The 5th round of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us to Montmelo, Spain for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalumya.

The circuit is very familiar to the teams as it used quite extensively for testing. The final two pre-season tests were held at the circuit before the start of the 2015 season. There are 16 corners with one long main straight and a few long, fast corners. There are also a few low speed and medium speed corners which makes this track very technical and hard on the tyres. Teams tend to run high down force which means there will be much more energy going through the tyres with the front left being the most stressed.

Pirelli have chosen the white medium(option) compound and the orange hard(prime) compound tyre for the Spanish Grand Prix. This tyre choice, according to Pirelli, will suit the rough asphalt and the high speed corners and the quick direction changes. The circuit is a front limited circuit which means the cars will depend heavily on the front mechanical grip from the tyres to change direction quickly. A two-stop race is predicted.

As the seasons start to change in the northern hemisphere temperatures will remain mild throughout the entire weekend. The expected temperatures will hover in the low-to-mid 20’s with the hottest day on Friday at 24 degrees Celsius. Saturday and Sunday we can expect sun throughout both days with temperatures peaking at 22 degrees Celsius.

Below is a snapshot of the weekends weather and a live update of the current conditions in Catalunya.