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Heikki Kovalainen: Small margins ahead of Spanish Grand Prix

Mercedes were strong as expected in Bahrain, with Ferrari reasonably close but the trouble with Mercedes brakes towards the end of the race allowed Kimi Raikkonen to finish ahead of Nico Rosberg.

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Ferrari will feel relieved that they have been able to make improvements from the last few seasons.

They can very pleased about the engine performance. They have done a great job with that over the winter.

However, they are the kind of team that aren’t happy unless they are finishing first. They want to be winning which is what both Kimi and Sebastian Vettel want as well.

They’ll be working every hard to catch Mercedes and close the gap who still have the advantage.

The gap is still too big for Ferrari to seriously challenge Mercedes every race but they are closing it up and getting involved in the fight.

This is fantastic for F1 and hopefully already this year, if not next year they can battle them every race and challenge them for the championship.

Elsewhere, the performance of the engine of my old team Renault was disappointing.

With this new power unit and new regulations, you would expect them to be performing better but the reliability problems have increased which is surprising.

It is worrying times for them and I think the team that is running their engines are the moment must be really frustrated.

I don’t see an easy way out of it for them in the middle of the season. To increase the performance and improve the reliability is a tough task.
My experience of Renault was that they always had a reliable engine.

Perhaps it has never been the most powerful engine and they have never been able to compete with Mercedes or Ferrari, even when I was driving a Renault, but they have always been reliable.

It was a very good engine to drive and great with fuel consumption so in my days you could run with less fuel than they other cars which gives you an advantage during the race because you are quicker.
Over the winter they announced some restructuring in their operations and it looks like it hasn’t worked.

Added boost

The changes they have made hasn’t improved the situation so I suspect if it carries on like this there will be even more changes to come.

I don’t believe the people that are funding this program are happy at the moment and they will want things to change.

I won’t be surprised if you see another change in personnel in the Renault management if things don’t change.
They need to get the reliability back because they are going to get too many penalties for the number of units they can use for the season.

It is already almost guaranteed that they are going to be punished for that.

With the season still being young, this will be an issue at the end of the year. At the same time, they have got to give the team and the drivers more power.

Red Bull especially will seek an added boost. They believe they have got a good car so they will be pushing Renault to improve the power.

This puts Renault into a tricky situation because they are getting pressure from the teams to improve reliability and power which are a difficult combination.

Normally you sacrifice one or the other so I don’t see an easy way out of it. This could really be a disastrous year for Renault and they need to make some changes to ensure at the end of the season they get out of this rut and can prepare for next year.
When you look at the situation with Renault, it explains quite a lot about Red Bull.

Most of their problems have come with the engine and they have had reliability issues with both drivers in numerous races and haven’t been able to optimise the car because of the performance of the Renault engine.

I think they really need to support Renault. They are a powerful team so they need to give as much information so they can improve together.

Red Bull will be running short of patience. They have already been quite vocal about the engine and the problems, it will be interesting to look out for at the end of the year, how they are going to react if there are no improvements.

It’s hard for Renault to improve both reliability and power and this could have an impact on Red Bull’s future - whether they are going to stay in Formula One or they will look for an alternative engine altogether.

Daniel Ricciardo's future
People have been talking about Daniel Ricciardo's future already. As a driver you always want to look for the best options and alternatives.

If your team is not producing the performance that you are expecting and you don’t see the future looking much better, you have to consider your position.

But the question is where would he go? It seems like the top seeds positions are taken. Red Bull have got the power to move things forward.

They certainly are a team capable of getting back to the top. They have great staff, brilliant facilities and they have won the championship many years in a row.

If I was him, I would stay for another year and see what Red Bull can come up with and at that time there might be more seats available in different teams, so he has more options.

I rate Daniel as one of the top drivers. Last year was a breakthrough year for him.

He has always been a promising young driver but last season he proved he can compete with the best. The races that he won, he earned them.

He overtook people and was aggressive and committed in his driving. He went out and grabbed those victories, they were far from easy, which was the really impressive aspect of his season. He’s definitely one of the top drivers at the moment.

Ricciardo.
Ricciardo.

Small margins

This weekend in Barcelona, we have a circuit that all the drivers know very well. The margins will be small in both the qualifying and the race itself.

It will be a close battle. I don’t expect many mistakes from teams or the drivers because it is such a well known track. It is a circuit where the teams introduce their upgrade and do their testing.

It has been difficult to improve the car during the races outside Europe but now they are back in Europe, everybody is bringing new front wings, new rear wings, new bodyworks - mainly aerodynamic improvements to the car.

I don’t reckon that will affect the order very much and if anything the top teams will be able to stretch their advantage over the middle of the pack.

Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and Williams as well can get away from the likes of Force India and Sauber.

I don’t think the order for the top three or four teams will change.

Ferrari will still be closer to Mercedes than the other teams, with Williams coming after them. The mid-field will be quite interesting.

That’s where Red Bull could take a little advantage over Lotus, Force India and Sauber.
One of the most intriguing teams at the moment for these upgrades is McLaren. They are capable of major improvements. When I was there they were great at updating but it all comes down to whether Honda can produce more power or not.

They are in a similar position to Renault, the only difference being that they don’t have the reliability issues that Renault have had. McLaren will be interesting to watch.

If they are going to have any chance of scoring points this year and joining that mid-field battle, they need to make a step this weekend.
The Spanish GP will determine how the rest of McLaren’s season goes. They will be looking to join the midfield battle. They are too far behind to compete with the top teams now.

Barcelona experience

My experience of Barcelona was that it was not any more difficult than other tracks. The set up is more crucial than other circuits, though because the margins are so small. You really have to nail a good qualifying lap to get your position on the grid.

One thing that is special about Barcelona is that it is quite difficult to overtake, even with the DRS and all these gadgets you have in the car nowadays.

There are high speed corners all the way through the circuit so it is difficult to get a good run.

The best place to overtake is into turn one after the main straight but it is very difficult to get close on the last corner.

That’s why the qualifying is crucial. You need good aerodynamics in your car in Barcelona because of these high speed corners.

This is what is unique about the track. If you can get your updates working well, you can be pleased about that because it means you will have a decent summer run and go on to have a good season.

Heikki's Barcelona predictions:


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