spanish grand prix

It was the Spanish Grand Prix this last weekend.

It’s not traditionally a very good race - the circuit isn’t very good for overtaking, but also it’s where they do all the testing so they know it inside out.  The race this weekend was okay - I’ve seen worse, but then I’ve also seen better.

One of the most bizarre things was that the two Mercedes qualified on the front row, but then during the race it was like they’d put the cars in reverse.  They just lost place after place, lap after lap.

Lewis started 2nd and ended up 12th.  It’s bizarre - how does that happen that you can pound in a lap that’s way faster than everybody else on Saturday and then the next day it’s like you have the handbrake on?

There were quite a lot of comments about the tyres.  I’m not sure what I think about this - Pirelli coming in certainly made the racing more interesting, but it’s not good when they’re all making 3 or 4 pit stops per race. It’s confusing and too much, really.  I'm also left wondering how many pit stops there will be in Canada where the surface is such that it usually eats tyres.

Anyway, Alonso’s performance was excellent - he had a really great early race, overtaking everybody left and right (you could actually hear the spectators cheering), but after that early phase the race was quite quiet.

If Ferrari can avoid more races lost through unreliability then it could be an interesting championship - the Lotus's are very reliable and consistent and the Red Bulls are there or thereabouts.