Rate the race: 2015 Spanish Grand Prix

2015 Spanish Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Spanish Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 Spanish Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (0%)
  • 9 (1%)
  • 8 (3%)
  • 7 (15%)
  • 6 (25%)
  • 5 (25%)
  • 4 (16%)
  • 3 (8%)
  • 2 (3%)
  • 1 (3%)

Total Voters: 667

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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205 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 Spanish Grand Prix”

  1. In my opinion a thoroughly uninspiring race which has become somewhat representative of what F1 is nowadays. I just cannot get excited any more by a sport which I have followed to the point of obsession in the past.

    It’s not the dominance by one team which is putting me off, as I still loved the sport during the Schumacher/Ferrari years. To be honest, I think it’s DRS which is the route of the issue.

    In the past there was certainly less overtaking, but what a thrill when the move was finally made. It’s sickening to see aggressive, exciting drivers such as Raikkonen, Ricciardo and others left entirely defenceless by a system which makes overtaking a formality rather than an art.

    I’m disappointed to think that I may be splitting up with my first love…

    1. Utterly boring race, yeah. Hated the DRS passes, especially at the beginning.

    2. Michal (@michal2009b)
      10th May 2015, 14:47

      Yeah, but I don’t think DRS is the main issue because that system was in 2012 and it was labelled as an epic. The problem is the V6s which made F1 much less spectacular, much slower and the reliability is perfect. Mercedes streamroller and established pecking order repeating itself race by race is also contributing.

      1. There was plenty of complaints back in 2012 about DRS & the poll’s done on here at the time suggested back then that most fans don’t like it.

        The V6’s are fine, Watching the cars is much better than it was in 2012 where they were all glued to the track & looked far easier to drive than they should.
        I love these new cars, I love these new power units which have made watching the cars so much more spectacular & made them look far more of a handful than they did with those rubbish V8’s…

        The problem is 1000% DRS & to a lesser extent the tyres.

        1. @michal2009b Also the ‘much slower’ part has nothing to do with the V6’s which are actually faster than the previous V8’s.

          The cars are slower than they were because of the harder tyre compounds that are no longer designed purely for performance & the fact the cars have less downforce.

          1. The problem is 1000% DRS &to a lesser extent the tyres

            DRS is a necessary evil so long as we have these tyres, without DRS but with these tyres all the position changes would happen in the pits or under blue flags, staying close enough to a car to launch a challenge or take advantage of a minor error is just too costly in terms of tyre degradation. The changes to the wings may have been enough to make DRS unnecessary but these tyres have made it even more necessary, unfortunately.

        2. Michal (@michal2009b)
          10th May 2015, 14:54

          The poll made on Polish largest F1 website is saying completely the opposite thing. You are complaining about DRS which had no affect whatsoever on the top six, just to complain about the system which is popular on this website :)

          DRS is a problem but not as much as it is emphasisted there, ignoring the fact how races are looking. Anyway, boring F1.

          1. I’m not looking at a poll on a polish website I’m looking at all the poll’s that have been done here, Comments on twitter through a race & poll’s done on other fan forums i am a member of.

            I have also seen people say that poll’s done by the 2 German broadcasters (RTL & Sky) showed that over 80% of German F1 fans voted against DRS.

          2. Whether due to DRS, V6s or whatever, F1 is quickly becoming uninspiring and dull. In fact, I switched off towards the end, as the SkyF1 commentary did nothing to improve my feeling on this.

            For me, I think the dominance of Mercedes, and the ease with which they win, are both making this sport less than it could be. The racing further down the field has been a small glimmer of hope, but the broadcasters’ stubborn insistence upon staying with, and talking up the leaders snuffs this light out for me.

        3. the cars do not look as much less grounded as you think. this extra torque of the v6 is overated, as engine maps make the drivers drive nearly the same as with the v8s. engine mapping is akin to traction control a lot of times, especially for the race starts. i would rather see cars drive on rails and look exciting to watch. other you can go watch a nascar road course race if you want to see wheel spin.

          1. How can a car drive on rails and look exciting to watch? Sounds a bit contradictory to me. Also I don’t think engine maps play nearly as big a role as you think they do in reducing wheel spin, wheel spin is very detrimental to lap time, so the drivers will naturally drive to avoid wheel spin. Also, Brundle said these cars are much harder to drive than the V8 era cars, indicating that engine maps are not negating the massive increase in torque. I think if the tyres are more durable we would see more on the edge driving and the cars would look exciting to watch, no one complains about the cars looking boring in qualifying, for example.

          2. Where did you get the idea that “extra torque of the v6 is overrated, as engine maps make the drivers drive nearly the same as with the v8s” from? With the V8s, drivers would instantly go to 100% throttle as soon as they hit the apex with no troubles. Now drivers can’t really use full throttle out of corners, sometimes not full throttle until about 3rd gear, as they would otherwise light up the rears or spin out.

            As William Stuart pointed out, Martin Brundle drove one of the Force India cars for a Sky feature. Brundle said that the cars are certainly less “physical” to drive due to the lower downforce (nothing to do with the V6s), but they are undoubtedly much more difficult to drive than the V8 cars in terms of technique. He said he was initially was disappointed in himself to be feathering the throttle through some corners, only to find that Hulkenberg was doing the exactly the same thing, because you can’t just smash your foot to the floor and hope to stay planted anymore. Plus all the switch changes make it overall much more complex in the cockpit than ever before. The 2000 era (high downforce + traction control etc.) cars weren’t actually that difficult in terms of technique to drive, they were just insanely physical and so you needed to be a real athlete to perform throughout a race under the g-force levels. When using the phrase “difficult to drive” people need to separate it into technique and physicality, as they are two very different things.

          3. @kpcart, I mean no offence here, but your understanding of the regulations is out of date and completely wrong. It was the V8 engines that had custom engine maps for the start line procedure and that, allegedly, mimicked traction control – both of which were removed from the regulations when the V6’s came in.

            If you read the technical regulations, you will find that the FIA explicitly states that the teams can only use one engine map in dry conditions and one map in wet conditions. To quote:
            “The accelerator pedal shaping map in the ECU may only be linked to the type of the tyres fitted to the car : one map for use with dry-weather tyres and one map for use with intermediate or wet-weather tyres.”

            There are also additional regulations on the shape of the torque curve that make it pretty clear that the teams cannot alter the engine maps in the way that you think – if anything, the situation is actually much more favourable for the V8 engines, where the teams could use engine maps to alter the shape of the torque curve far more than they can now.

            As for the question of the torque curve, it’s worth noting that Cosworth actually did simulate that when they developed a prototype V6 powertrain package back in 2013.

            The simulations they prepared show that not only is the peak torque of the current engines far higher than anything the V8’s could produce, and considerably broader to boot – similarly, Brundle complained that the V8 engines were completely gutless as the peak in torque was so high up the rev range, and Coulthard has also commented about how the power delivery of the V6 engines is completely different to the V8’s after he had the chance to drive the 2014 spec Williams.

      2. On that note, Renault and Honda are lacking in top speed, hence appearing to be sitting ducks, when combined with DRS. Note Hamilton couldn’t pass Vettel with DRS and the same top speed.

        1. Same for Raikkonen on Bottas

          1. The Skeptic
            10th May 2015, 15:12

            There were two factors that helped Bottas:

            1) He had better grip from his old prime tyres than Kimi did from his equally old options.
            2) He was able to use DRS himself as a result of traffic.

