I am going to be Bernie friendly for a while but only for a while. I totally forgot that the official F1 site has some videos now. Only after I received the email reminder that the video edit from Spanish GP is ready I went to check it out. The video is not too bad if all you expect is a quick 2 minutes sum up of all the incidents with few F1 babes and Nelson Piquet sr. added to the mix. But I think that FOM or whoever is in charge of keeping the official F1 site up could and should do better. They are still far behind the level of Sidepodcast people unfortunately for us Sidepodcast does not have an access to the FOM TV feed .

What would you want F1.com to include or ad to their video edits from races ?

You can see the official F1 video edits here.

F1Wolf

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It has been busy few days for me and it took me 2 days to finish the Spanish GP review. Here it comes finally… I apologize for a dull format without pictures this time .

Four races, three Ferrari wins, two 1-2 finishes, red cars leading both championships and Ferrari friendly Turkey track next … Things have turned around a bit since Melbourne …

After Fernando Alonso squeezed in between Raikkonen and Massa in qualifying there was a chance Renault may spoil the race for Ferrari. Massa’s good start put an end to those worries and from then on it was Ferrari’s race. The gap between them and Hamilton and Kubica was not that big but this may be down to the safety car period and Ferrari preserving the machinery towards the end of the race.

Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since Melbourne. The race of both McLarens has been compromised by their qualifying. Fifth and sixth places on the grid are not the best places from where to launch the attack on the podium. The positive sign for McLaren is that they did not seem to be too much off the pace of Ferrari. The worry must be the BMW Sauber … The talking point of the race however was the heavy crash of Heikki Kovalainen. It looked very scary and to me even worse than the crash of Robert Kubica in Montreal last year. It is amazing to see how much protection the current F1 cars give to drivers. It is hard to believe that somebody can survive an impact like that with pretty much no injuries at all. At the same time crashes like this are a reminder that F1 is still a dangerous sport …

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F1Wolf

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Hi everybody. I am bit more busy today than expected and as a result I will only be able to post the Spanish GP review tomorrow. So come back and have your opinions ready .

F1Wolf

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Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen spoiled the predictions as almost everybody had these 3 among top 8. Daniel’s risky “Alonso on pole” prediction almost paid off, but Kimi spoiled it for him. Steve Robertson took his second win of the season with very respectable 23 points, highest this year so far … Hmm … Ozzi scored 22 points again but this time it was not enough for a win . This was not the best day for the leaders after round 3 - Kotenok and Stew. Steve Robertson is back in the lead, I am in top 10 now .

2008 Prediction Game Round 4 Results:

23 - Steve Robertson
22 - Ozzi, deaddogsmoking
20 - zblkhwk, blazena, Ram
19 - Klokan, fatfish, shaun, fantoci, gertjan
18 - F1Wolf, brabhamburger, igi, Fisheye, xxMarinaxx
17 - stew, kotenok, Kaylen, Queen Bee
16 - Ben, daniel
15 - Arnel
14 - nieuwe, Rob The Flying Dutchman, Luis Miguel Sainz
13 - mcw3, Arun

F1Wolf

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Kimi Raikkonen won his second race of 2008 season ahead of his team mate Felipe Massa. Lewis Hamilton returned to podium for the first time since Australian GP. Jenson Button scored first points of the season for Honda. Only 13 cars made it to the finish in a race that featured 2 safety car periods and a scary looking Kovalainen’s heavy crash. Fernando Alonso’s hopes for good result were cut short by a spectacular engine failure.

2008 Spanish GP - Race result

1. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:38:19.051
2. Felipe Massa - Ferrari + 3.228
3. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren + 4.187
4. Robert Kubica - BMW Sauber + 5.694
5. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 35.938
6. Jenson Button - Honda + 53.010
7. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams + 58.244
8. Jarno Trulli - Toyota + 59.435

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F1Wolf

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The Live Blog is back with the Race Day coverage ! Follow the updates from the 2008 Spanish Grand Prix and join in the discussion !

This Live Blog has been closed. You can replay it inside the post.

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F1Wolf

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After reading the Button’s comment on qualifying I looked up the Honda cars photos from Barcelona to see what exactly are the visible updates on their cars they actually use this weekend.

“I need a bit more time with the car to understand the new aero properly and find out how to get the most out of it, but I’m happy with our position going into the race and we’ll see what happens and what we can take advantage of.” - Button

Here are the pictures from Barcelona. The “dumbo ears” are obvious on both cars. They make the car look ugly but it seems that they are going stay … The green front wheel covers do not seem to be on Honda cars all the time. Looks like the benefits are still being evaluated …

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F1Wolf

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Kimi Raikkonen will start the Spanish GP from pole position confirming the strength of the Ferrari package in Barcelona. It is also the first pole position of the season for Raikkonen. He will however have an unexpected neighbour on front row - Renault with Fernando Alonso in the cockpit. Felipe Massa missed out on front row and will start from P3.

Robert Kubica qualified well again - P4  ahead of both McLarens. The silver cars have exclusive rights to row 3 in Barcelona and they will not be too happy about that. Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli proved again they are masters of qualifying - P7 and P8 are great results for Red Bull and Toyota. Nick Heidfeld may be heavier than his team mate but still, P9 is hardly a starting position he would have hoped for. Nelson Piquet made it to Q3 adding his bit to what definitelly was a very good day for Renault.

The midfield is extremely even. Only few tenths separate 11th from 15th.

This was a disapointing session for Coulthard (eliminated in Q1), Vettel (beaten by his team mate again), Sutil (7 tenths behind Fisichella and less than a tenth ahead of Davidson in pennyless Super Aguri…).

Is Renault that good all of a sudden or did Alonso only go for home qualifying glory in a lightly fueled car ? We will see tomorrow.

Spanish GP Qualifying Results:
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F1Wolf

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Now the real fun begins ! Follow the qualifying session here with Live Blog and join the debate !

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F1Wolf

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The European season starts with Spanish GP in Barcelona. There are reports that both qualifying and the race may not be entirely dry. Most of the teams will come with updated cars and we may see some changes in the order (or we may not) … There are however no changes or updates in the prediction game rules:

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F1Wolf

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