#Formula1 Aramco Spanish Grand Prix 2020 Preview. #F1 #SpanishGP

After Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen scored his maiden victory outfoxing Mercedes at F1’s 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone, round six of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend for the Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2020. This will be the 30^th time that the Spanish Grand Prix will be held at the Montmelo circuit.

 

 

Spanish Grand Prix 2020 – A look at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

 

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a permanent racing circuit in Montmelo, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

 

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was built in 1991 and began hosting the Spanish Grand Prix that same year and has been running there ever since. This year also marks the 48^th running of the Spanish Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is also used for the FIM MotoGP World Championship.

 

The Barcelona circuit is famed as a bellwether circuit as the cars that race well here are expected to race well in any and all conditions. The logic behind this is that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya provides a well-rounded examination of every aspect of car design, requiring maximum downforce, stronger delivery of power, excellent traction and handling. The Spanish Grand Prix also traditionally is where teams bring their first major upgrades of the season and could see the potential for movement around the field.

 

The wind direction at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya can change at any-time during the day and can upset the balance of the car due to the major importance of aerodynamics that modern Formula One cars have. It is then a challenge to find a well-balanced setup since cars can suffer massive drag and understeer on one part of the track in the morning session but suffer oversteer at the same section in the afternoon. An allocated tyre compound can work well during testing, but not as well a few months later as changeable conditions can provide unexpected performances from some teams during the Grand Prix.

 

The circuit runs in a clockwise direction and is 4.655km (2.892mi) in length with 16 corners.

 

The race distance is 307.104km (190.826mi) with 66 laps in total.

 

Daniel Ricciardo holds the fastest lap record at the track with a 1:18.441 set in his Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Renault RB14 in the 2018 event.

 

Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher holds the most victories at the circuit with six.

 

Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful constructor winning the Spanish Grand Prix 12 times with eight coming from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

 

Onboard Lap of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

 

 

Here is the onboard pole position lap of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya from last year’s event, set by Valtteri Bottas in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W10 EQ Power+. The Briton posted a blistering 1:15.406. You can watch the footage right here at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aFor6uRqTQ

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2019: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1.

 

Tyres

 

Pirelli will be bringing with them to Barcelona, the C1 white side-walled Hard compounds, the C2 yellow-marked Medium tyres and the C3 red-branded Soft rubber. F1’s sole tyre supplier will also take along the green-branded Intermediates and the blue-branded Wet tyres in case of rain.

 

All drivers will have eight sets of the C3 softs, three sets of the C2 mediums and two of the C1 hards.

 

DRS Zones

As in 2019, there will be two DRS zones at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The first detection point is 86 metres before turn nine and with the activation point 40 metres after. The second detection point is at the safety car line with second activation zone 157 metres after turn 16.

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: F170 GP Race Report: Verstappen outfoxes Mercedes to win

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen beat Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas as the softer compounds and soaring temperatures at Silverstone lead to the Milton Keynes-based outfit got the better of the Silver Arrows in the F170 GP.

 

Verstappen’s initial stint on the harder rubber paid off, whilst pole-sitter Bottas lost-out in a side-by-side battle with team-mate Hamilton, who opted for a longer middle phase of the Grand Prix.

 

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took a surprise fourth, while team-mate Sebastian Vettel suffered a spin on the opening lap and put in a recovery drive.

 

When the 52-lap Formula 1 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix began, Bottas kept his lead off the line, and behind the two Mercedes, Verstappen made short work of Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg to take third place.

 

In the field behind, Vettel spun at turn one after running over the inside kerb at Abbey while following team-mate Leclerc – with Vettel escaping a close-call, not colliding with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz as his SF1000 racer snapped left and dropped to the rear of the pack.

 

Hamilton hunted down Bottas and went around the outside of the Finn into Brooklands – echoing their fight from last year’s British Grand Prix – but Bottas withstood his team-mates threat and moved away in first place.

 

The Mercedes pairing at first pulled clear from Verstappen, but the Dutchman used his C2 white-branded hard compounds to his advantage to charge towards the F1 W11 EQ Power+ racers as the initial stint progressed.

 

Red Bull warned Verstappen over the radio that he was getting to close – which he snubbed – and continued to hunt down Hamilton, with both Mercedes drivers starting to struggle with tyre wear less than ten laps old.