          2. OK, sure, but what about earlier in the race? First stint?

    3. It’s not the dominance by one team which is putting me off, as I still loved the sport during the Schumacher/Ferrari years. To be honest, I think it’s DRS which is the route of the issue.

      @ben-n Completely agree with you on that.

      Every time I see a DRS pass, especially the easier one’s I just lose that bit more interest in the race because I simply do not find those passes fun to watch.

      Its seriously time for a rethink on DRS.

      1. Michal (@michal2009b)
        10th May 2015, 14:51

        It was DRS in 2011-2012 and many of those races were rated highly. The problem is the amount of action in the top six, like China, they are finishing in more or the same order as in P1 with no (with or without DRS) overtaking. That’s why the races are boring.

        1. Read the comments, Most people are turned off by the DRS, Its clear that most fans don’t like the stupid gimmick.

          It was the same in 2011/2012, Go back & read the comments from back then & you will see that even back then most fans didn’t like DRS & over the years more & more have turned against it.

          1. Michal (@michal2009b)
            10th May 2015, 14:57

            No, I think while DRS is a problem and it doubled since introducing double zones in 2013 (…) but the thing people turned off is because of Vettel dominance and Pirelli tyres not DRS. 2011 and 2012 were highest rated seasons.

          2. I know plenty of people who turned off because of DRS.

            Pretty much everyone I know no longer watched F1 purely because of DRS.

            Stop putting your head in the sand, DRS is killing this sport & the constant stream of comments on here & elsewhere talking about disliking DRS is proof of that.

          3. BTW even during todays race you had the Sky commentary team talking about how DRS is making passes too easy & both Croft & Brundle have in the past been defending it, Yet they are now turning against it.

          4. Michal (@michal2009b)
            10th May 2015, 15:04

            Yes, you are absolutely spot on. The DRS was tolerate till 2013 when they introduced two zones. But it’s far from being only F1 problem. Boredom is still exaggerated DRS issue.

    4. Bit of an overreaction there Ben. The main issue is that this season is not competitive and that leads to a boring race like today. Also it has become clear that the cars are even more aero-sensitive this season so if anything DRS is needed more than ever. That’s not to say that i like DRS because i don’t. I despise it and it is ruining one of the core elements of a motorsport but it’s not the reason this year is a bit dull. If you want to blame anyone than blame Redbull, Ferrari, Williams and Mclaren for simply not being good enough.

      1. Michal (@michal2009b)
        10th May 2015, 15:17

        +1. DRS is not the main and only issue what @RogerA is trying to say that scratching DRS would make F1 amazing. It’s no true. It is one a lot of issues and I don’t think it is in the top three even.

        1. I would agree with that.

          First they need to fix the aerodynamics issue once and for all (DRS is not the solution). Then they need to make good tyres again and remove the rule that states you must use both types during the race (seriously, what is the point?) Also what tyre you start the race on should not be decided in Q2 (Again, seriously, what is the point?) Lastly, they need to stop restricting teams from testing and upgrading the engines. It is making it even more difficult for other teams/engine manufacturers to catch up with Mercedes.

          Once those issues are resolved then DRS can be looked at.

          1. makes me wounder why any of the posters above even watch F1,
            why not just enjoy what you have, we have battles going on up and down between teams,
            this track has always been a pain to pass so DRS at least lets the odd few able to make some head way, otherwise it would be follow the leader from start to finish.

    5. Completely agree. There’s just no excitement to a DRS overtake, which has occurred simply because one driver was allowed to press a button and another wasn’t. It’s not exactly gladiatorial, is it?

      1. how about both of them are able to use DRS, but with slightly different activation point?

        or making drs zone shorter?

      2. Monaco is the most boring race on the Calender as far as i am concerned,
        and this is obvious what everyone likes, NO DRS, NO PASSING START TO FINISH FOLLOW THE LEADER.

    6. I think we cannot ask much from Circuit de Catalunya…

      1. Mr win or lose
        10th May 2015, 16:39

        The track is alright. With a little help from the tyres the race can be great, with a lot of overtakes (probably even without DRS).

        1. The track is not “alright”. I hate DRS mostly because they make the activation zones too long(therefore creating freeway passes instead of chances to pass), but Barcelona has always been a parade. Unless is raining at Barcelona, the track is the ultimate poster child as a track “needing” DRS.

          For example, the 2008 race:
          Apart from the start of the race, only two passing manoeuvres were recorded: Heidfeld’s lap 55 pass on Fisichella and Coulthard’s lap 61 pass on Sato. That’s right, two passes in the entire race — a fresh tires Red Bull pass on a final race Super Aguri and BMW (at it’s peak pace in F1) on a first year Force India.

          1. @reg i agree,
            so many people complaining which have short memories about yesteryear it is getting beyond a joke,
            they certainly dont remember the boring race’s we had to watch year after year, i would fall asleep more then, it was easier to just set the alarm to catch the end of the race just to make sure no one passed anyone.
            heaven forbid i certainly dont want to go back to NO DRS.

    7. Agreed, this season has been a disappointment and I didn’t even bother to watch qualifying this weekend. Losing my passion for F1 fast which is a huge shame for me

    8. its not the drs as much as it is the fuel/tyre saving nonsense…. incredibly boring races this year.

    9. neuralfraud
      10th May 2015, 17:20

      Race was a bit boring. Painful to watch hamilton and later on raikonnen get in the DRS zone and not be able to pass, yet see good action from midfielders.

      DRS has been cut down and rightfully criticized since its inception. But because people from FOM and FIA love meddling with rules and implementing gimmicks to make races more interesting, maybe the IndyCar push to pass system could be implemented as an alternative.

      First, DRS should be allowed freely (as in qualifying, once in the zone)

      Second, it’s well known that drivers rarely operate their cars on full power settings-the fuel consumption and potential for reliability problems means they run more conservatively. Simply have a button that effectively allows maximum power for X seconds and give them all a fixed number of uses – to be used anywhere.

      Everyone should just like that. Of course, whose to say they don’t have such a system for the drivers already? sure, they have to dial in the mode change.

      It could theoretically be implemented by allocating a reserve of ERS power, then you’ll have variations between manufacturers on the effectiveness of their “PTP” and of course others will whine because they’re effectively removing power for the sake of reserving it for a gimmicky use, but ask yourselves this – is that better than the current DRS rules?

      Or, remove it all – and then you go back to the pre-2011 complaints “The races are so processional”. So then you remove all the aero, have them go back to 90’s style bodywork and then hear everyone complain because the cars are 10 seconds slower — although it might be possible to get some of that back via fatter tires ..erm, I mean “tyres”.

    10. DRS? To me, the HUGE problem in F1 is that we need less downforce and wider tyres so we can have legitimate passes. Smaller front wings with only 3 “elements” limit would stop all the dependence on clean air and the cars could get up behind each other. You could make up the difference in some of the downforce with more underbody tunnels, etc that are NOT so dependent on clean air.

      Everyone is blaming DRS. But DRS is a symptom of them trying to find a way to make passing possible since they don’t have the stones to fix the real problem: too much front wing dependent aero!!!

      I’m not a fan of DRS, but it’s not “THE” problem in F1. But you guys are complaining about the treatments instead of trying to solve the disease.

    11. It’s a shame you’re never watching another Grand Prix, as the very next one is Monaco where the DRS doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.

