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Perez unhappy with “unfair” F1 Spanish GP blue-flag penalty – F1

Sergio Perez has called his penalty for ignoring blue flags during Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix “unfair”, feeling he allowed Lewis Hamilton to lap him at an opportune moment.

On his first race back since testing positive for COVID-19, the Racing Point driver was handed a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags instructing him to allow race leader Hamilton to lap him, but the Mexican driver has argued his position which ultimately cost him fourth place to team-mate Lance Stroll.

Hamilton, who lapped every driver apart from Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas in the race, came up behind Perez around the twisty final sector of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the Racing Point driver opting to allow Hamilton to lap him at the start of the next lap on the main straight.

The FIA stewards handed Perez a five-second time penalty during the race which meant Stroll moved ahead

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Verstappen explains radio outburst over Spanish GP strategy – F1

Max Verstappen says a radio outburst during Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix was prompted by him “massively struggling” to keep his tyres alive at the end of the first stint.

Verstappen was able to record his fifth consecutive podium finish after taking second place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, splitting the Mercedes drivers of winner Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Verstappen managed to pass Bottas on the run to the first corner on the opening lap but struggled to keep up with Hamilton towards the end of his stint on the soft compound tyres.

As the gap rose to over eight seconds, Verstappen was heard telling his race engineer they should “focus on our race, rather than on Lewis.”

He added: “We were clearly not as fast as them on the softs.”

As Verstappen reinforced his wish to pit for fresh tyres, he said: “You want me to repeat again?

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Norris: Hard tyre felt like “garbage” in Spanish F1 GP practice – F1

McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris says Pirelli’s hard compound tyres felt like “garbage” in Spanish Grand Prix free practice, and felt “like I had more grip on the wets”.

Due to the global COVID-19 crisis, the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona was moved form its usual May date to the middle of August, traditionally the hottest period of the year in Catalonia.

To prepare for the extra heat and the fact that the 2020 generation of F1 cars is the fastest in history, Pirelli went conservative with its range of tyres and brought the C1, C2 and C3 compounds to Barcelona.

Those tyres are the same selection used in the British Grand Prix and one step harder than the tyre selection that spiced up last weekend’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

According to Norris, the hardest C1 compound was so hard it was barely useable during Friday practice.

“Garbage. I

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F1’s Spanish GP review and Indy 500 preview in this week’s Autosport magazine



a close up of a person: Magazine: Spanish GP review and Indy 500 supplement

© LAT Images
Magazine: Spanish GP review and Indy 500 supplement

Lewis Hamilton’s crushing victory in the Spanish Grand Prix is the cover story of a packed Autosport magazine this week.

As well as covering Hamilton’s perfect performance in Barcelona, we also look at the key tech developments, rate all the drivers and provide the important statistics and data from the sixth round of the 2020 Formula 1 season.

It was a busy weekend for international motorsport, with 2011 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Oliver Rowland and former McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne taking the final victories of the Formula E season in Berlin.

The World Endurance Championship got back under way at Spa and Gary Watkins was there to see how the Toyota with the biggest success handicap managed to come out on top, and how Porsche topped a typically hard-fought GTE Pro contest.

As ever, we also report

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Verstappen explains why Red Bull didn’t try contra tyre strategy for Spanish GP – F1

Max Verstappen opted against a contra strategy in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix as he feels the soft tyre will hold up fine for the opening race stint.

Verstappen took a surprise victory last weekend at the 70th Anniversary GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas after perfecting his tyre strategy.

The Red Bull driver qualified on the hard tyre and was able to push for a long first stint, while both Hamilton and Bottas struggled after starting on mediums, with their hard stints then being blighted by blistering.

Tyre management is expected to be important once again in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix due to high track temperatures, which neared 50ºC during qualifying.

PLUS: Why F1 may get another Mercedes/Red Bull showdown in Spain

But Red Bull opted to qualify Verstappen on the soft compound tyre in Q2, matching the Mercedes drivers’ strategy, as he took third place

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F1 start time: What time does the Spanish Grand Prix start? – F1

Lewis Hamilton starts on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Here’s how and when you can watch the race.

