FORMULA 1 - 2015

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DE LA ROSA SAYS MODERN F1 IS TOO EASY

Former long-time test driver and Formula 1 veteran Pedro de la Rosa has identified what he thinks is the problem with modern formula one.

“Run by engineers, F1 has made such complex regulations that the public neither understands nor appreciates,” he told the Spanish newspaper Diario Sport.

“They see cars that are slower in the corners and drivers who move the switches when their engineers tell them,” de la Rosa added. “The case of Max Verstappen has shown that, while his talent is great, the jump from F3 to F1 is no longer so big.”

“To see him and even (Carlos) Sainz adapt so quickly is not good because it means that F1 is too close to the lower categories and that the performance gap that used to make it so special is no longer there.”

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NO SHORT NOSE SOLUTION FOR FERRARI

Ferrari has opted against joining the current Formula 1 trend of adopting a short nose solution for their car.

Mercedes and Williams have designed their 2015 aerodynamic concepts around an ultra-short nose, and now Red Bull is hoping to make up ground from Barcelonan onwards with perhaps the most radical solution to date.

Ferrari’s SF15-T, however, has a notably long front section, and according to Italy’s Autosprint, a major aerodynamic upgrade for Barcelona does not include a nose-job.

“We will not see a shortened nose,” reported correspondent Roberto Chinchero, “despite the evaluations done by all the teams in the championship.”

He explained that both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have independently given “positive feedback” about the long-nose solution, causing engineers and designers at Maranello to “leave things as they are”.

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NEW MANOR CAR NOT DUE UNTIL BELGIUM

Another half a dozen grand prix races may pass before Manor is ready to debut a 2015 Formula 1 car.

So far in 2015, the former Marussia team has fought back from near collapse and administration with a hurriedly-modified version of last year’s car.

It is fitted with last year’s Ferrari engine, which is significantly down on power compared to the impressive 2015 unit running in the back of the works car and Sauber.

But simply turning up in 2015 so far has qualified Manor for its $50 million in official prize money from last year.

And in addition to that, “an initial investment by (new owner Stephen) Fitzpatrick has allowed Manor to move into a new headquarters in recent days, next to the Silverstone circuit,” revealed Globo correspondent Livio Oricchio.

It had been said that an all-new Manor car would be ready for the Austrian grand prix in June.

But Oricchio now reports: “It is expected that the new car, equipped with a 2015 Ferrari power unit, will debut in Belgium” in August.

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Kimi: Nice friendly fight with Vettel

Although pushing to beat each other out on track, Kimi Raikkonen says he's having a "nice friendly fight" with new team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

To date Vettel has got the better of the Finn, beating him in three of this year's four grands prix including one race, Malaysia, where the German finished ahead of the entire field.

Raikkonen pulled one back last time out in Bahrain when he finished P2, his first podium of this season, while Vettel was fifth.

It has been a marked improvement for Ferrari, who last year managed just two podiums the entire campaign.

And part of that, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has stated, is because of the relationship between the new driver pairing.

Sharing his thoughts on his relationship with his team-mate, Raikkonen told CNN's The Circuit: "The feeling inside the team is just great. We are trying to get Ferrari in a winning position every weekend.

"We know each other. He's a very normal guy and he's easy to work with.

"There's no politics, if there's something wrong we can say to each other and work it out."

He added: "We are trying to beat each other.

"But it's a nice friendly fight and it's great for the team. The whole atmosphere inside the team is great."

As for his future and whether or not he'll be a Ferrari driver in 2016, Raikkonen says "yes, of course" he wants to stay on.

He added: "They know very well what I would like to do, and we have a very good understanding but until there is something 100% you don't know.

"We all know what we want to achieve this year and in the future."

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Felipe Massa targets 'strong result'

Williams will head to Spain with a "few upgrades" that Felipe Massa are hoping will ensure Williams closes the gap to those ahead.

Although Williams were the second best team out on track in the latter stages of last year's Championship, they have fallen behind Ferrari this season.

The Scuderia have been the ones to take the fight to Mercedes with one Ferrari joining the Brackley team-mates on the podium in each of the opening four races.

Massa, though, is hoping Williams can pull one back this weekend at Barcelona.

"We've completed two weeks of testing in Barcelona over the winter so we know how our car can perform around the circuit and are probably more prepared for this race than any other race on the calendar," said the Brazilian.

"We have shown in the first few races that we have a good car and a few upgrades will be appearing in Spain that we need to make the most of if we are going to close the gap to the cars in front.

"It's good to be back in Europe and I hope we can start this part of the season with a strong result."

Meanwhile, Rob Smedley, the team's head of vehicle performance, will be a good measure on how much progress Williams have made since pre-season testing.

"We're heading into the European season after a reasonably successful campaign that has put us a solid third position in the championship. Our aim now is to keep moving forward and close the gap to the teams in front.

"Barcelona is a good measure of everyone's upgrade packages and shows how well teams have developed their cars. The circuit is an excellent test of a Formula One car with Turn 3 offering a long, high speed test and sector three always being demanding on the car as it exposes its performance levels.

"We are heading into the weekend with a lot of confidence but there will be a lot of work to do leading up to qualifying as we learn about the new updated package."

