Buono Estente,
The first European race of 2014 comes after a three week break from China, at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona.
This track could see an interruption of Mercedes' dominance thus far this season with the circuit being a renowned test of the cars' aerodynamic packages and the general belief that the erstwhile all-conquering Red Bull team retain an advantage in this area. The pecking order may also be liable to change with teams likely to be bringing major upgrade packages.
The long front straight is the only real area for the cars to stretch their legs, with the majority of the rest of the circuit being long, medium speed corners that don't require much torque. The acceleration zone out of the final chicane could finally prove useful in allowing the more powerful cars to race with cars boasting a superior aero package ... or it could be another typically dull Barcelona race.
Tyre choices this year are Medium and Hard which seems a conservative choice, especially with this year's harder rubber, but the negative publicity after last year's race makes this understandable.
Circuit Map
Weather
The race is still two weeks away so it may be a bit early but this race isn't usually affected by rain, indeed it is often Scorchio!
I normally use tiempo.com for my Spanish weather ... this is their page for Montmeló where the circuit is located.
http://www.tiempo.com/montmelo.htm
Times
Standard European Race Times ...
Practice 1 Fri 10:00 Local (09:00 BST)
Practice 2 Fri 14:00 Local (13:00 BST)
Practice 3 Sat 11:00 Local (10:00 BST)
Qualifying Sat 14:00 Local (13:00 BST)
Race Sun 14:00 Local Time for Local People (13:00 BST)
Race length is 66 laps of the circuit, a total of 307km.
History
To the delight of the heavily biased Spanish TV commentary team, Fernando Alonso won last year's race which featured over a thousand pit stops, according to TBK-Light statistics. Alonso also finished runner-up in a Freak Natural Event which occurred in 2012 when Pastor Maldonado ended Williams near-decade long win drought ... such was the scale of this Freak Event, the Williams pit garage promptly caught fire. Before that were a win apiece for then Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.
The race has been held at the Circuit de Catalunya since 1991 when something genuinely exciting happened at the circuit. Its most winning driver is Michael Schumacher with his most notable triumphs being 1996 when he was competing in a different race to the other drivers, and 2001 when a spectacular Mercedes engine failure cost Mika Hakkinen victory on the final lap. Ferrari has the most wins at the circuit with 12.
Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso are current two-time winners with Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Pastor Maldonado sharing a victory each the other current drivers to have won here.
That seems about all that's pertinent, anything I've missed, feel free to point it out ...
