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Saturday, May 11, 2019
Ambient 20° Track 30° Humidity 60%
Wind 3.0 m/s
Prelude
In stark contrast to the previous day,
leaden grey skies hung over the paddock as the preparations for
qualifying were underway and the riot of activity began to slowly
ratchet up, the screams of airguns punctuating live commentary as
increasingly harried team personnel rushed about fulfilling their
last minute tasks....
Barcelona traditionally kicks off the
first major salvo in the development wars and FP2 seemed to show that
Ferrari had made progress on a track within a few tenths of the
superb Bottas, who looked implacable relative to his teammate, even
though the difference between them was mere hundredths. But oh what a
difference a day makes, as unlike the relatively robust track
temperature in the low 40's, FP3 saw falling temperatures in the 20s
and suddenly Ferrari was more than half a second off, whilst Bottas
beached his car on the first outlap, handing the advantage squarely
to his teammate, who ended the session half a second faster than
anyone else.
But it was HAAS and in particular
Grosjean who ruled the session, their new update slaying the
opposition and both HAAS drivers finished ahead of Red Bull, with
Romain a mere 0.02 seconds slower then Vettel's Ferrari. Alexander
Albon, too, put in a massive effort, and a Toro Rosso in Q3 looked
all but certain as the clock ticked down to the start of the session.
The cooler temps also made the handling
of the cars much trickier, as with the rear tyres not being heated to
the same temps as the fronts (20C less for those that care) the
outlaps became a source of extreme pain for several drives, including
not only the aforementioned Bottas, but Vettel as well, who had a
lovely spin on used tyres in the last chicane and eventually George
Russell, whose backward trip into the wall ended the session early
and added an extra bit of uncertainty to the final moments before
qualifying (along with a gearbox penalty for him), with temperatures
climbing slowly and the clouds parted to reveal cerulean skies....
Summary
Green Light!! Kubica was first out, and
he was the only runner as the first minutes ticked off the clock...As
he rolled onto his first hot lap, the rest of the field was just
climbing into their cockpits, Stroll being next onto track, both on
the Soft tyre.
Ferrari took to the track next, Leclerc
trailing Vettel as Kubica rocked up a fairly slow, even by William's
standards, 1:21.86. Stroll was next up, a 1:19.113 for him, not fast
but in the neighborhood at least....During that interlude, both
Renaults were out along with the Alfa and it was Hulkenberg who drew
unwanted attention as he went off in T4, hitting the wall and
dislodging his front wing. This brought out the yellows as he was
able to get it going again and dragged his wounded bodywork around
the track, broken front wing trapped under his tire.
Temps had skyrocketed with the coming
of the sun, and it was Vettel with 1:18.068 and then his teammate to
the top, into the 17's with a 1:17.835. 10 minutes left and the
Mercedes were on their outlaps, Bottas having the choice this weekend
of order. Verstappen clocked in a 1:17.244 and then it was Bottas, to
the tap and 0.069 faster than the Red Bull. Hamilton slotted P3 and
that left just the HAAS drivers to set a time. Albon in the Toro
Rosso was the best of the rest, his impressive run in FP3 looking to
be confirmed.
AS the track cleared off went the HAAS
and Kmag was looking imperious early on, troubling Ferrari, and into
P6 he went, just 0.2 off the Ferrari of Vettel. Grosjean didn't have
as clean a lap, and it was P9 for him, and a bit of worry as the
field reset for the last Q1 runs. Hamilton complained of traffic, as
did Perez and probably most of the rest of the drivers...
4 minutes to go and Giovinazzi,
Raikkonen, Russell, Kubica and, of course, Hulkenberg were on the
outside looking in with Perez in the hotseat. AS the clock ticked
under 3 minutes, Hulkenberg was across the line after a good effort
by the mechanics, and into P15, but that was not going to be enough.
Ricciardo was out, then Kubica, Sainz,
Norris, Perez Albon, Russel, Kvyat, Grosjean Raikkonen and
Giovinazzi. Ricciardo improved but stayed P13, Raikkonen was up to
P11 and then Sainz flashed across the line, up to P7 and then Norris
was up to P6, putting Stroll out. Perez to P14 putting Hulkenberg out
and that was that, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Giovinazzi, Russel and Kubica
going no further, off to the tapas table to commiserate as the rest
turned it around for the second session...
