2015 Belgian Grand Prix - 21-23 August

[f1316]

None of the races at any track are great every year but there are some I just enjoy watching the cars going round that particular track. Monza stands out for me, then Monaco and Spa is also up there.

Maybe it'll be boring but maybe it won't - let's hope for the latter. 2000 was an obvious classic if we want to go back a bit further and so were many in that era, partly because of unpredictable weather.

[Jordan44]

Im thinking the Mercedes drivers will be under strict instructions not to screw this one up for 2 reasons
1. What happened last year
2. Its the only track on the current calendar they have failed to win since reforming in 2010. (Obviously not including Mexico)

What about reason number 3? They screwed up in Hungary and people are now starting to hype Seb stealing the title and they can't afford to keep dropping points if he does put in a realistic challenge.

[Overdriving]

Im thinking the Mercedes drivers will be under strict instructions not to screw this one up for 2 reasons
1. What happened last year
2. Its the only track on the current calendar they have failed to win since reforming in 2010. (Obviously not including Mexico)

What about reason number 3? They screwed up in Hungary and people are now starting to hype Seb stealing the title and they can't afford to keep dropping points if he does put in a realistic challenge.

Mercs are not stupid. Seb might have won the title in 2012 when he had a similar gap to the leader midseason, but he wasn't trying to catch such a dominant car like this year's Merc (though his own car wasn't dominant in 2012 either--just joint fastest with Mclaren). 42 points is a lot when your car is so much slower than the championship leader's. I doubt Mercs are worried about Seb. He will need a lot of good luck to pull it off. It's nearly impossible. So far Mercs have been fast and bullet-proof, unlike Ferrari.

[SiLo]

Im thinking the Mercedes drivers will be under strict instructions not to screw this one up for 2 reasons
1. What happened last year
2. Its the only track on the current calendar they have failed to win since reforming in 2010. (Obviously not including Mexico)

What about reason number 3? They screwed up in Hungary and people are now starting to hype Seb stealing the title and they can't afford to keep dropping points if he does put in a realistic challenge.

Mercs are not stupid. Seb might have won the title in 2012 when he had a similar gap to the leader midseason, but he wasn't trying to catch such a dominant car like this year's Merc (though his own car wasn't dominant in 2012 either--just joint fastest with Mclaren). 42 points is a lot when your car is so much slower than the championship leader's. I doubt Mercs are worried about Seb. He will need a lot of good luck to pull it off. It's nearly impossible. So far Mercs have been fast and bullet-proof, unlike Ferrari.

i'll be impressed if he finishes within 50 points of the championship leader come the end of the year.

I'm hoping for a rainy weekend, wet quali and race would be great.

[AnthonyG]

Wouldn't really count on it, it's been bone dry and warm in Belgium so far appart from a few thunderstorms in the evening,

[Schuttelberg]

Wouldn't really count on it, it's been bone dry and warm in Belgium so far appart from a few thunderstorms in the evening,

Local info!

It can stay bone dry all of the next 7 days mate. I'm just hoping for a couple of passing showers during the race. Can't wish for thunderstorms, we generally don't race in the wet these days.

[Phil]

I think the weather has just about turned around as of yesterday in central Europe. We've had dry and hot temperatures up to between 27° and 35°C for the past 3-4 weeks in Switzerland, but as of yesterday, it seems, the meteorologic summer (at least here) has come to and end with a cold front coming in from France and has resulted in a drop in temperature to under 20°C. With it, we've not only had thunderstorms last night, but rain too - and the outlook into next week isn't painting a much brighter picture with similar conditions (cloudy/rainy, ~25°C tops).

I'd be very very very surprised if the weather we have here isn't somewhat comparable to what Belgium and the region of Spa can and will expect in the next coming week.

[Schuttelberg]

So we can expect showers?

[dren]

Expect a Mercedes 1-2 followed by possibly a Williams. I'm curious how much of a jump the Mclarens will make with the new Honda units.

[Schuttelberg]

Expect a Mercedes 1-2 followed by possibly a Williams. I'm curious how much of a jump the Mclarens will make with the new Honda units.

The power of dreams.

[PlatinumZealot]

Williams will be having some of the points meant for ferrari in the tow coming races. Might put a big dent in Vettel's mathematical chances at least.

[Jordan44]

Expect a Mercedes 1-2 followed by possibly a Williams. I'm curious how much of a jump the Mclarens will make with the new Honda units.

The power of dreams.

They'll probably look worse than in Hungary or no better here because of the long straights even if they have made progress. The jump they make won't be observable.

[Moose]

Expect a Mercedes 1-2 followed by possibly a Williams. I'm curious how much of a jump the Mclarens will make with the new Honda units.

The power of dreams.

They'll probably look worse than in Hungary or no better here because of the long straights even if they have made progress. The jump they make won't be observable.

Eh - Williams looked poor in Hungary exactly because it doesn't have long straights. What Williams have is an extremely efficient low-medium downforce configuration. That's why they did so well in Britain (even being able to stay in front of the Mercedeses until they messed up strategically). Silverstone is an extremely similar track to Spa in terms of requirements on the car, so I expect this to be a strong race for Williams.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Mercedes still don't know what happened during the starts, their different reasons explanation is laughable, so I expect another horrible start.

Only postive is that they can overtake the cars in front of them in Spa.

[Schuttelberg]

Williams will be having some of the points meant for ferrari in the tow coming races. Might put a big dent in Vettel's mathematical chances at least.

Very bold prediction. I'll actually bet on Vettel beating the Williams drivers even if the Ferrari is slower. Reason? Massa is not as strong in the race. Bottas is quite average in qualifying. And I'm not betting against Vettel when he's an under dog in the championship again after 2010, 2012. Not for getting 3rd at least. I still think he can get Rosberg for 2nd in the championship.