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A track that AT&T Williams
knows well, having raced here every year since 1991 and completed many
thousands of kilometres of testing. The circuit’s long corners are a
good test of car stability and aerodynamic performance, and a handful of
slow corners towards the end of the lap put an onus on traction.
The most demanding corner on the lap is Turn 3, a long uphill
right-hander that is taken almost flat-out. The drivers fight oversteer
all the way through it and every time they lift off the throttle, even
for a moment, it’s reflected in their lap time. Overtaking is difficult,
but that doesn’t worry the Spanish fans. In recent years the circuit has
become a shrine to Spanish World Champion Fernando Alonso. New AT&T
Williams recruit Pastor Maldonado, a native Spanish-speaker, will no
doubt find some support in the crowd as well.
Sam Michael, Technical Director:
Barcelona is a circuit that demands good aero efficiency. It isn’t a
track that is hard on brakes and with its long high speed corners, the
aero efficiency of the cars can be the biggest performance
differentiator. The circuit layout hasn't been favourable for overtaking
in the past however with the tyre degradation and the moveable rear
wing it will likely be different this year.
Since the Turkish Grand Prix, we have been working on our new rear wings
that we ran in practice at Istanbul Park and we will have them on both
cars again in Barcelona. In addition to that we’ll have new exhaust
blown diffusers to test.
Rubens Barrichello:
Barcelona is a great racing track and one that people know the most. It
will be interesting to see how much the other teams and drivers have
developed since we were there for the final test in March. I hope that
we as a team can make a good jump forward in performance with our
upgrades in Barcelona. I remain positive that we will.
Pastor Maldonado:
It is going to be a very interesting race as we’ve had more time to
develop the car now so we will see what we can do in Barcelona. We have
more data as we tested there over the winter, so I think that will make
it slightly easier than it’s been at the previous races. I think it will
be easier from my point of view as well because I’ve already driven the
FW33 there. We will continue to work on the new upgrades to see what a
difference they can make. I really like the circuit. I think it is one
of the best as it is a very complete, technical track with a good
mixture of high and low speed corners. Turn 3 is probably my favourite;
it is very long and fast.
Race Data
Friday:
Practice 1: 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2: 14:00 - 15:30
Saturday:
Practice 3: 11:00 - 12:00
Qualifying: 14:00 – 15:00
Sunday: Race: 14:00
From Cosworth’s
perspective:
The Circuit de Catalunya is well known to teams and drivers as a
designated preseason test venue. Teams arrive at the track with a good
understanding of the track’s demands, having accumulated data in the two
separate tests earlier this year. As a general rule, the Catalan circuit
is not too demanding on engines but units are still put through a decent
workout over the course of the lap. Only around 60% of the lap is spent
at full throttle, but the 1.047km main straight requires good peak
power, while the circuit’s unique flow of corners demands good
driveability from the engine and a responsive gearbox.
From Pirelli’s perspective:
Barcelona is a track that we know well as we’ve carried out a lot of
testing there. We’re expecting the temperatures over the race weekend to
be much warmer than they were back in March, when we had the last
official test, and this should mean that our tyres will be working well
within their operating window. We’re introducing a new evolution of the
hard tyre for Barcelona, which should provide all the teams with a
little extra durability. We very much hope that this will help Williams
to have a strong race in Spain: the team deserves a good result.
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