Verstappen calls Mercedes claim “bullshit”
Mercedes technical director James Allison recently said with a wink about Red Bull: “It looks like their upgrade was a downgrade.” And indeed, the Bulls have been struggling much more in recent weeks than at the start of the season.
Max Verstappen still doesn’t want to hear anything about it. “That’s bullshit, of course,” he says, stressing that there is another, very simple reason why Red Bull is no longer as dominant as before.
The update has definitely improved the car, “but everyone around us is simply making bigger steps than us,” Verstappen emphasises. And that’s why the lead has melted away.
McLaren in particular looks “very strong” again in Barcelona, said Verstappen, who emphasised: “They are simply good everywhere now. On every type of track, in the long runs and they are also coping well with the tyres.”
“They have simply put together a strong package,” he praises McLaren and warns: “It looks as if everyone around us is bringing more updates than we are. Of course, we have to work on finding more performance for our own car as well.”
Albon starts from the box
News from Williams: Alexander Albon will get a new battery and new control electronics for the race. In both cases, it is already the third unit, only two are allowed.
This means that Albon will start the race later from the pit lane. But he won’t lose much because he finished second to last in qualifying anyway.
For team-mate Logan Sargeant, this leads to the curious situation that he finished 20th in qualifying yesterday, then received a grid penalty (+3) – and will now start 19th anyway…
Direct comparison
Here you can see yesterday’s two laps by Lando Norris and Max Verstappen again graphically. Among other things, you can see that the world champion is clearly getting closer to Norris on the home straight.
If the finish line had come a little later, he might have been on pole today…
Briatore & Schumacher: Will there be a reunion?
Flavio Briatore, Schumacher and Benetton: There was something there, wasn’t there? Frederik Hackbarth asks our expert Marc Surer in Barcelona whether Briatore’s comeback could also accelerate Mick Schumacher’s comeback in Formula 1.
Also in our new video: Why Carlos Sainz would be better advised to switch to Audi instead of Williams. What the McLaren hospitality looks like after the fire in the motorhome before qualifying for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
And how Surer assesses the unsportsmanlike actions of Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc in free practice.
Briatore & Schumacher: Will there be a reunion?
Flavio Briatore, Schumacher and Benetton: There was something there, wasn’t there? Frederik Hackbarth asks our expert Marc Surer. More Formula 1 videos
Strategy
We talked about it briefly yesterday in the ticker: Pirelli does not believe that it will be possible to drive through today with just one stop – on the contrary. The Italians are proposing at least two stops.
The possible variants are soft-medium-soft, soft-hard-soft or even a two-stopper, where all three compounds are used. Of course, it also depends on who has which tires available.
Pirelli even suggests a three-stopper on soft-medium-soft-soft for the race. Let’s wait and see whether we’ll actually see a Grand Prix with more than two scheduled stops for the first time in a long time.
Mercedes: The direction is right
Even without rain, Mercedes is counting on a good result today. Andrew Shovlin explains after qualifying: “The car balance was [in der Qualifikation] trickier than yesterday.”
“At times it looked like we had a chance to fight for the front row. In Q3, however, the pace of Norris and Verstappen was simply unattainable for us,” he admits.
But: “The positive thing is that both cars are at the front. That will open up some options for us in terms of strategy. The most important thing will be [am Sonntag] the race pace and the tyre degradation,” said Shovlin.
“Our long run saw [am Freitag] “It’s looking good and we’ve done a bit of work on the tuning overnight. So we hope we’ve taken another step in the right direction,” he stresses.
“It is also encouraging that the hard work of everyone in the team is bringing us ever closer to the top and hopefully we can make further steps in the next races,” explains Shovlin aggressively.
Is the rain coming?
One of the exciting questions in Barcelona today is whether it will rain? After Friday and Saturday were completely dry, precipitation cannot be ruled out today.
However, the probability of rain is rather low and the track is still dry. The F1 Academy has just completed its race there – and without any rain.
If it does get wet, you will of course hear about it from us.
Raceday!
Hello and welcome to a new edition of our Formula 1 live ticker. Everything is ready, the tenth race of the 2024 season is scheduled to take place in Barcelona today from 3 p.m.
There are still a few hours until then, and this gives us the opportunity to get you in the mood for the Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya here in the ticker.
Ruben Zimmermann will accompany you through the day today and if you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, you can use our contact form. You can also find us on Facebook, XInstagram and YouTube. Let’s go!
Here you can read our live ticker from yesterday again!