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Webber believes Schumacher crash, first child slowed Vettel in 2014

Mark Webber says Ferrari's return to competitive form is a good boost for Formula 1 – although he still contends that the sport isn't where it should be in terms of interest.

“It's better than last year, but it's all relative,” said the Aussie. “Obviously last year it was just two drivers fighting for victory, and when they slipped up Daniel did a phenomenal job and made sure he was there to capitalize. Now Kimi and Seb have put some heat on Mercedes, obviously Seb a lot in Malaysia, and Kimi pushed them over the line in Bahrain.

“I think in general the sport likes to have Ferrari back at the front, that's a slightly added bonus, and it's good to have a different winner with Seb, and it wasn't a fluke either. I was expecting a bit more from Williams, but it looks like it's quite hard for them to get a handle on the tires.”

Webber made some interesting observations about Vettel's return to winning ways after his difficult 2014 season with Red Bull.

“We'll only find out further down the line, he'll probably open up a little bit about that year and what was going on. From the outside looking at it I think Michael [schumacher's] accident really knocked him round, that really hit him, as he's very close with Michael. And he had a child, and all of a sudden maybe lap times were not No. 1 for the first few months of the year, and then it started to snowball.

“I think the Ferrari thing happened pretty early, and Red Bull were not in a race-winning situation – they couldn't win off their own bat, although Daniel and the team did win when they had the opportunity. So all these things together, when you've got the trophy cabinet he had... We'd say in Australia you'd lose a bit of that mongrel! When you mentally check out, when you're leading a team, it's over.”

Webber says Vettel's new role as an underdog taking on Mercedes reflects the twists and turns of sport: “He will have learned a lot.

That incredible success he had early in his career, the way he went about some of that winning, that maybe wasn't everybody's cup of tea. But then it comes back the other way. All of a sudden it's 'We want someone else winning now,' and it just so happens to be the guy who was doing the winning not so long ago. That's top-line sport, how things change.”

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Rosberg "fired up" for start of the European F1 season

Nico Rosberg says he is feeling "fired up" after enduring a difficult start to the Formula 1 season against Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Though he's been on the podium in each of the first four grands prix, Rosberg has yet to beat Hamilton in any qualifying session or race so far in 2015, and already trails the Brit by 27 points in the drivers' standings.

But having enjoyed his most promising race of the campaign yet in Bahrain, Rosberg says he's feeling motivated ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix after a three-week lay-off since the last race.

"The race in Bahrain was definitely the most enjoyable of the season for me so far," said the 29-year-old.

"It was a really good fight out there and it gave me the chance to show what I can do in a close battle. Although we had a problem at the end, the car felt fantastic and I could really push hard to get my positions back.

"I'm feeling really fired up for the next races knowing I have all the tools available to me for a strong performance. It's felt like a long break and I can't wait to get back out there in Barcelona."

Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff added that he's expecting the battle between Hamilton and Rosberg in Barcelona to be closely fought, despite the momentum carried by the reigning champion.

"Lewis is in the zone right now," he said, "probably driving as well as he has ever done, and Nico showed his teeth in Bahrain with some forceful overtaking and a strong, aggressive race."

"We're expecting more of the same in Spain. "

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SOME KEY DEVELOPMENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR AT SPANISH GRAND PRIX

The Spanish Grand Prix, as the first European round of the world championship, is always a time of significant developments up and down the field, which can change the pecking order in places. So what can we expect this weekend, as the teams bring their first significant upgrades of the season to Barcelona?

All F1 teams have aerodynamic departments which will be looking to add 1 “point” of downforce to the car each week in the wind tunnel and using computer CFD simulations. The rough rule of thumb is that three points of downforce is worth around 1/10th of a second in lap time.

So in three weeks of development you should gain 1/10th of a second, if everything is going well. This is why, if you take a wrong development path and lose time, you lose ground to the opposition. This is where the technical leaders, like Mercedes’ Paddy Lowe and Ferrari’s James Allison really earn their money, as they have to bet on the areas they believe will give the best results and deploy their resources and time on those. It’s what Ross Brawn was always brilliant at.

It’s a gamble you can’t afford to get wrong too often in a competitive F1 situation. But the other thing to bear in mind is that the strike rate for good ideas that get taken to the production stage, is about 20%, in other words about 80% of research and development ideas don’t get onto the car.

It has been around 8 weeks since the start of season, so teams will be looking at just under 3/10ths of aerodynamic gain from their Barcelona updates, if the majority of the effort in the tunnel has gone into this upgrade. Some teams do it more piecemeal, with smaller upgrades on a more consistent basis.

There will also be some engine development steps in Spain, with manufacturers looking to introduce an update with a few of the famous “tokens” being used to improve some of the six components of the power units. This year there are only four Power Units per driver permitted so this is a good time to move to an upgraded engine. Renault will have an updated engine looking at fixing some of the reliability issues it experienced with Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Daniel Ricciardo is already poised to collect a penalty for using a fifth engine due to failures in the opening rounds.

There have been murmurings that Mercedes has used much of its development resource on reliability at the possible expense of performance over the winter, with Ferrari engined cars now topping the Speed Trap and Ferrari winning in Malaysia, where advice on cooling may have been quite conservative. Perhaps Mercedes has been a little conservative overall, given that the only reason the works team failed to win every race last season was reliability and also the reduction to four PUs per driver this year.