      Bye then, don’t come back here moaning. And please let somebody more positive comment first, so everybody can agree with them instead.

      1. “Breaking up is hard to do” no doubt he will be waiting for the right moment.

      2. @bullfrog – disappointed with your comment. I just voiced my opinion. I never said I’m not going to be watching another Grand Prix, just that I’m finding that I’m enjoying it less and less.

        I don’t think that my comment was “moaning” and as for letting somebody “more positive” post first, the article itself calls for a debate which I happened to start with an opinion that I’ve held to myself for some time. I’m not a “That was rubbish, 0/10” type of fan and I gave the race 4/10. It wasn’t awful; just representative of what the sport has become.

    12. Looking at the fall in F1 viewership over the past couple years, we can speculate on what may have caused the fall in viewing figures. Pay-TV will have undoubtedly contributed to this, but there are seemingly more factors than this. The introduction of the V6s did indeed result in a large fall in viewing figures, falling by approximately 22.7 million from 2013 to 2014. However, this certainly wasn’t the biggest annual fall in viewing figures over the past couple years: from 2012 to 2013, audiences fell by a huge 50 million. However, by far the biggest fall was from 2008 to 2009, will audiences falling by 81.8 million.

      We can only speculate on the reasons, and the most obvious explanation would be domination of one team at points in 2009, 2013 and 2014. But due to the RB-dominated 2011 not really being a significant fall from the more competitive 2010 season, and with the competitive 2012 season not attracting additional viewers compared to 2011, I think there are deeper explanations.

      We know that the biggest falls were, in ascending order, 2014, 2013, and 2009.
      It’s worth noting that, in 2013, lap times were significantly slower (sometimes around 4s slower) than in 2012, and lap times were again slower in 2014. Could slowing down the cars be impacting audience figures?
      If they are, then there must be another explanation for the the huge fall in audiences in 2009. This wasn’t due to slower cars, as lap times were fairly similar (if not faster) in 2009 than in 2008. However, there were major regulation changes which drastically affected the appearance of the cars.

      My personal opinion is that one of the biggest draws about F1 for the mass audience (aside from good racing) is having beautiful or extreme-looking cars that are much faster than anything else out there.
      I know some people didn’t like all the aerodynamic appendages used before 2009, but in my opinion they made the cars look really extreme and were clearly distinguishable from any other single-seater. I personally found the 2007 and 2008 cars to be my favourite F1 cars appearance-wise (favourite being the McLarens of those years). The 2009 and onwards cars really don’t look as exciting or beautifully sculpted as, say, an LMP1 car (IMO), they just look sort of plain now. Currently they F1 cars essentially just look like GP2 cars with some custom parts. The cars in WEC make you look at their sleek, futuristic bodywork with awe, while F1 cars don’t really look beautiful these days IMO (for reference, here is the difference between the 2008 McLaren and 2009 McLaren).

      These are just my opinions, maybe you prefer the post-2009 look. I would appreciate anyone else giving their opinions on what you think caused audiences to fall significantly in certain years on the graph.

      1. 2014 – Mercedes Dominance
        2013 – Redbull Dominance
        2009 – Brawn Dominance

        Done!

  2. Not the best race, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Not that that’ll stop the “0/10 F1 is dead” comments.

    1. Agree. One dominant team, passes achieved by tactics or tricks. Fairly typical F1. No major points of drama except for a couple of front jack men. 5/10

    2. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
      10th May 2015, 14:53

      5/10 for me…
      DRS was overkilling the race. and strangely enough, I’m starting to not complain anymore. I’m getting used by it. I’m scared :(

      1. Michal (@michal2009b)
        10th May 2015, 15:05

        If not for DRS would you rate that top six procession higher?

    3. Exactly, its the same in all sports, you cant always expect a nail biting finish every time, yet i always see f1 fans wanting more drama in every race.

    4. Couldn’t agree more @ciaran.

      People would have moaned even if Mehri had managed to pass Rosberg on the last lap to win the race while cartwheeling through the air on fire while balancing chainsaws on his fingertips.

    5. Aqib (@aqibqadeer)
      10th May 2015, 15:41

      +1

    6. Very good point.

  3. 6/10. It was a very boring very indeed. So much expectations, didn’t deliver. Great job from Rosberg. Driver of the Weekend is without a doubt him.
    He seemed to learn a lot from Hamilton; too much for Hamilton, I suspect. He just controlled the race. He looked merely bored throughout the entire race, similar to Hamilton in the last few races. Ferrari have paled into insignificance in the battle for the championship it seems. Rosberg pulled around 40 seconds in the last 36 laps while controlling his pace. Wow.

    And McHonda? I just wanna sit in a corner and cry. Honda was quicker than Renault in the speed traps, yet McLaren were slower.

    1. Mashiat, this remark is not directed at you personally, it’s just that you post contains the exact issue that bothers me about these polls.
      “6/10. It was a very boring very indeed”
      I see this sort of thing every race. On a scale of 10, 6 isn’t bad, it’s just O.K.
      What does it take to get a 2 or 3 from people? Every car falls apart on the track?
      IMHO, the people voting here are FAR too accepting of the pathetic display we saw today…

      1. True, and of course there are always the fans that vote a 10 whenever their fav driver wins.

  4. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
    10th May 2015, 14:43

    Very poor. You just had some easy DRS passes in the first few laps, the rest was strategy and off track incidents. Dull.

  5. I gave it 6. A shame as it could have been more, but there were just so many DRS passes..

  6. every race i feel myself falling more & more out of love with F1 & everytime I see a race like today where DRS was too effective & we see a bunch of easy highway passes just speeds up that process.
    I want to love F1, Its been my favorite category since the 1970s but i just really don’t like the gimmicks of the past few years & i find myself been drawn to things like the WEC, Indycar & the GT categories like Blanchpain Endurance/Sprint series.

    Those series with no silly gimmicks like Pirelli tyres or DRS where there is a lot of real racing & real exciting hard fought for overtaking are far more appealing now.

  7. 5/10. Sadly, while this circuit might be a great test of an F1 car’s qualities, it produces very processional races.

    1. Also, I’ve just moved from Australia to the U.S. and had the misfortune to watch my first full weekend on NBCSN. Just horrible coverage. Pumped full of ads, cross promotions and anything else they can think of to avoid showing live coverage. Plus a poor commentary team led by the horrendous Leigh Diffey. Only Will Buxton knows what he’s talking about and he only does infrequent pit coverage. I’ve noticed that people like to criticise Sky’s F1 coverage, but it’s light years ahead of what you get in the States.

      1. And yet it’s way better than it was a couple of years ago. Can you imagine that? Top tip: Have a live stream going to fill the commercial gaps.

      2. “Pumped full of ads, cross promotions and anything else they can think of to avoid showing live coverage.”

        This is typical of all racing coverage on any major network over here. It’s the same for both NASCAR and Indycar.

      3. Yup. Can’t stand the North American coverage. You have to watch the Sky stream. It’s so bad, in fact, I’m surprised Bernie doesn’t step in and do something.

      4. The supposed educational crap in the middle of the race is infuriating! I don’t need a lecture during the race about the technology behind s-duct or rear wing DURING a race!

        1. five more “during” needed eh?

      5. Oh, you have no idea how much better this is than what we used to have! That’s the sad part…the US coverage has been so bad that we’re grateful to get what little bit we do get now. I’d gladly pay for the Sky coverage if they had the right to sell it to me in the US.

