2014 Belgian GP - Spa-Francorchamps

[Juzh]

So, Belgian GP is in less than 2 weeks, appropriate time for a new thread imo.



2014
Tyres - Medium (prime, white) and Soft (option, yellow)

2013
Tyres - Hard (prime, red) and Medium (option, white)

Hamilton pole, 2013


I predict merc as usual the fastest car by some margin, followed by williams and ferrari, who are also expecting some 20 bhp boost from it's PU after the summer break. If past events are anything to go by red bull (along with all renault powered cars) should struggle at this venue a lot, similar as in Austria, and could see themselves eclipsed by toro rosso if they fail to perform to their fullest potential.

One other interesting thing I'll be watching is speed trap data coming out of radillon. This should give us some clear indication of which car is carrying most speed trough eau rouge, given it probably won't be anywhere near flat this year. S1 trap will also be interesting for top speed.
Blanchimont to remain flat, but not for all cars maybe?

[gray41]

First chance to see low DF configurations, guess it could be a Mercedes engine parade.

[SectorOne]

I think Blanchimont will be flat for everyone right out of the gates, it´s such a high speed corner that they still probably have excess downforce there.
Same with Eau Rouge. Pouhon though, proper man´s corner that even more so this year!

Also contrary to popular belief, i think Red Bull can edge or at the very least sandwich the two Williams but will be under massive threat on Kemmel straight on lap 1.
Should be a good one i think, dark horse to win the race for me is probably Bottas but not under "normal" circumstances.

[strad]

the long range weather report looks for the usual cool wet weather

[Juzh]

@sectorone
eau rouge won't be flat. I guarantee it. Maybe, just maybe red bull could go flat with that underpowered renault, but certainly not any merc powered stuff.

[SectorOne]

@sectorone
eau rouge won't be flat. I guarantee it. Maybe, just maybe red bull could go flat with that underpowered renault, but certainly not any merc powered stuff.

Ok i´ll hold you to it then i suppose.

I think every single car will go flat through there given it´s dry without any problems at all.
They will most likely enter the corner with a higher speed then last year which decreases the downforce delta from last year.

[Juzh]

It's a "bet" then?

[l4mbch0ps]

I think every single car will go flat through there given it´s dry without any problems at all.
They will most likely enter the corner with a higher speed then last year which decreases the downforce delta from last year.

Absolute downforce at the apex may be higher this year (which I truly doubt anyways) however that won't help them if they need higher speeds to achieve that...

It's not about how much downforce they are generating, it's about the ratio of total grip to the change in direction required... the faster they go through the corner, the more grip they require. Essentially what you are saying is that if you take the two cars (last years and this years) through the corner at the speeds at which they produce the same downforce, they will both make it - even though one car needs to go much faster through with the same amount of grip.

I definitely don't predict Eau Rouge being flat for anyone, even the RB... they've simply lost too much downforce and gained too much low end acceleration to make that possible.

[wesley123]

F1 cars have been taking Eau Rouge flat out since early 00s(Remember the BAR crashes in '99, anyone?). Aero has improved so much since then that I seriously doubt that any car on the grid wouldn't be able to take it flat out with ease.

[beelsebob]

FWIW, I'm definitely on the "not flat" side of the argument here. The cars have lost a substantial amount of downforce, and gained a substantial amount of power. I'd be amazed if they could use all of it.

F1 cars have been taking Eau Rouge flat out since early 00s(Remember the BAR crashes in '99, anyone?). Aero has improved so much since then that I seriously doubt that any car on the grid wouldn't be able to take it flat out with ease.

Aero may have improved dramatically since the 90s, but its also far more restricted. The 2004ish cars had pretty much the most downforce of any F1 cars ever, and the 2000s cars weren't too far from that. These cars have lost a substantial amount of downforce even from the 2013 cars which probably didn't have as much as a 2000s car.

[WaikeCU]

It could be gamble weather at Spa though. Weather have been pretty crazy so far this past 7 days. From absolutely downpour to thunderstorm to sunshine clear skies all within a time gap of 10 mins and this process repeats itself time after time during the day. going home for work in a downpour and 15-20km's further down the road the tarmac is absolutely dry.

[AnthonyG]

A shame it's not just a "straight" rain predicition for the weekend.

The Williams boys must be very looking forward to this weekend, imo the best chance for them to beat Mercedes.

[SectorOne]

It's a "bet" then?

Yea why not.

I definitely don't predict Eau Rouge being flat for anyone, even the RB... they've simply lost too much downforce and gained too much low end acceleration to make that possible.

Ok we´ll see i suppose,

[SectorOne]

The 2004ish cars had pretty much the most downforce of any F1 cars ever,

I doubt that to be honest. I don´t think any 2004 car can hold a candle to the RB6 for example.
I also don´t think it can hold a candle to the spaceships of 2008.

Strap a BMW or Ferrari V10 in an RB6 and it would annihilate the 04 cars, i´m certain.

[beelsebob]

The 2004ish cars had pretty much the most downforce of any F1 cars ever,

I doubt that to be honest. I don´t think any 2004 car can hold a candle to the RB6 for example.
I also don´t think it can hold a candle to the spaceships of 2008.

Strap a BMW or Ferrari V10 in an RB6 and it would annihilate the 04 cars, i´m certain.

You may be right about the RB6, that was certainly the closest a modern car has come, if not slightly better. But a 2014 car has not even close to the downforce of an RB6.