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[Frosty]

Its practice.

Times mean nothing

Sorry I disagree, the 2 Mclarens are at a similar pace and very slow, Massa even slower, Kimi a bit quicker but he has the lighter chassis. Someone at McLaren design and development needs a good shoeing

Why? because they have got us from Q3 to Q1 in the space of 3 Races?

Think were doing ok thanks

They need a good shoeing for producing a championship running car in 08 to that pile of crap running round the circuit today, thats what I'm on about, and b4 you get on my case, I've been a McLaren fan for years

Honda and Williams stopped developing the 08 car early on (honda especialy) Mclaren had to keep going for 08 because they would of lost the championship otherwise because Ferrari would of overtook

They had Updates for the Car in Brazil you can't go and have a top spec 08 car in a close close title battle with the likes of Ferrari and still have the time to build a top spec 09 car.

Ferrari are in the same boat (well worse) the team have done a great job to get the car to the stage it was at in Bahrain so good work to them i say.

I agree last time McLaren were in Barcelona the team were 2.5 seconds off the pace.
This Race I think will be one of the worst results of the year for McLaren because the car really doesn't suit the circuit. I would estimate that McLaren will be 1 second off the pace this weekend.

[Denthúl]

I'm sure they will be faster than practice pace has shown. I doubt it would be enough to challenge for serious points, though.

I really do hope that Williams can actually do something with this pace, otherwise it will be another frustratingly disappointing weekend for the team, the sponsors and the fans. They can say that the budget cap will help them as much as they want but that isn't in place now, so they need to focus on getting the most out of what is a good car.

[scotty]

I'm sure they will be faster than practice pace has shown. I doubt it would be enough to challenge for serious points, though.

I really do hope that Williams can actually do something with this pace, otherwise it will be another frustratingly disappointing weekend for the team, the sponsors and the fans. They can say that the budget cap will help them as much as they want but that isn't in place now, so they need to focus on getting the most out of what is a good car.

I know this'll probably jinx it, but it's more encouraging than before because Nakajima is up there too...

As for McLaren... hmm, i think Bahrain flattered their true pace as the circuit very much suited the car; if Canada was still on the calendar they'd most likely have gone well there too.

[Denthúl]

I'm sure they will be faster than practice pace has shown. I doubt it would be enough to challenge for serious points, though.

I really do hope that Williams can actually do something with this pace, otherwise it will be another frustratingly disappointing weekend for the team, the sponsors and the fans. They can say that the budget cap will help them as much as they want but that isn't in place now, so they need to focus on getting the most out of what is a good car.

I know this'll probably jinx it, but it's more encouraging than before because Nakajima is up there too...

Williams have had a couple of 1-2s in practice this year, though, haven't they? I must admit that Nakajima did top the sheets several times during the second session, which I see as a good sign. Watching one of his onboard laps shows just how aggressive he can be. If he can add some maturity to that, he'd be a pretty good grand prix driver.

Piquet's pace was also pretty good today. Maybe he'll get a result this weekend.

[scotty]

I'm sure they will be faster than practice pace has shown. I doubt it would be enough to challenge for serious points, though.

I really do hope that Williams can actually do something with this pace, otherwise it will be another frustratingly disappointing weekend for the team, the sponsors and the fans. They can say that the budget cap will help them as much as they want but that isn't in place now, so they need to focus on getting the most out of what is a good car.

I know this'll probably jinx it, but it's more encouraging than before because Nakajima is up there too...

Williams have had a couple of 1-2s in practice this year, though, haven't they? I must admit that Nakajima did top the sheets several times during the second session, which I see as a good sign. Watching one of his onboard laps shows just how aggressive he can be. If he can add some maturity to that, he'd be a pretty good grand prix driver.

Erm, i'm not sure if they have or not, this was the first practice session i've actually seen this year (damn job!), although Nakajima is kinda reminiscent of early Felipe Massa imo, so i agree with you there. They should get at least a point in this race.

Piquet can't keep the bloody car on the track! Can't see him getting points on merit to be honest.

Also, i'm still trying to figure out where BMW are in the order, they were quicker this morning.

Button disappointed with car handling

Jenson Button says he was disappointed with his Brawn GP car following practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, despite topping the times in the morning session.

The championship leader emerged as fastest in the first 90 minutes but dropped down to sixth position in the afternoon as he struggled with the balance of his car.

"Qualifying and the race at the important ones. Today is not important to be quickest," Button told reporters after practice. "It's more about getting a good feeling and a good balance.

"I'm not there yet and I'm a bit disappointed with the way the car is at the moment. Hopefully we can improve overnight, I know that we will because we know which direction to go."

The Brawn driver, winner of three of the first four races of the season, reckons Red Bull and Toyota are likely to be his main rivals despite most teams having introduced big updates for the Spanish race.

"Ferrari were quite good this morning, so I don't know," said Button. "They might be playing games. A lot of people do on Fridays. We have in the past. So we wait and see. We are just running through our programme.

"If you look at the consistency of some of the cars you'd say the Toyotas and the Red Bulls are competitive, and the others I haven't really paid much attention to, but I'll look at the data tonight."

