In the last practice session for the 2015 Italian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton again secures P1 but the gap to Ferrari closes down to 0.264 seconds.
The running in the session was mainly disrupted by a big early morning downpour which saw the first times set on the intermediate tires. The teams managed to have a qualifying simulation in the last 10 minutes of the session in which good was shown by Vettel, both Williams and even the two Saubers. Whereas Force India opted for a race simulation which saw them finish in 8th and 12th.
Rain disrupted a lot of running in FP3.
The biggest moment of the session was definitely Daniel Ricciardo who stopped on the outside of the Turn 4 chicane. "It's something terminal on the engine, it unfortunately looks like an engine change" said Red Bulls Christian Horner. The engine was brand new and it is going to promote more penalties and waste a fresh engine. This deepens the cut that Red Bull already have this weekend and they will definitely be struggling on Sunday.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo had a session ending engine failure
Williams finally began to show the pace they are capable of with Bottas leading Massa by 2 tenths in 4th in 5th. Williams will be hoping to get a car onto the 2nd row of the grid and spoil the party of Ferrari with Kimi Raikkonen clearly under performing after he only managed 7th behind Pastor Maldonado.
Williams are looking like a strong prospect for qualifying.
It was a positive day for Sauber as there Ferrari power unit is beginning to work well with Ericsson finishing 9th and Nasr in 11th. The Swiss outfit will be looking for more points to take a fight to the struggling Toro Rosso in the constructors championship for 7th place. A good race is the most crucial part of the weekend for Sauber as they will instantly out qualify the two Toro Rosso's which are set for big grid drops.
Nico Rosberg will have work to do in qualifying as Sebastian Vettel managed to creep into the P2 slot. However Mercedes may have been running heavier fuel which would ultimately make there pace slower.
Qualifying is now just under 2 hours away. Lets not kid ourselves as we know that Lewis Hamilton will be on pole position. The real question is who is going to take P2? Can Sebastian Vettel mount that challenge? Can Williams get a car on the front row? Could Force India spoil the party after strong Friday pace?
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
