[SPOILER] 2008 European GP

[blue8]

Round 12: Telefonica European GP
Valencia, Spain

About the circuit:
From the start-finish straight, a fast right-hander leads into the right-angle Grua Cabria - which takes the cars within metres of the yachts in the harbour.

That leads into the technically-challenging Malvarossa complex, which culminates in a 55mph right hander.

Next is a trip over the swing bridge across the mouth of the harbour, which - when Formula One is not in town - opens to allow ferries to and from the Balearic Islands to dock.

Following a tight right-hander directly after the bridge, it is full throttle all the way through a left-hander and on to the back straight where the cars are expected to hit speeds of 200mph.

Scrubbing off 125mph under heavy braking, a twisty right-left-right section follows past the fish market - before another long blast of the throttle rockets the cars into a tight right-hand hairpin.

The walls then zip by through the exhilarating Grao section before the final turn, another hairpin.

The unique pit garages, housed in former dockside warehouses, whizz by on the left as a lap is completed. Free Practice 1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.496 29
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:40.654 + 0.158 27
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:40.822 + 0.326 14
4. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.099 + 0.603 31
5. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:41.163 + 0.667 23
6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.281 + 0.785 24
7. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:41.317 + 0.821 27
8. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:41.329 + 0.833 26
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:41.385 + 0.889 31
10. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:41.706 + 1.210 22
11. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.830 + 1.334 27
12. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:41.930 + 1.434 27
13. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:41.951 + 1.455 23
14. Glock Toyota (B) 1:42.036 + 1.540 27
15. Piquet Renault (B) 1:42.107 + 1.611 32
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:42.453 + 1.957 23
17. Button Honda (B) 1:42.460 + 1.964 29
19. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:43.075 + 2.579 25
19. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:43.312 + 2.816 23
20. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:43.524 + 3.028 24

Free Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.477 30
2. Alonso Renault (B) 1:39.497 + 0.020 39
3. Button Honda (B) 1:39.546 + 0.069 35
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:39.678 + 0.201 31
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.712 + 0.235 31
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.954 + 0.477 30
7. Glock Toyota (B) 1:39.967 + 0.490 32
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:40.149 + 0.672 35
9. Piquet Renault (B) 1:40.439 + 0.962 32
10. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.500 + 1.023 23
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.585 + 1.108 24
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.607 + 1.130 34
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:40.696 + 1.219 23
14. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:40.742 + 1.265 34
15. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:40.877 + 1.400 32
16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:40.982 + 1.505 36
17. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.999 + 1.522 32
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:41.084 + 1.607 35
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.246 + 1.769 38
20. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:41.377 + 1.900 31

[SHIZL]

what a greaat looking track too bad its so dirty the track surface hopefully its good for the race

[Kissyface]

I really like the layout of the track from what I see in the cockpit. The quick change of direction at relatively high speed looks very cool.

[blue8]

Free Practice 3:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.754 15
2. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:38.877 + 0.123 18
3. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:39.009 + 0.255 16
4. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:39.270 + 0.516 17
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:39.276 + 0.522 18
6. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:39.300 + 0.546 16
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.314 + 0.560 13
8. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:39.335 + 0.581 18
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:39.421 + 0.667 16
10. Piquet Renault (B) 1:39.452 + 0.698 20
11. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:39.597 + 0.843 17
12. Button Honda (B) 1:39.628 + 0.874 10
13. Alonso Renault (B) 1:39.652 + 0.898 17
14. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:39.802 + 1.048 14
15. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.810 + 1.058 20
16. Glock Toyota (B) 1:39.919 + 1.165 22
17. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.019 + 1.265 21
18. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:40.059 + 1.305 21
19. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:40.512 + 1.758 20
20. Trulli Toyota (B) no time 2

[SHIZL]

what happend to trulli ?

[Kissyface]

http://lord_k.home.comcast.net/SNAG-0028.jpg


A very exciting qualifying session from Valencia today with Massa taking pole. Glad to see him doing well and that Ferrari aren't falling behind like many have thought. I am a Hamilton supporter but first and foremost I want good, close racing and this season is proving to be one of the best I've seen in my lifetime of watching F1. It's a great time to be a fan.

