2016 Belgian Grand Prix - Fri 26 – Sun 28 Aug 2016

[SchuMassa]

Rosberg's strategy might be useless after all if it rains tomorrow - and looks like there is a good chance to be so.

How so ? I read that it was going to be hot and sunny, with little to no chance of rain.

According to numerous sites (AccuWeather, BBC etc.), thunderstorms will develop in the area tomorrow afternoon.

[F1NAC]

Raikkonen and Vettel will start on softs.

why did they ran SS in Q2? (sorry didn't watch qualies)

They went out on the SS at the end of Q2 ready to react to other teams who might push them out, as soon as they were safe they backed off and came into the pits. They start on softs tomorrow.

Thanks, how many softs they got and ss?

[godlameroso]

Oh man that's going to be fun, lets dump a random rain shower over half the circuit around lap 10 and then leave it beautifully sunny for the rest of the race.

Some quali observations. The SS tires were giving up around the start of sector 3, the heat is not helping. Whoever starts on SS will get a windfall if it does rain and have to start on wets. A bit more clouds than today for sure tomorrow.

[Edax]

Oh man that's going to be fun, lets dump a random rain shower over half the circuit around lap 10 and then leave it beautifully sunny for the rest of the race.

Some quali observations. The SS tires were giving up around the start of sector 3, the heat is not helping. Whoever starts on SS will get a windfall if it does rain and have to start on wets. A bit more clouds than today for sure tomorrow.

Even without rain the temperatures are predicted to be 5-7 deg lower. With a bit of overcast the track temp will be a lot lower. That will help the SS.

[lio007]

Seems ALO isn't really happy (unsurprisingly):
https://streamable.com/f3vi

[Andres125sx]

Raikkonen and Vettel will start on softs.

why did they ran SS in Q2? (sorry didn't watch qualies)

They went out on the SS at the end of Q2 ready to react to other teams who might push them out, as soon as they were safe they backed off and came into the pits. They start on softs tomorrow.

Joan Villadelprat said that could be a strategy to heat up the tires on the out lap, then enter pits again and let them cool down. That acts like some sort of cooking so the rubber gets a bit harder, wich could be a good advantage for sunday race


It makes sense, specially when you see Ricciardo didn´t bother to go out and he was behind both Ferraris.

[Andres125sx]

BTW, Villadelprat also talked about a nice anecdote when he was a member of Benetton-Ford.

In 1994 they won the race here in Spa, but stewards disqualified Schumacher because of an excesive wear of the skid block. He said that wear was due to a spin he suffered over a kerb, wich was obvious because the wear was only present at the middle of the skid, while in front and also at the back, the measure was within the rules

He said, half serious half joking, they HAD to be disqualified because they simply were too fast, wich looks like true (the too fast part) as they won despite the spin


This is what Wikipedia says about the incident:

Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line in first place, ahead of Hill, Häkkinen, Verstappen, Coulthard and Blundell. Post race the German was stripped of his win due to excessive wear on his Benetton's skid block (the mandatory wooden plank introduced at Germany).[1] This indicated that the car's ride height was too low, hence an illegal aerodynamic advantage. The Benetton team's claim that it was due to Schumacher making a full spin on top of the curbs on lap 19 was rejected by the Stewards because of the wear pattern. Damon Hill was therefore awarded the victory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Belg ... _Prix#Race

[Andres125sx]

Seems ALO isn't really happy (unsurprisingly):
https://streamable.com/f3vi

I would have kicked the car repeatedly

As De La Rosa said, Spa is one of those tracks all drivers in the grid love, and missing qualifying after missing some FP both because of car problems must be soooo frustrating...


Look at Vettel, he lose grip in last corner and gets angry, imagine if he can´t even start the lap

[Silent Storm]

why did they ran SS in Q2? (sorry didn't watch qualies)

They went out on the SS at the end of Q2 ready to react to other teams who might push them out, as soon as they were safe they backed off and came into the pits. They start on softs tomorrow.

Joan Villadelprat said that could be a strategy to heat up the tires on the out lap, then enter pits again and let them cool down. That acts like some sort of cooking so the rubber gets a bit harder, wich could be a good advantage for sunday race


It makes sense, specially when you see Ricciardo didn´t bother to go out and he was behind both Ferraris.

Both Ferrari drivers improved in S1 on their SS run in Q2, Kimi improved in S2 as well after returning to pits while Vettel had set a purple S1. So I don't think they were doing what Joan Villadelprat though they were doing and it had no effect on Ricciardo qualifying behind both Ferrari. They would have to do a really slow lap like Lewis did today a 1:50 to heat up the tyre a bit to get it harder.

[Spoutnik]

Probably tomorrow Rosberg will not be 1st at the end of the first sector. As Pirelli said the "best" strategy for tomorrow is 2x 15 laps on soft and 14 lap on a set of medium, so I think a stop strategy will be tricky for Hamilton. Nevertheless I think the guys who start on supersoft are in big difficulty

[ChrisDanger]

For completion...

[lebesset]

So split strategy for Red Bull, but i can not understand why.

Great laps by Verstappen, Wherlein and Raikonnen.
Spa is such a lovely track to watch a F1 car in "anger"

each driver was given a choice by the team

[SchuMassa]

[smellybeard]

Who starts last tomorrow? Hamilton or Alonso? Does lack of any lap time trump a million place grid penalty?

[Jolle]

Who starts last tomorrow? Hamilton or Alonso? Does lack of any lap time trump a million place grid penalty?

It's hard to trump a 55 place grid penalt (what makes his starting position 75) so Hamilton.