstappen 6th. Daniil Kvyat was next in 7th, provided a better look for Red Bull with his team mate Ricciardo finished 9th after problems with his car earlier in the session. Massa had a mediocre day for Williams in 8th, and Susie Wolff was relatively disappointing with 14th. The ever improving Felipe Nasr was in 10th as Sauber's reserve driver Raffaele Marciello finished in 12th. Nico Hulkenberg managed a good lap for Force India and finished in 11th with Perez down the order in 17th. Lotus's reserve driver Jolyon Palmer finished ahead of the first driver Pastor Maldonado in 13th, with Maldonado in 18th. McLaren who had been rumored to be turning things up in Spain moved a little bit, but not a lot with Alonso in 15th and Button in 16th. Will Stevens had a victory over his team mate Roberto Merhi at Marussia, finishing 19th and 20th. The timings from FP1 are below:

1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes - 1m 26.828s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - 1m 26.898s
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - 1m 27.806s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - 1m 27.832s
5. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.132s
6. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.529s
7. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 28.785s
8. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.831s
9. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 29.075s
10. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.140s
11. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.409s
12. Raffaele Marciello ITA Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.630s
13. Jolyon Palmer GBR Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.676s
14. Susie Wolff GBR Williams-Mercedes - 1m 29.708s
15. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda - 1m 29.813s
16. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda - 1m 29.817s
17. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes - 1m 30.096s
18. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 30.110s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.471s
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.647s

Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, who finished 2nd and 1st respectively in FP1 and FP2.

The second practice session was a little different. I unfortunately forgot to record this session and so couldn't watch it, but I can report on the timings. Again Mercedes finished top but swapped there drivers around with Hamilton finishing 1st, and Rosberg not quite matching Hamilton finishing in 3rd. A better round for Sebastian Vettel as he finally got closer to the back of the Mercedes splitting the two drivers and finishing 2nd. Kimi Raikkonen had a similar performance from FP1 and finished 4th. Daniil Kvyat finally began to show why he was given the seat at Red Bull finishing 5th, taking full advantage of Williams being off the pace. His team mate Ricciardo finished a low down 13th. Toro Rosso had another good session with Verstappen 6th and Sainz 9th. McLaren finally began to come back with Jenson Button finished in 7th place, and Fernando Alonso in 11th. Valtteri Bottas kept Williams in the fight with 8th and Massa was average with a 10th place. Lotus had Romain Grosjean back in the car for FP2 and he managed a 12th whilst Maldonado sort of improved with 14th place. A disappointing session for Sauber with 15th and 16th, and an even worse session for Force India with Hulkenberg ahead of Perez in 18th and 19th. Will Stevens made it two from two over team mate Roberto Merhi finished 19th and 20th. The timings from FP2 are below:

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes -1m 26.852s
2. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - 1m 27.260s
3. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes - 1m 27.616s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - 1m 27.780s
5. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 27.943s
6. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.017s
7. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda - 1m 28.494s
8. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.525s #
9. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault - 1m 28.674s
10. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes - 1m 28.712s
11. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda - 1m 28.723s
12. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.086s #
13. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault - 1m 29.098s
14. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes - 1m 29.217s
15. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.333s
16. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari - 1m 29.361s #
17. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.601s
18. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes - 1m 29.707s
19. Will Stevens GBR Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 31.929s
20. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor Marussia-Ferrari - 1m 32.751s 

"#" means the driver didn't compete in FP1, and this was there first session.

Jenson Button driving his McLaren. He finished 16th and 7th respectively in FP1 and FP2.

Overall a different day in Formula One, and I think FP3 and Qualifying should be very interesting, will McLaren leapfrog up the field? Will Williams get back some pace? or will the Toro Rosso's finish ahead of there parent team Red Bull? We don't know, but I'll be telling you all about those sessions tommorow, and you can follow me live tweeting during FP3 here: https://twitter.com/stevewalts

 

Spain Previews - Grosjean and Maldonado on Catalunya, are they the next best?

Less than a week now till the 5th round of the Formula One season. We head to the Circuit De Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The question on everyones mind is Ferrari or Mercedes, and Spain is all about the car because the drivers all know the circuit from its use in pre-season testing. Teams know how to set up for it, so on the day it really comes down to things like, tire wear, strategy and driver skill.

However in this post we aren't focusing on the front of the field, rather the middle of the pack, the Lotus F1 Team to be precise. After a tough 2014, with 10 points and 8th in the constructors. 2015 was the start to a new time for Lotus with a change to Mercedes power, as they kept the same driver line up of the erratic Pastor Maldonado and the ever improving Romain Grosjean. They managed to sign the 2014 GP2 champion, Jolyon Palmer on as the test and reserve driver, and have used him in Friday practice sessions. However the first race didn't go well for Lotus with a double DNF (Did not finish) on the first lap. The next 3 races were not to good for Pastor Maldonado, with a DNF in Malaysia and China, and only 15th in Japan, after problems with the car. But on the other hand for Romain Grosjean, he was 11th in Malaysia, unlucky after Sergio Perez hit him off the track. China and Bahrain were better for him with back to back 7th places. This leaves Lotus in 6th place in the constructors standings with 12 points, 2 more than what they scored over the whole of the 2014 season.

Maldonado leads Grosjean at the 2015 Bahrain Grand Prix

Now there focus moves to Spain, where they plan to get more points with new upgrades to the Lotus E23. Grosjean said in an interview with the Formula One website: "It was our best circuit last year, and I also finished fourth back in 2012 as well as setting the fastest lap. It is a circuit everyone knows backwards, so as a team we go to Barcelona intent on getting much more performance from the car". Pastor Maldonado has extremely good memories of Spain, where he scored his only win and podium of his career there in 2012 with the relatively uncompetitive WilliamsF1 Team. Maldonado said in an interview with the Formula One website: "Hopefully we’ll see a good result there for the team and some points for me! A top ten in qualifying will be our first focus and then it’ll be a very tough race in terms of tire management, with a lot of pit stops and strategy". Overall Lotus hope to keep improving into a front runner in 2015.

Lotus drivers, Romain Grosjean (left) and Pastor Maldonado (right).

My opinion is good with Lotus, and throughly like them as a team and I believe that Romain Grosjean is the next best driver on the grid, after you take out the Williams, Mercedes and Ferrari's. He finished 7th behind those 6 cars in China and proved this theory, and was 7th in Bahrain, with 1 Red Bull (Ricciardo) replacing 1 Williams (Massa) in front of him. Maldonado however, I really think that Lotus need to replace him next year, he just doesn't seem to be able last a full race. I hope to see Romain Grosjean back on the podium some time soon as the team leader, with Jolyon Palmer moving up into the 2nd driver role.

Below is an interview with Pastor Maldonado with his thoughts an opinions before the 2015 Formula One season