        I’m not a fan of Leigh, and much preferred Bob Varsha. But regardless of who it is, they are forced to dumb the coverage down for the US audiences….or at least their directors THINK they do. It’s frankly insulting to talk to us like we’re quite slow 8 year olds. And as @trublu says, the most infuriating part is they do it DURING the race while I’m trying to watch the competition. And they come back from each overblown commercial and spend 5-15 seconds showing stupid “local places of interest” shots. Really guys??? You think I want to see the 92 Olympic stadium while the race is going on? Jeez, I’ll buy a ticket and fly over myself if I want to see all of that. I don’t need it in my face while the race is going on!

        1. My top peeve was always the adverts saying ” you can watch all the excitement from every F1 race here” during the racing.

      6. But you pretty much described what we had here in Oz before Rupert-the-destroyer got his greedy hands on it. When I was in the states I always enjoyed the commentary from Hobbs and Matchet.

        1. @hohum
          completely agree on David and Steve….but I sure do miss Bob Varsha.
          And I don’t blame them for the short comings of the coverage. American TV is built around a ridiculous number of commercials.
          Sadly, that is just expected. BUT spending a whole segment to explain there are two tires used every race just so they can get Pirelli money as a paid commercial during the show and talk to us like we’re retarded? No thanks.
          F1 is about the drivers and their personalities. It’s like a good movie and they need to spend time doing “character development ” of the key players and race strategy…not showing us scenes of Barcelona. I can look at a map or pictures on the Internet myself…get back to the stupid race!!!!!

  8. In the words of F1 Rejects, “stultifying dross from start to finish.”

  9. typical race at barcelona, you can’t do anything in this race. Its always car dependent race.

    Just show how fast that merc is, easily 1 sec per lap faster than ferrari

  10. It was a very poor rate. And Don’t you dare tell me Rosberg drive was a great drive as he had nothing to do once Hamilton missed the start.

    1. what is he meant to do, slow down and let hamilton catch up??

      1. Change his own tyres :-)

  11. 6. Imo, would Seb go to the pit stop after Ham, this result would be the same. Sainz out qualified Max and finished in front of him. That maybe says something. The rest was boring.

  12. If Bernie is so keen on cuting Eurpean tracks off the calender, instead of Monza he could take this one and I would not be bothered at all…

    If I was at the track I would have left earlier to avoid traffic jams.

    Edit the pitstops out and it just looks like a FP.

    I could have been playing Project CARS the entire time.

    Just some thoughts I has during the race…

    1. I’d rather have watched a Project Cars replay than this race

    2. Isn’t this what the 2004 era races were like, maybe even more exciting than those? If those races were similar to this race then I don’t understand all the love for 2004 and all the hate for 2015.

      1. This 2015 racing IS better than 2004. That is just people being nostalgic and remembering “the good old days” much better than they actually were.

      2. Not sure of the exact years but when Brawn said “OK Michael we need 3 very fast laps now ” it was fascinating and tense to see Michael light the blue touch-paper and bang in 3 laps worthy of pole.

  13. 4
    Vettel spoilt a possible battle for 1st.

    1. @supremacy Perhaps Hamilton should have made a better start then? Or passed Vettel on track with a car that is clearly ahead in performance?

      No, you’re right, Vettel is the source of all evil *rolls eyes*

    2. iAltair (@)
      10th May 2015, 15:37

      Hamilton bad start = Vettel’s fault?

      Dam, Vettel is really spoiling the sport.

  14. 5. Not a great race at all, a below average race if you will. This here showed an issue with F1, DRS too powerful, tyres too difficult to follow behind on any circuit that is front tyre limited, without having a ridiculously advantage on tyres. We need more mechanical grip, and possibly less front downforce (or at least less complex wings) and then we’ll start to get to the point where we wont need DRS (or at least a significantly reduced in power version of DRS).
    As for the race, some interesting strategies, a few interesting battles, a couple of good overtakes, but other than that, very little happened. I think it was still a touch better than Australia and a touch worse than China, with what was happening on track, and I think really it was only the differing strategies that pushed it above Australia.

    1. DRS too powerful

      At least Vettel was able to keep Hamilton behind during the first two stints.

  15. #0outof10 #totalrubbish #thisisnottwitter

  16. I liked the updated head rest cameras, I still don’t like the overlay ads, especially if a Toro Rosso rim keeps glitching the ad. On the subject there was no overlay message, yay.
    Good dynamic movement on the midfield otherwise, I don’t feel the need to comment the race “6”.

  17. What’s wrong with F1? I know that somehow this track is restrictive in some ways but we’ve seen better races even last year.
    2015 is turning out to be a boring year, how could 2014 was better? The same thing has happened in these 5 races. Mercedes pulling away, Ferrari trying to gain with strategy, and the midfield somehow tight but with little overtaking. Malaysia was more interesting by the fact Ferrari won, but now I doubt they catch Mercedes again, they need a lot more work.
    I hope Monaco is better, just because is Monaco.

  18. 5 out of 10

    Really just an average race, nothing special

  19. Dull, dull, dull. Only just made a 3 for me.

  20. Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
    10th May 2015, 14:51

    1/10. I’m sorry, but it was awful.

  21. What else can we expect from this circuit?

  22. Objectively, average race. Nothing out of the ordinary. A duly 5.

    I think it’s about time I admit Formula One is not for me anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I don’t have a better idea for the rulebook, and I’m not one of the guys saying that if I don’t like it, no one likes it and it should change. To each their own.

    I’m just a long-time viewer and I admit I personally don’t like it anymore. It has become way too clinical, too artificial and too restrictive (both on and off track). It’s too dramatic and the whole lifestyle and opulence around it is slowly starting to swallow the sport itself. The whole of Formula One has become a synonym for questionable decisions and an example of how the poweful ultimately prevail over the powerless.
    Formula One has become one of those always-tense reality shows where you simply watch ultra-rich folks pretending to have a go at life. And it’s on pay-per-view too!

    I don’t care about that. I’m just one of those guys who wants to turn the television on every other Sunday and watch a proper race. I want to see diverse, interestingly built, good looking, fast cars performing to their mechanical limit irrelevant of their tyres performance, DRS or fuel usage. I want to see drivers performing at the limit, battling it out on the track with every chance they get, not sports megastars and pay drivers hitting beeps, pushing buttons and driving at a given target. I want them to become heroes through their personalities, grit and performances, not through their PR agency and Instagram account. I want to see risky strategy calls fully dependent on the driver’s skills. I want accesible quality coverage and commentary. I want to hear interviews that provide relevant information from relevant people, not just the usual “it will be difficult but we’ll see if trying to beat another team for 7th place is possible this weekend, because that’s our target”, or check if Rihanna likes it or how Hamilton’s brother is doing or whatever. I want proper informative team radio, not pieces of constant complaints cut in a particular way to enhance the drama.

    I want to watch a race, not have an audio-visual, multi-dimensional entertainment experience. I want what the WEC has to offer. Not the premium, overpriced, corporate product that is F1.

    Watching the Spanish GP a week after what was a brilliant sportscar race at Spa Francorchamps made it clear for me. That’s it. Sorry, F1, but it’s been too many disappointing years.

    1. @tony031r Very well put, completely agree.

      1. too right, I don’t want to complain or tell F1 how it should be, but if I did I would not tell them just like you didn’t tell them Tony.

