It's the start of the traditional European leg of the Formula 1 calendar - the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. And my, oh my, something seems different this weekend.
Those who didn't quite get their fill of traditionally processional races with very little unassisted overtaking at former Olympic host cities after the Russian GP are in luck - the ultra-technical 4.6 kilometer circuit, a staple of F1 pre-season testing, will once again put passing at a premium. Of course, to win here is never easy - just ask Mika Hakkinen - but a good result in qualifying should almost guarantee a victory, with 23 of the last 25 Spanish GP winners starting on the front row.
That's not to say that the Spanish GP hasn't delivered some memorable moments over the 25 years in Montmeló. Senna and Mansell going wheel-to-wheel in the first race, Michael Schumacher's incomparable first victory for Ferrari in '96, and the time Pastor Maldonado won a dry-weather Formula 1 Grand Prix from pole position just four years ago.
But why wait 'til Sunday afternoon to ratchet up the Intrigue™ and Drama© when Red Bull decided to do that themselves one week ago?
In case you've been living under a rock the last two weeks, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso essentially traded Daniil Kvyat for 18-year-old Max Verstappen last Thursday. Kvyat's heavily-scrutinized first lap collision with Sebastian Vettel (which wasn't entirely his fault) basically gave Red Bull an excuse to pull the trigger on a deal to promote Verstappen to the "A" team.
This is the duality of Red Bull: Every single personnel decision they've made, in F1, within their Junior Team, is backed up by extensive analysis of engineering feedback, intra-team metrics, and a little bit of previous anecdotal evidence, no matter how cold and cruel it is. And my goodness, this one was cold.
Kvyat, for his part, has remained professional and collected, at least on the surface, once he learned of his demotion. But at first glance, it does seem like a major blow to be "demoted" to Toro Rosso despite scoring 100% of Red Bull's podium finishes this year, and one season after narrowly out-scoring Daniel Ricciardo in the same equipment.
Given how Red Bull remained patient with Vettel once upon a time, and how the team now operating as Renault remained patient with Romain Grosjean when neither driver was exactly a 100 percent safe pair of hands, it seems even more cruel of a blow to Kvyat-who should already be looking for F1 opportunities outside the Red Bull collective for next season. He will, however, relish the chance to be re-united with his old GP3 Series teammate, Carlos Sainz, Jr, in a car that's more than capable of a solid result here.
In happier times... (Image © Red Bull Media House)
For Verstappen, this is his long-anticipated chance to shine with a top team. If he stands on the podium this weekend in his Red Bull Racing debut, he'll have done so at a younger age than any other F1 driver has even started a Grand Prix. Given Red Bull's strength in the aero department, the high-downforce Catalunya circuit could be a place where "The Bandit" could even win the whole thing on his Red Bull debut.
That's not to say it'll be easy, even for a driver with as much (justified) hype as Verstappen. He'll have to outperform Ricciardo, which is no small task - just ask Kvyat, Vettel, or Jean-Eric Vergne. His tendency to go against team instructions at Toro Rosso, admirable as it is to the old-school racing fan, will not fly at Red Bull if it gets out of hand. Nothing less than an exceptional performance and a positive attitude will do for Verstappen, otherwise the hype will diminish faster than you can say "DJ Squire".
Oh, by the way - if you can believe it, there are some other storylines worth following this weekend.
Like the rather small matter of championship leader Nico Rosberg trying to extend his incredible run of consecutive victories to eight in a row - which would put him ahead of the longest streak ever compiled by either Alberto Ascari or Michael Schumacher, and essentially allow F1's greatest "nearly-man" to finally put one hand on a championship title of his own. No big fuss there.
Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, and the Ferrari duo of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, will need to strike back now with a victory to keep Rosberg from sailing out into an insurmountable championship lead too early in the season.
And of course, there's a definitive home crowd hero - two of them, actually - in the race. Fernando Alonso was over the moon when he picked up his first points of the season last time out in Sochi. As he prepares for his twentieth Grand Prix in the country of Spain (including the European Grands Prix at Valencia), the favourite of the Spanish crowd must feel that he has a chance to get ever so closer to where his credentials as a two-time champion deem that he should be - back on the podium, or back to winning races.
Don't overlook Sainz either - he did well to qualify fifth and finish in the points on his home debut last season, and he is out to prove that if there was a Toro Rosso driver who should have gotten the promotion to Red Bull, it would be him.
Also, this weekend is the long-awaited start of the 2016 GP2 and GP3 Series' seasons after a twelve-year offseason, and the two premier feeder categories are known to bring the excitement if the main event falls short in that category. And reigning GP3 champ Esteban Ocon will make his return to FP1 with Renault.
Spanish Grand Prix Schedule (all times GMT)
Free Practice 1 - 8:00-9:30
Free Practice 2 - 12:00-13:30
Free Practice 3 - 9:00-10:00
Qualifying - 12:00-13:00
Race (66 laps) - 12:00
Last edited by a moderator:
