Olivier Panis, F1 driver

The change will ensure that the lap finishes with two fast corners, as it did in the past, and the hope is that it will allow cars to follow more closely onto the straight and encourage overtaking.
The new version of the track measures 4.657km, compared with the 4.675km of the previous iteration with the chicane.
The removal of the chicane has been in discussion for some years, and the key ...

read on

The circuit hosts races for both series in the summer months, as thousands of racing fans head to the Catalan capital for action under the Spanish sun.
The Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix is set to take place on 4 June, with Spaniards Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz will be hoping to give the fans something to cheer about on home turf.
Next year?s race will mark 10 years since a Spanish ...

read on

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly only just made it out of the Barcelona pitlane before it closed 30 minutes before the start of the race because the two Red Bull teams were waiting for the fuel to rise to the legal minimum temperature.
The limit is 10?C below ambient as declared to the nearest round number by the FIA from the official timing screens two hours before the start. That coincides ...

read on

The Dane and his Mercedes rival came together at Turn 4 on the opening lap at Barcelona last weekend as he tried an overtaking move around the outside.
On the team radio immediately afterwards, Magnussen reckoned that Hamilton had deliberately opened up his steering, although he later clarified that those remarks were simply made in the heat of the moment.
But having watched the incident ...

read on

After two lean years during the pandemic, the Spanish Grand Prix welcomed a sell-out crowd of roughly 300,000 fans flocking to the Montmelo venue across the weekend.
While the event was the shot in the arm that the local promoters needed after several years of declining attendance, the circuit and its surrounding facilities appeared to struggle to handle the masses of spectators, with reports ...

read on

Hamilton started the Spanish Grand Prix from sixth place on the grid but dropped to the rear of the field after contact on the opening lap with Magnussen at Turn 4 forced him into a pitstop.
Soon after returning to the track in 19th place, Hamilton radioed Mercedes engineer Pete Bonnington to suggest that the team should save the engine on his car. Bonnington told Hamilton that the team?s ...

read on

A range of upgrades brought to last weekend?s race at Barcelona helped Mercedes to its most competitive outing of the season so far.
George Russell finished third to grab his second podium of the year, while Lewis Hamilton recovered from a first lap puncture that dropped him almost to the back to come home fifth.
The pace of the W13 prompted Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to declare the ...

read on

In Interlagos, Max Verstappen was spotted touching Hamilton's rear wing after qualifying, and he was subsequently fined ?50,000.
The Barcelona picture appears to have been taken some time after the podium ceremony as the cars have been moved from where they initially parked after the flag, and lined up side-by-side in parc ferme.
A video surfacing online later appears to show Hamilton ...

read on

After a difficult start to the 2022 campaign for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, a raft of upgrades introduced at Barcelona last weekend transformed the pace of the W13.
Russell battled the Red Bulls on his way to a podium finish, but it was Hamilton's charge from near the back of the field on lap one to finish fifth that has really encouraged the German car manufacturer.
Team boss Toto ...

read on

For after a season where a top five would have been something to be happy about at times, even through complete luck, to get there after charging up from 19th on the road said much about the progress made with the W13.
As team boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday night: ?With Lewis, we had probably the fastest race car today. He was 50 seconds behind at the end. And he caught all the way up, and at ...

read on

For once, Formula 1?s Spanish Grand Prix provided an engaging contest up and down the grid and just like last year it included developments that could be key to the outcome of the world titles.
Max Verstappen led a Red Bull 1-2 ahead of Sergio Perez, but that summary barely scratches the surface of an event that looked set to go to Ferrari?s Charles Leclerc before his unfortunate engine ...

read on

Leclerc had looked on course to take a comfortable victory in the Spanish Grand Prix when his car suddenly lost power on lap 27 when he was leading the race.
Ferrari did not have any immediate answers as to what had gone wrong with the power unit on Sunday night, and wanted to wait for a proper analysis at its Maranello factory.
Having shipped the broken power unit back overnight, it set to ...

