2012 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa

[f1316]

Raikonnen has always been spectacular round here. Whatever you think of the 2008 result, it would have easily been Raikonnen's race without the rain, and winning 2009 in a reasonably poor car again shows a driver with a really affinity for this track.

Of course, the pecking order may shift again after break, even if the factories are shut down for much of it. If left how they are now (which they won't be), I would imagine it would be Raikonnen battling with Hamilton. Would be nice to see Schumacher with a more competitive machine for this one - he's also been great at this track in the past - and his race last year was very impressive from his grid slot.

[zyphro]

I hope we see Part 2 of this

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K9P9z_Lwa0[/youtube]

I'd rather see something more like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zYGkKzqco0[/youtube]

[SeijaKessen]

I'd rather not see a repeat of Schumacher/Hill from '95

That was despicable on Schumacher's part.

[beelsebob]

How can you people leave out Raikkonen? His car is a genuine winner waiting in the wings.

As we said earlier – because it won't be 40-45°C here, so his car will get him around 4th/5th, rather than around 2nd/1st

[SamH123]

Lotus haven't really challenged for a win yet in the cool and yet people are dubbing him as a favourite?
I'm not convinced although I would love him to do well

[raymondu999]

I am convinced that if we were to have equal cars for Spa, Raikkonen would take pole and the victory. But I am also convinced that with the likes of Hamilton/Vettel around driving cars that are perhaps more suited to the conditions than Raikkonen's, Raikkonen's affinity for the circuit would not be enough to overcome his car's cold weather issues.

[beelsebob]

I am convinced that if we were to have equal cars for Spa, Raikkonen would take pole and the victory. But I am also convinced that with the likes of Hamilton/Vettel around driving cars that are perhaps more suited to the conditions than Raikkonen's, Raikkonen's affinity for the circuit would not be enough to overcome his car's cold weather issues.

To be honest, Hamilton has had equally an affinity around here to Raikonnen, 2008 rather demonstrated that – the two had pretty much equal cars, and pretty much disappeared with the race between the two of them.

[MikeFromCanada]

[
As we said earlier – because it won't be 40-45°C here, so his car will get him around 4th/5th, rather than around 2nd/1st

This.

The average temperature high in the Spa area is around 18°C for the late summer time into fall.

Frankly I'm having a tough time seeing any car other than the McLaren coming out on top here, at least in a dry qualifying pace. The Red Bull just can't seem to shed enough drag off the car for the straights and I don't see it having enough downforce this time around to make up for it in sector 2.

[beelsebob]

[
As we said earlier – because it won't be 40-45°C here, so his car will get him around 4th/5th, rather than around 2nd/1st

This.

The average temperature high in the Spa area is around 18°C for the late summer time into fall.

Frankly I'm having a tough time seeing any car other than the McLaren coming out on top here, at least in a dry qualifying pace. The Red Bull just can't seem to shed enough drag off the car for the straights and I don't see it having enough downforce this time around to make up for it in sector 2.

Even last year the McLaren was generating its DF so much more efficiently than the RBR that they were faster in sector 2. This year I expect a demolition. That said, I do expect Ferrari to challenge. I expect if it's dry, this is Hamilton's race, if it's wet, it's Alonso's.

[mx_tifoso]

Fanboy ying yang posts have been moved to the appropriately name thread in the Off Topic. Cheers!

[zyphro]

I predict Schumacher to come out fighting in his 300th, like last year at his 20th anniversary.

[shadow28]

I predict Schumacher to come out fighting in his 300th, like last year at his 20th anniversary.

hello all
This is his track, and must necessarily prove its class

[turbof1]

The harder compound does seem to be in Hamilton's advantage, doesn't it? If it stays dry I tip him for the win; the lotus is good, but they excell at conserving tyres. With conserving tyres being less an issue for all teams, that advantage falls away.

[Ral]

Alan Permane seems confident the Lotus will go well at Spa. I must admit, I don't normally follow the practice sessions and I have forgotten what the track temperatures were in Silverstone while I missed the Canadian GP altogether.

Hockenheim race day was quite warm, wasn't it? Not 40 degrees hot, but into the 30s (which I want to say was the same as Silverstone)? Regardless, in that race Kimi was pretty much keeping pace with Alonso, trading times, just 10 seconds behind on the road: http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... 1=Fernando Alonso&dr2=Kimi Räikkönen

Vettel could probably have gone a bit faster towards the end in clear air and Button might have pulled away a little bit ahead of Alonso but he was clearly not that much faster anymore by the time he'd caught up with Alonso that he could overtake him. And not unlike Hamilton in Hungary, I'm pretty sure Alonso was just making sure he got perfectly up to speed into the DRS zone and out of the hairpin, so perhaps he could have gone a little bit faster.

A lot of people suggested that a tight track and hot weather would suit Lotus down to the ground, but the car has been fast everywhere recently, although the wet qualifying sessions have tended to disguise that.

"Look at the competitiveness of the car in all the races for a long time back," Allison points out. "There's nothing special about Hungary. It's just quite a good car and driver combo, that's all."

"I don't think going anywhere scares us," adds Permane. "Hungary is as different to Silverstone as you can get. We had first and second fastest laps in the race in Silverstone, and we were quick in Hungary. So anywhere we go, we can be confident.

"I'm not sure if the heat benefits us, or hurts other people, although I guess that's the same thing! Everyone loses a bit when it gets very hot like that, but maybe it hurts us less than other people. The only time we may have struggled was in China, where we saw those quite cool temperatures. We know far more about the tyres now than we did then, so I'd even be confident if we went somewhere very cold."

[marcush.]

spa is kimi terretory no question.first lotus win for him and putting the lotus name back in grandprix racing winners!