2018 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps, 24-26 August

[Big Tea]

Let's be fair and do it sans regulations like the EVO too

They could use unlimited 'letric and fuel flow also any weight saving etc in free practice, I hope someone does go for it

They’ve only got to improve by 0.7 from last year to get a 1:41.7 - I think that would well within range in normal conditions.

That said, maybe it’ll be too cold/rainy.

I was thinking to 'make a point' about them being rules limited more than just getting the numbers.

[f1316]

They could use unlimited 'letric and fuel flow also any weight saving etc in free practice, I hope someone does go for it

They’ve only got to improve by 0.7 from last year to get a 1:41.7 - I think that would well within range in normal conditions.

That said, maybe it’ll be too cold/rainy.

I was thinking to 'make a point' about them being rules limited more than just getting the numbers.

Oh I see. Unfortunately I don’t think the F1 teams have enough FP time to do unrepresentative work.

Double unfortunately I think the weather’s going to prevent the kind of pace they’re capable of - really funny looking at the weather (at least for Stavelot on the iPhone weather app) that the weather will be absolutely fine either side of the Grand Prix weekend, but Fri/Sat/Sun all show rain.

What that might at least mean is teams have a reason to use those sessions to hone their wet weather setups and lines - oftentimes there’s no point because they know it’ll be dry for quali/race but if it’s going to consistently drizzle all weekend, there’ll actually be a point to doing proper running in those conditions (particularly if the rain light enough to b wet without aqua planing).

[Mansell89]

Mixed conditions may or may not bring Red Bull into play.

Dry and cool probably leans towards Mercedes with Ferrari clear of RBR?

[Juzh]

Let's be fair and do it sans regulations like the EVO too

They could use unlimited 'letric and fuel flow also any weight saving etc in free practice, I hope someone does go for it

They’ve only got to improve by 0.7 from last year to get a 1:41.7 - I think that would well within range in normal conditions.

That said, maybe it’ll be too cold/rainy.

In baku on the main straight cars were losing up to 1s comapared to last year. The halo has added enormous amounts of drag. I don't think beating 919 evo's time will be easy, even in good conditions.

[ian_s]

all the teams will be focused on the race. beating the 919 time is not a target for them. with no PU restrictions maybe they'd go for it, but the risk of over doing it is too great

[Phil]

It looks like rain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Does anyone know how many intermediates and wet-tires teams get for the entire weekend? I am contemplating if it's worth driving 6 hours to Spa to attend FP1 & FP2 (purely for photography). Assuming an all around wet weekend, I'm wondering how much mileage teams will be wanting to do.

On the plus side; Capturing F1 cars in the rain should look amazing.
On the negative side; If teams won't be running much, it's a long drive to be going there and back. :/

[WaikeCU]

It looks like rain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Does anyone know how many intermediates and wet-tires teams get for the entire weekend? I am contemplating if it's worth driving 6 hours to Spa to attend FP1 & FP2 (purely for photography). Assuming an all around wet weekend, I'm wondering how much mileage teams will be wanting to do.

On the plus side; Capturing F1 cars in the rain should look amazing.
On the negative side; If teams won't be running much, it's a long drive to be going there and back. :/

Going there just for the scenery and the Dutch fanbase atmosphere should be good. The Dutch know how to set a great F1 weekend atmosphere and the Spa scenery is just magical. Go out for that early morning citing and you'll see how Spa awakes out of the early foggy morning, before the drivers fly pass later on the day.

[F1NAC]

It looks like rain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Does anyone know how many intermediates and wet-tires teams get for the entire weekend? I am contemplating if it's worth driving 6 hours to Spa to attend FP1 & FP2 (purely for photography). Assuming an all around wet weekend, I'm wondering how much mileage teams will be wanting to do.

On the plus side; Capturing F1 cars in the rain should look amazing.
On the negative side; If teams won't be running much, it's a long drive to be going there and back. :/

4 inters and 3 full wets

[f1316]

all the teams will be focused on the race. beating the 919 time is not a target for them. with no PU restrictions maybe they'd go for it, but the risk of over doing it is too great

I’m not suggesting anyone is going to be ‘going for’ this record - it will not even be a thought for them - rather just that the nature of competing with other teams means they are trying to achieve the best time they can within the regulations, with development since last year meaning that a 0.7 sec improvement would be within their grasp.

Yes, they have more drag - and hence lower top speeds - than last year; but that’s more than made up for by increased downforce. Silverstone is the probably the most analogous track so far this year and improvements year-on-year was just over seven tenths; Spa being a longer lap, the improvement should be proportional (hence larger in pure time), not to mention that Britain was unusually hot this year, which probably contributed to overheating tyres > a slower pole time than would otherwise have been achievable (pole in Spain was 3 secs faster in 2018 than 2017 - albeit tyres/resurfacing is a chunk of that, it’s also a much shorter lap than Spa).

All of which is likely to be academic with the weather but i’m willing to bet that, if somehow conditions for Q3 are normal, the 1:41.7 is beaten.

[KeiKo403]

**moved to silly Season topic**
[/SelfModeration]

[godlameroso]

My thingy is telling me more or less the same thing weather wise. Although rain is predicted all weekend the rainfall amounts aren't that big. Saturday being the wettest day with ~8mm of rainfall predicted, Friday with the least rainfall predicted, and may not even rain on track at all. Sunday there's less rainfall than Saturday with 2mm of rainfall predicted, again it may not even hit the track, or it may end up like in Germany where a stray shower puts some damp on track.

[falonso81]

Looks like rain is going to be in showers. Friday maybe dry.

[WaikeCU]

It's been heatwave hot in July and August, but temp is dropping ever since last week. We are expecting Autumn weather this weekend. So yeah, low temperatures for the time accompanied with the common rain showers. It could cause chaos this weekend. Wouldn't be surprised if a few big names are going to be caught out by it.

[MtthsMlw]

[F1NAC]

It's been heatwave hot in July and August, but temp is dropping ever since last week. We are expecting Autumn weather this weekend. So yeah, low temperatures for the time accompanied with the common rain showers. It could cause chaos this weekend. Wouldn't be surprised if a few big names are going to be caught out by it.

cries in Ferrari