The F1 champion secured his 92nd career pole position by beating Bottas by just 0.059 seconds.

Mercedes is looking to strike back after losing its 100% winning start to the reshuffled 2020 F1 season at the 70th Anniversary GP when Max Verstappen clinched victory through superior tyre management and strategy.

But Verstappen and Red Bull opted against the contra strategy for the Spanish GP, qualifying on the same tyre as the rest of the top 10, with the Dutch driver taking third place on the grid.

Sergio Perez is back in action for Racing Point after missing the two Silverstone races due to testing positive for COVID-19, and has eyes on the podium after qualifying in fourth place directly ahead of team-mate

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Perez/Kvyat Spanish GP penalties first in FIA crackdown on F1 blue flags – F1

The penalties handed to Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat for ignoring blue flags in the Spanish Grand Prix were the first as part of a new crackdown by the FIA.

Both Perez and Kvyat were hit with a five-second time penalty for failing to adhere to blue flags in the closing stages of the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as they were lapped by the leading cars.

Perez was penalised for failing to move out of the way of race leader Lewis Hamilton through the final sector of the track, instead moving aside on the start/finish straight.

The Racing Point driver called the penalty “very unfair” after it dropped him from fourth place on the road to fifth in the final classification.

AlphaTauri’s Kvyat was also found to have failed to obey blue flags between Turn 6 and Turn 1 at the start of the next lap when being

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Haas: Lack of pace in F1 Spanish GP qualifying “a mystery” – F1

Haas Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean says his lack of pace in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying is “a bit of a mystery” after showing “genuine” pace in Friday practice.

Grosjean and team-mate Kevin Magnussen both failed to get through Q1, with the Danish driver starting in 16th, one place ahead of Grosjean.

The result is on par with their previous qualifying performances in 2020, but after a promising Friday the pair were hoping for much more.

Grosjean was an impressive fifth in FP2, but after an overnight engine change he struggled to improve on that time.

While Haas’ midfield rivals all found plenty of pace, Grosjean only managed a 1m18.089s in Q1, reporting a lot of understeer.

The Frenchman says his understeer issues and the subsequent lack of pace were “a bit of a mystery”.

“From FP3 I just felt like the car didn’t quite react the same way,” Grosjean

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Suzuki’s Mir “penalised” by lack of data from MotoGP Spanish GP DNF – MotoGP

Suzuki’s Joan Mir says his non-finish in the MotoGP’s first Jerez race meant he was “penalised” for the Andalusian Grand Prix as he had no data to fall back on.

Mir crashed out on lap two of the season-opening Spanish GP, while team-mate Alex Rins was a non-starter after dislocating and fracturing his collarbone in a qualifying crash.

This meant Mir returned to Jerez lacking in data of how the front tyre behaved in the scorching temperatures and in a pack of bikes, which led him to struggle from the off in Sunday’s Andalusian GP.

Despite this, Mir got to the chequered flag in a career-best equaling fifth position, while Rins gritted his teeth through his injury to complete the top 10.

Commenting on his race, Mir said it was “important” for him to be able to run close to the podium – though concedes the mechanical issues for Francesco

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F1’s Spanish GP review and Indy 500 preview in this week’s Autosport magazine – Autosport Magazine

Lewis Hamilton’s crushing victory in the Spanish Grand Prix is the cover story of a packed Autosport magazine this week.

As well as covering Hamilton’s perfect performance in Barcelona, we also look at the key tech developments, rate all the drivers and provide the important statistics and data from the sixth round of the 2020 Formula 1 season.

It was a busy weekend for international motorsport, with 2011 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Oliver Rowland and former McLaren F1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne taking the final victories of the Formula E season in Berlin.

The World Endurance Championship got back under way at Spa and Gary Watkins was there to see how the Toyota with the biggest success handicap managed to come out on top, and how Porsche topped a typically hard-fought GTE Pro contest.

As ever, we also report on the myriad other meetings, from the DTM encounter at Lausitzring

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Automotive