Adrian Sutil reckons Red Bull will be the team to beat in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona in two weeks’ time.
The Force India driver believes the RB6 will be best-suited to the Circuit de Catalunya:
There you just need downforce, so I think it’s a Red Bull circuit again. You have a long straight, but if you have a quick car through the corners, it’s definitely a better way.
Adrian Sutil
His team will be bringing new parts for its VJM03 at the first European race of the season, but Sutil isn’t expecting a major step forwards:
We’ve got a few bits, but the car will be very good there I think, and the top 10 will be very similar to what we’ve seen in the last few races. Nobody will be finding half a second in their car, because right now it’s really hard to improve the cars. Everybody is at a point where it’s hard to find every single tenth.
Adrian Sutil
The German driver lies ninth in the drivers’ standings with ten points after four races – the same score as Michael Schumacher. Sutil says he’s enjoyed racing with the Mercedes driver this year:
I had some good fights with him! He was once in front of me, and then behind me. It was up and down. In Malaysia he was behind me after the start, but in terms of really racing, that was a first time for me. It was nice, but it’s no different to any other driver – on the circuit it doesn’t make any difference.
Adrian Sutil
A first corner collision at Bahrain spoiled Sutil’s race and he finished outside the top ten in Shanghai after gambling on a change to intermediate tyres on lap one:
On the first lap on the dry tyres behind the safety car I was sure that the rain would pick up, and that’s why I changed to intermediates. I thought it was the right decision, and it looked like it was. But then it stopped raining again, and it was just too dry. They grained up and we had to pit again. I was just hoping for more rain, but it wasn’t coming!
We changed back to the slick tyres. We chose the soft one, because normally in those conditions the hard one is not working at all. But even that was probably not the best decision because my left front grained up so much that I had to pit another time. Luckily it was raining then, and I went on to intermediates.
That was pretty OK, but it also degraded quite quickly. It was just a bit up and down with the positions, with some quite good fights there. There was a small problem with the rear left at the pitstop, and I lost four seconds and positions to Massa and Barrichello. I had to fight to get back past Rubens, which worked out, but still I just missed the points.
That was a strategy race. If you see that people were doing four or five pit stops, it was just doing the right thing at the right time, and also a little bit of luck. Some people just tried something and it worked out. I’m not really disappointed, I did everything on the limit. From my point of view, I got the maximum out of the car, and the team did their best. In the end it’s an 11th position.
Adrian Sutil
But he believes the biggest missed opportunity for the team so far this year was at Melbourne. Sutil qualified tenth on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix but retired with engine failure:
Probably Melbourne was a big chance. Bahrain, I’m not sure, I started 10th and maybe I could have finished eighth. But it didn’t happen. The only big chance we missed I think was Melbourne.
Adrian Sutil
AlonsoWDC
26th April 2010, 8:32
Well he’s likely right.
Bertie
26th April 2010, 9:10
Howeever, I think pretty much every cicuit will be a “red bull” circuit. Perhaps Monza and Spa being the exception.
PeterG
26th April 2010, 10:21
Four out of four poles for Red Bull.
Wow, Adrian must have thought long and hard about this.
To me it means three weeks is too long between races. If we have time for this and quotes of Stirling Moss, then we better go get the tire warmers out and start the engines.
BasCB
26th April 2010, 13:50
If only the team were better at getting those grid positions to race wins and podium finishes.
For me it shows, they are still a team in development, with too many mistakes being made.
Mike
27th April 2010, 8:30
Good grief! where does that leave Hispania then?
GeeMac
26th April 2010, 11:28
Thanks for stating the obvious Adrian!
Apart from Monza, where I expect McLaren (and any other team with an effective F-duct) and Force India to do well), nearly every track is a Red Bull track! The RB6 is a mile ahead right now, and if Webber and Vettel can get their acts together, they should dominate the championship.
Ned Flanders
26th April 2010, 12:04
Mark Hughes disagrees:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8629477.stm
Icthyes
26th April 2010, 13:27
The only thing I think that mitigates Hughes’ (and Bridgestone’s) conclusions is that it wasn’t a normal race. Button and Rosberg cruising at the front, but everyone else were trying to get to the front and having to follow cars and overtake them, all of which would have course made them wear their tyres even quicker than normal.
But I really wouldn’t be surprised if Red Bull two-stopped in Barcelona, or have to fight off Ferraris in the closing stage. Given Barcelona is probably the worst place to try and overtake outside of a street circuit, it’s going to be a headache for the strategists, and I suspect a lot will depend on qualifying.
macahan
26th April 2010, 16:02
I don’t at all very much agree with Hughes that Alonso would chased them down at the end if it was dry. Reason behind it is he jump started the race got a drive through penalty early on. If this been a dry race you wouldn’t had the pit stop shuffle lap 1-3 it was a lot thanks to this shuffle that Alonso didn’t end up down at the end of the field. In the dry you would more then likely NOT had the safety car out on lap 1 through 3 and on lap 5 when Alonso did his drive through he dropped to 16th but due to the SC and all the tire pit stops he could gain positions easily and most of his places gained was due to others pit stops. In a dry race he would had to do this on track and it would been extremely punishing to his tires so moving from back field to beat the Red Bulls in front would been an epic drive.