        COTD for Tony.

    2. Sensible comment.

    3. Yes, good comment. The race starts at 5:00 am where I am in the States. I decided to stay in bed for this one; saw the last 10 laps and knew I’d made the right decision. I think I’ll just do a torrent download of the race(s) from now on and enjoy my time in bed.

    4. Interesting you mention Hamilton’s brother, for whatever reasons, and clearly overlook Raikonen’s baby mama, Vesterpen’s family and others who has been given TV coverage for how many races now.

      Stop all the negativity and condemnation of F1. If you don’t like it, GO.

      People r saying DRS is bad, but their complaints of processional races led to DRS. Now, they don’t want DRS, “allow them to race with tyres that last from start to finish,” etc. End result, processional races again. And more complaints.

      Somehow, I think ur comment would have been different had Vettel beaten Hamilton today. It would have been a ‘great race ‘.

      1. @tata First example that came to my mind as the cameras kept insisting on him this weekend. Replace “Hamilton’s brother” with “any public person that is not involved in the sport and whose presence and opinion should be irrelevant to the wider public”. I was just trying to prove a point. If you took the time to read my earlier race reviews you’d realise I’m not one of those guys who considers a race “great” just because a specific team or driver won.

        Nothing personal with Hamilton so your jumping to defend him has nothing to do with the original post as there was no attack whatsoever. I’m not a fan of Lewis, I’m not a fan of Seb. Or Raikkonen. Or Alonso. For what it’s worth I haven’t shown my support towards a single driver since the Schumacher era.

        If you don’t like it, GO.

        No need to show me the door since I’m already out. :)

        1. I don’t care who you are a fan of or not. It does not matter one bit but to sretch the diregard or dislike of Lewis Hamilton to include bringing the name of his brother with all his physical struggles, subtle as your attempt may be, is very unnecessary.

          If you don’t like F1 or Hamilton, get on with other sports. There are actually so many other races that F1fanatic has been recently bringing to out attention here. There is a reason for that.

          I am a fan of F1, with a likeness for Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. I don’t bash neither of them nor any other drivers or the sports because I recognise greatness when I see one.

          You may notice I tend to defend these drivers more often, Hamilton because he is picked on by all and sundry. But to extend one’s disagreement with F1 by mentioning the name of his brother with paralysis problem, is hitting below the belt. It doesn’t matter what ur reasons are. As I said b4 Kimi’s baby mama – as they are called these days – was there this weekend and on TV, same as the Vesterpen bunch and a host of others.

          People have a tendency to bash Hamilton. Let’s leave his family out of it, lest it catches on like so many other things about the man.

          1. @tata: I wasn’t bashing anyone and you’ve completely missed the point.

    5. If there was a comment of the year this would be it.

      1. I have a good idea for all people how complain about F1 those people how want to make F1 some thing different, more like WEC. Can you please switch of your TV when the racing is on and leave the sport to us fan how enjoy it understand the sport. People how enjoy ever part of the sport and not only the weekend racing . Most of you will never be happy with F1 no matter what F1 does. So i think you should go and enjoy WEC or indycar because F1 is not for you. You can complain about how boring the race was but still want DRS band. You want the cars to be harder to drive but complain about how slow the cars are. You want to make the cars faster but if some one dies in F1 again then it will be the FIA fault not the fans how wanted cars that goes faster. You people wants every thing to be fix but do not want the consequences that comes with it.

  23. there was some good racing on track, however the DRS was very powerful but if it wasn’t there would have been 0 overtakes because the DRS today yes was overpowered but it made up for the fact its nearly impossible to follow the cars which is the biggest problem since they changed the noses. The strategy kept the racing interesting IMO, there was a few varied strategies, Hamilton and Vettel fight was fun although not much passing and then there was Raikkonen and Bottas, they were long battles yes they weren’t passing much but they were battling

    1. The problem is that as long as we have DRS there is zero incentive to do anything to make it easier for cars to follow.
      @bezza695 The F1 teams have said it themselfs, DRS has in there view removed the need to make any changes & as long as DRS remains that will stay the case.

      If DRS is banned & overtaking does get harder then there is incentive there to look at ways to improve that.

      And to be perfectly honest I’d rather a race with a smaller amount of real & exciting overtaking than a race with 10-20+ utterly boring DRS highway passes.

      1. Oh yeah me too I would prefer fewer but more real overtakes compared to a billion DRS blast pasts, but I just feel that without DRS today there would have only been enough overtakes to count on one hand, look back to the 2005 races where they seem to have had the same problems as these cars have now.

  24. DRS was way too powerful. Virtually no wheel-to-wheel action, and nearly all of the overtaking was done either in the pits or via a gimmick. 4.

  25. Just 4/10, it was very dull really

  26. People say F1 not for them anymore but keep posting about it every race years after they say they have had enough. I liked the race but then again I am happy to watch 1 car drive round all day checking lap times. Love all motorsport.

    Next people will complain Monaco is boring as knowone can overtake etc

    1. And they would be right!

  27. 5/10 + a bonus point for the Lotus engineer who made a 2 meter jump.

    Okayish race, except all the overtakes were DRS passes.

    1. And was trollied away on a cargo wheel barrow with tied leg ll

  28. petebaldwin (@)
    10th May 2015, 15:00

    3/10 The track is great for testing on and it draws a decent crowd but the racing is just terrible unless the regs allow cars to follow more closely. They can’t follow within a second so it’s all down to what you have for the home straight. If you have more in the rears or more top speed, you get past with DRS and if not, you just close back up and kill your tyres.

    The regs these days are being written for Tilke tracks with engineered overtaking spots and they don’t work on tracks like Catalunya where overtaking was always difficult. The FIA need to make it easier for cars to follow closely even if it cuts top speed. We want these cars to have power and speed but I would accept a hit in lap time if it meant they could race without relying solely on DRS. People would have to accept that though and not complain that the cars were slower!

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      10th May 2015, 15:06

      Just re-read what I wrote. I didn’t mean by cutting top speed, I meant by cutting aero.

  29. Never liked this track, hope they replace it with Imola asap.
    I’ve lowered my expectations for GPs now. 2015 so far is a complete waste of time.
    At best, 2/10 for this race. Lucky I didn’t bother to get the cable TV subscription and cancelled my F1 website subscription too.
    My only true love is fading fast…. please do something Bernie… faster than Manor and Mclaren

    1. If you expect Bernie to to do something to fix it you haven’t been paying attention, ask Bernie to reverse everything he has done and F1 might have a chance of being what it was before Bernie started improving the show.

  30. It was a boring race. There were two great manoeuvres by Ricciardo on both Lotus drivers. Sainz was really aggressive with his last attack. I am curious if he gets a penalty for his overtake on Kviat?
    Anyway, this track is more a testing venue than a racing kingdom.
    3 pts.

  31. An OK race. A few passes were good and Maldonado provided some excitement with his mad max car.

    The gap between cars seemed too big for anybody to put in a decent challenge. Monaco might be worse :)

    1. 6/10.

    2. loldonado was entertaining this race. customary car contact, driving around with damaged wing and to top it off he had mad maxx on his car too lol

    3. petebaldwin (@)
      11th May 2015, 11:39

      I have to say, what an absolutely great call it was for Mad Max to sponsor the Lotus’! It just looked right to have a car with bits flying off still getting involved in fights on track!

