2013 Belgian GP - Spa

[kooleracer]

I think Force India will be strong here. I think Force India could out qualify some of the top teams (red bull or Ferrari). I Think the top 4 will be Mercedes and Lotus. Both have quick cars in long straights. McLaren could also leapfrog Red Bull or Ferrari on this track. But pole will be decided between Lotus and Mercedes. Red Bull,Ferrari,McLaren ad Force India will be a close pack in qualifying. I really hope for the championship that the Lotus and Mercedes drivers can stay ahead of Vettel the coming 2 race's.

[gray41]

Another Lewis, Kimi 1-2 could be in the offing, I wouldnt mind which way round it is as they will both score good points on Sebastian.

[cherok1212]

Personally hoping Seb gets "bruised up" overtaking hell bent for leather Checo or psycho RoGro (actually I like both of them) and has another DNF. Lewis with another win Ice 2nd step Rosberg Slim in 3rd. That'd put a damper in the RB camp (cept for WEB =D> )

[iotar__]

I think Force India will be strong here. I think Force India could out qualify some of the top teams (red bull or Ferrari). I Think the top 4 will be Mercedes and Lotus. Both have quick cars in long straights. McLaren could also leapfrog Red Bull or Ferrari on this track. But pole will be decided between Lotus and Mercedes. Red Bull,Ferrari,McLaren ad Force India will be a close pack in qualifying. I really hope for the championship that the Lotus and Mercedes drivers can stay ahead of Vettel the coming 2 race's.

About Force India:
Is it because of Merc engine and lower downforce track? It may help them but their real problem are the new tyres. Specifically getting them up to the temperature. As, I think, Sutil was saying in Hungary: it's 50 degrees and we can't warm the tyres. Now Spa, it can be cold and we have mediums and hards.

About Red Bull being behind: they were great in Canada, Spa is different but I don't think it's the track that will cause them problems, especially after the break. With Lotus it depends on "device' working and combining their updates, Ferrari - not the best track for Alonso recently and they are behind on pace.

Merc should be favourites for pole but for the race, I don't know. You might say that if they managed softer tyres in Hungary they should be great everywhere else but Hungary is a weird track and they were not challenged. LH had a nice cushion in the second stint and could pace himself from the lead. New tyres helped and I wonder if they'll help Ferrari and Lotus with lower temperatures.

It stays the same: Merc, RB, Lotus close with Merc slight favourites (track, pole, tyre combination), then Ferrari.

[sennafan24]

I think at this stage it is all down to the tyres with Mercedes. Lewis has adapted and is racing to a very high standard, and the car is high quality. If the tyres continue to support the Merc, there maybe no stopping Lewis who was tested in every aspect of the game in Hungry and came away showing he is a great all round driver, not just the fastest.

SPA after the break should answer the question of can Merc/Lewis mount a legit title Challenge. It is the best for the sport if they do, no one other than the most crazed Seb Suckers and Red Bull fans want to see another Vettel breeze to the title like in 2011, and I would predict interest will go down if the unmarketable Vettel continues to win this year.

There is something missing with the Kimi/Lotus package I cannot put my finger on, I just cannot get behind them as a title challenge, I hope I am wrong though and my thinking is distorted by lack of qualifying pace and race wins.

The structure of the Season could be decided at this race.

[Petroltorque]

It's going to be permutations of Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus for the season run in. Ferrari are going backwards.

[Jonnycraig]

I think at this stage it is all down to the tyres with Mercedes. Lewis has adapted and is racing to a very high standard, and the car is high quality. If the tyres continue to support the Merc, there maybe no stopping Lewis who was tested in every aspect of the game in Hungry and came away showing he is a great all round driver, not just the fastest

[bonjon1979]

Is there a way to stop the DRD from working in yaw? I'm sure that it would be devilishly complicated but I wouldn't think it's beyond the realms of possibility.

