In Valencia, the air is warmer at this time of the year, perfect conditions to enjoy the third European Formula 1 Grand Prix.
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| Ad2010 European Grand Prix - Friday Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia, Spain 25th June 2010. Jarno Trulli, Lotus T127 Cosworth. World Copyright: Charles Coates/LAT Photographic ref: Digital Image _26Y1547 d caption. Image courtesy of Flickr. |
The star studded
Spanish team seeks to over come Chile if they are to stand any chance of progressing to the knock out stages of the ongoing 2010 World Cup.
As David Villa, the new recruit in Barcelona's equally impressive, less obnoxious and even less talked about galatico project, runs through the paces in South Africa, in an attempt to find the perfect balance between athleticism, skill and intelligence- in the hope of redoing the spectacular as he did with his wonder opening goal against Honduras-; Valencia, the city he left prior to the 2010 World Cup kick- off to join Xavi Hernandez & Co. at Barcelona, prepares to welcome back one of its favorite sons Fernando Alonso.
Formula 1 vs World Cup
Parallels can be drawn between Ferrari's double champion, Fernando Alonso's, quest to claim top honors at the European leg of the 2010 F1 championship in Valencia this weekend & Spain's national team "small" matter of qualification into the second round of FIFA 2010 World Cup finals.
European Champions, second in the FIFA world team rankings, headed by the only coach to attain success with the first galaticos project at Barcelona's nemesis Real Madrid and boasting of talent that only a few national teams can attempt to match, Spain's lukewarm jab at the 2010 World Cup has sent the team back into strategy.
Conversely, the Italian team at Ferrari, equally need to up their game following Mclaren's dominance over the two past F1 2010 circuit races in Turkey and Canada.
Maintaining tradition is a tremendous task., to appreciate this, ask Ferrari.
With their dominance as the top constructor in the F1 constructor's championship, double trouble in the form of former champions Fellipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, Ferrari's management in similar fashion to the Del Bosque headed team at the helm of Spain's World Cup team, had to improve on their product.
Fernando Alonso has somehow managed to push the F10, landing a top four finish behind the Maclaren's in both races. Lewis Hamilton leads the driver's championship with 109 points, three ahead of teammate Jenson Button in an order similar to the Mclaren 1-2 finishes at the last two races. Mark Weber's third position, three points behind the reigning F1 drivers champion, belies RedBull's strides this year at least in car design and engineering.
Rear Diffuser
As is with tradition, the envy of the other team's engineering departments has metamorphosed into emulation, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have all announced plans to unveil their own versions of this technology.
Pundits & F1 engineers have given their estimations on the speed gains of blown diffusers to range at 0.4-0.6 secs gained per lap.
Ferrari F10 Revamp
Speaking in Valencia ahead of the start of the European F1 circuit, Alonso had this to say about the improvements on this year's Ferrari car, named The F10
"We are happy with the job done, we arrive here in Valencia with a good package in our car but we remain very calm about our expectations. We know the other teams were not watching TV in the last few weeks, everyone will bring updates here and hopefully ours is a little bit better than the others."The Canadian leg of the 2010 circuit brushed off the claims that F1 is a rather dull sport thus explaining the more global appeal of sports like soccer. Tom Cary of The Daily Telegraph couldn't have said it better.
“That is not to say the F1 is without merit as a spectacle. From humble beginnings (Bahrain) this season has got better and better; the racing more exciting, the technical nuances more intriguing, the human drama more compelling. After the race in Canada – where there were an unprecedented 60 overtaking moves thanks to the high Tyre wear and wildly differing strategies – team principals were queuing up to say how brilliant it all was.Fernando Alonso couldn't agree more citing his impressive performance in a race that brought out the best in strategy, team management & driver capability.
"Tomorrow [Friday] we'll have a better answer, we expect to have some steps in the car top make it a little bit quicker, but as I said before, all the other teams will also bring some new parts here. The most important thing is to confirm that we are as competitive here as we were in Canada. We need to keep improving the car; this is a job we need to keep doing until Abu Dhabi. There is a long way to go."In similar vein, in the world of soccer, a common saying quips " that it is not over until the fat lady sings".
Spain have to overcome Chile this Friday evening if Spanish ambitions of winning a World Cup is to be realized. Facing a final before the final, Del Bosque may be tempted to go for a more pragmatic approach with the aim of securing a victory, be it a less desirable one nil victory, but a victory nonetheless.
The soccer on the pitch will be less of the fluid, orchestra like game we have come to be so accustomed to from the Spanish lads. It will be a match full of tactics and counter tactics, embodied by timely execution of skill and the verve to exploit your opponents weaknesses.
Conversely, though dubbed as one of F1 true racers, Fernando Alonso will seek to break his duck at home and win the European Grand Prix.
Going by his recent form, & driven by nationalistic pride, as he attempts to ascend the Valencia leg up the F1 circuit hierarchy following its mundane showing over the last two years, his win if it happens, may be short of the spectacular.
The high octane display of Canada may lack in this Valencia race but just like in the World Cup, winning is of essence.
To borrow from another saying that has heavily done the rounds in the world of soccer, " In soccer, anything can & does happen ".
I bet after Canada, the same can be said of formula one.
Valencia Formula 1 European Grand Prix Quick pointers
About: A young circuit, it was integrated into the circuit two years ago when Fernando Alonso was World Champion.
Location: Valencia Harbor area.
Track : 57 lap race on a cuircuit 5.419 Kms long with 25 turns. Circuit runs in a clockwise direction.
Record Time: Timo Glock's 2009 1:38.683
Select Driver's comments ahead of race:
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| Motorsports / Formula 1: World Championship 2010, GP of Europe, 01 Jenson Button (GBR, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes), Image courtesy of Flickr DJH Morecambe. |
"Even though it's a street circuit, it's got quite a different feel to other street tracks like Monte-Carlo or Singapore. For a start, it's quite a bit faster - there are some low-speed corners with some fairly unforgiving walls at the apex, but there are also some high-speed changes of direction and some long straights, so it's quite an interesting place set-up-wise. It's not as if you completely rely on down-force, there's a trade-off, and that should suit our package."
Jensen Button of Mclaren
History at stake
Lewis Hamilton attempts a hat-trick of number one finishes. Three times he has been in this position, will he be fourth time lucky?
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