2021 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 27 - 29

[Juzh]

Looks like random drizzle for all three days. This probably means all sessions apart from race itself will be affected.

[search]

spa is a power hungry track ,Honda pu is the best of the bunch so i expect a knockout punch from Rbr honda duo.The fact of the matter is merc hasnt beaten Rbr on a power track without any controversy ie Bahrain and silverstone.they got totally obliterated in 2 races in Austria crashed in Baku and beaten in both france and imola. Dispite the politiking merc has been faster than rbr in tracks were power is not that important eg Barcelona ,Hungury ,portimao even monaco Bottas was competitive .so changes in the floor didnt hurt them.

I'd be a bit more cautious about it. Mercedes has clearly stepped up (or Honda down, more likely) in terms of power over the past two races, potentially related to a new FIA directive (as AMuS reported). It remains to be seen if that pattern will continue in Spa, but it would be no major surprise to me

[basti313]

spa is a power hungry track ,Honda pu is the best of the bunch so i expect a knockout punch from Rbr honda duo.The fact of the matter is merc hasnt beaten Rbr on a power track without any controversy ie Bahrain and silverstone.they got totally obliterated in 2 races in Austria crashed in Baku and beaten in both france and imola. Dispite the politiking merc has been faster than rbr in tracks were power is not that important eg Barcelona ,Hungury ,portimao even monaco Bottas was competitive .so changes in the floor didnt hurt them.

I'd be a bit more cautious about it. Mercedes has clearly stepped up (or Honda down, more likely) in terms of power over the past two races, potentially related to a new FIA directive (as AMuS reported). It remains to be seen if that pattern will continue in Spa, but it would be no major surprise to me

I do not think it is in any way engine related. The change came with the floor change on the Merc. They were able to remove a lot of drag from the car. I never saw the Honda on a level with the Merc engine, but they had more aero efficiency.
The races in Spa and Monza will be really defining for the outcome of the season. I fear that similarly to last season the RedBull may fall even behind teams like McLaren in Monza if the engine power relation is mostly unchanged...which looks to me like being the case.

I am not sure how rain will affect this...in changing conditions you add more downforce which would increase the difference the engine makes.

[NL_Fer]

Looks like random drizzle for all three days. This probably means all sessions apart from race itself will be affected.

14-15c that is freezing cold for F1 cars. Maybe teams will have cold tyres/brakes at the end of straights.

[Just_a_fan]

Looks like random drizzle for all three days. This probably means all sessions apart from race itself will be affected.

14-15c that is freezing cold for F1 cars. Maybe teams will have cold tyres/brakes at the end of straights.

The tyres won't like that. Red Bull to get the tyres working quicker, Mercedes to get them working forever. Could lead to split strategy between the two which opens up some interest.

[zibby43]

Looks like random drizzle for all three days. This probably means all sessions apart from race itself will be affected.

14-15c that is freezing cold for F1 cars. Maybe teams will have cold tyres/brakes at the end of straights.

The tyres won't like that. Red Bull to get the tyres working quicker, Mercedes to get them working forever. Could lead to split strategy between the two which opens up some interest.

In addition, I’ve given up on trying to ascertain what temperatures benefit which teams.

In Silverstone qualifying, when the temperatures cooled, the W12 got stronger. Which has been general trend for the Merc dating back several seasons.

However, in Hungary, Merc were stronger than RB in unusually scorching conditions. But I still maintain that was due to circuit layout and general performance rather than temps. Budapest is firmly a medium-speed circuit now with these high-downforce cars. May change next year.

[Manoah2u]

Predicting a superb Mclaren, first corner collision mayhem, and RBR on the back foot. Ferrari might win.

[mclaren_mircea]

Please stop with Mclaren as a favorite for Spa. Im masivelly dissapointed of them. Ferrari stopped all the development of the car very early in spring while Mclaren updated the car almost every race and despite this and the power of the Mercedes engines they are on level points. I thought Mclaren this year will be at the top of their game but as usually they finish in their own way... very ,,Mclarenesque"... I hope and I think that only at Monza they will be strong.

