2010 Spanish Grand Prix

Previous race

Button won in China to become the first driver of the season to take two victories. The win moves him into the championship lead going into the first European race of the year.

Between-race developments

From this race, wing mirrors may no longer be mounted in the outboard position following concerns about poor driver visibility that led to several incidents of accidental blocking in Melbourne.

Ferrari have been granted FIA permission to modify their engines following a string of dramatic failures affecting themselves and customer teams. The team has also removed all traces of the “barcode” Marlboro livery decoration from their car after controversy over whether it contained subliminal advertising.

Entrants

Virgin Racing brings a longer-wheelbase chassis with a larger fuel tank to replace the under-capacity version that has been unable to carry enough fuel to complete a race at full speed. Due to the disruption caused by the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption to air travel across Europe, only one new chassis has reached Barcelona — assigned to Timo Glock. Di Grassi continues in the original short-wheelbase car.

Hispania have signed former Jaguar driver Christian Klien as a test driver and run him in place of Karun Chandhok for the first practice session. Klien’s FIA Super Licence was reported to have expired — his last race start was the 2006 Italian Grand Prix — but was reportedly renewed just ten minutes before the session began.

Penalties

Vitaly Petrov carries a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change after crashing in Saturday practice. Both Virgin Racing cars also carry five-place penalties after the team failed to notify the FIA of gear ratio changes before the deadline. Chandhok carries a further penalty for a gearbox replacement.

Practice

The first session was incident-free aside from Pedro de la Rosa’s gearbox failure. Hamilton and Button topped the timing sheets for McLaren, with Schumacher an encouraging third — his best result of the early season. Schumacher later said the team’s updates to the W01 had restored his confidence. Alonso was eighth, between the two Renaults.

Hülkenberg provided the drama in the second session when an excursion at the exit of Campsa corner resulted in a barrier impact that tore off his front wing. Alguersuari stopped on circuit near the end of the session; the recovery truck clipped a bridge on its return to the pits. Vettel topped the session, with Webber second and Schumacher third. Alonso improved to fourth while the McLarens fell back.

The third session saw Petrov spin and crash in a puddle of standing water at the Repsol corner; the damage to his car was extensive enough to require a gearbox change. Kobayashi encountered the same puddle moments earlier but avoided contact.