Official Spanish F1 GP thread 2016

Barcelona.

Sort of hoping that Verstappen trips over his ego this weekend, but I realise that is a bit uncharitable.

At some point Hamilton has to have some decent luck and Rosberg a tough break. But not counting on either.

Bit of pressure on Vettel after a couple of incidents.

Not expecting a lot of overtaking...

Any weekend will do for that Jim!

Live autosport feed here - http://www.autosport.com/live/commentary/id/2069224/spanish-grand-prix-2016-friday-practice

Live on C4 too...

And here in the office on Sky Go

I would do that, but I think I'd be taking the piss slightly, then again, I'll be handing in my notice shortly

I think Max is top class but it would make me chuckle if Daniil finished ahead of him in the STR.

F1 in interesting qualifying shock!

Young Verstappen has put the cat amongst the pigeons there and I have a feeling we'll see if there's steel behind Ricciardo's grin; on this showing there is!

Ferrari must be pretty bemused after getting comprehensively out-qualified by the Red Bulls.

Feel happy for Hamilton - he hasn't done much wrong this season, but has had pretty average luck. He hasn't won the race, but at least he's in with a decent chance if his pace translates to tomorrow.

Yup - that made it up a bit. Well done to Ricciardo for hanging on at the end. Hamilton was awesome in showing that, so long as he car is working, he is faster than Rosberg.

Oh dear, Ferrari....

You could tell by Daniel's reaction that he was sweating about the possibility of young Max jumping in an unfamiliar car and immediately being quicker. Sounded like pure relief to me.

By contrast Carlos was significantly quicker than Daniil.

Now *that* was an interesting race... Full marks to young Max!

Fantastic result for that young man, he's won a F1 race younger than when I passed my driving test.

He's won an F1 race younger than *anyone*.

Great result for Max and Red Bull, I am sure Rosberg will be blaming Lulu for the off but if you watch the incident in slow on Rosbergs wheel angle is not pointed to the racing line but straight to the side of the track.

Great result - exciting finish - shame Ricciardo couldn't compete with Vettel at the end

Can't do much when you're missing a tyre.

No team orders at Mercedes followed by odd team orders at Red Bull.

Ricciardo was sacrificed today so that Red Bull could continue to hit the headlines, rather disgusting really. Everyone knows that passing on this circuit is near impossible. So Red Bull taking their leading racer and sticking him on a strategy that would at least mean he needed to pass two, if not three cars, was madness - a gift to their new steed. Bewildered why Ferrari followed suit too.

I personally have not been a fan of the huge push of young Verstappen. There has always been a route to F1 which involved putting young steeds through their paces in lower classes before bringing them to F1, the supposed pinnacle of motorsport. What next, a 14 year old? Sticking a kid in an F1 car has done nothing but demean the sport in my eyes. It makes it look like the cars are just too easy to drive, cars for the Playstation generation who just push buttons and press pedals.

I can see that my post seems uncharitable towards the young Dutchman. It isn't really meant to be. He clearly has heaps of talent but he should have been developed properly.

The win was popular with the crowd at Assen today!

yes! I can't understand why these idiot amateurs that are running F1 racing teams want to put him into an F1 car. He is clearly untalented and unlike most teenagers who are shy and retiring and know their place - he is full of confidence and thinks he is better than every one else This young whipper snapper should be sent off to join the army and fight in a war. Ridiculous that he should be allowed to compete in - never mind win a Formula 1 race.

I think you've answered it yourself. There was no way that Ferrari was going to compromise Vettel's race for some headlines for Verstappen so what makes you think Red Bull did (other than a prejudice against the young racer)?

Both teams split strategy not knowing if the medium would last the 32 laps required that ultimately turned out to be the winning strategy. Had Red Bull put both cars on the Verstappen strategy and it turned out that the tyres fell off a cliff at 28 laps, leading to a Vettel win, everybody would be criticising them for cocking it up. As it is, they beat Ferrari to the win on a day when Merc offered up two free podium spots.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong! For a variety of reasons, Max's fairy tale continues and it's impossible not to salute the boy.
I hope he is able to retain his exuberance but perhaps lose a little of the petulance he has sometimes shown.
Frustration for Ferrari, but I was chuffed for Sainz, who got a solid result at his home race, unlike Alonso.

After seeing the incident between Ham and Ros, my first thought was "the forums are going to explode from that". Not a bad race and well done to Max, seen this this morning and had to chuckle

I was on Viva Italia , my mate kept me posted on the race whit a live stream on his smart phone , it was great to see Max win , sadly the crash of Hammilton and Rosberg , but i think Hammilton wanted to push to hard to go in front.

