Valencia Street Circuit

Friday June 22
First Practice Session: 4:00am
Second Practice Session: 8:00pm

Saturday June 23
Final Practice Session: 5:00am
Qualifying: 8:00am

Sunday June 24
Race: 8:00am**

All times Eastern. In the US, you can watch the second practice session and the qualifying session on SPEED, and the other two practice sessions on their website.

**THE RACE WILL NOT BE SHOWN LIVE but on a tape delay on Fox at 2pm on June 24.

Last year’s winner: Sebastian Vettel

What to expect: The usual borefest that is Valencia. Maybe we’ll get an eighth different winner.

Weather: It was disturbingly hot there today, apparently reaching 98 FREAKIN DEGREES. Thankfully it’s going to cool down dramatically, but it’ll probably still be that hot on the track come Sunday. It should be sunny, maybe a little cloudy, for the whole weekend, so don’t expect rain to perk this race up.

Tires: Softs and mediums are the compounds of choice for this street circuit. Pretty sure we’ll once again see hardly anyone going out for Q3 since everyone will want to use the soft tires.

DRS: There will also only be one zone in Valencia this year, a change from last year. The detection point will be prior to turn 8, with the activation zone after turn 10.

Sorry this is hardly even 200 words. I seriously can’t stand this race. I’m glad it’s wasted on tape delay.

And yes, since I cater to an American audience, I will not update this blog until the tape delayed race is over. I am a nice person on occasion.

photo credit: Flickr/Gustavo Adachi

Spain will have only one race starting in 2013, as Bernie Ecclestone finishes up an actually logical deal. Organizers of both the Spanish and European Grands Prix have agreed to alternate venues beginning next year.

The Spanish Grand Prix will then alternate between Valencia’s street circuit and Barcelona, at Circuit de Catalunya.

It was previously revealed that Valencia’s organizers were having a tough time paying for the race, and this solution will help them. As of right now, the dates have not been decided.