So it will be interesting to see whether they let the brake off a little there now, to chase performance again to stay ahead of Ferrari.

One thing we have already seen, which is affecting race strategy and outcomes, is that whereas Mercedes engined teams are obliged to spend parts of the race in a more ‘conservative’ race mode, the Ferraris can run at a single more aggressive mode for the whole race. This is something Mercedes will have been addressing behind the scenes since the early races.

Ferrari had more tokens to use during the season than Mercedes, but not as many as Renault. Honda was awarded an average of the others’ allocation and has the most ground to make up.

At the start of the season Renault had available 12 of the maximum 32 development tokens to use, Ferrari 10, Honda 9 and Mercedes 7. It is not known how many tokens Renault and Honda have used so far in the various new power units they have brought for their drivers in the first four races, but it is known that Ferrari and Sauber its customer were still on their first engine as of Bahrain Grand Prix as were the four Mercedes-powered teams. So one would expect a development step soon on Power Unit two for them, for Spain or Monaco.

Key areas of concern – Brakes

It is very apparent that the brakes are close to the limit of capability now and this has been an area of concern for several teams already this season, therefore much effort will have gone into improved cooling and aerodynamic solutions around the brakes. Why is this happening? It’s quite simple; the cars are heavier and they are travelling much more quickly on the straights than in recent years.

With the 13″ rims and brake disc thickness controlled by regulation, we are close to the limit now and with forthcoming races like Monaco and especially Canada in mind, teams will have been working on upgrades. Mercedes have had some concerns in the opening races and several teams have had quite serious problems with brakes, including Red Bull, which is unusual for them as it’s not been an area of concern in the past.

Key area of need – rear wing

Since Peter Prodromou and his team at the time at Red Bull mastered the multi element cascade front wing, the efficiency of the front of the cars has been very high, but there is still more to come and we will see development here, especially as this is only year two of the narrower front wing regulation.

However everyone is struggling to get a similar result at the back of the car, since the banning of the blown diffuser and the removal of the lower beam wing. Also the reduction in size of the main element of the rear wing exacerbated the problem. Working this lower beam and floor area in particular was Red Bull’s ace trick between 2010 and 2013 and when the rules change in 2014 it was a huge blow that they haven’t recovered from. Add in the woes of engine partner Renault and that’s a big part of why they are where they are now.

2013 rear wing assembly, note lower beam

Mercedes did well last year on rear end downforce, but even they need more.

One of the restrictions is that weight distribution front to rear is now fixed by regulation; teams would dearly love to have a more forward distribution to better exploit the efficiency of the front wings around now. But the FIA technical regulations say that “The weight applied on the front and rear wheels must not be less than 319kg and 376kg respectively, so a bias towards the rear.

Ferrari has added a lot of downforce compared to last season, but could certainly do with more. They still have a margin back from the Mercedes in single lap qualifying pace, which is the key battleground, as their race pace is good and they are able to look after the rear tyres better than Mercedes in some situations.

Williams also needs more downforce, particularly at the rear and much effort will have gone in there to make up the disappointingly large gap that they find themselves behind Ferrari. But they have a comfortable margin over their pursuers, Red Bull and Lotus, so they will be in a race of their own for the time being, it seems.

Force India has made an expensive step up to the Toyota wind tunnel and should start to see the fruits of that in a B spec car which is due in Austria. Force India tends to have lopsided seasons; either strong at the start and less so at the end, or the other way around.

Sauber took some useful early points from a fast, reliable car with an improved Ferrari engine but is likely to slip back behind Toro Rosso and McLaren Honda in the development race over the coming months, providing those two teams also get the promised gains from their engine supplier.

[Bartolomeo]

Looking forward to this weekend

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WHY AYRTON SENNA STILL MATTERS

Last week was the 21st anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix, an event which continues to resonate among motorsport fans globally, perhaps more than any other ‘memorial’ date.

Today the web is full of tributes and reminiscences, just as it was a year ago for the 20th anniversary. Why is that? Why does Senna still matter so much?

Clearly part of the reason why Senna is so front of mind today is down to the award winning movie “Senna”(2010) by Manish Pandey and Asif Kapadia, which did more than any other F1-related product in recent times to remind everyone of how the sport at its best is about personality, adversarial conflict, passion and the visceral thrill of a life lived on the limit.

Many of the complaints voiced regularly on various Formula 1 forums and news websites, point to current F1 lacking some of those key qualities; drivers ‘managing’ the tyres, engines turned down because there only four power units to last as season, overly complicated rules, too many penalties from stewards, lack of screaming engine noise, lack of danger and thrill.

The Jules Bianchi accident last Autumn reminded us all that F1 is still dangerous and for many in the F1 paddock and media centre, who haven’t known tragedy in motorsport before, it came as a great shock.

Even for these of us who were familiar with death and injury at the race track, Senna’s death in 1994 was a huge shock, as he was the greatest driver of his generation and probably ever; it followed the death of Roland Ratzenberger the day before and it changed a lot of things in F1. Safety was clearly one of them, with new measures brought in to make the cars safer and Robert Kubica’s accident in Montreal 2007 was one example of proof that these measures were working.