I do,nt think that " the kids" they put in a F1 car is a good thing , even i am a big fan of Max , but training in simulators is the thing of the new generation and it seems to be working, i was at Spa last year at the F1 did,nt like the sound ,heard like an
very expensive expresso machine, also that seems to be the new thing we have to accept , saving fuel in a race i think its ridiculous , please give me back the terrifying screaming impressive cars , who will bite you in the ..... when you make a mistake

People are forgetting that Rosberg made a mistake by being in the wrong engine mode. If he hadn't made that mistake Hamilton would have not have caught him so quickly and therefore wouldn't have been in a position to even attempt a pass.

DELETED - I was straying too far off topic!

As opposed to being off track?

I think Max had a fantastic drive, at 18 is just mad, Only just old enough to drink the Champagne he was spraying around, He had 15 odd laps with a world champion on his backside, one mistake and he would have lost his spot, he didnt make one. Even short shifting the gears so he didnt wheel spin, clever stuff. re Nico & Lewis, if NR was in the wrong setting. How did he go round the outside of Lewis, even when he had a go start.
Re Mr Lauda, stating Lewis was too aggressive. I'm sure he used to say the same about his old Nemesis James Hunt...

Never.....

Maybe I'm in the minority but I still don't see how red bull and their teen driving campaign is good for the sport. For a sport to be the pinnacle it surely has to be tough to do, something that separates the men from the boys. When the boys can come along and win so quickly it seems that those drivers who have been saying this is all too simple may have a point.

You have a point Bob, but there is an argument that says that F1 changes as times change (apart from the people that run it). Today's aces require more than sharp racing skills and brute strength - they also need to have the mental agility to multi-task and manage the electronics and settings their cars require in order to extract the most from them. For the Red Bull generation, these tech-wizards are the idols they look up to.

I think in every walk of life and especially sport you get outrageously precocious talent from time to time, with skills and temperament beyond their years. In Max I think we're witnessing that, in that the previous youngest winner (Vettel) was nearly 2.5 years older and Vettel's age is more or less consistent with most of his peers. For Verstaapen to do this, now, doesn't mean driving has got easier but that they've unearthed a prodigious talent who should be celebrated.

If driving had got easier, everyone would simply have got faster. If the Play Station generation were better, all the youngsters would be better than the oldies. We are seeing one young guy performing amazingly well. A tick better than his young peers and knocking on the door of the experience talent. He did luck into the win this weekend because of the way the race panned out as did Raikonnen in beating Vettel, but in the same car, first time out, his pace was nearly that of Ricardo's who has been around at the top for some time now. Max is doing a great job of taking his opportunities as and when the arise.

I don't think I really like him, but the traits winners exhibit are often not so likeable for normal people. I didn't like Schumacher. I didn't like Vettel, and still don't come to think of it, but he is maturing and is much more thoughtful in what he says these days. I love Hammy's driving, like Senna before him, but I thought he was very immature for much too long, but even he is now much more level headed and diplomatic.

Only time will tell how good V, Max is. Up to now he has shown speed, racecraft and a level of focus that is very likely to take him to the top. I expect we will be seeing a lot more of this guy, maybe very soon if the next Renault upgrades are all they are cracked up to be.

We are witnessing a great talent in young Max,but with his upbringing and mentoring it's not that much of a surprise to me.
It's great to watch and a few old racers may be hanging up thier gloves sooner than later maybe.

Barcelona was an exceptional interesting race,but the vast majority of the F1 races are a snooze fest.

It's interesting to watch David coultard etc squirming in front of the camera trying to make the show interesting. Fail.

Jenson Button has driven cars from several technological eras and he says the current car is just too easy and actually a bit boring.

I agree with him - we need to see people having trouble coping with the physical demands of the car, not having trouble managing the tyres and the fuel. Remember Mansell struggling to stand after getting out of the car? Remember Senna not being able to even get out of the car? Nowadays, the biggest challenge for a driver after the race is making sure their hair looks OK.

F1 should be all about 90 - 120 minutes of driving as fast as the car will go - ragged-edge stuff.

Drivers like Max are getting out of the car looking as fresh as a daisy. Don't get me wrong - his achievement n Sunday was amazing and has injected a bit of variety into an otherwise predictable season.

^^^ Agreed Nigel.

The power increase to 1000hp next year should be an improvement but won't really change anything without and aero reduction and maybe fatter tyres.
That would test all the drivers a bit more.

Interesting thoughts.
1000hp - now that should be seriously interesting!!!!????

I'm guessing he wouldn't be saying those things if, like Mercedes, they were dominating the championship?