2014 Belgian GP - Spa-Francorchamps

[De Jokke]

Guys,

I'm sorry in advance (probably the wrong thread) but can somebody please help we with the following.

F1 race starts @ 14h local time

Does anyone know if there are support races on 24/08/2014 + what time (local time) are they driving?

I read something about gp2/gp3 and porsche supercup?

Many thanks in advance, regards

http://www.formula1.com/races/in_detail ... table.html

Thanks, I was looking on the site of spa, but nothing there. Thanks again!!! =D>

[Juzh]

Yes Maldonado was flat through it with fuel and medium tires. FP3 and Quali is simply going to make it even easier.

Hulkenberg was almost flat, slight hesitation on his run, bodes well for FP3 and Quali.
Some other guys that we saw from the outside also seemed to run flat through it but we can´t tell for sure as it was not onboard and no infographic.

Well, maybe. I'll reserve judgement until Q3. Fact remains all merc engines have to lift for now. 2 mercs and 2 williams slower than a RB in a straight line? I don't think so. This also somewhat confirms what I said about only RBs being flat (lotus as well apparently, certainly not TR).

Still no official S1 speed trap figures on fia.com.

[SectorOne]

Fact remains all merc engines have to lift for now.

I don´t think that´s a fact as you don´t have onboard and inforgraphic from all the cars.

[Juzh]

Fact remains all merc engines have to lift for now.

I don´t think that´s a fact as you don´t have onboard and inforgraphic from all the cars.

So what you're saying is renault has more power than mercedes and that's the only reason ric is faster trough speed traps.

[SectorOne]

So what you're saying is renault has more power than mercedes and that's the only reason ric is faster trough speed traps.

No i´m not.

All i know for a fact was that Maldonado(or whoever drove the Lotus) was flat through it, Hulkenberg almost flat, he had two fast hesitation dips through it but it wasn´t far from taking it completely flat.

As far as everything else, i need to see the onboards.

[Mattyw]

From what i have seen RB are running the least downforce and smallest rear wing, hence the top speed. ricciardo was about 1.2secs off in the second sector, which is the aero sector.

Re eau rouge, from autosport this morn...

08:22 More Eau Rouge observations: "The McLarens, Mercs, Red Bulls and Williams are all flat through Eau Rouge now, but McLaren needs a bit of bravery. Others still requiring a confidence lift as they work up to it."

[mikeerfol]

From what i have seen RB are running the least downforce and smallest rear wing, hence the top speed. ricciardo was about 1.2secs off in the second sector, which is the aero sector.

Re eau rouge, from autosport this morn...

08:22 More Eau Rouge observations: "The McLarens, Mercs, Red Bulls and Williams are all flat through Eau Rouge now, but McLaren needs a bit of bravery. Others still requiring a confidence lift as they work up to it."

Interestingly, Button is the fastest in Sector 1, 3 tenths faster than Magnussen.

[SectorOne]

Another tidbit,

Magnussen - “Personally, I hope it’ll be dry tomorrow, because that’ll give us developmental continuity – and anyway it’s always more fun driving at Spa on dry asphalt. Oh, and by the way, Eau Rouge is still flat, even on high fuel.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/2014/be ... ce-report/

Edit:

and another one,



http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/20 ... ce-report/

[mikeerfol]

Button:

I admit I let out a few screams inside my crash helmet through there on a couple of laps,

[xDama]

It's not going to rain, I'm 99% sure.

People think we have a microclimat and that the weather is super unpredictable, as a "local", I can tell you we practicly always know what weather it's going to be. There no real difference in accuracy between a weather predicition for Francorchamps and one for (lets say) Brussels.

I'm not a local of Spa since I live near Ghent and work in Brussels, but I don't completely agree with this. Though you're right about the 'microclimate', Belgium has a lot differences in it's local weather for such a small country. The teams will have enough resources to accurately predict the weather, but I don't think it'll be straightforward.