[Chuckjr]

If it’s cold, rainy, and drizzle for the weekend, engines play much less of a role in those conditions, which is nice. It will come down to the drivers mostly, which is nice. Plus, damp/wet races always lead to spectacular moments, which is nice.

[Stu]

I wonder how long it will take the FIA/F1 to work out that when it is very difficult for teams to predict conditions their ability to “iterate the hell out of” possibilities in their simulations becomes almost impossible and put a limit on computer usage over a season (much as there is for wind tunnel/CFD); that could/would/should improve the show and place a lot of emphasis on trackside race engineering again.

Looking forward to a good GP!!

[basti313]

engines play much less of a role in those conditions

This is something I doubt more and more for tracks like Spa, COTA or Monza.

On a track like Hungary we see the effect of the straight getting short and a stronger engine not having a real benefit as the full throttle time is low. But on tracks with long straights you have such a long full throttle time, that no matter if it rains or not, the time benefit of a stronger engine is there no matter if it is dry or moist.

Additionally the one with a stronger engine can afford to use more dirty down force without getting such a big problem on the straight once it gets more dry during the race.

[mclaren111]

Please stop with Mclaren as a favorite for Spa. Im masivelly dissapointed of them. Ferrari stopped all the development of the car very early in spring while Mclaren updated the car almost every race and despite this and the power of the Mercedes engines they are on level points. I thought Mclaren this year will be at the top of their game but as usually they finish in their own way... very ,,Mclarenesque"... I hope and I think that only at Monza they will be strong.

I think you're a bit harsh on the team... Hungary was no fault of our own... Ricciardo's troubles seems to be improving ...

Our car is good and getting the right setup for the remaining races is critical & there is every reason to think we can beat Ferrari...

[SiLo]

I wonder how long it will take the FIA/F1 to work out that when it is very difficult for teams to predict conditions their ability to “iterate the hell out of” possibilities in their simulations becomes almost impossible and put a limit on computer usage over a season (much as there is for wind tunnel/CFD); that could/would/should improve the show and place a lot of emphasis on trackside race engineering again.

Looking forward to a good GP!!

I mean there is only so much they can learn from this, it just gives them a list of actions to take based on what happens in the race.

[kalinka]

engines play much less of a role in those conditions

This is something I doubt more and more for tracks like Spa, COTA or Monza.

On a track like Hungary we see the effect of the straight getting short and a stronger engine not having a real benefit as the full throttle time is low. But on tracks with long straights you have such a long full throttle time, that no matter if it rains or not, the time benefit of a stronger engine is there no matter if it is dry or moist.

Additionally the one with a stronger engine can afford to use more dirty down force without getting such a big problem on the straight once it gets more dry during the race.

Agree.
Spa is the track where a team with a weaker engine can successfully trade some downforce for top speed without loosing too much laptime..but again if it rains they will be slaughtered by cars with strong engine/high downforce.
It can only work on a dry track.

[Stu]

I wonder how long it will take the FIA/F1 to work out that when it is very difficult for teams to predict conditions their ability to “iterate the hell out of” possibilities in their simulations becomes almost impossible and put a limit on computer usage over a season (much as there is for wind tunnel/CFD); that could/would/should improve the show and place a lot of emphasis on trackside race engineering again.

Looking forward to a good GP!!

I mean there is only so much they can learn from this, it just gives them a list of actions to take based on what happens in the race.

To be honest I would be including live data streaming from car to pit during a race within that limit, teams would still be able to download data directly from the car during a pit stop. This would work even better if there were a limit on the number of pit-crew able to ‘service’ the car during a stop, maybe by half? - that would make it possible to pit both of a teams cars together without ‘stacking’ and lead to inter-team battles

It should be possible for the on-board software to alert a driver to what is important for him/her.

Drivers are currently being coached on tyre temperature, brake temperature and cooling issues from the pits.