Spanish GP : Preview

After making its debut on the FF1M Calendar in 2016, the MotorLand Aragon circuit located near Alcañiz will host the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton looking to set a new record of most consecutive opening race wins having matched Cristiano Da Matta’s three out of three from the 2003 season.

Looking back on Mugello

Hamilton’s win at Mugello might’ve looked like another easy one having started from pole position and built up a huge gap in the early stages, but a three-stop strategy meant that he couldn’t relax. In those early stages, Tornado’s Vaino Kimminen moved up to 2nd after front row sitter Sergio Perez spun off at Scarperia on lap 2, but despite the more favourable two-stop strategy, the Tornado car wasn’t able to match Hamilton in terms of speed and the freshest of the flying Finns eventually came under threat from a resurgent FJR.

The Yorkshire team were looking to kickstart their season after both cars retired on the same lap at Kyalami due to separate reliability issues, and having focused on race set-up for the two practices sessions and Sunday warm-up, both Kevin Magnussen and Catharina Caracciola made their way up the order. On lap 50, Magnussen moved up to 2nd with a neat move on Kimminen into San Donato, but another problem with the Judd engine on the next lap cruelly denied him. Fortunately for FJR, Caracciola’s car remained reliable as she took her first FF1M podium finish, less than a tenth behind Kimminen and with the fastest lap as well. Poor Magnussen is yet to finish a race and currently sits last in the drivers championship, but at least Judd had opened up their Engine Trophy campaign, which is currently being headed by Mugen.

Engine Trophy standings after 3 races

1. Mugen – 42
2. Climax – 35
3. Megatron – 20
4. Judd – 6
5. Hart – 0

In the Paddock

This season’s race completes the Motorland Aragon’s initial two year contract with FF1M and rumours are circling the paddock that the deal may not be renewed after technical issues blighted it’s debut race in 2016. AFIA leaders are said to be considering a return to either Barcelona or Jerez if they choose not to extend Aragon’s deal into 2018.

On to Aragon

The fast corners of Mugello circuit heavily favoured the 16B teams with the highest of the 17 teams being Gojira AutoSport, whose team rounded out the top eight. The 17s are likely to be more competitive at Aragon as the circuit proved to be particularly power-sensitive and not so dependent on aerodynamic performance. One of those 17s looking to bounce back is CBA Racing. Their powerful Megatron engine helped Tomas Gonzalez to 2nd at Melbourne, but they weren’t on the pace at Mugello, plus Kimi Raikkonen crashed out and took the terminally unlucky Stoffel Vandoorne with him.

The third Megatron team, Shake ‘n’ Bake, are also looking for results after another race where they failed to build on their strong practice pace and found themselves out of the points at Mugello. Fernando Alonso has yet to score a point this season and the Spanish Grand Prix presents the best opportunity for the three-time champion to live up to the pre-season predictions.

Last season’s edition at Aragon saw Perez benefit from a collision between Hamilton and Gonzalez to take the first of five wins that season. His GRM car also houses the Megatron engine, so there is a fair possibility for the Mexican to take his first pole since the 2013 United States Grand Prix, but he’ll have to usurp the rampant Hamilton, who is arguably in his best form at the moment.

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