  32. 4/10

    Not very entertaining. In fact around lap 10-12 I thought to myself that the race was basically over with Rosberg +/- 7.000sec ahead off Vettel and Hamilton. Once those thoughts occur you know it’s a lost cause.

    1. Alt 241 gets this…… ±

  33. Barcelona takes the trophy every year on the boredom scale. Other than before curve 1, what other part of this boring circuit can a car pass another. Curves and more curves. It is a crappy circuit and why does every team runs there every year for testing, one will never know.
    best of all; they signed a contract to continue to be boring until 2019.

    1. Actually it’s one of a few tracks that everything about the car contributes a lot to the overall time : tyres, power units, chassis,…

      That’s why it’s perfect for testing, a team can test anything they want in this track.

      However it makes the track less interesting in a race, because the car has such a strong influence here that it’s hard to have battles between different teams

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      11th May 2015, 11:46

      The track is perfect for testing on – close to most of the teams HQs , has a variety of slow and fast corners and as @ducpham2708 said, tests all parts of the car.

      If they can’t find a solution that allows cars to follow more closely, they’ll have to find another track to host the Spanish GP. Sadly, with Alonso’s popularity and the state of the Spanish economy, I can’t see anything changing soon.

  34. Strategy game was fun to watch in the first half of the race, no actual action up front though. 5/10

  35. The Skeptic
    10th May 2015, 15:14

    I rank it a 7. It was a decent race, made all the better by the tension between Hamilton and Vettel fighting over P2.

  36. Dull race, Barcelona is clearly not suited to current F1 aero rules. I’ve always found the final corners of this track to be messy in racing games, maybe need to redesign this section so its a hairpin (or even a double hairpin with multiple lines) leading onto the final straight and with a DRS activation point further up the track.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      11th May 2015, 11:48

      @emu55 – I appreciate that they destroyed the end of the lap to try and make it safer but the solution they’ve picked is horrible. It’s basically a huge bit of tarmac with some lines drawn on – surely it can’t be hard or expensive to re-design it!?

      1. Exactly, with the amount of money in F1 it’s not unreasonable to expect tracks evolving, plus a more exciting race means more ticket sales in the future

  37. Nothing much to say about the race. Gave a 6. but yeah it could have been lower. nothing great. some decent drives. some different strategies. A race where people will forget what happened immediately after switching off the TV.

    Barcelona tradition maintained. 19 of the 25 GPs won by the driver on the pole position. Except for Alonso winning from 5th in 2013. I don’t think many had even won this race from Row 2. Also it has been 2 years since Fernando has won a F1 race and many believe he is supposedly best driver on the grid today !!!

    Another Nice statistics is 9th different winner in 9 years. Yeah okay. Looking forward to Monaco.

  38. Rated it 6/10, mainly because of the strategic battle between Hamilton and Vettel, but for the rest there wasn’t much excitement. But yeah, I started realising during this race just how dull F1 has become. DRS was way too strong – in the pre-DRS era, Sainz and Verstappen could have defended their positions, which meant they could have held on to their top 8 positions for a large part of the race. With DRS, they were done after about 10 laps, no excitement, no nothing.

    Tyre management has of course always been part of Formula 1, but in my opinion it has never been as extreme as it has been since Pirelli re-entered the sport. The drivers don’t seem to be enjoying, and if they’re not enjoying how are we supposed to enjoy it?

    There are so many things that feel so desperate, so contradictory and just so archaic, I just can’t find any enjoyment in a Formula 1 racing weekend anymore. I think I will be following the sport and still watch the remaining races, but seriously, something needs to change.

  39. A bit boring, I gave it a 6. I remember 2 or 3 nice moves, the whole was quite predictable. Perfect job from Rosberg though, much needed for him.

  40. 5\10. Some tracks are for racing and some are for testing. Unfortunately, the latter also host races.

    You lot complaining about DRS totally miss the fact that without any device designed specifically to provide an advantage there would be almost no overtaking at all. The specifics of the current formula is that it is a suicide to closely follow someone for any extended period of time, since you are losing downforce and therefore slide a lot more, which in turn degrades the already fragile tyres even more. The aspect which makes this a fastest racing series of them all is aerodynamics. The issue will remain even if downforce significantly increased – using skirts, for example. So while i can understand your frustration from the purist’s point of view, realistically there is not much options to promote racing in F1 and that’s why DRS is here to stay. Not because there are evil guys writing regulations aimed at destroying the sport.

    1. Aqib (@aqibqadeer)
      10th May 2015, 15:29

      i think with these pirelli tyres there would be overtaking anyway drivers on old tyres would probably be able to defend better

      1. Aqib (@aqibqadeer)
        10th May 2015, 15:32

        and you cant really pass if both cars have same condition of tyres anyway even with DRS

      2. the strategies and setups would be a bit different, less risky or agressive and more even across the field – because there would be nothing to provide an advantage on track to make a pass. don’t forget – we are talking about one of the most competitive sports on the planet. equal amount of millions spent on performing better and on neutralizing competitor’s advantages. look at driver-deployable KERS, for example – it died because everyone’s cancelled each other out, there was no point for it to remain.

    2. Cars could follow others in the 90s. The difference was there was more mechanical grip. ‘Us lot’ do understand there will always be some aero effects, but slipstreaming can counter it if we get rid of Gillette razor front wings for example.

      1. First of all – it is ironic, to say the least, that you propose to reduce front end downforce to counter the loss of front end downforce in dirty air.
        Second – cars could follow each other even closer in the 50s. But it’s not the 50s, nor 90s. There is more computing power in your cellphone than in ’92 computer-controlled Williams’ internals. It is much more competitive now, there is a lot more known about vehicle dynamics and aero to every team in the paddock. And however simpler you’ll make these cars this knowledge won’t go away. They’ll still find a way to counter and cancel each other out. It is the sign of the times.

        1. It is a sign of boring F1…wide tires,smaller wings,wider cars and we can have racing back.With new noses it is clear that overtaking is even harder compared to last year=equals on track like this to bore fest.
          Simple as that.

  41. 6/10. Interesting strategic battle for 2nd place, but when Hamilton switched to three stops it was going to be almost impossible for Vettel to keep his position
    Good to see the Williams fighting with the Ferrari again, but other than that there was not much.

  42. Aqib (@aqibqadeer)
    10th May 2015, 15:28

    dont think we need DRS with these pirelli extremely degrading tyres a bit of a ho hum race probably the most interesting bit was grosjean overtaking kvyat brilliantly into the first corner other passes were just too easy because of DRS!! we really dont need it either get rid of degrading tyres and let drivers push or get rid of DRS anyway i rated it 6/10

  43. Very boring and processional. In other words, a normal Spanish Grand Prix. The only two times this venue produced a good race was when it rained (Schumacher in 1996) and when an inspired Alonso and degradation made thinks lively (2013). Even Maldonado’s win in 2012 was more amusing than actually exciting.

  44. I propose to collect signatures on different F1 websites against drs

  45. Boring race.
    DRS is stupid, Godfather Bernie is stupid, Monsieur FIA is stupid, racetrack Barcelona is stupid.
    Bye bye Formula 1…

  46. There needs to be a sort of dynamic DRS system developed. A system where as a car approaches another in the DRS zone, the DRS is opened, but the closer the car is to the one in front, the narrower the gap is wing is. I’m no engineer, but isn’t it possible so that the less disturbed the air is, the less the wing opens? So that it gives the driver behind the chance to catch the car in front, but by the time he gets alongside, the wing is closed and the speed differential is zero.

