Barcelona, Are You Ready?

The time is nigh. Practice is finally getting underway here in the Catalan hills, and the motorsport race is bracing itself for a feast of adrenaline-fuelled action over the next three days. In the spirit of previous blogs here at the home of Lotus Renault GP, it would be disappointing not to talk about the weather. So, I will. Cloudless skies. That's right – cloudless skies, and the scene is set for an action-packed weekend, which begins today with the two practice sessions, a third session tomorrow followed by the crucial qualifying session. Come Sunday, of course, it will be race time.

All the talk is on the tyres, and how very different the conditions are this fine weekend in May compared to pre-season when F1 was last in town. Tyre strategies will undoubtedly play another crucial part in this race – something we are fast learning is of the highest importance in the world of Formula 1 in 2011. Mix in the unpredictability of KERS and the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and it all combines to form a perfect recipe for a sport that is feeling very ripe right now.

What can we expect over the next three days? Well, we can be certain that qualifying will again be crucial for our race hopes, and we can expect a flurry of race stops come Sunday afternoon. And once this is all over…it's only the small matter of Monaco!