Pecking order looks unchanged after Spain upgrades

18 comments on “Pecking order looks unchanged after Spain upgrades”

1. 

   jh1806 (@jh1806)
   10th May 2013, 18:06

   Ferrari and Lotus race pace looks pretty mighty – assuming they qualify fairly close to the front then I think it’s fair to assume they’ll be on the podium.
   1. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      10th May 2013, 19:34

      Grosjean in Particular is looking menacing. After 3 races there were whispers that maybe he wasn’t good enough 4 F1, I think the sky team even had a discussion on who might replace him next year. They completely disregarded the fact that all the upgrades were going to Kimi. Now he has got basically the same car he is showing all just how good he is
      1. 

         Manished
         11th May 2013, 2:23

         Both Romain and Kimi had same parts overall with Kimi having new exhaust in Malaysia and Romain having new front wing and new bits in China.

         To say all new upgrades were on kimi’s car alone is more than misleading.

         Romain had said that he had trouble finding his own setup. The car is fine, but tricky to driive.
      2. 

         Kanman1
         11th May 2013, 2:29

         Kimi didn’t receive a single new parts last year from valencia to hockenheim period. he had to wait until hungary….guess what, Kimi outscored Romain big time and earned more podiums than him. Why nobody notice???

         Both drivers has take turn to receive new parts in malaysia and china. Apart from that, they have the same bits all the time. In china, despite running with damaged old front wing, Kimi pulled out a gap of 50 seconds to Romain who was running new bits and new front wing.

         Yea, blame the upgrades. Its obvious E21 is too tricky to drive and Romain suffer because of it.
2. 

   RagingInferno (@raginginferno)
   10th May 2013, 18:40

   I’m somewhat surprised to see the running order so unchanged. Last year Ferrari really turned around their season here by making a big leap forward, so far it doesn’t look like anyone has managed to replicate that.
   1. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      10th May 2013, 19:22

      Well, that’s to be expected. There simply isn’t that much capacity for development left considering they had all of last year year to exploit the same regulations. From that point of view one can understand why MacLaren brought out a new car!
   2. 

      Younger Hamii (@younger-hamii)
      10th May 2013, 23:20

      Well the 2013 chassis are obviously evolutions of the 2012, this season is seemingly an exception as we’re heading towards th biggest technical regulations in the history of the sport, irrespective of how early we’re into this season, the teams already have one eye on 2014. You could say it’s likened to the 2008 season, with the 2009 aero changes

      The evolutions I believe are approaching the end of their development paths and are bringing ‘smaller’ parts to see through to the end of the season, this ties up strongly with why McLaren decided to begin a ‘new development curve’ and go revolutionary with their 28
   3. 

      Dragon (@dragon88)
      10th May 2013, 23:21

      That’s because they were struggling with their car’s performance last year. It is much easier to significantly improve a car with some grave issues than a car that is already competitive.
3. 

   tmax (@tmax)
   10th May 2013, 18:49

   The Big Bulls vs the Red Horses Head on eh ? Looking forward for a good weekend.
   1. 

      Blackmamba (@blackmamba)
      10th May 2013, 19:42

      Eh, what about Lotus. That’s my bet for the race, having seen the degradation on track. I had hoped Merc would be that much closer but at least they look like they are clear of the Force of India
4. 

   Young
   10th May 2013, 19:36

   wow, Torro Rosso giving McLaren a run for their money; what is the world coming to?
5. 

   Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
   10th May 2013, 20:29

   Fernando is quite a bit faster than everybody else and of course whom I think is going to be is main rival here, Sebastian Vettel. That may prove key…
6. 

   StefMeister (@stefmeister)
   10th May 2013, 21:10

   FOM had a Helmet-Cam placed on Valtteri Bottas Helmet today:
   http://vimeo.com/65888286
   1. 

      StefMeister (@stefmeister)
      10th May 2013, 22:16

      5 laps from it in FP2:
      http://vimeo.com/65923673
7. 

   Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
   10th May 2013, 22:10

   The race may show the overall pattern of the coming season. Considering how unchanged the pecking order is, and how McLaren appear to still be stuck in the midfield, we may see where each team will stay for the season regarding their level of competitiveness. While this season may not have the dramatic unpredictability of the first seven races of last year, it appears we might have four strong teams at the front, hopefully competing with each other for wins for the entirety of the championship. A small upside to the fixed nature of the regulations!
8. 

   dragoll (@dragoll)
   11th May 2013, 2:37

   Interesting, Lotus and Ferrari, seem to have the quicker times over that longer stint. RBRs seem off the pace, but I have a feeling they have a bit more speed to eek out before Qualy, so they might surprise all and walk away with it.
   1. 

      Kingshark (@kingshark)
      11th May 2013, 8:03

      @dragoll
      Red Bull might be a slightly faster car, but I doubt anyone is going to walk away with anything.
9. 

   crazy.mechanic (@akshay)
   11th May 2013, 8:20

   The Mercedes and Ferrari engines are clearly the fastest. Quite aptly stated by the article, for me the pecking order should be the same. With may be both the Mercedes pushing hard against their opponents. The McLaren is still in a pickle unless otherwise they come up with some miraculous performance in FP3!

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