Spanish GP Preview: European season starting

With the Spanish Grand Prix that takes place this weekend in the Circuit of Catalunya, near Barcelona, the Formula One season enters its European and longest phase. But although we are changing of continent the question remains the same, can anyone fight against the dominating form of Sebastian Vettel?

One thing is for sure, the crowd won’t be there to support the Red Bull driver as the stands should be covered in red, warmly supporting Ferrari, but most of all Fernando Alonso. The ‘afficción’ should be pushing the Spaniard to a win, but it won’t be easy. Besides the circuit is known for the extreme difficult overtaking so probably the driver who gets ahead in the first corner will get a hand full of advantage. And you know who has dominated qualifying and got ahead on the first corner don’t you? None other than SebastianVettel.

Still the season of 2011 has brought us several changes in previous race, and DRS and the Pirelli tyres should bring the excitement to the Spanish circuit.

Having tested here for two weeks, during winter season will give teams a preparation that they didn’t have in other circuits. When they arrive in Spain they will already know their optimum set-ups and should be able to use most of the Friday practice to test new upgrades that might bring them closer to the front of the grid.

In order to keep the fans excited about the season you don’t only need good races, you also need a battle between drivers for the championship, but at the moment Sebastian Vettel has been dominating and has won 93 out of 100 possible points this season.

So who can challenge Vettel? We should consider Mark Webber a contender in Spain as he was last year’s winner. It was in Barcelona that last year the Aussie started his title campaign winning a week later the Monago GP. So far this year he hasn’t been a true challenger to his team-mate, but maybe he can once again find his form for the European season.

Then there is Lewis Hamilton and McLaren that after the win in China failed to perform and pressure Vettel in Turkey. A mistake from Hamilton made him loose a lot of ground in the beginning of the race in Istanbul and the pit stop issues went on to ruin his race. The Brit seems like the most probable contender to prevent another victory from Vettel.

In Turkey Fernando Alonso took the first podium finish for Ferrari in the 2011 season, so maybe with the support of his home crowd he can get an extra strength to fight against Vettel.

And we shouldn’t definitely put Mercedes out the numbers as the team as been improving every race and getting closer to the front grid. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher will definitely want to have a thing or two to say on Sunday’s race.

In the middle pack the fight between Renault, Sauber, Williams, Force India and Toro Rosso is set to continue and Team Lotus should be eager to make a further step closer to the midfield pace. The team has announced that they expect the upgrade being introduced in Spain to be the one that makes the decisive move close the gap.

And if you think you know who might be the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix you definitely have to participate on Autoviva’s F1 Competition. It’s simple, just go here and cast your prediction by leaving a comment.