FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[Denthúl]

You could make a fortune if you went down to the track with a brush and a shovel, sweeping up all the carbon fibre.

[Rob-F1]

You wouldn't even have to pay me too do that.

[AKR]

The track does look good and I will be very interested to see which car (Mclaren/Ferrari) has the best set up. Convention says maybe Mclaren should have the edge but I think BMW will be able to make a challenge and upset the status quo

In my opinion, McLaren will have a slight edge at the beginning of the weekend and probably in the early stages of the Grand Prix. The track will then come to the Ferraris towards the end of sessions and sometime into the race. From a McLaren point of view, this is pretty worrying. The chances of the safety car being deployed (repeatedly) on this track is extremely high. So, if McLaren do manage to build up a big lead in the race, the safety car will wipe it out and the Ferraris will be all over the McLarens.

If that is so, then wouldn't that be a good thing?

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

FIA asked to examine Valencia bridge

By Jonathan Noble Thursday, August 21st 2008, 18:12 GMT

Formula One tyre supplier Bridgestone has asked the FIA to examine the bridge section of the new Valencia F1 track amid fears that its current configuration could lead to a spate of punctures this weekend, autosport.com has learned.

The new track around the Valencia port runs over a swing bridge - with a small gap in the asphalt where there is a metal expansion joint to prevent any damage from varying temperatures.

Although the gap itself should cause no problem for the F1 cars this weekend, there is some concern, however, with the fact that the two sections of asphalt are at varying levels.

The section on the bridge is higher than the part of the track before it - and the resultant bump, believed to be as high as 15 millimetres in parts - has led Bridgestone to ask the FIA to look into the situation.

Bridgestone is worried that the bump is big enough, especially with the potentially more susceptible super-soft tyre in use this weekend, to risk causing punctures.

Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development, wrote an email to FIA race director Charlie Whiting on Thursday asking him to look into the matter – and enquire if there was any way of ensuring the two parts of the track are made more level.

"I've written to Charlie to ask him to look into it," Hamashima told autosport.com. "The track is slightly raised (on the bridge), and if a tyre hits it (the lip), it could cause a puncture.

"It is not so bad, but if they can adjust it then we will be happy. Having the track level will be better."

The bridge section of the track appears to be the only part of the circuit that has caused some concern – with the rest of the layout leaving almost all the field excited about this weekend's inaugural event.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen said about the bridge section: "There are a few bumps because I guess they need to turn the bridge sometimes. That is the only place where I found any bumps on the circuit, and one of them is in the middle of the corner. So, that might affect things a bit.

"But apart from that it looks very smooth and very well done the circuit. We will see tomorrow how good it is in the end, but I expect to have quite good fun."

[Denthúl]

Interesting. Thing is, will making that kind of alteration to the track pose any problems over the course of the weekend? Would they be able to just cut it down or would they have to resurface the entire area?

[Kiwi_Chris]

Really bridgestone should have known about the gap in the bridge before hand, i mean its not exactly a secret that its there, they should make sure that the tyre that they bring to a GP weekend can handle the track its being used on - rather than altering the track to suit the tyres

[f1ea]

Well this should be a thrilling race. The bridge will definitely be the most dangerous section, i noticed so a long time ago on the virtual lap... Guess for Bstone it will be something alike to the USGP, but simpler, because one thing the FIA can do is add some kind of joint / transition to smooth out the height difference.

As for the race... Mclaren can out qualify Ferrari, but Ferrari should be the fastest on sunday, so the race will definitelt be very exciting as the SC will make slower teams go for 1 stops... And who knows who will end up stuck behind...

Massa seems to be doing the better job at set up again.
So Massa for the win.

[Denthúl]

Wow, Toro Rosso seem to be having a good time. Bourdais was fourth quickest. Could we see some of the bigger teams a little upset this weekend? I think it would be awesome if both STRs finished in front of the Red Bull, Renault and Toyota cars.

[bud]

Alonso and Button behind Kimi in the 2nd P

[Denthúl]

Are you sure Button was driving a Honda for that lap? That's quite impressive. Probably low-fuel, though. Maybe he'll make it in to the top ten in qualifying tomorrow. I can only hope that Barrichello can find the same kind of lines around the track. :/

[KyrosV]

Ferrari are looking pretty good.. People were saying mclaren were gonna be faster in practise and quali while Ferrari were gonna be faster in the race as it gets rubbered down. But it looks like the boys in red have been doing there homework over the holidays. I wonder how mclarens Tyre Situations are gonna fair the test of... "THE BRIDGE OF DOOM".... could be interesting. Renualt are going to be strong here too hopefully. Im looking forward to it all...