read on

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya announced it had been sold out for the 2022 edition of the race after going through two COVID-19 years with limited attendance, stating 300,000 flocked to the Barcelona venue across the weekend.
But soon enough it became apparent the venue wasn't prepared for the sell-out crowd, with larges queues forming around the limited food and drinks concessions and ...

read on

Verstappen stormed into the championship lead after taking the victory at Barcelona while erstwhile table-topper Charles Leclerc retired from the lead of the race with a power unit problem.
But the early stages of the grand prix did not go to plan for Verstappen as an error at Turn 4 when he was running second dropped him back behind George Russell's Mercedes and the sister Red Bull of Sergio ...

read on

Mercedes brought a raft of updates to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, but Hamilton said he was still struggling with the W13 car in qualifying, leaving him sixth on the grid.
Contact with Haas driver Magnussen on the opening lap caused Hamilton to slow and forced him into an early pitstop, leaving him over 50 second off the leader at the end of the opening lap.
Hamilton asked Mercedes ...

read on

Russell was running in third place with Hamilton behind him when the pair suffered a water leak, allowing Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to pass the seven-time world champion in the penultimate lap.
The issue also pushed Russell onto the defensive, but he held off the Spaniard to take the third podium spot, his second of the season after Australia, albeit 20 seconds off Sergio Perez in second.
Like ...

read on

Norris had looked unwell all weekend and said on Saturday that he had been "suffering with my throat and my eyes and seeing", saying it was something other than COVID-19.
On the grid before Sunday's race, Norris continued to look out of sorts, but once the visor went down the Briton produced a solid race to finish eighth, with teammate Daniel Ricciardo down in 12th.
After a sweltering race ...

read on

The Mexican was leading towards the end of the Spanish GP when he was told over the radio not to hold up his pursuing teammate ? who had been switched on to an alternative tyre strategy.
But, having earlier not been given clear air to pass Verstappen and attack George Russell when he had a tyre advantage, he made clear that he felt the subsequent call was ?unfair?.
While a later switch ...

read on

Second-starting Verstappen, who had lost ground after an early off in Turn 4, was suddenly handed a golden opportunity to grab a second victory at the site of his first ever grand prix win when title rival Charles Leclerc, who had been dominating the race, retired with Ferrari engine problems before halfway.
But Verstappen's charge was further complicated by an issue with his DRS actuator ...

read on

...

read on

Verstappen bounced back from an off-track excursion and an intermittent DRS issue to lead home a crushing Red Bull 1-2 ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.
Leclerc was cruising out front when he lost power on Lap 27, handing the lead to Mercedes? George Russell. Perez passed the Mercedes just before half distance to hit the front but Verstappen charged past him towards the end of the race to score ...

read on

In a frenetic first half of the race, Verstappen cost himself second place by losing the rear end and careering across the gravel before mounting a remarkable recovery run.
Aided by runaway leader and polesitter Leclerc suffering the misfortune of a terminal power unit failure, Verstappen was able to force Red Bull to orchestrate a change for position.
That left Sergio Perez to concede a ...

read on

Leclerc had been easily leading the first half of the race until the Monegasque driver reported a loss of power on his Ferrari on the 26th of 66 laps.
The issue proved terminal, as Leclerc coasted into the pitlane into an early retirement. 
Ferrari soon confirmed that an undiagnosed power unit issue was the cause of his early exit. Leclerc said he had received no early warning ...

read on

But while almost all of the attention on car changes has been on Aston Martin amid a copy cat row with Red Bull, there have been plenty of other noteworthy ideas that have emerged up and down the pitlane.
Here we take a look at the most interesting upgrades that have been spotted so far.

Red Bull RB18 floor
Photo by: Giorgio Piola

Red Bull has a revised front wing ...

read on

Mercedes drivers Russell and Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth and sixth respectively on Saturday, but both felt the team had made a big step forward to solve its proposing problems thanks to the updates brought to Barcelona.
Hamilton said the updates gave Mercedes a ?glimpse of hope? after struggling in the early part of the season, while Russell felt confident it would put the team more in ...

read on