It was the best of times and it was the worst of times; ironically Senna’s death also made F1 more popular around the world than it had been before. There was growth in the TV audience during the Senna/Prost duel of 1988-91 and then significant further growth after the great man’s death. F1 rode that wave for many years and embedded itself in the consciousness of many millions around the world. The commercial success of the sport grew as a consequence, the sponsors came in and the income grew exponentially.

Perhaps today, as the sport does some soul searching about how to re-imagine the product and the show for 2017 onwards, some of the lessons of why F1 worked so well in the Senna era have been forgotten and instead the current product leaves many of those who bought in during the Senna years rather cold.

We think the racing is good at the moment; we rate highly the top drivers of this generation, all of whom would have matched up well against Senna and Prost or Schumacher, who followed them. We like the strategic element of the racing, which elevates it to an extra dimension, but we can appreciate too the frustrations of the drivers and fans, who want more.

Senna matters because he is the connection to the visceral side of racing, the side that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. F1 should look difficult and dangerous, because it is difficult and dangerous.

Senna was the personification of the racing driver as hero and gladiator; he had a huge personality and charisma. He was the best; everyone else had to try to beat him and he was ruthless in the way he dealt with them.

That is the bedrock of what F1 should be about. The rule makers and the teams need to start from that point as they re-imagine F1 for the future and build it out from there with cars that look amazing and are impossible – for all but a gifted few – to drive.

The spirit of Senna is the bedrock of F1′s global success today but also points to the pathway for the future greatness of F1.

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Pastor Maldonado has to earn his Formula 1 drive on merit

Pastor Maldonado has been warned by Lotus that his Formula 1 seat is not guaranteed despite the considerable financial support he receives from PDVSA.

Venezuela's state-owned oil and gas company has backed Maldonado throughout his career, following the 30-year-old from Williams to Lotus after he left the former team at the end of 2013.

Maldonado has since scored just two points - from a ninth-placed finish in last season's United States Grand Prix - from 23 races to date with Lotus.

Despite that lack of results, Maldonado's position in the team is regarded by many as untouchable given the estimated $27million PDVSA provides in sponsorship to Lotus.

CEO Matthew Carter insists that is far from the case, despite AUTOSPORT revealing this week the team's forthcoming accounts show its deficit had been slashed from £64million in 2013 to just under £6million in '14.

"PDVSA are probably one of the biggest sponsors within F1," said Carter told AUTOSPORT.

"They are a good sponsor, and while our latest figures stack up, they stack up contingent on PDVSA being involved within the team.

"At the moment they are part and parcel of what makes up our budget, so we're not looking to change.

"But then no driver is in a position where they cannot be dropped.

"They're only as good as their previous performances, and ultimately Pastor proves himself on the track."

Carter maintains the team has every confidence in Maldonado, believing him to be unlucky this year and affected by Lotus's generally wretched poor in 2014.

Ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, the scene of Maldonado's only triumph in 2012, Carter added: "He gets a lot of bad press, but he is a good driver.

"He's also a quick driver, we know that, we know what he does in the simulator and what he does off the track.

"He didn't have a good car last year - neither him nor Romain [Grosjean] had a good car - and both of them were probably guilty of trying to overdrive it because of the problems they had with it.

"This year they do have a good car. With Pastor, his qualifying hasn't been great and he would be the first to admit to that.

"In the first race [in Australia] he had a fantastic start, but was shunted off the track, similarly in the second [in Malaysia].

"In China, in the first half of the race he drove really well, but had a slight issue with his brakes coming into the pit, and then it was playing catch up from there on.

"Overall we believe we've given him the right tools this year to prove himself, and he's the rest of the season to do that."

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Button ‘raring’ to go after missing Bahrain

Jenson Button says he is ‘raring to get back out there’ during this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix after the McLaren-Honda driver was sidelined by a series of ERS glitches on his MP4-30 at Sakhir.

This means the 2009 world champion has not competed since last month’s Chinese Grand Prix. At Shanghai, Button finished a low-key 13th on the road, but was dropped to 14th following a post-race penalty for causing a collision with Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado.

McLaren-Honda is yet to score a point in 2015, although team-mate Fernando Alonso came within 3.9s of clinching P10 in Bahrain three weeks ago, one day after securing Woking’s maiden Q2 spot in qualifying.

Speaking to the press after Malaysia, round two of this year’s championship, the Briton had declared he did not expect to fight for the top ten before Spain. Now, Button hopes the return to Europe will prove beneficial to McLaren and its Japanese engine supplier.

“Coming into Europe after four flyaways and a three-week break is always an exciting feeling,” said the 35-year-old.

“It’s like the second phase of the season is beginning and, especially after my difficult weekend in Bahrain, I’m raring to get back out there and see how our car fares around this track.

“We’ve made good strides over the past few races, and that effort has continued right through the break between Bahrain and Spain, so I’m excited to see where we are and work with my engineers to keep pushing the boundaries of our previous performances at every opportunity.”

Button has only won once at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, his sole victory coming during his 2009 title-winning campaign with Brawn GP.