    1. You mean shorten the DRS zone? If the DRS zone ended half-way down the straight then it would be fine but how this could be policed i have no idea. It would need to become an automatic system as opposed to the driver activating by pressing a button and deactivating by pressing on the brake pedal.

      1. No, not shorten it. Just so that, the closer you are to the car in front, the narrower the gap in the wing is, so that by the time you are nose to wing, the DRS is closed. It’s a tricky system but I’m sure there’s a way it could work. Whether that’s through aero or live timing or what.

        1. I understood what you meant; I was just suggesting a realistic way of implementing it at minimal cost. Any driver who is along side another car would have the DRS shut for the second half of the straight and braking zone, meaning that DRS is only allowing a driver to get along side or get in the slipstream.

    2. How about no DRS, and a large gap in place of all the twiddly rubbish on the front wing?

      1. I’d rather no DRS than DRS as it was used yesterday. Regulations for simpler front wings should definitely be put in place.

  47. 4/10, boring race. As stated above, all overtakes done by DRS, pretty much time trials for almost all drivers. IMO Ferrari failed to use their advantage of eating less tyres and Vettel had bad times on hard tyres on top of that.
    I recently re-started watching F1 after not watching 2007-2014 seasons, and it is obvious to me that racing is a lot more predictable/less exciting.

  48. Barcelona has given us many dull races over the last 25 years – I simple look at the list of pole to flag winners should tell you that -this one merely joins the list. But we are back in Europe so all must be good in F1 versus those terrible tracks we’ve just had in Asia and the Middle East – just saying….

  49. 6…borefest 2015.. Or was that DRS-fest?

  50. DRS is finishing what is left of this sport

  51. Pretty average, typical of the Catalunya circuit. There was hardly any overtaking without DRS assistance, a real shame, but luckily, it was a somewhat interesting race strategy-wise, with a fair share of close fights that didn’t often go wheel-to-wheel.
    6/10.

    1. On an unrelated note: I might consider rating this race a 7 if all those people repeating the “F1 is dead”, “Byebye F1”, etc. mantra kindly left the sport. Really now.

    2. My thoughts as well.It seems that the fia need to alter the regs for the front wings next season, when cars are close in performance and tyre degradation you can see the chasing car losing front down force and understeering falling back through the corners. Very obvious watching Hamilton and Raikonnen struggle with this today.

      1. I don’t think so. F1 doesn’t need an overtake-fest every two weeks. Catalunya is a circuit that honours track position and strategy more than sheer pace, and that’s fine. Overtaking was possible, but only if there was a significant difference in performance or a mistake by the leading Driver. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Vettel staying ahead of Hamilton and Bottas staying ahead of Räikkönen. It’s good to see a slower car managing to stay ahead of a faster one from time to time. That’s racing, too.

  52. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
    10th May 2015, 16:28

    It really is high time the design rules on the front wing were changed, so we can go back to the era of mostly simple wings, with two or three main elements. Not the crazy things they have now. Let them reclaim the downforce elsewhere. Even in 2004/5 era, when the cars were at their fastest, the front wings were relatively simple.

    1. And entire races would pass without a single on-track overtake.

    2. Back then the winglets on the front wing were just moved to the bodywork as far as I can see, so the dirty air effect was greater than now. I’d like to see more mechanical grip, and more aero as long as it doesn’t increase the drag of the cars (if this is possible)…

  53. Neil (@neilosjames)
    10th May 2015, 16:49

    Fairly dull, wish we’d seen more of the passes live rather than replays. Flawless drive for Rosberg, good recovery for Hamilton… Raikkonen had a beast of an opening lap… annnd I think Grosjean did a nice pass on Kvyat. But I don’t really remember any other overtakes I’d call ‘good’.

    I’d actually appreciate this circuit getting another butchering from Tilke if it meant cars could follow closely.

    1. @neliosjames, the only kind of circuit that would allow these cars to follow closely would consist of 2 straights joined by 2 hairpin bends.

  54. 3/10 – first F1 race in years that I nodded off in. Missed laps 44 to 58. Anyone care to fill in the missing details?

  55. Michael Brown
    10th May 2015, 17:41

    They should bring back Valencia and make it the Spanish Grand Prix. That’s right. I said it.

  56. Mostly a yawner. What was interesting going into the race was how the midfield teams would display some progress or not. It seems that the overcoming of insane rules, costs and tire choices have become the focus of analyzing this perplexing series.

  57. Sad that the discussion has come to this. Problem is that we remember greatness in F1.

    1. Which period?

  58. I don’t think it was as bad as many people claim it to be though. I am so used to overtakes being too easy, and duels therefore being over too quickly. So it was refreshing to see the overtaking driver having to work for it for once. Although they probably had to work a little too hard this time around. Imagine… Being tired of overtakes..

  59. Who’d be a front jack man? And a good little battle for Finnish supremacy. But otherwise an unsatisfying mess to follow – every pass had an explanation based on tyres or strategy.

  60. 4/10
    I was easily distracted at any point. The only possibly entertaining battle, Vettel-Hamilton, was resolved due to strategy, which is not something I’m against but certainly didn’t help as the outcome was clear. The first laps were good, but the Toro Rossos fell behind immediately and everyone was where their car deserved to be, so no recoveries or losses made for absolutely nothing going on. Maldonado’s wing kept me awake, hoping it would not fail dramatically.

  61. I gave it a 7 plus 1 for the dedication of that lotus mechanic. It wasn’t the best race recently but it made the championship more interesting, had a few good moves and some memorable moments. I just wish I could have seen it live on the BBC.

  62. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    10th May 2015, 19:26

    4.

  63. Ron (@rcorporon)
    10th May 2015, 20:53

    5/10 for me. Boring and predictable.

  64. i dont know if someone already said this, but i think the real problem in this Formula, at least the problem for me, is no the DRS or just one team in the top, the problem is that the cars cant follow the others as close as they want, just because of tyre managment, so if i have a good car with good speed and everything, and even that i have to be 2 seconds behind other to save tyre, that is the thing hurting the show.

  65. There hasn’t been a decent race at catalunya in 25 years so this was no surprise.

    I’ve never in 23 years of watching felt so uninspired and disinterested in formula one. Its boring, predictable, the cars don’t excite me any more, they were faster 11-12 years ago! I’ve been to 23 GP’s in the last 15 years and this is the first year since 03 I’m not going at all.

    I’d like to think the sport will do something about it, but it won’t. The sky f1 subscription will probably get KO’d in November I think! The sport I loved to the point of obsession is no longer.

  66. russian gp-level boring.

    what’s wrong with f1? look at this race and you see exactly what’s wrong. since the start of 2014, regulation changes have made f1 boring. i don’t mean to disrespect mercedes amg petronas and their drivers, they have done an outstanding job but let’s face it. IT’S BORING. NO one wants to see the same three drivers on the podium every single race. even 2014 was better in that aspect, where we saw different teams filling in the 3rd podium spot in the first few races.

    and the worst part is that this is going to go on for the rest of the year. for the rest of the year i’ll be following the races just hoping the mercedes cars crash out or have a technical failure. it’s gone this far that i wish a team bad luck. sorry to have to say this, it’s just what i feel at the moment. disappointment all along.

    again i do not mean to disrespect mercdes amg petronas and their achievements. they deserve their success, but it doesn’t change the fact that seeing them win every race is boring.

