2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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ChrisDanger
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Joined: 30 Mar 2011, 09:59

2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Circuit and Event Information

FIA Event and Timing Information

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Tyre Allocations

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2016 Qualifying Results (link to wiki)

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2016 Race Results (link to wiki)

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2016 Pole Lap:

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Championship Tables [source]

World Driver's Championship Table
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World Driver's Championship, Positions
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World Driver's Championship, Points
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World Constructor's Championship Table
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World Constructor's Championship, Positions
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World Constructor's Championship, Points
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TAG
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Joined: 09 Dec 2014, 16:18
Location: in a good place

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Interesting mix of tire choice there between the tier one teams.
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Vasconia
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Joined: 30 Aug 2012, 10:45
Location: Basque Country

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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This should be Mercedes territory, the track suits their package and Ferrari´s update won´t come until Monza. I didnt remember that RB was so strong last year so they should strong this time as well. Anyway Ferrari should be ahead of them.

My favourite track though last year´s race haven´t been as good as those mighty races of the 90s and before. I miss a true wet race in Spa because it could be truly epic.

My bet:

Pole:

1. Hamilton
2. Raikkonen
3. Bottas
4. Vettel
5. Ricciardo
6. Verstappen
7. Perez
8. Ocon
9. Hulkenberg
10. Massa.

Race:

1. Hamlton
2. Vettel
3. Raikkonen
4. Verstappen
5. Stroll
6. Perez
7. Ocon
8. Hulkenberg
9. Alonso
10. Sainz

Bottas and Ricciardo collide, just for fun.

Total chaos under the rain

1. Verstappen
2. Hulkenberg
3. Raikkonen
4. Ricciardo
5. Alonso.
6. Vettel
7. Hamilton
8. Occon
9. Sainz
10. Stroll

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GPR-A duplicate2
64
Joined: 07 Aug 2014, 09:00

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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TAG wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 14:51
Interesting mix of tire choice there between the tier one teams.
This is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.

The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.

santos
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Joined: 06 Nov 2014, 16:48

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Last year was Medium and Soft, and most people made more then two stops. This year the top 10 will start on ultra soft, will they be able to make only two stops?

santos
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Joined: 06 Nov 2014, 16:48

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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GPR-A wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 15:42
TAG wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 14:51
Interesting mix of tire choice there between the tier one teams.
This is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.

The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
One stop??? Even if they start on supersoft, i don't belive they will be able to make it with just one stop.

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TAG
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Joined: 09 Dec 2014, 16:18
Location: in a good place

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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GPR-A wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 15:42
TAG wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 14:51
Interesting mix of tire choice there between the tier one teams.
This is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.

The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
I'm thinking that's the route Red Bull is going, which will make it nice come raceday having the different strategies play out. Sometimes it works out, making those late race charges from Verstappen or Ricciardo work to their advantage.
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Sevach
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Joined: 07 Jun 2012, 17:00

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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GPR-A wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 15:42
TAG wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 14:51
Interesting mix of tire choice there between the tier one teams.
This is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.

The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
This should be a Mercedes track so if i was running Ferrari i would do the opposite to what Mercedes chooses... unfortunately they haven't put me in charge thus far lol.

It's interesting that teams are unsure on what is gonna be the best tire.

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Juzh
161
Joined: 06 Oct 2012, 08:45

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Sevach wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 16:33
It's interesting that teams are unsure on what is gonna be the best tire.
Except for red bull which seems quite content with US.

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TAG
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Joined: 09 Dec 2014, 16:18
Location: in a good place

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Juzh wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 16:40
Sevach wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 16:33
It's interesting that teams are unsure on what is gonna be the best tire.
Except for red bull which seems quite content with US.
Or given the PU demands here, have no option but to go for a two stopper and hope there's enough of a delta between the super and ultra to make it worth while.
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dren
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Joined: 03 Mar 2010, 14:14

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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I hope it rains and a Honda accidentally wins.
Honda!

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Nuvolari
3
Joined: 07 Apr 2016, 14:10

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Interesting that the 2016 pole lap on super soft was only just over 0.2s faster than the fastest time in Q2 on the soft tyre, with a best sector 2 by Rosberg slower than RB and Ferrari. Is there not such a big lap time gain between the softer tyres here? I would've thought the softer compounds would be particularly helpful in sector 2.

Hope Pirelli don't mandate crazy high tyre pressures like last year.

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Juzh
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Joined: 06 Oct 2012, 08:45

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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TAG wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 18:02
Juzh wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 16:40
Sevach wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 16:33
It's interesting that teams are unsure on what is gonna be the best tire.
Except for red bull which seems quite content with US.
Or given the PU demands here, have no option but to go for a two stopper and hope there's enough of a delta between the super and ultra to make it worth while.
In any case, they're clearly convinced US is the best choice. Certainly they're not unsure.

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Artur Craft
40
Joined: 05 Feb 2010, 15:50

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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Nuvolari wrote:
03 Aug 2017, 18:34
Interesting that the 2016 pole lap on super soft was only just over 0.2s faster than the fastest time in Q2 on the soft tyre, with a best sector 2 by Rosberg slower than RB and Ferrari. Is there not such a big lap time gain between the softer tyres here? I would've thought the softer compounds would be particularly helpful in sector 2.

Hope Pirelli don't mandate crazy high tyre pressures like last year.
It's funny, RB always had tiny rear wings on Spa and still was always a match for Mercedes on Spa's S2 (2015 and 2016). However, because of their poor PU, even with the low drag RW, they were still massively behind Mercedes.

S2 has high speed corner, so a softer tyre won't matter much there but more on the slow corners of S1/S3, which are just a couple on Spa.

It's funny cause the record is from 2009 and I doubt the 2017 cars will be able to beat even that(2016 QLF times barely faster than a race record :lol: ), imagine if the track was the same in 2004 :D

All tyres are too bad this year, they all degrade quite a lot but always in similar rates, so the softer compounds always remain faster, unlike on previous seasons. I'm surprised anybody still opt for anything other than US(or the softest available).

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Zynerji
111
Joined: 27 Jan 2016, 16:14

Re: 2017 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 25-27 August

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I see this as:

Raikkonen
Hamilton
Vettel

This is Kimi's favorite track, and I believe he will put together a stunning Q3 lap, and take pole to the chequered flag.

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