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ALONSO IS KING IN SPAIN BUT WHO CAN DETHRONE HAMILTON?

While Lewis Hamilton chases his fourth victory in five races in Barcelona this weekend, much of the immediate attention at the Spanish Grand Prix will be on a home hero with no hope of winning.

Bookmakers were last week offering better odds, before the birth, on Britain’s latest royal baby being named Macbeth than on Fernando Alonso’s McLaren team winning at the Circuit de Catalunya.

They are now a more reasonable 250-1 on the Spaniard, winner in Barcelona with Ferrari in 2013 and Renault in 2006, and teammate Jenson Button although just getting into the points for the first time this year will be a big step up for the ex-champions.

Alonso, who will attend an FIA news conference on Thursday, will be very much in the spotlight however on his return to the circuit where he crashed heavily in pre-season testing.

That accident ruled him out of the opening race in Australia and triggered all kinds of conspiracy theories about his condition and what had ‘really’ caused the crash.

Neither McLaren nor Alonso made any mention of the incident in their pre-race preview, preferring to focus on improvements they expect to see in the first race of the European season.

“I’m incredibly happy to be heading back to Europe, to my home country and racing in front of the loyal Spanish fans,” said Alonso.

“We are seeing improvements race by race, and I want to ensure that we maintain this consistency throughout this weekend.

“Although we won’t be fighting for victory in Barcelona, I know I can count on the support of the fans to bring even more motivation during the whole weekend, which will be very special.”

After a three week gap, the fifth round of the season will be closely watched for signs of any shift in the pecking order with teams bringing upgrades to their cars now they have had time back at the factory.

The battle at the front, however, is still likely to be between Mercedes, with double world champion Hamilton in commanding form, and resurgent Ferrari.

The Briton, who posted on Instagram a photograph of himself ringside at last weekend’s Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquaio welterweight unification bout in Las Vegas, is up for another fight.

“Having tasted success there (Barcelona) for the first time last year, I want to do it in even better style this time,” said 2014 winner Hamilton, who has a 27 point lead over teammate Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff added: “Lewis is in the zone right now, probably driving as well as he has ever done, and Nico showed his teeth in Bahrain with some forceful overtaking and a strong, aggressive race. We’re expecting more of the same in Spain.”

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SPANISH GRAND PRIX: FACTS AND STATISTICS

Formula 1 facts and statistics for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, Round 5 of the 2015 Formula 1 world championship, at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona.

Basics

• Lap distance: 4.655km. Total distance: 307.104km (66 laps)
• Race lap record: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari, 2008, one minute 21.670 seconds.
• 2014 pole: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:25.232
• 2014 winner: Hamilton
• Start time: 1400 local (1300 GMT)
• Tyres: Hard (orange), medium (white)

Wins

• Double world champion Lewis Hamilton now has 36 career wins after his victory for Mercedes in Bahrain.
• Four times champion Sebastian Vettel has 40, Fernando Alonso 32, Kimi Raikkonen 20 and Jenson Button 15.
• One more win for Vettel would put him level with the late Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna in third place in the all-time lists.
• Ferrari have won 222 races, McLaren 182, Williams 114 and Red Bull 50. Mercedes have won 32.
• McLaren have not won for 42 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012. They went 48 races without a win from 1993-97.

Pole Position

• Mercedes have been on pole for the last 15 races. The record for successive poles is 24 (Williams 1992/93).
• Hamilton has started every race this season on pole. He has never been on pole for five successive races.
• Nico Rosberg took 11 poles last year, when Mercedes and Williams were the only teams to start on pole. The German is the only driver to have finished every race this season in the same position where he started.
• Ferrari’s last pole was in Germany with Alonso in 2012.

Podium

• Only two teams and four drivers have appeared on the podium this season — Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel and Raikkonen.

Fastest Lap

• Raikkonen’s fastest lap in Bahrain was the 41st of his career, taking him level with Alain Prost in the all-time standings in joint second place.

Points

• McLaren have gone four races without scoring a point. The last time they did that was in 2009.

Spanish Grand Prix

• Hamilton won last year. Eight different drivers have won in Spain over the past eight years. Alonso (2006, 2013) and Raikkonen (2005, 2008) are the only current drivers to have won twice in Spain.
• Eleven of the last 13 Spanish Grands Prix have been won from pole position and 18 out of 24 at the Circuit de Catalunya.
• The only drivers to win in Barcelona without starting on the front row are Michael Schumacher, who triumphed from third place on the grid in 1996, and Alonso from fifth in 2013.
• Alonso is the only Spaniard to have won a grand prix.
• This year, there will be three Spaniards on the grid with rookies Carlos Sainz and Roberto Merhi making their home debuts.
• Ferrari are the most successful team at the Circuit de Catalunya with eight wins in 24 years. Since the first Spanish Grand Prix in 1951, the Italian team have won it 12 times.

Milestone

• Hamilton has been on the podium for 11 races in a row, the longest such run he has had. In his 2007 debut season he chalked up nine successive podium finishes.
• Hamilton has now led 2,005 laps in his F1 career — becoming only the sixth racer to achieve that feat.
• Raikkonen ended a 25-race podium drought with second place in Bahrain. It was also his first podium appearance for Ferrari since he rejoined in 2014.