I think the biggest threat would been Button, Hamilton and Rosberg to the Red Bulls if it been dry. On the backstraight those cars where very quick even the Renault was quick from the looks of it when looking at how Kubica gapped Vettel there each lap. But I doubt anyone would had the speed advantage to really overtake the RedBulls because Vettel easily reeled in Kubica in S1 and S3. The RedBull would build enough gap in S1 and S3 to be safely a head to never be under thread on the back straight.
If the Red Bulls had been in the lead after lap 5 once Alonso got his drive through they would been able to gap and start looking after their tires now they constantly had to attack and follow other cars trying to get up in the field, punishing their tires a lot. It’s bit difference following a car lap after lap trying to overtake and being 15-20sec a head controlling the race and be able to look after your tires.
Todfod
26th April 2010, 12:19
I think overall, Ferrari is has the most well rounded car. It might not match the qualifying pace of the Red Bulls, nor the straight line speed of the Mclarens, but it seems to have the best race pace and tire maintaining capabilities. If they can get their engine issues solved, there is no stopping Alonso in that machine.
sato113
26th April 2010, 12:47
maybe it’s just not a Sutil circuit…!
Alec
26th April 2010, 12:54
Looking at Mark Hughes’ article I think he should look back to Bahrain for how barcelona will go. The Red Bull may have degraded the soft tyres more at Shanghai but in a dry race they’d have gone onto hards after 15 laps and they would likely have gone the distance.
The only way Alonso might’ve passed the Red Bulls would have been on the track and even though his tyres might’ve been fresher I doubt they’d have been the 3 seconds Martin Whitmarsh quoted quicker at any point than the Red Bulls in front.
Unless there’s any rain or drama in qualifying I see a rather processional race at Barcelona.
VXR
26th April 2010, 13:26
“Looking at Mark Hughes’ article I think he should look back to Bahrain for how barcelona will go. The Red Bull may have degraded the soft tyres more at Shanghai but in a dry race they’d have gone onto hards after 15 laps and they would likely have gone the distance.”
It’s no good looking back to Bahrain, because the cars were driven in a very conservative way there. So no one really had any problems with tyres.
It’s also better to go as far as you can on the softer tyre before changing to the hard tyre, because then you can push the hard tyre a little bit more over the shorter distance you have left to go on them. And if your car or your driving style is already kind to the tyres, then so much the better for that.
BasCB
26th April 2010, 14:00
I think you are right, looking to Bahrain is not that good a comparison.
Everybody said afterwards, that the tyres would have given them more if they would have driven harder to their limits. And Bahrain is not a very abrassive surface and very hot.
The article offers something interesting, but really tells us that Red Bull is strong, using their tyres very agressively opens up an opportunity for the others to get closer to them in the race.
Maybe this is exactly why they are qualifying very good, getting the tyres to their optimum in qualifying, but tend to be not quite so far up front in the races.
VXR
26th April 2010, 13:20
Kubica gives us a good idea of what a driver now needs to do in order to finish well in a race under the new regulations. Particularly at a highly abrasive track like Barcelona’s.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83147
I would have thought that a dry Barcelona track would make for a very unforgiving race for any cars or drivers that are hard on their tyres?
BasCB
26th April 2010, 13:52
I suppose they know the circuit too well to make much mistakes in set up. So then it is down to somebody making driver errors for fun, or some technical problems.
VXR
26th April 2010, 14:05
The cars are either inherently good or bad on their tyres, regardless of set up changes. Often an entirely new chassis needs to be built (see Mercedes) in order to get rid of inherent traits.
F1 Novice
29th April 2010, 8:47
That last micky mouse chicane negates that a little now :( – The Fi’s & the McLarens will enjoy the long straight – still seems weird writing about Force India being genuinely competitive on arrange of circuits – lets hope James Key can sort the Saubers and give them a leg up as well.
F1silverarrows
26th April 2010, 14:14
I beg to differ “sutil”, this is Alonso’s home track and he did pritty well in a Renault last year being 8th on the grid.
VXR
26th April 2010, 14:41
I think the Ferrari’s will do pretty well in Spain – barring engine failures, pit stop calamities, fuel consumption issues and other sundry issues, that is. :)
Talladega Knight
26th April 2010, 17:33
It’s very nice to see the Force India team scoring regular points, considering they were cemented to the back of the qualifying grid throughout the 2008 season and the majority of the 2009 season. Now that they have a decent car, they have scored more points than what they accumulated in the 2009 season (I know, the new points systems is more rewarding, especially to the midfiled teams).
Virgin-Racing, Lotus and HRT take note!
I know they are an established team (which has roots back to the Jordan days, which EJ constantly reminds us about:)!). In all seriousness, the new teams could be competing with the midfield within two or three years.
Bigbadderboom
27th April 2010, 13:09
Perhaps a decent race at Barcelona then. If the Red Bulls and Lewis qualify well but are hard on their tyres will we see Jenson and the two ferraris come good at the end of both tyre stints, dare we hope for a grandstand finish???