Formula 1 @Emirates Gran Premio De Espana 2019 Preview – #F1 #SpanishGP

After Valtteri Bottas claimed his fifth career victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in another Silver Arrows one-two, round five of the 2019 FIA F1 World Championship returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend for the Formula 1 Emirates Gran Premio De Espana 2019. This will be the 29^th time that the Spanish Grand Prix will be held at the Montmelo circuit.

 

 

A look at Formula 1’s 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 at last year’s 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 Gran Premio De Espana 12 times with eight coming from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2018: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2015: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, 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.

 

Ferrari have gone the most aggressive in their tyre choices than its championship rivals for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

 

The Scuderia along with Alfa Romeo Racing and Renault have selected nine sets of the C3 red marked softs while Red Bull Racing in contrast will take just seven sets of the softest tyre available.

 

Pirelli nominated its hardest compounds in its selection for the race, as it did back at round two’s Bahrain Grand Prix. McLaren are the only team on the grid to have opted for three sets each of the C1 white hard rubber for Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

 

DRS Zones

 

As in 2018, 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: Azerbaijan GP Rewind

 

 

Valtteri Bottas kept his cool to fend off a charging Lewis Hamilton to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after heartbreak from last year’s event.

 

A year ago, the Finn suffered a puncture and was denied victory at the Baku City Circuit, but this time emerged victorious despite being under pressure from Mercedes team-mate Hamilton as he reclaimed the World Driver’s Championship lead.

 

As the Silver Arrows claimed their fourth successive one-two finish in all four races so far in the 2019 season with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel settling for third.

 

Vettel’s team-mate Charles Leclerc recovered to complete the top five and finished behind fourth-placed Red Bull of Max Verstappen, after a crash in qualifying forced the Monegasque youngster to start from eighth on the grid.

 

When the 51 lap Azerbaijan Grand Prix began, Hamilton got the better run off the line but team-mate Bottas held on around the outside of turns one and two as the latter managed to build a strong lead through the rest of the lap.

 

Bottas kept Hamilton behind within two-three seconds until pitting from the lead on the 12^th lap one lap after Vettel and one before Hamilton.

 

This meant the Finn would retain the net lead but stopping two laps earlier than Hamilton saw Vettel closer to the second Silver Arrow.

 

The medium C3 compound was working better than the soft as Leclerc shown – who dropped to tenth on the opening lap but pushed to fourth by lap ten.

 

Leclerc on his newer medium rubber following his qualifying crash, claimed the lead when the top three switched from the softer tyres.

 

Leclerc lead the middle stint of the Grand Prix, managing the pace well to keep ahead of rapidly closing Mercedes until Bottas finally got within DRS range and passed the SF90 with ease into the first corner with 19 laps remaining.

 

Hamilton followed suit a lap later, which gave Bottas a brief comfortable gap until the Briton brought the margin down to almost nothing.

 

Bottas had a two-second advantage to keep once the Mercedes one-two was restored, and team-mate Hamilton’s chance to cut that took a blow when Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull RB15 stopped, which deployed the Virtual Safety Car.

 

Gasly who started from the pit-lane pushed to a comfortable sixth place but his upgraded Honda-powered RB15 pulled off track with 12 laps remaining.

 

The two lap Virtual Safety Car assisted Bottas by giving the Finn an extra one second over his potential threats, which ended in a favourable position for the race leader.

 

Hamilton cut down the gap to his Mercedes team-mate and got within DRS range of the Finn.

 

Just as though it looked like Hamilton would be about to launch a last lap snatch for the win, it was not meant to be as Bottas himself picked up DRS down the long main straight as his W10 EQ Power+ racer overlapped ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell.

 

The extra top speed boost of DRS brought the Finn 1.4 seconds clear of the Briton as he started the final lap, and he crossed the line 1.5 seconds to claim his second victory of the season and fifth of his career.

 

Vettel completed the top three, not in a close enough position to attack the Silver Arrows but equally without the threat of Verstappen’s Red Bull behind.

 

Verstappen’s race was also effective with the possibility of battling Vettel for the final podium spot before the VSC dented his chance.

 

Leclerc finished the Grand Prix almost a minute off Verstappen in fifth place, after the Ferrari driver took a second pit-stop for a fresh set of C4 red-marked softs, which let him pinch the bonus fastest lap point from race winner Bottas.

 

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was the best of the rest by finishing sixth as his great run in Baku continued.

 

Though another podium in Azerbaijan was not on the cards, the Mexican was the star of the midfield battle as he passed Toro Rosso’s then sixth placed runner Daniil Kvyat and then was never challenged.

 

The two Renault-powered McLaren MCL34’s of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris occupied seventh and eighth places respectively as the Woking based-outfit scored its first double points finish of the season.

 

The other Racing Point of Lance Stroll came home in ninth place with the Silverstone team also taking home a double-points hauls while Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen took the final point on offer to continue his record of finishing in the top ten every race so far this season, despite the Finn starting from the pit-lane after his C38 racer was disqualified from qualifying due to failing a front wing deflection test.

 

The other Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon finished in 11^th place and ahead of Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi who ended 12^th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who was 13^th.

 

Nico Hulkenberg’s miserable weekend continued as he came home a low 14^th in the sole Renault and in-front of both FW42 Williams of George Russell and Robert Kubica who brought up the rear two laps adrift race winner Bottas.

 

Also, among the four casualties of the Grand Prix were the aforementioned Kvyat and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, a bizarre incident between the two saw Ricciardo reverse into Kvyat who was trying to get back on track. Ricciardo was given a three-grid place penalty for this weekend’s Gran Premio De Espana following the steward’s decision post-race.

 

The Situation

 

 

Valtteri Bottas returns to Spain sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship standings with 87 points and a narrow one-point lead over Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton who is second on 86 points while Sebastian Vettel is third on 52 points and a further 35 behind the Finn.

 

Reigning Champions Mercedes come to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on top of the Constructors Championship with 173 points and a 74-point advantage over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 99 points while Red Bull Racing are a further 109 behind the Silver Arrows in third on 64 points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

 

1. Valtteri Bottas – 87 Points.
2. Lewis Hamilton – 86 Points.
3. Sebastian Vettel – 52 Points.
4. Max Verstappen – 51 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 47 Points.
6. Sergio Perez – 13 Points.
7. Pierre Gasly – 13 Points.
8. Kimi Raikkonen – 13 Points.
9. Lando Norris – 12 Points.
10. Kevin Magnussen – 8 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

 

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 173 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 99 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 64 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 18 Points.
5. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 17 Points.
6. Alfa Romeo Racing – 13 Points.
7. Renault F1 Team – 12 Points.
8. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 8 Points.
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 4 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

The Formula 1 Emirates Gran Premio De Espana 2019 weekend begins Friday May 10 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday May 11 along with the 66 lap Race Sunday May 12.