This week the weather's been very random. Quite cold for this time of the year and a lot of -big- showers. Seems like there's a chance for rain in qualy. Should make the weekend extra interesting

http://www.buienradar.be/weer/spa/be/2786318#5daagse

I use this radar a lot when I'm going cycling. It's not flawless, but it often gives a decent view of the clouds/rain in the area.
http://www.buienradar.be/inzoom/?lat=50 ... 6&rlon=5.8

[hollus]

Any news on teams that have changed their gear ratio's? To me this seems to be the right moment to change it.

According to FIA's tecnical documents Red Bull has renominated their ratio pairs. No mention of any other team doing it, and a few changed the phisical gear ratio pairs, but I guess it is still possible that other teams will choose new ratios overnight.
http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/ ... /Doc16.pdf

[AnthonyG]

It's not going to rain, I'm 99% sure.

People think we have a microclimat and that the weather is super unpredictable, as a "local", I can tell you we practicly always know what weather it's going to be. There no real difference in accuracy between a weather predicition for Francorchamps and one for (lets say) Brussels.

I'm not a local of Spa since I live near Ghent and work in Brussels, but I don't completely agree with this. Though you're right about the 'microclimate', Belgium has a lot differences in it's local weather for such a small country. The teams will have enough resources to accurately predict the weather, but I don't think it'll be straightforward.

This week the weather's been very random. Quite cold for this time of the year and a lot of -big- showers. Seems like there's a chance for rain in qualy. Should make the weekend extra interesting

http://www.buienradar.be/weer/spa/be/2786318#5daagse

I use this radar a lot when I'm going cycling. It's not flawless, but it often gives a decent view of the clouds/rain in the area.
http://www.buienradar.be/inzoom/?lat=50 ... 6&rlon=5.8

I too live near Ghent, but I have a house not so far from Spa as well.

I'm not saying the weather is the same as Brussels, just that it's just as predictable.

Straightforward is in the eye of the beholder, you just need enough time to react as a team to the conditions. Also in modern day F1 people don't race that much in rain, races get flagged instantly, taking a rain setup that really compromises dry grip never pays off.

I like the yahoo weather app a lot, it's very user friendly for planning what's the best time to take a beer outside with friends, or in this case, when It'll probably rain.



(For those not dutch literate: verwachting= expectation,forecast and motregen=slight rain, drizzle. )

[SectorOne]

Interesting comments from Lotterer comparing F1 and LMP1 cars.

“There is a lot more power – it would be nice to have that much power in an LMP1 car – but then in the corners it is the opposite,” Lotter told Sky Sports F1.

“I think our Michelin tyres are a bit better, we can push them much harder and do over 700km on one set of tyres and more downforce as well so you can push an LMP1 car a bit more in the corners. So that was the surprising thing, but we did come a bit low on downforce here so I expect the car to become better. But you do have to restrict yourself and apply yourself a lot.”

I think it´s safe to say that the Pirelli´s are crap. Both Rosberg and Massa also commented (F1 PC) on the tires saying they were much grippier back in the day (even though they were not slicks)

[dans79]

I think it´s safe to say that the Pirelli´s are crap. Both Rosberg and Massa also commented (F1 PC) on the tires saying they were much grippier back in the day (even though they were not slicks)

This is what happens when you continually mess with stuff to make the show more interesting. For many years now, F1 has been trading die hard fans who understand how a race is won, for lowbrow fans who want to see nothing but passing. What F1 seems to not grasp, is while their are more lowbrow fans, they are usually more fickle, and less likely to spend money on F1.

[djos]

I totally agree S1 and Dan, we need Michelin back in the sport and genuine tire competition again! I think the tire rules were overall at their best for the sport when the tire companies had to supply all teams with the same tires.

I'm fine with 2 mandatory compounds per race but artificially bad tires are help no one - I can't for the life of me work out Pirelli's business plan? Everyone I know who watches F1 would rather set fire to their wallets than buy Pirelli tires for their cars!