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

[Schippke]

Aside from the weather being how it is in Spa, generally keen to see how this one plays out between Mercedes & Red Bull... both have strong engines and very quick on the high-speed bends so should be close between them. Feeling Mercedes will edge them out a bit seeing the recent races power wise, but could be wrong.

I don't think McLaren will be in the fight for the win, as some seem to be suggesting here and/or elsewhere, but they're surely favourites for best of the rest; They've got impressive Top Speed which will prove incredibly handy here, either for overtaking or defending... Norris could very much make things difficult for the likes of Bottas and Perez I feel! I also wouldn't discount Aston Martin here either. Mightn't have the pace of McLaren, but with Mercedes power and a steady increase in pace compared to the start in the year, potential 4th strongest team here I reckon.

Alpha Tauri (well, Gasly!) will be in the mix... Honda power and a decent enough Chassis, could very well be well into the Top 10 by the end of Q3.

Hope I'm wrong, but I'm seeing this one as a struggle for Ferrari... lacking a bit of power on everyone at front and their new Power Unit updates aren't due for another few races apparently. Should score some points, but might struggle to get both cars into Q3. Saying that though, their race-pace has been VERY strong since France so could make progress, though this isn't a track with high-tyre wear so any advantage they have will be minimal...

Alpine is hard to predict... they usually seem quite strong in a straight line and previous years have gone relatively well on the high-speed/high-power stuff... but think they'll be the back end of the midfield here.

[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.

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...

You are right with Hungary but at Silverstone... full throtle passage... change of direction at high speed... high speed corners... Max out... they should have taken massive massive points to Ferrari. There were no slow speed corners, no 90 degrees corners... no twisty stuff for mechanical grip... even with Ricciardo they should have beten Ferrari because of the characteristics of the track... what I cant understand if how is posible that updating the car almost every race while Ferrari on full swing on 2022 car they cand beat Ferrari on a track like Silverstone.

[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.

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.

The drivers can see a lot of this stuff, I imagine it's just the engineers reminding them of it. I'd be all for making the drivers do more, but the cars are so complex now I think it's unrealistic.

At the end of the day, it's a team sport.

[godlameroso]

Light rain all weekend, lots of cloud cover, could be damp wet or dry, too hard to read how conditions will play out. It will be cool and cloudy that's for sure. Race day may be dry, again too hard to read around here.

If it is dry, all 3 tires will work. Medium tire is the best race tire from what I can see. Hard tire can do the one stop no problem, but it's just not pleasant to use. It's not a huge handicap to start on softs, but they won't last more than 13-14 laps. Mediums can go nearly half race distance, so hard to do a one stop if you only do soft medium. With the cars being closer to each other, and the new rear tires, plus the possibly rainy practice and qualifying sessions, one may be very unprepared for the actual race which has a slightly higher chance of being dry than Friday and Saturday.

[Chuckjr]

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.

Agree to disagree then. Imo, low speed sensitivity to the car has nothing to do with aero as the car is not going fast enough to generate the downforce to utilize the power available. Certainly at higher speed it’s there, but the men are separated from the boys in the rain during the acceleration phase and med to low speed corner phase which are basically constant because the speed of the cars are so much lower in general no matter the track when it rains. Getting to that high speed advantage is the portion that the driver makes a huge difference, and the better ones can do that more effectively simply because they have a a higher talent level. We’ll see how the boys do this weekend but my guess is the better ones will again rise to the top and won’t make stupid mistakes. Driver errors are exaggerated in the rain as the better ones make less mistakes — another great measure rain conditions reveal: which driver handles pressure more effectively...which has nothing to do with aero or power but rather, skill and competence.

If it does rain I feel Macca and Ferrari with Noris and Leclerc will have a great opportunity to fight higher in the field. Let see if that’s the case. Looking forward to the race. Spa is maybe my favorite race of the year. Real excited and hope it rains.

[Just_a_fan]

At the end of the day, it's a team sport.

Exactly. The drivers are hired to drive the car, just as the mechanics are hired to build/fix it. What next? Require the mechanics to fix the car from memory?

[langedweil]

What next? Require the mechanics to fix the car from memory?

I bet they probably already do that ...

[erudite450]

It's looking very likely to be a washout. I hope they provide the teams with extra sets of tyres for the FP sessions.

[Just_a_fan]

What next? Require the mechanics to fix the car from memory?

I bet they probably already do that ...

True, but I bet they discuss issues between themselves and the senior engineers, which is what I meant. Mea culpa for the confusion.

[Mogster]

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!!

You could remove a lot of the sensors from the cars.

[Morteza]

[Wouter]

It was Media Day today. All the drivers arrived round noon at the circuit.
Pierre had a beautiful flower arrangement for his friend Antoine and Lewis was all dressed up for the Netflix filming.
They are following Mercedes this weekend. I love his shoes!

[Just_a_fan]

Lewis was all dressed up for the Netflix filming.
They are following Mercedes this weekend. I love his shoes!

I'm a fan of his on track but the guy does dress like a total twonk at times!

[Big Tea]

Lewis was all dressed up for the Netflix filming.
They are following Mercedes this weekend. I love his shoes!

I'm a fan of his on track but the guy does dress like a total twonk at times!

I'm glad its not only me that thinks so, thought it was an age/kool thing

[NL_Fer]

Gotta Gold ticket for Saturday, hopefully not to cold…