The Briton admitted he has been delighted with his start to the season, but insisted he is just focusing on the next race.

"It's obvious that I'm quite happy with how the first races went, having three wins out of four and winning a dry race," Button said. "Pretty exceptional. But as I always say you have to look at the next race, that's the way it is. You have to concentrate on the next one, and this is the next race here in Barcelona."

He added: "The first few races have been good for us. We are back in Europe now and I think we will see where everyone stands. You can't say who is going to be our main contenders yet because people are doing different things. Some people will bring a package here and some people will be improving the car race by race as McLaren has done."

Still pretty fast with an ill-handling car... that's ominous for everyone else. At least Rubens looks in good shape, it's about time he won a race again (and won me some £££ ).

Hamilton says pace worse than expected

Lewis Hamilton says his McLaren team is in for a very difficult weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, the world champion admitting he is not confident ahead of the Barcelona race.

Hamilton finished in 13th position in this afternoon's qualifying session, and the Briton said that was the best he could have done with his car.

"That is our true pace, as you just saw," Hamilton told reporters after Friday practice. "It is going to be a tough one for sure."

The McLaren driver, who finished in fourth in the last race in Bahrain, said the Sakhir circuit's performance had been misleading, and reckons Barcelona is showing his car's real deficits.

Hamilton admitted his team's pace was worse than he had expected.

"That is what I said coming into the weekend and it is even worse than I expected," Hamilton said when asked if Bahrain had flattered his car.

The Briton said the modifications done to his car for the Spanish race had simply not worked, and claimed McLaren was not hiding anything in practice.

"I wish we were, but we are not. We are pushing but unfortunately we tried some upgrades and they are not working for me," he said.

"There has been no improvement to the car whatsoever."

Wow, that's not good....

[Frosty]

I'm not surprised. If McLaren make Q3 here I will be very happy!

[Gaz]

dam...

[cap-dude]

We never can take anything from practice and this weekend proves the same.

I just have one glimmer of hope. In practive 1, buttons fastest time was 1 second faster than Massa's best. Button set his time with a fairly light fuel load and soft tyres, whilst Massa set that time on a good load of fuel on the hard tyres sometime mid-session. I'm not sure how much the softer tyres are worth, but it looks good from that angle. At least I hope so.

Piquet, did indeed lead the time sheets briefly. Before spinning twice. Same ol tricks
I really don't think Renault look good this weekend. But I think Alonso will still pull something for the spanish crowd. So for that reason, I think Piquet will look bad again. Grosjean is still lurking. He's actually on pole position this weekend in GP2.

Anyways, set to be interesting weekend. GP2 is underway, and F1 qualifying will be pretty decisive and competitive tomorrow.

[EwanM]

Well its quite obvious that Mclaren are a long long way behind, and their KERS only helps to mask some of their underlying problems.
Interesting to see that the brand new Ferrari's and BMW's don't look that quick either.

[EwanM]

Correction, the New Ferrari under Raikkonen.

[irons_4_ever]

This sucks looking like a wet race, witch is a shame considering i wanna see the true strength if the new cars

[Jensonb]

The BMW seems to have gone backwards. It was what was running around when I managed tog et a look in on Practice 2 at lunch. It looks kinda awkward in motion. The pace is a bit mediocre too.

Jenson's word offer me a bit of reassurance in terms of Brawn pace, but I'm still terrified of those Red Bulls.

[7UpJordan]

I'm still going to remain sceptical about Williams' chances until qulifying starts, they always run light in practice towards the end. Nakajima though has been quick today, so that bodes quite well, and Nico was on an even quicker lap before his car came to a stop. I hope it's no gearbox related problem, don't want penalties kicking in.

I think Button, Trulli or Vettel will take pole. I won't be surprised if Alonso tries another crowd-pleasing-super-featherweight run in Q3 to try and sneak into pole or at least get on the front two rows so he can use KERS to break into the lead... for 1 lap and then pitting.

As for that BMW... that is an even uglier nose than the FW26's whalrus nose!! What were they thinking of? I know that "just because a car looks pretty doesn't mean it's quick" but it does not work the opposite way round.

[Denthúl]

I'm still going to remain sceptical about Williams' chances until qulifying starts, they always run light in practice towards the end. Nakajima though has been quick today, so that bodes quite well, and Nico was on an even quicker lap before his car came to a stop. I hope it's no gearbox related problem, don't want penalties kicking in.

I think Button, Trulli or Vettel will take pole. I won't be surprised if Alonso tries another crowd-pleasing-super-featherweight run in Q3 to try and sneak into pole or at least get on the front two rows so he can use KERS to break into the lead... for 1 lap and then pitting.

As for that BMW... that is an even uglier nose than the FW26's whalrus nose!! What were they thinking of? I know that "just because a car looks pretty doesn't mean it's quick" but it does not work the opposite way round.

Caroline Cheese, who does the BBC live commentary updatey thing on the website, reckons it was a fuel thing.

[Hanwombat]

Mclaren will be lucky to make Q3 tomorrow.. they may just JUST!

Button to take pole I reckon