  67. 2, it was very boring.

  68. F1 isn’t in the best shape, so going to a track that has produced such dull races before kind of lends itself to mediocre races like these. There was at least something going on strategy-wise, but I can’t give it more than a 5/10. I’d give it less but at least there were moments where I felt something.

    Up until recently I also thought that commercials on German TV (I alternate between BBC and German RTL) were getting in the way of my immersion in a race, but having started following other series with commercial breaks during races, I’ve come to find some F1 races just do not pull me in at all. This was one of them, and it’s a shame. I really hope they drop this track from the calendar some day in favour of a track with better overtaking opportunities..

    1. I’d also like to point out that RTL is an absolute waste when it comes to anything but covering the race. There are barely any interviews, commercials ruin some moments right before/after the race and frankly they talk over team radio’s far too often.

      Yet I do not feel the need to spend my money on paying for an extra channel for a couple of hours of F1 every month. F1 needs to sort out the availability of footage, because I sometimes spend more time on YouTube watching F1 than I watch live coverage.

  69. 4/10 for me, it was not the worst race I have seen. Would have loved to see Sainz and Verstappen battle it out, but sadly DRS ruined any chance of that. To be fair Sainz was faster, but the battle for the last points place was lost due to DRS.

  70. Had Lewis not botched his start, i feel the race would of been super. But i gave it a solid 5

  71. Boring , F1 has lot its charm , my passion for F1 is dying, its the same story every race……. This sucks , they have killed the sport that was thrilling

  72. THey NEED to change rules of F1! The sport is dying… its a matter of saving it, otherwise, it will be losing its fans!

    4 is my rate!

    1. F1 have lost millions of tv fans and trackside fans too and will lose even more from now. But Bernie’s pocket is vomitting out so much cash, it’s weird isn’t it?

  73. Almost every year, Barcelona delivers a boring race, and this year was no exception. I gave it a 6. Then after the race I watched the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, and with half the grid it delivered an exciting race. The battle between Villeneuve, Pironi and Arnoux was just epic. Should have voted 5…

  74. 5 is the max, in fact 4 will be more appropriate. At Catalunya usually it’s a procession historically.

  75. I think they showed almost every drivers wife/girlfriend at least once during the race, many multiple times! Hamiltons brother was shown constantly over the weekend! Why? Even if there is little action on track the fans want to see the cars rather than an attractive woman or family member looking bored in a garage. Also noticed an increased number of paddock club shots of people sipping champagne totally un interested in the race. Is this what people want to see? I imagine it’ll be even worse in Monaco…

    1. @brawngp Glad to see I’m not the only one who noticed this. I remember back in the early 2000s you would only get this kind of footage in Monaco. Every race is Monaco now.

      I’m sorry but constant showings of the “VIP club” doing their PR appearances and sipping 1000$/glass champagne, looking not even remotely connected to the racing that’s happening right under their noses while a huge percentage of the general public can’t even dream about attending a GP because of the insanely high ticket prices, can only be taken as a slap in the face.

  76. ColdFly F1 (@)
    11th May 2015, 6:36

    The worst part of the race (and the others this year) is that I cannot watch it live on TV anymore.

    My internet connection was slow this weekend, end that caused a lot of frustration.

    F1 is becoming just as exciting as boxing: it becomes less about the athletes and more about the promoters and the whole circus around it, and the only way to watch it is by paying over the top subscriptions.

  77. 6 A few good moments, but pretty standard fare for this track.

  78. The best word I can muster is..absorbing. Wanted Lewis to have a charge, but he didn’t , plus staggered that Ferrari didn’t cover his pitstops.

  79. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
    11th May 2015, 8:23

    2/10 for me. F1 is looking so unprofessional right now. Renault turning their engine down, McLaren Honda having their own issues with each car, lulu morning after the race like a baby having forgotten how much stick nico for for moaning before, Drs too much, cards sound terrible, lotus bring allowed to continue racing a car with such big damage to the rear wing. Two cars failing their pitstops embarrassingly, tyres just awful- not giving drivers a chance to truly push throughout a race distance. But, even after all that I’ll still be tuning in next race.

  80. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    11th May 2015, 10:11

    Nice to see Nico finally step up to the plate, perhaps now we’ll get a proper challenge to the title. That said, what a boring race.

  81. 3 for me. And it’s generous.
    The good thing about this Spanish race is that it’s now behind us. It’s always a boring race and the last chicane makes it even more painful to watch.

  82. I rated a 6.

    Due to the Mercedes pace Hamilton’s slow first stop ruined any chance I had of a close fight for the win. There was enough action in the midfield again to keep me watching and the constant pressure Lewis put on Vettel was good to watch even if there was no real attempt to pass.

    If the Mercedes disappear in every race then at least I want to see them fight for the win as they did a few times last season.

    It would have been a 5 but the action behind the front three was quite entertaining.

  83. You think this race was dull?

    Just wait until Monaco…

  84. The race as such wasn’t that bad. For me what killed it – and maybe I’m just getting too negative about the state of the sport, but – I felt as though visually the cars just seemed painfully slow. There really is something to be said for more power, more grip and less aero.

  85. It’s shocking that F1 can lose Monza but still insists with this ridiculous track in Barcelona. The MotoGp here was always fantastic, but for F1 is a yawnfest. It’s time to wipe this track out of the calendar. Dreadful. When you add to the mix a dreadful track, DRS and melting tires, there you have your 2015 Barcelona F1 GP.

  86. If you want exiting races drivers must be able to go flat out between pit stops. Right now you get penalised due to tyre wear, fuel saving etc. Its a nonsense, its what you would do if you wanted to make it boring. Drivers have to have more durable tyres that can last sitting close behind someone when challenging. At the moment there is no incentive because the tyes give out and you loose more than you gain. DRS would be needed less if drivers could mount prolonged challenges. You could then solve the problem of teams trying too go long on the tyres by having a minimum number of pit stops, This way good drivers would be rewarded for having dam good go at overtaking. This is what true race fans want, not 2 hours of boring tyre saving…

  87. Did anyone notice how terrible the camera work and direction was. Seems whoever was cutting this was obsessed with close up shots. (really irritating trend) Close ups are the last thing you want especially at the start when any one who is actually interested in racing is trying to watch several battles at once. What you need is wider shots so you can see what’s going on, not some close up following the leader round the corner so that you cant see what’s happening in context. Absolutely maddening! When yo do get some action the poor TV coverage manages to miss what’s right in front of their faces.

  88. I found the race rather dull and so only gave it a 4, I didn’t have very high expectations before the race and sadly the Grand Prix did not exceed those expectations, it was just a normal race you would expect at Barcelona.

    There were a few moments during the race which stopped me from giving it a lower rating, but after the first lap the winner was never in doubt as only reliability problems would have prevented Rosberg from taking a deserved victory, I think even if Hamilton had made a normal start and had not fallen behind Vettel I don’t think he would have beaten Rosberg as it was just one of those weekends where Rosberg was quicker than Hamilton.

    No matter what the history is in terms of delivering entertaining races I believe given the correct circumstances on the day any circuit can produce exciting or dull races, but I am glad that this Grand Prix was not one of the BBC live races, as if I had to choose at the start of the season which races to see live or which would be highlights only, this would be highlights only every time.

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