Sam Michael, Technical Director
We spend a lot of time testing in Barcelona so we know the track well. That brings obviousadvantages for the drivers, but it also enables us to spend more time working on differentprogrammes during the practice sessions. We will have some aero updates for the car in Barcelona,including a new front wing, sidepod and revised wing mirrors. We will also be running additional testparts in order to further develop the blown rear wing that we had limited time with in Shanghai.
Rubens Barrichello
Most of the drivers know Barcelona inside out. It’s a great track, particularly for qualifying and that canreally be the determining factor of the weekend. The circuit has a combination of high and low speedsectors but the priority is to achieve good speed going into the corners, rather than focusing on thelong straight, so you have to have a strong aerodynamic set-up. Turn three is challenging and you arelooking to go flat out there for qualifying. The four-through-seven corner sequence is where you canmake up the most time on the lap so getting that hooked up is important too.Overtaking is kind of limited because everyone has so much experience of the track. The biggestvariable is normally the weather. I’ve raced at Catalunya plenty of times; it’s a circuit I like a lot and Ithink someone with experience will do better there.
Nico Hülkenberg
I’ve enjoyed the first few races so I’m looking forward to Spain and working together with the teamagain. I’ve covered a lot of kilometres testing in Barcelona over the past couple of years, and I’veraced there in GP2, so I’m confident I know the track well enough to hit the ground running. It’s agood circuit to drive and gives everyone a clear indication of how strong your aerodynamics are.The track flows nicely and has some testing corners. The first sector is especially quick. Turn three isa fast right hander, turn nine too, and both are a lot of fun to drive. Like everyone else, we will havenew parts for Barcelona so there’s some expectation to do better there than in China. I’ve been to thetrack so many times but I’ve never really seen the city itself. Now that I’m actually racing in F1, I doubtthat’s going to change!
