Live Blog is back for the final free practice of Spanish F1 GP. Join the live debate !

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As the Live Blog from Bahrain GP proved to be popular feature, it will be back again for the Spanish GP. You can join the live debate also her on F1Wolf. The live debate will be on for Saturday Free Practice, Saturday Qualifying and then for the Sunday Spanish GP Formula 1 race.

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After 3 weeks spring racing break that included a 4 day test we have another race weekend ahead of us. The first European race of 2008 F1 calendar - Spanish Grand Prix.

The Barcelona test last week did not reveal much about the new found strength of the F1 teams. We can expect the usual suspects to fight it out for the pole position. Depending on their fuel strategy any of the 6 Ferrari, McLaren and BMW Sauber drivers may claim the pole position. I would expect Ferrari to have the edge in the race with Massa (2007 winner) needing the race win more than Raikkonen. But anything can happen, we do have six drivers with a shot at the race win.

It will be interesting to see how the battle of the midfield shapes up. There are not that many places in Q3 left for grabs and even less that offer some points … But there are at least 10 cars aiming for them …

At this moment it is still unclear whether Super Aguri will race in Barcelona. The team will be present and even if they may not be able to take part in the race itself, I would expect them to do at least just enough to formally participate in the race. As long as they hope to survive and find new investor they would not want to forfeit their television money rights… Just a year ago at this race Takuma Sato scored first point for Super Aguri…

There are some reports that it may drizzle on Saturday and Sunday in Barcelona, that would sure bring some degree of unpredictability to the race. Other reports only forecast scattered clouds, so make your pick .

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As you may have realized, one of the regular F1Wolf readers and commentators lives nearby the Barcelona F1 circuit. Unsurprisingly, he seems to know the track quite well. He sent over a long message with lots of tips how to make the most of the visit to the Spanish GP. I chose to turn his comment into a post. So here it comes, Spanish GP by Kotenok, I added few photos (courtesy of AT&T Williams) for decoration:

Everybody might be thinking now: “Teams are preparing already the few last details and gathering for the whole weekend competition”. That’s true!! In Montmeló everything is ready, they’re prepared for showing to the world another complete race weekend!

I’m expecting to hear the cars roar soon, while now the motor homes are being built and the drivers walk over the track to find out any changes since tests last week, and I’m really anxious! HEHE!!!

Since the first event in 1992, this circuit became one of the greatest! Catalonia’s International Circuit is the first of these tracks from the new-era, this circuit attached to his history 4 times the best GP organization (1992, 2001, 2003 and 2006). The circuit hasn’t been designed by hands of Herman Tilke, but nowadays includes some spots of his work.

As written in last F1 Racing (Spanish edition, at least), this year organizers will perform some surprise - something that the remaining circuits won’t have or can’t do. What is it??? I’m not expecting any anti-racism program, as Max Mosley promised since February (he and his FIA mates shall feel sorrier about other facts recently). The surprise could be the presentation of some young Spanish driver in a F1 team? It’s the aim of their campaign which RACC and Catalonian government are carrying out; they want to open the doors to a young talent in the F1 championship in 1 or 2 years. Except it, I expect any entertainment could happen this weekend! A new great race weekend with GP2 and Formula One as top events, also there will be Porsche Supercup and the little but fast Formula BMW.

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Klokan and Fisheye - two F1Wolf readers and participants in the prediction game here at F1Wolf - made it to the Far East for some trade fairs. We went to see one fair in Macau yesterday, yes that Macau of Macau GP. The trade fair ended up being more boring than some the F1 races can be. And as there is still over half a year to go to the 55th Macau GP the guys decided to go for something a bit more exciting - bungee jump off the Macau Tower. I decided to stay down with my camera :-) and watch :

More photos in the post:
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The testing last week did not reveal too much. Not that we ever can tell too much about the form of teams from a test, but we can tell pretty much nothing after the last Barcelona test . Here is my view of what may have changed.