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RENAULT HAVE MODIFIED SPEC ENGINE FOR SPAIN

Renault arrive in Spain, for Round 5 of the world championship, expecting to provide Red Bull and Toro Rosso with a more effective power unit to do battle with.

Speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Renault director of operations, Remi Taffin revealed, “The three week gap has given us an opportunity to look at all the information from the start of the season. We have been flat out to counter the issues encountered early on and we will have a modified spec of engine for this race that should give improved reliability and driveability.”

“Barcelona is much more of a traditional circuit than the first four tracks we have visited so far this year. The layout flows a lot more, with high and medium speed corners rather than tight, slow hairpins and long straights.”

“It also has changes of altitude as the track follows the contours of the hills. As such, the circuit represents medium difficulty for the Power Units, which subsequently have to deliver good all-round performance across all the parts.”

“We are looking forward to Spain to see our hard work in action,” added Taffin.

The Spanish Grand Prix has been a happy hunting ground for Renault in the past, winning in Barcelona on 11 occasions. Ayrton Senna won in 1986 with the V6-turbo powered Lotus 98T while the V10 proved dominant between 1991 and 1995, and again in 1997. T

he V8 powered a further four wins, the first coming in 2006 and between 2010 and 2012.

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Lotus don't have the money to beat us - Williams

Willims have dismissed the threat posed by an improving Lotus, believing the Enstone team will remain behind them until the end of the season.

That comes as Lotus says it's now ready to join the "second group" behind Mercedes and Ferrari, which currently consists of Red Bull and Williams.

"I believe that Williams, Red Bull and ourselves will fight for the positions behind Mercedes and Ferrari, who are still quite a long way in front," said deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi.

However Williams' chief technical officer, Pat Symonds, doubts Lotus will be fighting them for position, citing the budget difference as a factor.

"No, I think that they've got a good car and they've moved forward a lot and well done to them," added the Briton.

"But like many teams, they really are quite tight on budget and therefore I think the development they'll be able to do is somewhat limited.

"It's early to say that they're not a threat – they're not a threat right at the moment. And my supposition is that it'll be difficult for them to out-develop us. But one never knows."

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BOTTAS: THERE’S A LOT OF PEOPLE MAKING UP STUFF

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas has denied signing a pre-contract with Ferrari, saying he was amused by some of the speculation about his Formula 1 future but admits he has no deal signed as yet beyond 2015.

“I saw some and heard plenty of stories and it’s sometimes quite funny to hear those because in the end you know what’s the case and what’s not,” the Williams driver told reporters at the Spanish Grand Prix on Thursday.

“There’s a lot of people making up stuff. The fact is that at the moment I am just focusing on this season and getting the maximum for us as a team. Then the rest I don’t know yet,” added the Finn.

Finnish and Italian media have reported rumours suggesting Bottas had an agreement with Ferrari, who have 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen out of contract at the end of this season, for 2017 if not 2016.

Asked directly whether he had signed any such pre-contract, Bottas said that was not the case.

The Finn, who will also be out of contract at the end of 2015, has become one of Formula One’s hot properties after finishing fourth overall last season with six podium appearances.

“There has been always many kind of rumours so I’m not really thinking about those,” said the 25-year-old. “That’s for my management to think about. At the moment I am not thinking about any move.”

Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff, who is also a Williams minority shareholder, is part of the management team along with Didier Coton, who has worked with Lewis Hamilton and Bottas’s mentor Mika Hakkinen.

Asked whether he was talking to Williams about an extension, Bottas said he was leaving everything to his management but revealed, “I don’t have anything for next year.”

“I am sure they have some kind of plan for my career, for years ahead,” he added. “If they have something solid for sure they will speak with me but at the moment we haven’t spoken about the future.

“We are not yet at that point. We want to win here at Williams, we have big plans for the future and the team has invested a lot in great people. We made a massive jump from 2013 to 2014,” he added.

“If we keep the development going I think we can again be strong at the end of this season.”

Former champions Williams are currently third overall, the position they finished in last year, after reversing a decade of decline.

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HAMILTON VERSUS ROSBERG IS CLOSER THAN IT SEEMS

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton seeks to build on his 27 points lead in this year’s title race with another victory for Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix, but the Silver Arrows team boss does not believe that the Briton has a massive advantage over teammate.

Nico Rosberg, in the other Mercedes, will he hoping he can translate his speed from pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya into a winning performance for the first time since last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix and so prevent Hamilton’s juggernaut-like run of triumphs.

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff has no doubt that Rosberg can mount a serious title challenge, despite appearing well beaten in four successive qualifying sessions and races this year.

“If you look at their performances in qualifying in China, for example, there were just four-hundredths between them,” said Wolff.

“That is not someone who is clearly beaten. That is a tiny little edge, which was enough for Lewis to make it on pole and control the race.

“It could have been completely different if Nico had been on pole. Nico wouldn’t be in Formula One as a multiple race winner and a challenger for the championship if he allowed himself to be destabilised after a few races.”

After three wins in four races, the 30-year-old Briton has built a strong early defence of his crown in near-flawless fashion that has left his rivals trailing and many paddock observers lost in admiration.

