2013 Spanish Grand Prix Preview

After an amazing start to the 2013 season, 2 back-to-back race weekends that couldn’t have been any better, the F1 paddock has landed in Barcelona, Spain to start off the European leg with the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit De Catalunya near the city of Barcelona in Spain.

It is obvious that this weekend all the teams, the front runners and the back markers, will be bringing major upgrades to take them forward through the season. Red Bull and Lotus looked very strong with Ferrari and Mercedes right behind them.

Pirelli have announced that they are going to modify their hard compound tires after the criticism about the degradation, and increase the working range of the tires. Experts suggest that this is going to help Red Bull further and unless Mercedes find a solution to their overheating problem, it could be a step back for them after a great start to the season. Pirelli will be supplying an additional set of hard tires to the teams so they can figure out the optimum set up for the race..

This weekend is going to be very crucial for the McLaren team, who are looking to improve after an unimpressive start to the season. They are hoping that the three week break after Bahrain has given them enough time to solve the issues they faced. Let’s hope the updates work because McLaren isn’t the kind of team that should struggle to finish in the top 10, because a bad season for a top team equals lesser interest in the team by sponsors (Read Title sponsor for next year ) and disappointment within the team itself.

Team Lotus hope to spring big surprises for this race and improve their qualifying pace drastically with the possible introduction of the Double DRS system this weekend. If it works like they expect it to, Lotus could be the team to beat in qualifying too. Also Technical Director James Allison has resigned from his post and has been replaced by Nick Chester. The effects of this may not be seen right away but could affect the team in a way.

Home boy Alonso will look to repeat a win from the last time he was in Spain for the European GP and improve on his 2nd place finish last year at Catalunya. Massa will be confident looking at his improving form and will push harder to be on the podium soon.

World Champions Red Bull are the team to beat and they will try harder than ever to stay ahead of the pack. Last year, Red Bull didn’t really have a great race but the two years before that, Red Bull drivers were on top in Qualifying and during the race. They will look to repeat that this weekend.

Last year’s race winner, Pastor Maldonado, will surely have great memories coming into this weekend’s race. But he and his team know that its going to be very tough for them to repeat what they did last year. Williams are struggling at the back this year, without even scoring a point after the first four races.

Sauber will be surely disappointed with the way things have been going for them this year. They gave a great fight last year at the front of the midfield pack but this year they are nowhere close to where they were. Things look tough for them this season.

At the back, Caterham and Marussia will look to revive their hunt to score their first ever point and more importantly, stay ahead of each other for the coveted 10th spot. Coveted because Mr. Ecclestone has announced that the 11th place team will no longer receive money from the commercial rights..

Circuit de Catalunya will once again host the Spanish Grand Prix and there will be two DRS zones, one between turns 9 and 10 and the other on the start-finish straight. 66 laps of racing awaits us on Sunday. Enjoy the race!