Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheet at the end of FP3, thanks to a reasonable quick installation lap early on in the session. As rain arrived 10 minutes later, no one was able to improve on the dry times, with just a few venturing out on track to get a feel for the wet track.
This is one stop race.
One stop??? Even if they start on supersoft, i don't belive they will be able to make it with just one stop.GPR-A wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:42 pmThis is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.
The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
I'm thinking that's the route Red Bull is going, which will make it nice come raceday having the different strategies play out. Sometimes it works out, making those late race charges from Verstappen or Ricciardo work to their advantage.GPR-A wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:42 pmThis is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.
The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
This should be a Mercedes track so if i was running Ferrari i would do the opposite to what Mercedes chooses... unfortunately they haven't put me in charge thus far lol.GPR-A wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 2:42 pmThis is one stop race.
I am thinking, Mercedes might be contemplating starting on Super Softs. It's a short run to turn 1, and after that, if they would have batteries fully charged in good conditions, could muscle through the long stretch. It is difficult to imagine teams doing one stop on Ultra Soft.
IIRC Ferrari, haven't done it this season, so it would be interesting to see if they can attempt it (Q2 on SS).
Red Bull seems to be very clear in their tyre choices and banking on US.
The track being so easy for overtakes, I wouldn't be surprised if someone does 28-30 laps in first stint on SS and bolt the US and gain back all the positions. Ideal strategy for Red Bull.
Or given the PU demands here, have no option but to go for a two stopper and hope there's enough of a delta between the super and ultra to make it worth while.
It's funny, RB always had tiny rear wings on Spa and still was always a match for Mercedes on Spa's S2 (2015 and 2016). However, because of their poor PU, even with the low drag RW, they were still massively behind Mercedes.Nuvolari wrote: ↑Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:34 pmInteresting that the 2016 pole lap on super soft was only just over 0.2s faster than the fastest time in Q2 on the soft tyre, with a best sector 2 by Rosberg slower than RB and Ferrari. Is there not such a big lap time gain between the softer tyres here? I would've thought the softer compounds would be particularly helpful in sector 2.
Hope Pirelli don't mandate crazy high tyre pressures like last year.
), imagine if the track was the same in 2004 
