2008 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix , Gran Premio de España

[iceman1]

McLaren's fortune will depend entirely on how good their updates are because they seem to be a step behind Ferrari and about equal with BMW

[raikkonen4ever]

McLaren's fortune will depend entirely on how good their updates are because they seem to be a step behind Ferrari and about equal with BMW

yeah, totally agree with you

[silvermachine]

I think that Renault has improved alot since the Bahrain GP.
I am expecting a complete dominance from Ferrari until Massa makes any childish mistake.

[AzShadow]

Guys, remember that the racing doesn't start until at qualifying. So you can't make that wide judgements based on Free Practices. BMW is always sandbagging on Fridays especially and McLaren didn't do any proper qualifying runs. As for the afternoon, the times were 1.5 seconds slower so no matter what Renault did, it didn't look anything spectacular to me.

[phil1993]

The order of running will probably be Ferrari followed by BMW/McLaren, but as everyone said todays times were inconclusive

[Soyyo]

Looks like Renault are going to be the surprise package ! Are we going to have another three way countdown to title ??? Alonso Vs Kimi Vs Hamilton >> What if we have Nick or Kubica also fighting ??? If Renault have really improved then its all going to go down the wire ... What an exciting season it would be !!

Like I said, I have big doubt that Renaults drived with extremely low fuel and soft tyre! Nobody can catch that 0.5 to 1.5 secs in three weeks! Not these times as all other teams are also improving. They don't have even a little change to fight for the WDC this year, and you know that too.

In relation with Renault I agree with you.
These Friday's times are less significative taking in account the testing done last week, that's way the teams weren't doing the normal testing they do on Fridays.
I expect to see Ferrari, McLaren and BMW on top with Ferrari the fastest.
Then Williams, Red Bull, Honda, Toyota, Renault and Force India; all of them with the potential of having at least one car in the first 10. This group of teams will show improvement with Force India with a relative bigger improvement but not enough to surpass the other ones and Renault with the less relative improvement.
From the Friday's last FP you could say about Renault: "Show me what you exceed and I will tell you what you lack".

[jamps]

Well, Alonso himself said that he doesn't see Renault on the podium, and he's usually right. Otherwise he would be "hoping" for a podium finish.

In all cases, I think it would be great if renault got their act together, especially now that BMW might also be up there with the 2 top teams.
Who knows, maybe like BMW they suddenly discovered the reason for their slow car!!

[usamaf1]

Hello everyone
this is my 1st post in the awesome forum
I'm a friend to khoder since fw days osweat:
............................................................
about this weekend, i think kimi will focus on the poll position and try to win the race and i agree with the guys who said tht the orders will be between bmw/mclaren teams behind ferrari

[iceman1]

welcome Usamaz
Fernando's given up already:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66864

[Fergie1]

I seriously do hope we get some pile ups in the race (with no-one hurt of course) or this is going to be a 66 lap formation lap.

[swca92]

Renault's improved practice form looks like low fuel.They will probably make the top 10 and maybe a point or 2,but thats it.Force India got in the top 10 today,and they won't be there tomorrow.Gotta agree with the general consensus on this forum about Mclaren and BMW being behind Ferrari.Qualifying usually better than the race at Catalunya so it better be good

[kimifantuga]

running in spain Renault decided to put both drivers in front ... all a question of marketing for tomorrow Spanish companies that sponsor can appear in newspapers.
Renault before the run with little gasoline and the soft tires were on 14 and 15 ...

[iceman1]

This year BMW have tended to have a quiet Friday before letting rip on Saturday. Robert Kubica was fourth fastest in the first session, 0.9s off the Ferraris.

Speed channel reported that Fisichella and a number of other drivers were playing some serious poker in their time off

[Zack]

speed channel reported that Fisichella and a number of other drivers were playing some serious poker in their time off

but still has great


My QLF Prediction
Ferrari - Mcl/BMW - Williams/Toyota - RedBull/Honda/Renault - STR/FI - AS/SA

[Sanredrose]

Guys, remember that the racing doesn't start until at qualifying. So you can't make that wide judgements based on Free Practices. BMW is always sandbagging on Fridays especially and McLaren didn't do any proper qualifying runs. As for the afternoon, the times were 1.5 seconds slower so no matter what Renault did, it didn't look anything spectacular to me.

I too have the same view. BMW esp is sandbagging a lot. I think they just tune their car to test some component while making the others work at a average performance level. Mclaren though not really sandbagging, i think its their reliability fever catching up very fast. They always have been very unreliable in the past with respect to the engine & associated electronics. They might be slower than Ferrari at this point, but i hope that they would improve as the season goes .. They are pretty much in a good position to take the second row on the grid or probably split to ferraris on the front row, but i doubt whether they have the machine to take pole position.