Earlier this week Mercedes team director three-time champion Niki Lauda said he felt the Englishman was driving like a man “from another planet.”

For Wolff, Mercedes and Hamilton, however, the most serious threat to their supremacy appears to be likely to come from Ferrari, reinvigorated this year after a management shake-up and the arrival of Vettel.

“I think it could go to the wire with Ferrari,” he said.

Meanwhile local hero Fernando Alonso will merely hope for a points finish behind Ferrari, Williams and the rest while his successor at Maranello, four-time champion Vettel looks for his second win this year.

Recent reports have suggested Alonso may even contemplate retirement to escape the spectre of two win-less years in Formula 1, though his official comments issued by McLaren suggest that he remains sufficiently optimistic to rekindle his enthusiasm and form.

“I’m incredibly happy to be heading back to Europe, to my home country and racing in front of the loyal Spanish fans,” said Alonso.

“We’ve taken some useful steps forward during the flyaway races and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car after the three-week break and continuing our push.

“We are seeing improvements race by race and I want to ensure that we maintain this consistency throughout this weekend.”

So severe were the problems with Button’s car in Bahrain three weeks ago, the 2009 champion did not even start the race.

That will be his minimum ambition this weekend at the 4.655km track where McLaren hope to re-boot their season and where all of the teams will arrive with upgrades for their machines.

The real focus will be on Hamilton, but not only for his driving as he has yet to sign a new contract with the team and stubborn speculation has linked him with a possible sensational move to Ferrari.

A Hamilton win and his signature on a new deal will be the double target Wolff and Mercedes have going to Spain.

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SEBASTIAN VETTEL: DEVELOPMENT ARMS RACE WILL DECIDE F1 WORLD TITLE

Ferrari have made no secret of the fact that they will unleash a heavily revised SF15-T in Barcelona as part of a major push to dethrone Mercedes, with Sebastian Vettel adamant that whoever wins the off-track development war will triumph in the title race.

“Mercedes still have the strongest package,” he insisted to Welt newspaper, adding that Ferrari is trying to reduce that advantage through a series of “small steps”.

“The development arms race always decides the world championship,” Vettel explained. “If you do not improve from the first to the last race, you never win the title, even if you start with clearly the best car.”

“We want to catch Mercedes,” he told Sport Bild, “even if this is a very ambitious goal.”

Mercedes is now braced for a head-to-head fight with Ferrari according to F1 chairman Niki Lauda, who is certain Mercedes no longer wields a horse power advantage over the resurgent Maranello outfit.

“Ferrari has closed the gap from last year to this year to zero,” the F1 legend said in an interview published by Red Bull.

“I think they increased their engine by about 45 horse power, so my estimate at the moment is that they have the same engine power as the Mercedes has and now it depends on the car and what the drivers can do,” Lauda added.

If that is true, then the speed of in-season development will be especially crucial as the European phase of the calendar now begins.

Bild newspaper reports that Ferrari has brought new wings, floor and engine software to Barcelona, which in the Maranello simulator showed a three to four tenths per lap improvement.

Mercedes, meanwhile, has a new floor, brake ducts and front wing endplates in its luggage, but for now is sticking with the same engine configuration.

“Our engine is as reliable as a Mercedes should be,” boss Toto Wolff told Sport Bild. “So there will be no new unit in Barcelona.”

Mercedes’ Wolff agrees with Vettel that the German team needs to keep improving if it wants to stay in front of Ferrari.

“We take Ferrari as an opponent very seriously,” he said, “so we will be bringing any sort of update to the car as quickly as possible.”

Finally, Wolff also backed Nico Rosberg to bounce back, even though many observers say teammate Lewis Hamilton already has him firmly under control in 2015.

“Even last year he was often written off and he always came back,” said Wolff. “So I would be very careful not to say that it will be difficult for him now.”

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ALONSO WEARING SUNGLASSES TO PROTECT EYE INFECTION

Eyebrows were being raised on Thursday as Fernando Alonso refused to take his dark sunglasses off during the official FIA press conference.

Earlier this week, on social media, the McLaren driver showed photographs of a stye in his eye, and then his trip to McLaren’s driver simulator in Woking — wearing dark glasses inside.

“I have to keep them on,” the Spaniard said as he prepared for Thursday’s media activities ahead of his home grand prix.

A source explained that an eye infection means Alonso has been advised by doctors to reduce exposure to artificial light.

The source added that the 33-year-old is expecting the infection to improve ahead of the start of track action on Friday.

Alonso is sponsored by the popular sunglasses maker Oakley.

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LOTUS SHORT NOSE FAILS MANDATORY CRASH TEST

Lotus has had to leave the centrepiece of its Spanish Grand Prix upgrade package back at Enstone.

Auto Motor und Sport reported that the team wanted to debut a new, ultra-short nose at the Spanish grand prix, but it failed the mandatory crash test.

The debut of the nose and wing has now been postponed until Canada.

“Monte Carlo is the not the ideal place for a first use,” said chief engineer Alan Permane.

However, it is believed Lotus’ Barcelona package still includes a new rear wing and rear bodywork, brake ducts and front wing endplates.

