2024 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, July 26 - 28

[Dunlay]

This, with the increased performance of Mercs, and the flexi wing would be enough to trigger british press name calling Ferrari if all this happened in Italy.

Don't worry dialtone, Ferrari will have protection starting next year

You don't need british press to shred Ferrari from next year.

[Tvetovnato]

Just read on X that Spa and Zandvoort will alternate after 2025. What a travesty to have Spa replaced with that track…

[GrizzleBoy]

Just read on X that Spa and Zandvoort will alternate after 2025. What a travesty to have Spa replaced with that track…

Sucks indeed, but then again the way these regs are working, classic tracks like Spa where there's supposed to be lots of ability to overtake etc has been transformed into Monaco with trees and grass and long straights.

[Tvetovnato]

Just read on X that Spa and Zandvoort will alternate after 2025. What a travesty to have Spa replaced with that track…

Sucks indeed, but then again the way these regs are working, classic tracks like Spa where there's supposed to be lots of ability to overtake etc has been transformed into Monaco with trees and grass and long straights.

Well, Spa will still be miles better to produce overtaking than Zandvoort ever will anyway.. and that’s a different issue. Some tracks really need to be holy in F1, even though it’s practically hard to enforce of course. Shame though, big shame.

[TFSA]

Just read on X that Spa and Zandvoort will alternate after 2025. What a travesty to have Spa replaced with that track…

Zandvoort has produced great racing in recent years, and not just because of the rain in 2023. It has great overtaking opportunities, both into Turn 1 and on the bend.

It's a travesty to have either off the calendar in a year.

[Just_a_fan]

It's a travesty to have either off the calendar in a year.

Yeah, but if it allows LM to add one or even two more "car park GP" in the US, what does it matter? Dollars are all that matters to LM.

[cplchanb]

Just read on X that Spa and Zandvoort will alternate after 2025. What a travesty to have Spa replaced with that track…

Sucks indeed, but then again the way these regs are working, classic tracks like Spa where there's supposed to be lots of ability to overtake etc has been transformed into Monaco with trees and grass and long straights.

source?

[AR3-GP]

I have a contrarian opinion about Spa.

Following was not hard. Everyone is saying following was hard, yet drivers were spending dozens of laps within 1 second of one another. On a track where following is hard (like Spain), this does not happen.

The problem is that DRS was too weak. Either in the length of the zone or the power of the drag reduction when cars are already running close to low drag specifications.

Drivers were exiting La Source nose to tail within 0.5 a second and often still could not execute a pass. This does not suggest that following was hard at all. It was simply that DRS was weaker than usual.

[Matt2725]

I have a contrarian opinion about Spa.

Following was not hard. Everyone is saying following was hard, yet drivers were spending dozens of laps within 1 second of one another. On a track where following is hard (like Spain), this does not happen.

The problem is that DRS was too weak. Either in the length of the zone or the power of the drag reduction when cars are already running close to low drag specifications.

Drivers were exiting La Source nose to tail within 0.5 a second and often still could not execute a pass. This does not suggest that following was hard at all. It was simply that DRS was weaker than usual.

Well the DRS was shortened by 75 metres this year on the kemmel straight.
But also the delta between cars is barely anything at this point.
Also deploy enough energy down the straight and you can pretty much keep position until the next time round.

[Big Tea]

Just for curiosity sake, what would have been the difference had the car been weighed on a wet day? ( We have some really knowledgeable and clever people here (in which I do not include myself ) or I would not ask)

[AR3-GP]

Just for curiosity sake, what would have been the difference had the car been weighed on a wet day? ( We have some really knowledgeable and clever people here (in which I do not include myself ) or I would not ask)

The intermediate tires have a larger rolling diameter and are probably heavier than slicks. It's impossible to speculate since it would have depended on the tire strategy.

[Big Tea]

Just for curiosity sake, what would have been the difference had the car been weighed on a wet day? ( We have some really knowledgeable and clever people here (in which I do not include myself ) or I would not ask)

The intermediate tires have a larger rolling diameter and are probably heavier than slicks. It's impossible to speculate since it would have depended on the thread wear which would depend on how the weather evovled and when the last pit stop for new tires was.

I mean the actual water on and in the car rather than any physical difference. There are many small places rain could gather and probably some absorption in areas that could add a considerable weight to a car that is still wet and has not had heat inside before weighing. During the race it would no doubt blow out, but waiting to weigh could add up

[PlatinumZealot]

You would not want your car to trap more water than other cars would you? it would be a disadvantage. So it all falls back to square one.

[TFSA]

The intermediate tires have a larger rolling diameter and are probably heavier than slicks. It's impossible to speculate since it would have depended on the tire strategy.

Cars aren't weighed with Inters or Wets. If they have those tires fitted, the Technical Delegate will have the tires replaced before weighing.

[Big Tea]

You would not want your car to trap more water than other cars would you? it would be a disadvantage. So it all falls back to square one.

As I said, when moving it would blow/suck off, but standing in the rain before weighing? I wipe my car over not to get the garage floor wet sometimes and get a inch of water in the bowl I wring out into looks not far short of 1ltr sometimes, and a F1 car is big.
Anyway, not really relevant as when Merc would have checked (if they had) it would be freshly wiped down.