I bring it up because there was earlier discussion about the value of such a device at Spa with fast corners that could see it activated accidentally through Blanchimont etc. If you could design it to work only when the car is traveling in a straight line then you could have it stall at a much lower speed.

[sennafan24]

I think at this stage it is all down to the tyres with Mercedes. Lewis has adapted and is racing to a very high standard, and the car is high quality. If the tyres continue to support the Merc, there maybe no stopping Lewis who was tested in every aspect of the game in Hungry and came away showing he is a great all round driver, not just the fastest

Again, counter argument.

[turbof1]

Is there a way to stop the DRD from working in yaw? I'm sure that it would be devilishly complicated but I wouldn't think it's beyond the realms of possibility.

I bring it up because there was earlier discussion about the value of such a device at Spa with fast corners that could see it activated accidentally through Blanchimont etc. If you could design it to work only when the car is traveling in a straight line then you could have it stall at a much lower speed.

Last year Button drove during his qualy lap with DRS open through blanchimont. You can take that corner with a stalled rear wing.

[bonjon1979]

Is there a way to stop the DRD from working in yaw? I'm sure that it would be devilishly complicated but I wouldn't think it's beyond the realms of possibility.

I bring it up because there was earlier discussion about the value of such a device at Spa with fast corners that could see it activated accidentally through Blanchimont etc. If you could design it to work only when the car is traveling in a straight line then you could have it stall at a much lower speed.

Last year Button drove during his qualy lap with DRS open through blanchimont. You can take that corner with a stalled rear wing.

Good point.

[turbof1]

The biggest problem would be entering Pouhon: drivers have to brake there, but still are well above 220km/h after that. The problem would be that the rear wing is stalled, so you first need to wait for the fluid switch to go back to its correct position, and for the airflow to reattach properly.

[beelsebob]

Is there a way to stop the DRD from working in yaw? I'm sure that it would be devilishly complicated but I wouldn't think it's beyond the realms of possibility.

I bring it up because there was earlier discussion about the value of such a device at Spa with fast corners that could see it activated accidentally through Blanchimont etc. If you could design it to work only when the car is traveling in a straight line then you could have it stall at a much lower speed.

Last year Button drove during his qualy lap with DRS open through blanchimont. You can take that corner with a stalled rear wing.

Good point.

Right, blanchemont isn't a problem. The question is, can you have it open in pouhon, If you can, then question is can you have it open in pouhon. If you can, then the question is, can you have it open in the left hander after rivage, If you can, then the question is, can you have it open in Fanges. If the answer to all of these questions is "yes" then you may actually gain a decent benefit from DRD. I highly doubt the answer even to the first one is yes though, given that the teams weren't opening DRS last year, and the f-duct before that in there.

[turbof1]

They didn't entered Pouhon with DRS, but right after getting on the power mid corner, they opened it up.

Both Rivage and Fanges are slower corners. The drag penalty of the rear wing isn't an issue there, so why even bother stalling the rear wing even if it was possible (certainly is not).

However, if you tune the DRD so that you run more rear wing for the same top speed as without DRD, you have more downforce thus more speed in les combes, rivage, fanges, stavelot and perhaps even the bus stop chicane. DRD really should be set up for more downforce in these corners instead of more top speed for the same downforce.

Btw, you just name almost every single corner except the slowest ones on Spa. There is not a single circuit last year on which teams drove through with DRS so much of the circuit. If that was possible in the first place, teams wouldn't bother mounting a rear wing.

[SectorOne]

DRD is a farce in my opinon.

It´s to the point of me thinking teams only run it to show other teams they are working on it, trying to persuade other teams to spend money on developing it.
Lotus could be doing that, running those ´stupid´ ears since 2012 and everyone thinks they are actually developing a system that might in the future be a title-decider.

What if it´s just a trick, the ears present no real drag penalty and it´s only there for other competitors to waste resources on something that works effectively on 25% of the tracks.

Just my opinion/two cents.