After a three week break, Formula 1 is back with the Spanish Grand Prix where we usually get an idea of who has the best chance of winning the championship.

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFÓNICA 2010

 

Standings after Round 4:
      Drivers:             Constructors:

News:
The Catalunya circuit is the track that is used the most in winter testing by the teams due to its aerodynamic attributes (fast, open corners which test out the car’s aerodynamic efficiency). In addition, it’s the track that every team brings its biggest upgrade package of the season so far.

At the top of the list of teams bringing their technical updates, is Mercedes which are introducing a longer version of their car (W01) in attempt to allow their drivers (Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg) to find more pace and fight for the win. Of course, the one that could a lot more pace is the 7 times World Champion who struggled all 4 races to get up to speed with the rest of the front runners. So, the changes are mostly done to aid him.

Moreover, several teams have been trying back in their factories to copy the McLaren’s F-duct system which results to a 5 kph top speed gain and helped the British team win 2 out of 4 races. Latest news, tells us that Ferrari’s design of the system is used not only for better top speed but also for better downforce from the back of the car (diffuser). The team is expected to test it on Friday’s free practice session and then decide if it’s good enough to be use in qualifying and race.

The other big thing for the historic Italian team is that the FIA approved the reliability changes on their engine. The problem seemed to be with the pneumatic valves but sources tell us that the issue is now resolved. That will make happy both Fernando Alonso and the Sauber team who experienced the most problems.

We don’t have any other news from the teams about their upgrades (apart from some teams of the back of the grid like Lotus with a significant upgrade and Virgin with finally a large enough fuel tank) but always expect the unexpected from maybe the best technicians in the world. One last thing though, is that teams who used to have their mirrors on the sidepods (like Ferrari, Red Bull etc) are now obliged to have them changed for now. But, it is not expected to affect their performance on track.


Qualifying and Race:
As we said before, teams bring new ‘’toys’’ with them for this race. So, it is unclear how the running order will be affected.

We are certain of a few things:
•    The Red Bull Drivers are once again the favorites for pole position. They have 4 out of 4 (Vettel 3 and Webber 1) and the fastest car so far. The fact that they are third on the constructor’s standings is due to reliability issues.

•    This is the home race for local hero Fernando Alonso, so we expect him to fight with all his might for his 2nd win of the season.

•    Again there is a chance of rain falling throughout the weekend and things may be mixed up once again. Mclaren seems to handle the weather changes better than any other team (especially World Champion Jenson Button with both of his victories aided by the weather change). For the record, the last full dry race (the first one of the season in Bahrein) ended with a Ferrari 1-2 and Alonso taking the checkered flag.

•    Nico Rosberg is one of the most solid drivers so far this season, as he is currently 2nd in the drivers’ standings without having won any of the 4 races. This is an even bigger accomplishment, if we take note that he drives the slowest of the 4 front runner cars (for the time being).

•    Another one is Robert Kubica (7th in the Standings with 3 straight top 5 finishes) with a Renault car who lacks some pace but still surprises in the hands of the polish driver (reports link him with a move to Ferrari next year but still only speculation).

•    Catalunya is the shortest track so far this season with overtaking being extremely difficult here. So, that makes qualifying a bigger deal than the previous races because no one wants to get stuck in traffic behind slower cars.

•    The first corner is a medium speed right hander followed by a similar left one where we had several accidents the past years at race start. This year we have 4 more cars than previous years, so chances of an impact resulting in an early safety car deployment are high.

Bridgestone is bringing the soft and hard compound for this race because of tyre wear being bigger on this track. Still though, anyone qualifying with the harder compound in order to deal with the increased tyre degradation sacrificing grid position will be a surprise.

Betting Suggestions:

Last year, Brawn GP (now Mercedes GP) dominated the race with a 1-2 finish followed by the two Red Bulls. A similar result doesn’t seem likely on a dry race, even with the updates in hand now, but anything is possible with rain. So, it’s best to watch for the rain predictions before betting on someone for pole position or winning. That’s why; I will focus on secondary bets:

•    Qualifying Top 3 Finish - Fernando Alonso (1.65 at Bwin)
•    1st Lap Retirements - Over 0.5 (1.85 at Bwin)
•    Safety Car (Anytime during the race) - Yes (2.02 at Bwin)
•    Race Top 6 Finish – Nico Rosberg (1.66 at Bet365)