May 31, 2023
For the second part of our double header, F1 is traveling to the land of Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, and Pedro Gaseoso for the Spanish Grand Prix. This track makes for some beautiful motor racing and will give us some much needed info on the state of the championship. Here is everything you need to know for the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 06/02, 7:30-8:30 AM
Practice 2: Friday 06/02, 11:00-12:00
Practice 3: Saturday 06/03, 6:30-7:30 AM
Qualifying: Saturday 06/03, 10:00-11:00 AM
Race: Sunday 06/04, 09:00 AM
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Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya |
On Sunday, the iconic Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will see drivers race 66 laps around its 14 corners. Changes have been made to revert the track back to its 2006 layout, replacing the chicane just before the final corner with the faster, right-handed Turn 13. Friday’s practice sessions will be crucial for teams to find a set-up that suits the revamped Sector 3. With its high and low-speed corners, elevation changes, start-stop straight, and a change in direction between Turn 1 and Turn 2, Barcelona’s track provides the opportunity for teams to test almost every aspect of their car’s performance. With Imola having been canceled and the nature of Monaco, this weekend will be the first time teams can properly test their upgrades. Teams won’t even have to worry about the rookie learning curve because most drivers have driven this track numerous times in the junior categories.
Red Bull is expected to bring upgrades to Barcelona for testing, which is kind of concerning because I don’t think they actually need to get any faster. Sergio Perez, however, will probably be ecstatic about the upgrades because he needs a major comeback after Monaco. Last weekend, the Mexican finished in P16 after a disastrous Qualifying crash in Q1 set him at the back of the grid. With teammate Max Verstappen taking home the win, Perez is now 39 points behind in the championship (he’s actually closer in points to Fernando Alonso in third, than he is to his teammate in first). If Perez wants to revive his hopes of a maiden Formula 1 World Championship, he needs to get a podium this weekend.
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Fernando Alonso celebrating his win at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix |
Fernando Alonso will be enjoying the weekend as he experiences his home grand prix yet again. This man is basically considered God in Spain, and with the potential of the Aston Martin, the home crowd will be keen to see Fernando Alonso win the Spanish Grand Prix. I, too, am keen to see Fernando Alonso win. The last time the Spaniard won an F1 race was at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, so it would be amazing to see him win the same race 10 years later. Aston Martin is doing really well in second place in the Constructors Championship. The only drawback is that they are just one point clear of Mercedes in third place, which is most likely due to Lance Stroll’s inconsistent results.
As I said earlier, the Barcelona track is perfect for testing upgrades. In fact, it is so perfect that until this year, the track used to be used as a regular pre-season testing location. Mercedes had planned to debut and test its highly anticipated upgrades in Imola, but after the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to floods, they debuted the upgrades in Monaco. The upgrades did not seem to have much of an effect on the W14, but we can’t take Monaco as a representation of Mercedes' pace. The narrow and fast nature of the Monaco street track make it a horrible place for testing because teams cannot extract accurate data, so the real impact of these upgrades will be seen this weekend. All eyes will be on Mercedes during Friday Practice as they gather some much needed data.
Ferrari, among many other teams, will also be bringing upgrades to Spain. The Italian team have had a rough few races where they had Quali pace but not race pace. In what will be their second home race in a row – Monaco was Charles Leclerc’s home race and Barcelona will be Carlos Sainz’s home race – the team will be looking to see progress in their performance.
Next up: Alpine. After everyone, including CEO Laurent Rossi, doubted them, Alpine has had an amazing comeback in the past two races. When their pace in the first few races of the season was not up to what they predicted, Rossi threatened to decrease funding if the team didn’t provide better results. In response, Alpine had a double points finish in Miami and a podium in Monaco. The slew of upgrades they brought to the Principality seem to have worked and the team is now comfortably fifth in the Constructors Championship. Let’s see if Alpine can stay on this upward trajectory.
Just behind Alpine, is McLaren in sixth place. My favorite papaya team has also been seeing progress (very slow and minimal progress, but progress nonetheless). The team finally had a double points finish in Monaco after both drivers overtook Yuki Tsunoda in the final stages of the race. Lando Norris has scored points on his past visits to Barcelona and rookie Oscar Piastri won his F3 sprint race here a few years ago. Hopefully these experiences translate and the McLaren duo can make me happy again this weekend.
Friday practice is getting a lot of emphasis because teams will be testing their upgrades and looking for the perfect set up on the changed track. However, it will be 10x harder as teams test a tire compound for Pirelli. Expected to debut at the British Grand Prix in July, Pirelli has designed new slick tires and they need F1 cars to run them to collect data. Teams will have to find a way to manage testing the Pirellis, running upgrades, and finding that sweet spot in their set-up all in the three, hour-long Free-Practice sessions.
I think the Spanish Grand Prix is guaranteed to be interesting because of all the data we’re going to get. And after five street-style races, the traditional racetrack of Barcelona is a welcome breath of fresh air. I honestly don’t even expect anything else from this race. An Alonso win with another McLaren double points finish would just be icing on the cake.
I will be back after the race to tell you guys what went on in the Grand Prix.
Happy Race weekend!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/formula1/articles/spanish-grand-prix-2023-preview
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2023/spanish-grand-prix/guide-to-spain/
https://scuderia.alphatauri.com/en/2023-spanish-grand-prixview/
https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/4eb97229-4f4d-444e-b499-fb4a7a1efe9c/alex-and-logan-preview-spain