First look at the top 3:

Ferrari looked to be damn fast on slicks and with the hole in the nose. But not that different times were later achieved for example by Barrichello and Alonso, also on slicks. Ferrari’s speed early on in the test does not reveal much … McLaren cars were quite slow last week but both de la Rosa and Hamilton did lots of laps on their test days and outright speed might not have been their focus. Quite the same can be said about BMW Sauber. All three top teams are optimistic on their own form but cautious at the same not knowing the true gains of the other 2 …

Down to midfield now:

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The evironmental impacts of Formula 1 are being discussed a lot these days. So is F1 environmentally friendly sport ? Hell no. And does that make me feel sick ? Hell no again … There are things that make me sick much more …

The debate over the Formula 1 night race in Singapore is a prime example. People love to slam the night race shouting loud about all the energy that will be needed to light up the streets. Yes, Singapore power grid will probably have to provide more power that weekend than on normal weekends. How much more that I do not know, I have no numbers. But I doubt it is more than what for example football stadiums around Europe use over a weekend of evening matches. There is one night F1 race a year now, there may be few more. But there are football games almost everyday now and no one seems to care about the energy used for those lights … (don’t take me wrong, I love football). Add to it all the indoor lit up and airconditioned or frozen arenas where basketball, ice hockey and other sports are played on daily basis. How is that any better than F1 night race ?

Take the cross country skiing events now held in cities like Dusseldorf or Prague where all the snow had to be trucked from countryside or mountains far away … That makes me sick, not the lights in Singapore …

Now look at the Olympics madness. That event is just one massive drain on resources and for what ? So people can count medals that are often just products of pharmaceutical and chemical labs … The original Olympic ideas are long gone anyway, so what is all that theatre about anyway. Money … How is F1 any worse than Olympic games … Anyway, keep them on if people enjoy them. But what about this totally stupid idea of the World Olympic Torch Jet Tour ? A special plane keeps jetting around the globe to carry a flame, so few people can under police protection run few metres with a torch in hand (while others are being arrested by police) before flying it again to another city … They will cover 137,000 kilometers, how many of those km will people actually run ? I haven’t seen anything more silly than this in a very long time … This:

and this:

makes me sick … Not the lights on for 3 days in Singapore.

And what about all the damages the money driven biofuel global fiasco has caused ? Shortages of food, food prices rising to dangerous levels in places that no one wishes any unrest to begin, loss of hundreds of thousands hectares of rainforest causing more carbon emisions than burning fossil fuels does … But to grow corn for ethanol brings more cash than growing rice or wheat for people to eat, so there we go … We rush into biofuels before we know how to make them work for us and not against us. This makes me sick … Not those lights on for 3 days in Singapore …

End of the angry rant caused by the Olympic torch report I saw earlier today in the news.

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Shaun left this comment yesterday under one of the Barcelona test posts:

Why is Schumacher testing for Ferrari instead of Raikkonen or Massa ? sorry if this is an obvious question.

Well, good question and I do not think it is obvious. Ferrari has Raikkonen and Massa plus test drivers proper Gene and Badoer. But they still use Michael Schumacher and used him again in Barcelona this week. Schumacher did one day of testing. This was half of what Massa did, but about a day more than Kimi (thanks to rain on Thursday). Why is he still testing ? And why do they keep two other test drivers on payroll when they do not use them (almost) at all?

He still probably gives the team valuable input but is his input more valuable than input from one of the race drivers would be ? How does Kimi like the fact that he gets less running ? Perhaps he likes it and is actually thankful to Schumi for stepping in . But as far as I remember Kimi was never too excited about having Schumacher around.

Perhaps it is only publicity stunt as no matter what people may think about Michael Schumacher, he is a phenomenon that still attracts lots of attention.

Or perhaps it is just something that Jean Todt cooked up before leaving the team and Domenicali has to live with it now …

Well, who knows. The fact remains, Schumi is still around and he is definitely not slow.

There is another blog post on Michael Schumacher today here …

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Day 3 in Barcelona was about new BullRosso car that was supposed to run for last 2 days of test. Unfortunately Mr. Bourdais smashed it beyond repair and we probably will not see STR03 again for the rest of the Barcelona test.

Fernando Alonso must have felt like at the end of 2006 season, his Renault finishing just ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Not sure what exactly are McLaren and Toyota testing, they did not show much pace yet in Barcelona. Well, important will be the pace they show next week on the same track…

Most important development yesterday was however related to the team that does not test in Barcelona at all - Super Aguri …

Barcelona test April 2008 - Day 3 times:

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“Super Aguri confirms that it has been informed by Magma Group, the potential purchasers of the team, that its investors no longer wish to fund the intended acquisition. “It is with deep regret that Aguri Suzuki is now forced to consider the future of the team, however negotiations with other parties continue.”

Can’t tell this news came as a complete surprise … Not much has happened since the announcement last month and the absence of Super Aguri in Barcelona test this week indicated the continuing problems for the Japanese team. Honda’s continuing support seems to be the only short term solution. The chances of having only 10 teams and 20 cars on grid for the first time since the end of 2005 season are rather big now …

Photo: Super Aguri F1 Team

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