Less than a week after
Lewis Hamilton's double domination of the Nurburgring round, the GP2 Series is back under Spanish skies with the ART Grand Prix driver looking to overhaul Nelson Piquet Jr's now slim championship lead.
With Hamilton ruining the run of different winners from the opening five rounds by coming from eighth to win race two in Germany last Sunday, the top three in the championship are separated by just two points, with the consistent Nicolas Lapierre up to third place after his latest podium run. Unlike those that have gone before, the series' second appearance in Spain sees the 26 cars returning to a track at which every driver - barring new arrival Giorgio Pantano - has had experience in testing this year, giving each team a chance to get straight into the business of honing, rather than finding, the right set-up.
They say that, if you have a good car at Barcelona, you’ll have a good car everywhere, such is the task of finding an optimum set-up. The circuit’s combination of high, medium and slow speed corners, long and short straights and heavy braking zones make it an ideal testing venue, and those who tend to go quickly there also tend to have the best base set-up for other venues.
However, despite that, the same teams appear at the front of the field week in, week out, suggesting that quality will out wherever, even if GP2 has a habit of being both close and throwing up the odd surprise or two.
