Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the busiest day of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend so far.
Nico Rosberg took pole position by three tenths of a second from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
It all started with another 6:30am alarm, before getting prepared for the day ahead and travelling to the track. We arrived just before 8:00am and quickly got set up.
Unsurprisingly, Saturday in the paddock kicked off with a trip to Ferrari for breakfast, before I took a look through the transcript from Friday’s FIA press conference. Some quotes from Mercedes executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe caught my eye, saying Hamilton is currently performing at the top of his game.
Having posted that article, attention turned to third practice. The 60-minute session saw Rosberg finish fastest, from Vettel and Hamilton. The reigning world champion suffered a spin at Turn 3, similar to the one Pastor Maldonado suffered during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix last year. However, unlike the Lotus driver, he managed to keep his car out of the wall.
Once I filed the FP3 report on Richland F1, friends and fellow journalists Luke Smith, Phil Horton and Rosie Baillie headed to Red Bull Racing for lunch. A wonder through the paddock followed before qualifying and then it was time to start the live Twitter commentary, which I was covering for the session.
It was a decent qualifying session. Not a stand-out one, but it threw up a good result with a slightly unusual grid. Rosberg cut Hamilton’s pole position run short, while Toro Rosso’s rookies starred and Felipe Massa went off at Turn 3, which dropped him to ninth. There was slight progress at McLaren, while Force India and Sauber struggled.
Following qualifying, it was time to attend some media sessions. A big benefit of having someone else at the track covering a race weekend with you is splitting up the driver press sessions, so you share the quotes and end up with a much wider range.
When I went to races last year I was by myself and it was a lot tougher, this time I have been able to take it all in. A few hours later, we were done for the day. 16 pieces filed between Rosie and I, we decided to head out and walk the track – something I’ve never actually done before.
It makes you change your perspective completely. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya features some very steep sections, with more undultations than it appears on TV. Corners are longer and straights take 10 minutes to cover, whereas it takes a Formula 1 car several seconds. Crazy. I also managed to pick up some tyre rubber which was a nice bonus.
It took us around an hour to walk the track in total, and I was tired just from doing that – Phil actually ran it for the second time this weekend and set a personal best, rather him than me! It was a really cool experience, to be able to walk a circuit and get a proper feel for what it is like and its characteristics.
Tomorrow is the big day. Sunday always comes around very fast when you are covering a race weekend, and hopefully it will be an interesting one. Mercedes look quick as usual, but Ferrari could challenge. Williams appear to be a bit closer, but the real fight will be over the final five points positions.
You can see all of today's coverage on Richland F1 here.
Other Spanish Grand Prix blogs:
Wednesday - http://bit.ly/1EXEHVh
Thursday - http://bit.ly/1cspAIR
Friday - http://bit.ly/1ImOfvC
It all started with another 6:30am alarm, before getting prepared for the day ahead and travelling to the track. We arrived just before 8:00am and quickly got set up.
Unsurprisingly, Saturday in the paddock kicked off with a trip to Ferrari for breakfast, before I took a look through the transcript from Friday’s FIA press conference. Some quotes from Mercedes executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe caught my eye, saying Hamilton is currently performing at the top of his game.
Having posted that article, attention turned to third practice. The 60-minute session saw Rosberg finish fastest, from Vettel and Hamilton. The reigning world champion suffered a spin at Turn 3, similar to the one Pastor Maldonado suffered during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix last year. However, unlike the Lotus driver, he managed to keep his car out of the wall.
Once I filed the FP3 report on Richland F1, friends and fellow journalists Luke Smith, Phil Horton and Rosie Baillie headed to Red Bull Racing for lunch. A wonder through the paddock followed before qualifying and then it was time to start the live Twitter commentary, which I was covering for the session.
It was a decent qualifying session. Not a stand-out one, but it threw up a good result with a slightly unusual grid. Rosberg cut Hamilton’s pole position run short, while Toro Rosso’s rookies starred and Felipe Massa went off at Turn 3, which dropped him to ninth. There was slight progress at McLaren, while Force India and Sauber struggled.
Following qualifying, it was time to attend some media sessions. A big benefit of having someone else at the track covering a race weekend with you is splitting up the driver press sessions, so you share the quotes and end up with a much wider range.
When I went to races last year I was by myself and it was a lot tougher, this time I have been able to take it all in. A few hours later, we were done for the day. 16 pieces filed between Rosie and I, we decided to head out and walk the track – something I’ve never actually done before.
It makes you change your perspective completely. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya features some very steep sections, with more undultations than it appears on TV. Corners are longer and straights take 10 minutes to cover, whereas it takes a Formula 1 car several seconds. Crazy. I also managed to pick up some tyre rubber which was a nice bonus.
It took us around an hour to walk the track in total, and I was tired just from doing that – Phil actually ran it for the second time this weekend and set a personal best, rather him than me! It was a really cool experience, to be able to walk a circuit and get a proper feel for what it is like and its characteristics.
Tomorrow is the big day. Sunday always comes around very fast when you are covering a race weekend, and hopefully it will be an interesting one. Mercedes look quick as usual, but Ferrari could challenge. Williams appear to be a bit closer, but the real fight will be over the final five points positions.
You can see all of today's coverage on Richland F1 here.
Other Spanish Grand Prix blogs:
Wednesday - http://bit.ly/1EXEHVh
Thursday - http://bit.ly/1cspAIR
Friday - http://bit.ly/1ImOfvC
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