Spanish GP: What upgrades to look out for on the cars in Barcelona, F1 News
Spanish GP: What upgrades to look out for on the cars in Barcelona
By Jonathan Green
Last Updated: 11/05/17 Ten:25am
Formula one comes back this weekend at the Spanish GP and the very first European race of the season is set to see the teams bring a host of updates to their cars.
While some teams, notably Ferrari, have already bolted on upgrades, it is in Barcelona where the development race truly kicks into gear.
“It’s the very first time the cars have been back to the factory since the commence of the season. Some bits may need grafting on – it’s not a case of just taking something off a shelf and bolting it on. This will have been the very first real chance they’ve had to disrobe the car down,” former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley explains on this week’s F1 Report.
Here, Sky F1 examine a few things to look out for at the Circuit de Catalunya.
When’s the Spanish GP on Sky?
1pm commence time for Qualifying and the Race in Barcelona
The early signs from F1 two thousand seventeen are that the Silver Arrows’ dominance of the sport is over. While they may still lead the Constructors’ Championship and have shown – notably in Bahrain qualifying – they have greater ‘peak spectacle’, Mercedes show up to presently trail Ferrari on general race rhythm and tyre management.
Mercedes are set to bring a heavily-revised version of the W08 to Barcelona, and a major concentrate at Brackley has been reducing the car’s weight. Mercedes were coerced to switch their gearbox in pre-season and its stronger replacement has contributed to the W08 being in the region of 6kg over its desired weight which, in turn, is believed to be affecting its balance.
In his latest Sky F1 column, accomplished analyst Mark Hughes said: “A reconfigured version of the original lighter gearbox is set to be part of the Barcelona upgrade, along with suspension switches front and rear and a general weight-saving programme that should permit the team to revert to being able to use ballast to vary the weight distribution from track to track.”
Ferrari stole an early march in the development race by introducing four fresh front wings and a fresh floor concept in Bahrain, which culminated in Sebastian Vettel claiming his 2nd win of 2017. Their Barcelona package is again expected to concentrate on aerodynamics. A revised power unit is unlikely with both Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen on their third turbocharger of the season, with only four permitted before incurring a grid penalty.
With Ferrari set to bring the fewest updates of the front three teams, the general feeling is one of ‘if it’s ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, given how they also struck in Barcelona during pre-season testing.
But the pressure is on the Scuderia to supply successful updates this season, having been overtaken in the two thousand sixteen development race by Crimson Bull when they arguably had a car to challenge Mercedes at the begin of the year.
Crimson Bull introduce the RB14?
The most intriguing storyline ahead of the Spanish GP is what Crimson Bull bring to the Circuit de Catalunya. The four-time world champions were predicted to be Mercedes’ closest challengers in two thousand seventeen with the greater concentrate on aerodynamics but have disappointed so far. The RB13 has been, on average, 1.Three seconds off pole position in qualifying at the opening four grans prixs and the team have suffered three DNFs. Team boss Christian Horner told Sky F1 in Russia that design guru Adrian Newey had been working “night and day” on the team’s Barcelona upgrade. “I hear it could be such a dramatically different car that it might even be called the RB14 instead of a RB13B,” Sky F1’s Priestley said.