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

[Gothrek]

I find it amazing that after 4 years of utter Mercedes dominance because of their marvel of engineering, now it must all be because of Ferrari Tricks & cheating and Mercedes is the underdog...
Mercedes is really good at PR & Marketing cause everyone seems to believe it.

[DVB]

Dont forget FIRP has the same new engine from Mercedes as Merc has. Look at the times how much slower FIRP was during the rest of the lap. FIRP has always been good at High speed circuits.


Its all about the difference between Merc and Fer

[Wass85]

Vettel owned Hamilton at the start and the at the safety car.

The opening lap overtake was a combination of a poor line through Eau Rouge, an headwind and slipstream.

What Hamilton was doing at the safety car restart I'll never know, either make the move stick at the Bus Stop or keep it neat and tidy and stick as close to Vettel as possible.

[Roman]

Are people honestly surprised that Ferrari had the stronger car here? Since months everybody says that this year Ferrari should be strong in Spa and in Monza. Merc talking themselves down is more likely a tactic to take pressure off the team and driver. Making themselves the underdog (even though they are leading WDC).

I wonder if Hamilton did not try something similar to last year when after the restart he slowed down just a little bit in Eau Rouge/Radillion to make Vettel lift at the top of the hill and by this keeping the lead. Maybe Vettel anticipated a move lilke that and therefore managed to fly by. He said in post race interviews that he learned from last year...

A bit of a pity that we did not see Rai and Bot up in front there; would have given us a better guess which car is the fastest.

Apart from this a rather boring race, Bottas making it to P4 rather easily after being at the back of the field shows the sad state of F1 these years: Its not F1, its F1a and F1b. The rest of the field needs to somehow close the gap to the three top teams.

[MtthsMlw]

[ampman]

Ferrari uses the following trick. They do a part under the engine cover electrically charge. This energy is then added to the electric motor. That's why they cover the camera, because it causes interference. You would see that and the FIA ​​would react.
look to this Picture.


https://www.motorsport-total.com/img/20 ... 203150.jpg

[LM10]

https://youtu.be/9GW-QutnX-E

Clear difference. 2017 it took Vettel quite a long time to even get closer behind Hamilton even though he had slipstream.
This year he gained as if Hamilton was standing still.

[F1NAC]

https://youtu.be/9GW-QutnX-E

Clear difference. 2017 it took Vettel quite a long time to even get closer behind Hamilton even though he had slipstream.
This year he gained as if Hamilton was standing still.

This year he had headwind also

[LM10]

https://youtu.be/9GW-QutnX-E

Clear difference. 2017 it took Vettel quite a long time to even get closer behind Hamilton even though he had slipstream.
This year he gained as if Hamilton was standing still.

This year he had headwind also

Still, when Vettel came out of slipstream he finished the pass without any problems yesterday. As for last year, look at how Vettel relatively slowed down when he had no slipstream anymore. Hamilton not only kept his position, but also started gaining again.

[matt_b]

https://youtu.be/9GW-QutnX-E

Great stuff, however in 2017 Lewis had a brand new spec 4 engine and Seb had a very old spec 3 Ferrari engine. What shocked me last year is that Ferrari had the better race pace and Seb followed Lewis closely all through the race. There was also a massive headwind this year which everyone was talking about just before lights out, just looks at the Pink cars with that Mercedes engine down that straight.

[siskue2005]

https://youtu.be/9GW-QutnX-E

Clear difference. 2017 it took Vettel quite a long time to even get closer behind Hamilton even though he had slipstream.
This year he gained as if Hamilton was standing still.

This year he had headwind also

Also from the 2018 video you can see how badly Lewis went wide in Radillon ....that is what made it look such an easy pass. Channel 4 Karun Chandok picked it up when it happened.

[ivanlesk]

I wonder if overrated Hulkenberg will get the well deserved race ban or not ...

also lol @ everyone praising the halo because of some scratches on it in an area far away from the head

Then you should probably watch this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC6ZcYfH7FQ

Speed: 0.25 and watch how Alonso's car (tire) rotates towards his head.

[Roman]

Also from the 2018 video you can see how badly Lewis went wide in Radillon ....that is what made it look such an easy pass. Channel 4 Karun Chandok picked it up when it happened.

Exactly. In 2017, Vettel was already much closer through Eau Rouge and Raidillon and couldnt build up the speed difference needed for a pass. He had to get out of the slipstream with a much smaller speed delta.

In 2018 Vettel was further away on the way down to eau rouge but already started gaining very quickly through Raidillon and managed the pass with the speed difference. Probably partly due to Hamilton going wide, partly due to a stronger power output at that moment. And yes, the power units this year play a role, too. Merc is not faster any more on the straights like last year. But that is not the only reason Vettel could pass Hamilton at that point.

Also, looking at this picture https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dlil0pbXsAE ... &name=orig you can see that at the end of the straight Vettel was maybe not even one car length in front of Hamilton. Therefore if Vettel had a power advantage it was at the beginning of the straight, not during the whole straight itself.

[LM10]

I wonder if overrated Hulkenberg will get the well deserved race ban or not ...

also lol @ everyone praising the halo because of some scratches on it in an area far away from the head

Then you should probably watch this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC6ZcYfH7FQ

Speed: 0.25 and watch how Alonso's car (tire) rotates towards his head.

That’s an amazing shot. HALO definitely saved Leclerc from at least being injured badly.

I’ve never thought that it was ugly anyway. I think it gives the car a good look in a different way + it saves lifes, no matter if just once in 10 years or whatever. So I’m perfectly OK with it.

[Big Mangalhit]

2.)
The pass on lap 1 looked worse than it was (like a DRS pass) because there was a strong head wind. Strong head wind = tow is greatly exagerated = bigger advantage for the guys behind.

I was standing 10m away in the straight, I can assure you there was little to no wind during that amazing 4 men run!