Some rubbish weather here in Portugal for qualifying meant that we saw some really slippy cars, contributing to the poor qualifying times as seen in many of these drivers. Kamui Kobayashi will take the pole here in Portugal, having qualified on Softs just ahead of Jamie Chadwick, who had started on the Mediums, as well as Juan Carlos Aragón who had started on Options.
The majority of drivers has opted to start this race on Softs, and it will be shaping up to be once again another interesting battle in the pits to see who can get the better strategy today. The stakes will be very high, so it would be interesting to see what happens.
Meanwhile, it will be disaster for Virgin Racing, as both their drivers crash out in the qualifying race! Dino Miles Jr. follows, in what would have been a disappointing race for him, as well as Keke Rosberg, who fails to make it through the qualifying much to the disappointment of fans here in Portimao.
Back at home, António Félix da Costa clearly knows the track well, as he races to the halfway mark more than half a second from the rest of the field! Meanwhile, the rest of the field has been bogged down by heavy traffic, mainly from the Softs and the Medium pits in Laps 4-6. HRT's Juan Carlos Aragón interesting makes it through the cut despite doing a pit extra, and he will be hoping to turn that into an advantage.
Meanwhile, it would be the end of the race for a couple of drivers. After a good start in Bahrain, we see both BMW-Sauber drivers crash out at this stage. The pretty even spread of traffic this race means that we see quite a number of drivers not make it through the first part of the race. This includes the 2 Prime runners in Marcus Ericsson and Jacques Villeneuve, who both managed to avoid heavy traffic but were just way off the pace in this race, and will not go any further.
Well, well, well....where do we start with this. Haas is back, with a huge vengeance! Bob Wob pushes to the end to win the Portuguese GP and stake 20 points for his team, narrowly beating Alex Albon in a Koenigsegg car. Juan Carlos Aragón was another one who will be very happy this race, pushing to podium with his unconventional strategy this race having pitted twice before the elimination lap. All 3 navigated the race and their strategies to perfection, as they avoided pitting in the laps with heavy traffic, and they were rewarded with the podium this race.
But for many of the others, it was not to be. 13 drivers tried to pit in Lap 10, causing massive chaos in the pits and costing them 2.4s as a result. The next lap was just as crazy, as 8 drivers went into the pits, which resulted them losing 1.4s from that pit. As a result, only 4 of those who had pitted in Lap 10 manages to finish in points, while those who had pitted in Lap 11 would regret not being able to finish higher up in points.
Overall, Haas will be very happy with this race, picking up 31 points from this race and putting right back into the conversation after their disappointing first race. HRT scores 30 points, as they also enjoy some nice gains even with their stature as a new team in this game, showing they are not to be messed around. Meanwhile, Shadow, Lotus and Koenigsegg pick up their first points of the season, while Pacific, Minardi and newcomers Williams will be hoping they can get theirs soon too as well.
Note to everyone, I have re-added the timings for those drivers who had been kicked out at the halfway point. Do remember that with the new rulings whereby eliminated drivers do not contribute to traffic, their time might not be fully accurate as it is based and calculated in a situation where their pits do not contribute to traffic.
Crashtor jumps into the lead after another consistent performance by him. However, there are quite a number of others just behind, with a 3-way tie at 20 points between Mario Rosso, Bob Wob, and Armet Must-Ash. There are many others not far behind as well, and it is still too early in the season to tell who will win it by the end of this season.
Manor would now take the lead in the Constructor's Championship, though it is again still too early to call what is going to happen. Cooper and Haas are not far behind, and HRT also thereabouts as well. Just slightly further back, we also see a lurking McLaren, who have managed to interesting get points for both their drivers for both races so far, albeit not a lot of points.
After the excitement in Portugal, we head to neighbouring Spain as we return to familiar territory, in Barcelona for the Spanish GP! Once again, we see a relatively long track at 17 laps, and having just raced in another 17 lap race, it will be interesting to see the type of tactics which would be employed here. Would more people aim for the Hards gamble, hoping that they can win the race? Or will people stick to the softer tyres here? We will find out soon, as the action begins to heat up here in Barcelona....
Oh, and one more thing...will we see another Koenigsegg 1-2 here? Thats the real question on everyone's minds.
Race 3: Spanish GP Track: Algarve International Circuit Laps: 17 Qualifying Record: Dino Miles - Jordan (0.2s) Track Record: Sean Gelael - Racing Point (8.8s)
Deadline to send me your strategies would be 19:00 CET, Tuesday 11th May. Should all entries be received before the deadline, I might do the race early. Failure to send would mean a start crash for both your drivers.
That's a lot of.....Hards.....they probably will be happy that some of them didn't make qualifying, but is that still enough to avoid what could potentially be really bad traffic in that pit?
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