Meanwhile, it emerged on Thursday that Force India’s already-delayed ‘B’ car, earlier said to be heading for a debut in Austria, will now not be seen until Silverstone.

“We would love to have the package here, which didn’t happen,” said Sergio Perez. “We expect Silverstone will be the first time we have it.”

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PIRELLI WANT TO USE SUPER-SOFT TYRE MORE TO SPICE UP RACES

Pirelli is aiming to spice up the grand prix season by leaning towards soft-compound tyre choices as the 2015 Formula 1 season progresses.

Having faced intense criticism of its deliberately heavily-degrading tyres of the past, F1’s official supplier went notably more conservative for the start of the new ‘power unit’ era last year.

Pirelli vowed to ramp down that conservatism for this year as experience of the new regulations increases, but chief Paul Hembery acknowledged that the target of mainly three-stop races has yet to be achieved.

“We aim to bring the softer compounds (to races) more and more,” he told Turun Sanomat newspaper, “and in particular we want to be using the super-soft.

“Maybe we should have taken that tyre to Bahrain,” Hembery added, “as it would have meant a three-stop race.”

However, Lotus engineer Mark Slade says that, as far as Pirelli’s approach to F1 goes, things have changed since Kimi Raikkonen was winning races for the Enstone team with ultra-soft tyres in 2012 and 2013.

“Even if they still call them ‘super-soft’,” he said, “they really are just soft compounds. The names have changed but the tyres are harder now.”

Slade said he doubts Pirelli is really shaping up to change its current approach to F1.

“I don’t think they’re going to make radical changes,” said the Briton, “as they are satisfied with the current situation.”

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FERRARI HAVE HEAVILY REVISED SF15-T FOR BARCELONA

Ferrari start the European leg of the season, in Spain, with a heavily revised version of the SF15-T for Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

Respected Ferrari ‘watcher Leo Turrini has reported on his blog that “70 per cent” of the car has been revised for the first race of the European season, with only the front of the SF15-T to be recognisable.

“It’s a well-known fact that all the teams turn up for the first European race with practically new cars compared to what we saw in Bahrain,” confirmed Ferrari’s strategy chief Inaki Rueda ahead of Barcelona.

Turrini also wrote that for several years now Ferrari have blamed their problematic wind tunnel for “gigantic blunders” on the aero development side.

However word from Maranello is that the wind tunnel is now correctly calibrated and delivering accurate data and Turrini believes that Barcelona “will offer precise indication in this regard.”

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RED BULL WILL BE PATIENT WITH STRUGGLING KVYAT

Under-pressure Daniil Kvyat looks set to be given a second chance to shine at Red Bull.

After his meteoric debut at the mere age of 19 for the junior team Toro Rosso last year, the confident Russian was promoted to replace the Ferrari-bound quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel for 2015.

Kvyat’s start at the former championship winning team, however, has been almost as disastrous as it was anonymous.

It has even triggered early rumours that, now just 21, Kvyat could be dispensed at the end of the year to make room for Red Bull’s new teen sensation Max Verstappen.

But team boss Christian Horner says Red Bull-Renault is taking the blame at the moment, also excusing Daniel Ricciardo as the pair struggle so far in 2015.

“Daniel Ricciardo’s still smiling as much as he ever has done and young Kvyat, again, has had a tough hand at the moment, yet is not letting it get to him,” he said.

Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, meanwhile, also thinks it is too early to write off Kvyat, indicating he thinks the real judgement should wait until later.

He told Sport360 that Australian countryman Ricciardo, however, has already proved his talent.

“You don’t win too many races by fluking them,” said Webber, referring to Ricciardo’s standout season in 2014. “He’s clearly got very good pedigree.

“Daniil, time will tell whether he can operate at that level week in week out towards the end of this year. They (Red Bull) will be back next year,” he predicted.

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Alonso: No concerns about return

Fernando Alonso insists he has "no concerns" about returning to the scene of the testing accident that kept him out of the car for a month.

The last time Alonso put in a lap at Circuit de Barcelona, he crashed into a wall at the exit of Turn 3 and spent three nights in a local hospital suffering concussion like symptoms.

As a result, he not only had to sit out the final pre-season test but also missed the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Alonso, though, is adamant he has no issues about racing his MP4-30 at the track in this weekend Spanish GP.

"I have no concerns," he said in Thursday's press conference.

"That accident happened three months ago and unfortunately it was a little bit longer to recover and the impact was a little bit unlucky and it took me one month out of the car."

"But coming back here with full confidence and full motivation to do well and to perform and deliver a good result in front of the home crowd."

As for his prospects at his home grand prix, Alonso is confident in his MP4-30 and its Honda engine there is the potential to fight at the very front.

That, though, won't happen this weekend in Spain as he says it could yet take "some months" to achieve.

"I think the car has the potential to perform at the top level, if we had everything together.

"We have a very complex package with the power unit and the philosophy of the car, and new arrivals like Peter Prodromou have changed the philosophy of the car.

"Right now we are putting all the pieces together to have a good package in the future, even if we have to sacrifice some months now.

"I really think that we have the potential to fight with the top teams in the future."

The 33-year-old added that he is "enjoying the challenge.

"We started at the bottom and we are climbing the mountain and doing it quicker than everyone expected."