[blue8]

P1 Massa
Hamilton
Kubica
Raikkonen
Kovalainen
Vettel
Trulli
Heidfeld
Rosberg
Bourdais
P11 Alonso

It may possibly rain tomorrow according to the weather forecast. The drivers also mentioned that overtaking may be more difficult than they expected even if the roads are wide. Hope that's not true though.

[Mattk]

Good to see Vettel showing some speed, as well as Bourdais. Neither have had too many great qualifying performances.

[Spiffu]

Watch Massa's rear wing snap off 5 laps before the race ends, or a wheel comes off.

[styla21]

Watch Massa's rear wing snap off 5 laps before the race ends, or a wheel comes off.
LOL. So true :mrgreen:

[yellky]

so far pretty clean race - watching GP2 in the morning i was quite sure we'll have SC on track for several times ;)

MAS 1st
HAM 2nd
KUB 3rd (go go Robert !! :thumbup:)

btw, Valencia looks really nice - i think it's gonna be my 3rd favourite track (after Monaco and Spa..).

[yellky]

disaster for RAI:
- first mistake in the pits :: started too early (under red), hurt the crew guy and lost some seconds
- and now the engine blew up (guess where? on the start/finish straight, just like MAS last time..)

[nthfinity]

spanish F1 crowd thinned out when Alonso was no longer likely to win? I'd stay to see who won anyway...

[yellky]

no changes in top3 on the finish line - good to see KUB and BMW back on the podium
:thumbup: :thumbup:

[toffytofik]

Relatively boring race, as usual. But what a wonderful circuit Valencia is! (at least when viewed from the chopper cam :P)

Nice kamikaze move by Nakajima btw! Way to piss all of the Alonso supporters off @ his homeground, LOL

[CarlZ]

i was expecting more from this race, i don't know what but...more

[Jona]

i was expecting more from this race, i don't know what but...more

I know! Action.

[blue8]

Massa keeps his victory:
Felipe Massa's Ferrari team have been reprimanded and fined by the European Grand Prix stewards, but the Brazilian driver has kept his victory at Valencia.

Massa's victory was in doubt after the stewards said they would investigate a pitlane incident after the race.

The Brazilian nearly crashed with Force India's Adrian Sutil when joining the pitlane following his pitstop and the stewards deemed his release had been dangerous.

As a result of the incident Ferrari have been reprimanded and Ferrari fined 10,000 Euro for the "unsafe release from pitstop, although no sporting advantage was obtained."

Thank goodness! It would suck if he were robbed of two wins in two consecutive races!
I also expected more from the race. The view especially from above was nice but as for actual racing, there really wasn't much.

[5vz-fe]

Ferrari really needs to hold their act together on reliability. It's hurting them very seriously.

[go1d1e]

Any news on the dude that got run over?

[Jona]

Any news on the dude that got run over?

He's OK. Hurt his leg a little, but nothing serious. Nothing was broken, except maybe his self-confidence.

[sprakzilla]

the pit lane exit is only 1 lane, that would suck if someone stalled there

[SHIZL]

a few ferrari fans in race control there but thats good they didnt take they win away from them even though they should have if it was anybody else besides the red team. hopefully they figure out how to pit by the next race cause that was a joke this weekend. great track bad race normal f1 stuff hopefully next year this changes with the rules

[Mattk]

^Why should the race win have been taken away? There was no advantage gained. Massa didn't win more easily because of the mistake.

I didn't watch it, but not much seems to have happened. A good result for Massa, though, which should put his near future at Ferrari beyond doubt.

[SHIZL]

there was a unsafe release by car #2 the same type of release that was being done by two gp2 teams that were drive thru penalty's either way just let them race hopefully they continue not to effect the races

[go1d1e]

I am kind of on the fence on this.. yea, they did it the same day with GP2 and enforced it with a penalty.. but then how many times has it been done in F1 this year alone. How about Raik coming out next too Kubica(?) when they stopped at the end of the pits next too each other and got hit? Was that an unsafe release also? I seem to remember Alonson getting into it with someone recently too in the pitlane.. They didnt comment on it then..

[SHIZL]

look at the size of that pitlane

[arguapacha]

There are boring races... and Valencia...