It will have been three weeks by the time the next Formula 1 race gets underway in Barcelona, Spain. This will be the home country race for Fernando Alonso, Jaime Alguersuari, and newcomer, Pedro de la Rosa. For Fernando Alonso it will be his first Spanish Grand Prix driving for Ferrari. This alone should make the Spanish F1 fans happy. And the fact that Alonso and Hamilton are currently tied with 49 championship points apiece should make for an exciting duel from the former Mclaren rivals. It is also the first race at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya for Jaime Alguersuari who started mid season last year. Alguersuari scored his first Formula 1 points in Malaysia by coming in ninth place ahead of countryman Fernado Alonso who finished 13th. The race in Barcelona will also be the first for Pedro de la Rosa driving for Sauber. De la Rosa has yet to score any championship points. His best finish thus far has been 12th position in Melbourne. The Melbourne race was also the first race he successfully completed, beating out his teammate, Kamui Kobayashi, who has yet to finish a race with an intact race car.
The news has been rather quiet during this lull in racing. Most of the news centered around the F1 personnel battling the ash of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Ross Brawn was among one of the few lucky souls who managed to get out of Shanghai immediately and relatively painlessly. Mark Webber, on the other hand, spent 44 hours traveling by various modes of transportation and managed to lose his passport along the way. The Virgin Racing team was so delayed in getting their equipment back to home base that they were only able to fit one of their cars, that of Timo Glock, with a new chassis.
Teams usually use this lengthy period in between races to add new bits onto the cars and make major adjustments. One driver who will be the beneficiary of a major overhaul is Michael Schumacher. Mercedes have increased the car’s wheelbase in an attempt to improve weight distribution. Ferrari will be trying out their new F-duct system in Spain and Fisichella has been out on the track testing the new aerodynamics. Red Bull’s Mark Webber has stated in an interview that Red Bull will not have the F-duct or J-switch available to them for the Spanish Grand Prix, while the Sauber team has also been testing out theirs. Most of the other teams have also made upgrades to their aero packages that they will be unveiling in Spain.
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