2015 Belgian Grand Prix - 21-23 August

[Shrieker]

Rosberg looked to have a noticeably lower df setup compared to Hamilton. He was faster than Lewis in the first sector in all his runs, but significantly slower in sector 2. Gotta check those top speeds.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

[DVB]

What happened with Vettel? Did they (Vettel + team) went for a wet weather set-up?

[Silent Storm]

He was slower in S2 and he didn't say he made a mistake and with Kimi out we won't know what their real pace is till tomorrow

[Phillyred]

Regardless of Merc's 1 lap pace advantage I fully expect a Ferrari on the podium. This is by no means a guaranteed Mercedes 1-2 as we saw in Hungary especially with rain in the forecast.

[LionKing]

I think Mercedes engined cars had their usual Q3 step, this being a power circuit and a long lap more than usual. But tomorrow Ferrari should be in better shape in race.

[drunkf1fan]

Race pace....not 1 lap qualy pace.

meh.... still think they will get an easy 1-2

Maybe, but rain is predicted at 3pm local time...ie start of the GP.

Rain will only further push the result in Mercedes direction. they appear to be running more downforce so are owning in S2, if it rains that will further exaggerate the gap not reduce it.

Fp2 isn't even slightly representative, no teams will run 100% or push that hard, it's all about having a pre-existing load of data, knowing how much faster, how much faster tires will degrade and using that to work out final times from practice times. Thing is every team chooses differently. One team drops to 93% engine power, another drops to 95%, one team drops 20kg of fuel, another drops 10kg.

Ferrari have over and over again looked close in FP2 and been way behind in the race. The chances of Ferrari being competitive on mediums in the race while being slower on the soft tire than Merc on the mediums in qualifying is extremely low. Qualifying is a far better comparison between cars performances. When Ferrari are close on pace in race they are usually only at most a 2-3/10ths behind the Mercedes in qualifying.

Anything can happen in any race as Kimi showed in qualifying, midway through his qualifying lap someone teleported out his Ferrari engine and put a steam engine back in it's place as a prank Realistically every single indication is that Mercedes are massively faster than everyone here with an extended gap compared to before the summer break. They likely won't show that pace often in the race. No point getting 30 seconds clear in 30 laps then having a safety car and the gap being down to under a second, you've burned more fuel and used more tires and then are at a disadvantage.

90% of the laps Ferrari have looked close to Merc this year it's been Merc managing their pace rather than Ferrari matching them.

[Sniffit]

Not F1 but any news on de Jong?

[iotar__]

- Grosjean out-qualified six quicker cars (+Maldo) including Ferrari and Williams; 0,025 from only losing to Merc in a slow Lotus and no FP1. It only shows that driver decisions in F1 are a joke. If Barcelona hired Beckham instead of let's say Hazard everyone would be laughing at them, in F1 it's "logical".
- Good start for Vettel's "championship challenge" clearly second best car and no competition
- Hulkenberg and Kvyat should have been in Q3, the latter should not worry he'll star in another fantasy press release by Red Bull instead: new Senna, new Vettel etc., who needs on track achievements?
- FIA acts like a headless chicken about track limits, once again they put kerbs only to remove it later,

[PlatinumZealot]

Perez for the podium!

[Nathanael F1]

My predictions:

1. Rosberg
2. Perez
3. Raikkonen
4. Bottas
5. Vettel
6. Hulkenberg
7. Ricciardo
8. Grosjean
9. Massa
10. Kvyat

Mercedes will get Hamilton's strategy wrong like in Monaco.

[Tauri_J]

My predictions:

1. Rosberg
2. Perez
3. Raikkonen
4. Bottas
5. Vettel
6. Hulkenberg
7. Ricciardo
8. Grosjean
9. Massa
10. Kvyat

Mercedes will get Hamilton's strategy wrong like in Monaco.

a wrong strategy drops him out of the top 10?

[Spoutnik]

Perez will be really, really hard to overtake. What was his top speed trap at Les Combes ?

[Jordan44]

Rosberg looked to have a noticeably lower df setup compared to Hamilton. He was faster than Lewis in the first sector in all his runs, but significantly slower in sector 2. Gotta check those top speeds.

Rosberg was only a tenth quicker in S1, that's not noticeably lower. He just ballsed up sector two. I think their setups are pretty even.

- Grosjean out-qualified six quicker cars (+Maldo) including Ferrari and Williams; 0,025 from only losing to Merc in a slow Lotus and no FP1. It only shows that driver decisions in F1 are a joke. If Barcelona hired Beckham instead of let's say Hazard everyone would be laughing at them, in F1 it's "logical".
- Good start for Vettel's "championship challenge" clearly second best car and no competition
- Hulkenberg and Kvyat should have been in Q3, the latter should not worry he'll star in another fantasy press release by Red Bull instead: new Senna, new Vettel etc., who needs on track achievements?
- FIA acts like a headless chicken about track limits, once again they put kerbs only to remove it later,

What about Hamilton destroyed his teammate today? Oh yeah, you wouldn't mention that, would you. You only mention how dominant Rosberg is when he wins.

[Spoutnik]

Rosberg run always a bit lower on DF than Hamilton, it will be the same song at Monza I think. But lower DF or not he's totaly outperformed in the S2.
But now the most important will be the start tomorrow, and if you made any mistakes with the really high speed car like the Lotus and the Fi it will be almost impossibl to catch up the front quickly.