[McLaren Fan]

Practice 1 times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.496 29
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:40.654 + 0.158 27
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:40.822 + 0.326 14
4. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.099 + 0.603 31
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:41.163 + 0.667 23
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.281 + 0.785 24
7. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:41.317 + 0.821 27
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:41.329 + 0.833 26
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:41.385 + 0.889 31
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:41.706 + 1.210 22
11. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.830 + 1.334 27
12. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:41.930 + 1.434 27
13. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:41.951 + 1.455 23
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:42.036 + 1.540 27
15. Piquet Renault (B) 1:42.107 + 1.611 32
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:42.453 + 1.957 23
17. Button Honda (B) 1:42.460 + 1.964 29
19. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:43.075 + 2.579 25
19. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:43.312 + 2.816 23
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:43.524 + 3.028 24

Practice 2 times:

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.477 30
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:39.497 + 0.020 39
3. Button Honda (B) 1:39.546 + 0.069 35
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:39.678 + 0.201 31
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.712 + 0.235 31
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.954 + 0.477 30
7. Glock Toyota (B) 1:39.967 + 0.490 32
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:40.149 + 0.672 35
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:40.439 + 0.962 32
10. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.500 + 1.023 23
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.585 + 1.108 24
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.607 + 1.130 34
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.696 + 1.219 23
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.742 + 1.265 34
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:40.877 + 1.400 32
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.982 + 1.505 36
17. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.999 + 1.522 32
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.084 + 1.607 35
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.246 + 1.769 38
20. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.377 + 1.900 31


Hmm. A strange kind of afternoon with there being so many drivers unexpectedly popping up near the top of the time sheets. It's really tough to predict what is going to happen this weekend. Renault look alright, certainly with Alonso anyway. Honda have been all over the time sheets, so I suspect they're trying out a few things and that Button did his fast lap on petrol fumes. Red Bull don't look too fast, so it could be another one of those weekends when Toro Rosso pull a fast one on them. BMW aren't looking any more healthy than they were a few weeks ago. That said, Renault's race pace may drop and Toyota don't look like great shakes either. Williams look to be stuck in the middle of the grid. It would be a good weekend for them if they could do better than a least one of Renault, Toyota or Red Bull. It's also surprising not to see a McLaren topping the time sheets at all and even both Ferraris are floating around, despite topping the time sheets. Both are sandbagging, I suspect.

[Hanwombat]

Hm stranges timings
Shame I am working all weekend and shall have to watch recordings

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

Prime and option tyres closely matched

Kimi Raikkonen set the marker on the opening day of running for Bridgestone’s 200th race – the Grand Prix of Europe - by using Bridgestone’s prime (soft) compound Potenza tyre to set the day’s fastest lap time of 1:39.477s at the 5.4km Valencia street circuit, for the twelfth round of the championship.

This was the first time that the port area of Valencia had reverberated to the sounds of Formula One cars driving on this new circuit, and Raikkonen set his time in the afternoon 90-minute practice session. He was two hundredths faster than the next driver, Fernando Alonso. Honda F1 Racing driver Jenson Button went third fastest in this session.

Earlier times had tumbled in the morning session time as drivers acquainted themselves with the new street course, learning the track and perfecting their cars’ set-ups for this exciting new race destination located in the port area of Spain’s third largest city.

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in the morning session, using the soft compound tyre for a lap of 1:40.496s - and taking the honour of going fastest in this first ever session for the European Grand Prix at Valencia.

As expected, Valencia proved to be a difficult challenge for drivers due to the slippery and green nature of the new track.
Grip levels varied during the three hours of running today, whilst the weather remained hot and dry, meaning that Bridgestone’s extreme wet and wet tyres were not required.

Hirohide Hamashima, Tyre Development Director
“This is a very nice street course which is, in many ways, similar to a permanent facility. There are long straights, meaning a good high speed battle with speeds over 300kph, and slower corners, meaning good braking technique is required."

"It is a very technical circuit, for example there is an adverse camber section before the bridge which makes matters very interesting for the drivers. Both compounds performed well on this first day and the track grip levels improved dramatically during both sessions."

"At this stage it is very difficult to say which will be the preferred tyre for qualifying or the race as we have a lot of data to digest and drivers and teams are still learning how best to tackle this exciting new venue.”

E.A. © CAPSIS International

If it turns out there is not a lot of difference between the tyres, this could help McLaren slightly, even though Ferrari will most likely still retain their advantage of eating their tyres less than the McLarens. Hamilton, I think, needs to watch himself particularly this weekend. It's a street circuit, albeit that this one is slightly unconventional, there is a high chance of crashes, hence debris, the bump at the bridge and softer tyres are being used. All could become an issue with the way Hamilton takes a hell of a lot from the tyres.

[headless]

It looked so good for Toro Rosso in the first session.
It DID.
The McLarens and Ferrari's will seive to the front of the grid. Bound to.