At the sharp end, Bottas had improved
to a 1:16.979 and at Renault, despite Hulkenberg's mistake, a bare
P15 for Ricciardo had to be rated as shocking, given the large
investment Renault had made in climbing up the grid...
35°C and gusty winds as Q2 got
underway. Bottas led the way, followed by Hamilton and the Ferraris
answered the call immediately, Leclerc leading Vettel. Albon and then
Verstappen were next onto the circuit, with the clock down to 11:30
as the hot laps got underway. Bottas purpled S1 until Vettel took
that away, but S2 was where the Ferraris had been losing time and it
was purple S2 for Bottas till Hamilton took that away. Bottas replied
with a purple S3, but it wasn't enought for the loss in the middle,
as he went P2 as Lewis crushed it with a 1:16.038, lap record and P1
in hand. Vettel rocked up a 1:16.667 as Leclerc had a moment in T9
and wound up with 1:17.511 and way off.
The midfield were well into it by that
point, with 8 minutes left in the session and it was Grosjean going
P5, ahead of Leclerc, with a 1:17.29 whilst his teammate went P7,
which became P8 as the Red Bulls turned their times in, Verstappen P4
and Gasly P5, with Sainz and Ricciardo rounding out the top 10. On
the outside looking in were Albon, Perez, Norris, Kvyat, and
Raikkonen with 5 minutes left and last minute adjustments being made
for the final tilt at the glories of Q3.... The big strategic
question was whether Leclerc would burn another set of Soft tyres as
his P7 time was a bit dubious...
Norris led the way, then Raikkonen,
Magnussen and Albon. Sainz, Hamilton and Grosjean were next with
Ricciardo tagging along. The last group was Gasly and Kvyat with
Perez trailing far behind and then Leclerc, likely to judge whether
or not another hot lap would be needed.
Norris was first across the line,
improving and up to P7 as Raikkonen only went P12. Albon to P8 and
then Kmag smashed it up to P5 whilst Bottas was up to P1 with a
rather astonishing 1:15.924. Sainz couldn't improve then Grosjean
improved on Kmag's show, up to P5 till Gasly took the spot away.
Perez up to P15, hah, as Leclerc, in P12 and lap most definietly
needed, bagged P4. Ricciardo banged out a P10 and Leclerc's effort
took away a Q3 spot from Norris, dropping him to P11. Joining him,
was Albon (with a mistake), Sainz (mistake), Raikkonen, and
Perez..... off for some cava at the VIP tent to drown their sorrows
as the rest girded themselves for the crucible of Q3... Leclerc
looked to have lost some bodywork with his error, the kerbs rattling
loose some unidentified part of carbon fibre as he ran too wide on
exit...
Hamilton was first off the mark for Q3,
Kvyat then and Bottas behind. Vettel was next off as Hamilton got
ready to start his hotlap. Verstppen and Gasly, then Kmag, Ricciardo
and Grosjean were out then and looking to be in Hamilton's way on his
first run... Indeed, he overtook both Grosjean and Ricciardo, ending
with a 1:16.04. But Bottas was quicker, much quicker with a
1:15.406!!!! Just like whatever....Vettel went P3 followed by
Verstappen, Gasly Grosjean and Magnussen. Kvyat went P8 then
Ricciardo P9 as Leclerc sat out the first run being a set of tires
down. Both HAAS were into the 1:16's and 0.8s back to the Toro Rosso
of Kvyat meant they were running in a class of their own. To the pits
they retired, last minute tweaks and telemetry to be studied.
Leclerc hit the track with 4 minutes to
go, ensuring a clean run on an empty track. Bottas snuck out on his
outlap just as the Ferrari hammered down the straight, then one by
one all the runners appeared giving Leclerc some traffic to overcome.
And it was a 1:16 and P5 for him. Bottas, not improving, Hamilton,
not improving, Hamilton not improving. Leclerc, too, couldn't improve
his position at all and that was that for that. No one improved and
nothing changed. Sigh....
So it's off to tomorrow where the
biggest question will be whether or not HAAS can preserve their tyres
over a full race stint, what happens at the start, and just how far
off Ferrari will be.... too far, in any event for a decent race
without the stochastic interference of the race gods... The midfield
will throw up some interesting options, with different tyre
strategies to be fought on either side of P10. Minor carnage in the
midfield battles might swing the needle somewhat with a Safety Car to
liven things up but frankly that's clutching at straws on a circuit
where overtaking is difficult at best....
Discuss!!
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