 

As Verstappen looked to Hamilton’s inside at Copse corner, with the gap a 0.5 seconds, Mercedes told Bottas to pit and swap his blistered mediums for hards at the end of the thirteenth tour.

 

Hamilton followed suit a lap later allowing Verstappen to take the lead.

 

The Mercedes duo, particularly Bottas, started posting fastest laps during that period, but it was soon made clear that Verstappen was able to set quicker laps despite his tyres being used in Q2 and in the initial stint.

 

Bottas and Hamilton were both struggling with blisters on their hards and posted a string of 1:32’s whilst Verstappen was running smoothly in the 1:31’s.

 

The Dutchman continued on until he stopped on lap 26 for a set of fresh mediums and emerged behind Bottas at the exit of the pits.

 

The fresher rubber advantage and DRS assistance allowed the Red Bull driver to attack the Finn down the Wellington Straight and on the inside into Brooklands.

 

Bottas remained in-front but was short-lived as Verstappen made it look easy around outside of the Mercedes into Luffield to reclaim the lead as he flew down the long right-hander.

 

Verstappen used his fresh tyres to post a set of personal best times and stretch out a lead over Bottas before Red Bull told the Dutchman to abandon his tyre management and push – just as Bottas set the quickest lap of the Grand Prix.

 

Verstappen soon snatched the fastest lap back and moved clear on a shorter second stint, with both Bottas and the Dutchman pitting on the 32^nd tour – with the Red Bull driver putting on the hards and Bottas also taking on another set of the white-branded C2 tyres.

 

Mercedes left Hamilton out nine laps longer, with Red Bull concerned the Briton would go to the end despite the blisters right down the middle of the championship leader’s rears.

 

Hamilton came out in fourth place behind Leclerc, who climbed up from eighth on the grid with an effective one-stop strategy and started lighting up the time-sheet.

 

Hamilton did not immediately fly by the Ferrari – but the reigning world champion made the move stick on the Monegasque-youngster on the inside at Stowe on lap 45 – but when he closed up to his team-mate Bottas, the team allowed both drivers to race.

 

With three-laps remaining, Hamilton was all over the rear of Bottas’ F1 W11 EQ Power+ racer and got past with DRS on the Wellington Straight to take second place.

 

Verstappen had a comfortable nine-second lead, which never looked under-threat in the closing stages and came home to claim his first victory of the season, with both Mercedes much slower on the final tour.

 

Leclerc’s one-stop strategy work as he brought his Ferrari over the line in fourth with Red Bull Racing’s Alexander Albon completing the top five after starting ninth.

 

The Thai-Briton put on some impressive moves into Copse corner – including moves on Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Lando Norris – after Red Bull opted to bring him in to remove the mediums, he started the race on.

 

Albon relegated Racing Point’s Lance Stroll to sixth, with Nico Hulkenberg wounding up seventh as he made a third stop – for softs – in the final stages of the Grand Prix.

 

Renault’s Esteban Ocon was another who made a one-stop strategy work to recover from his penalised starting spot of 14^th on the grid to take eighth, with Norris and Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat rounding out the top ten.

 

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly struggled on the hards in his second stint and dropped from seventh to 11^th at the end, in-front of Vettel.

 

Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo spun in the battle with McLaren’s Sainz (who came home 13^th) in the middle stint of the race and the Australian took 14^th after starting in fifth place.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was the only sole retirement of the race.

 

Click here for the full Formula 1 2020 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship standings.

The Situation

 

Lewis Hamilton returns to Spain sitting on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 107 points and a 30-point lead over Max Verstappen who is second on 77 points while Valtteri Bottas is a further 34 seconds behind his leading team-mate in third place on 73 points.

 

Mercedes heads to Barcelona comfortably leading the World Constructor’s Championship with 180 points and a 67-point buffer over nearest rivals Red Bull Racing who are second on 113 points while Scuderia Ferrari is third and a further 125 points behind the Silver Arrows on 55 points.

 

The Formula 1 Aramco Gran Premio De Espana 2020 weekend begins Friday August 14 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday August 15 along with the 66 lap Race Sunday August 16.