F1 2021 Round 12: Belgian Grand Prix

Joeface

Back after the Summer Break .............I even stayed away from the Forum ...there was GAA to be had .

The Potentially unreliable weather forecast

Lets hope its a good one either way .

Schedule

FP1 Fri, 27 Aug 10:30

FP2 Fri, 27 Aug 14:00

FP3 Sat, 28 Aug 11:00

QU Sat, 28 Aug 14:00

Race Sun, 29 Aug 14:00

Jordan 199

...

AMKC

It's someones 130th GP this weekend. Carlos Seinz I am nearly sure.

klose

Buzzing for this, hopefully the forecast stays true and we get a wet race. Given how Bottas has struggled in his last couple of wet races and with a 5 place grid penalty it could be a weekend to forget for him.

barryribs

It feels like it has been months since Hungary. The forecast is showing that much of today's running will be dry with the rain coming in from late afternoon for the whole weekend.

klose

What would teams be thinking when a P1 today for example is to be done in the dry but qualifying/race will be likely be wet? Is all the data they gather today essentially useless?

SureYWouldntYa

I wonder for a wet race is it the best time for Red Bull to take the engine penalty for Max or Sergio

Max can work his way through the field up to 2nd with little trouble I'd imagine, only risk is the other drivers making mistakes in the wet really

Consensus has been they should take it on a track like Sochi where Merc will win anyway, I think a wet race where Max can shine is as good as any, and Lewis isn't impervious to mistakes in the wet, see Imola 2021

This is it

Kimi smacks the wall on pit lane entry, looks to be a fair amount of damage to the left front and rear but he was able to continue to the garage

LIGHTNING

Complete brain fart from Kimi

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117808987#Comment_117808987

The weather forecast can be misleading. They're giving a chance of rain but it's less than 50% and less than 1mm during the race, depending on which weather site you use. I wouldn't count on rain. It's giving it to rain properly on Sunday evening and night.

LIGHTNING

Spa is a bit unique when I raced there on the testing day it was the worst rain I have ever driven in, should have been red flagged. Then in Quali the next day the sun was splitting the stones and I was melting in the car.

El_Duderino 09

Great first practice for Gasley and the Ferraris. It's only first practice, but that must be encouraging for them

Jordan 199

The helmet Mick Schumacher will be using this weekend.

Joeface

if Dry it does look like a Redbull weekend except for the last chicane , It seems to be the only place it loses time . seems to need more to do the second part of it as in doesnt appear to turn as smooth as everyone else.

And Red Flag ...Charles has crashed out

skipper_G

That on board lap from Alonso on the helmet cam was great to watch.

And then Verstappen off, red flag and session over.

Joeface

Second Red Flag ...Max , Broke a rearwheel backwards into a barrier , Hopefully no further up the car Damage

This is it

How bad was LeClerc's crash?

Joeface

LeClerc's was Left front Wheel and Front wing Damage looked like less costly damage than Max's

quokula

Reminds me of Schumacher back in the day, always finding the extreme limit and occasionally crashing off in practice as he perfected it. You can tell Max is finding the absolute limits of adhesion in that Red Bull, matching the Mercedes while Perez is in amongst the McLarens and Ferraris.

Of course it's much more costly now than it was in Schumacher's day, when there were no caps on budgets or replacement parts. And Red Bull are already in such a difficult position there since Mercedes took them out in the last two races and wrote off their engines.

I'm enjoying the coverage Schumacher's 30th anniversary has been getting around the media in general. Seeing Mick drive that Jordan 191 tomorrow will be the highlight of the weekend (even if it wasn't actually filmed this weekend)

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117811430#Comment_117811430

Yeah it's nice to see and it would be very difficult to ignore, but Mickmis in real danger of turning into a Michael tribute act.

It was really unlikely that he would be as good as Michael as he was one of the all-time greats. But I'd prefer to see Mick handle his own business and let other people do the Michael tributes. Handing his father's helmet to Lewis when Lewis equalled Michael's record a few races back was a worrying sign of a bloke who is just happy to have made it to f1.

He's free to handle his own affairs as he pleases, but I'd suggest he focus on his own career and not on his father's legacy.

SureYWouldntYa

Mick handed Lewis his fathers helmet last season at the Nurburgring, he was still in F2 fighting for a position in F1 so i dont see it as soft or anything like that

It’s hard to tell anything from a season like this for Mick, many greats have had forgettable starts like Alonso who didnt even have a seat after his first year

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117811745#Comment_117811745

It's a pity he wasn't in the Alfa Romeo this season instead of the Haas. We'd have a better grasp of where he'd stand then. He was impressive for most of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Cool_CM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117811225#Comment_117811225

It was unreal! Sky have it up here on their Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/568665409957112/posts/2209706165853020/

This is it

New chassis for LeClerc

Joeface

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117814055#Comment_117814055

And I thought he did less damage that Max . I was way off . Ha

Faugheen

That Alonso helmet cam is a thing of beauty.

There is no way they can see the track on the way to Radillion

Itssoeasy

Rain in spa ? That’s new.

Faugheen

It’s absolutely pissing it down at the moment btw.

Thrashssacre

Is it bad enough that they'll delay quali??

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117814751#Comment_117814751

Martin brundle thinks so due to aqua planning and there is standing water in the pit lane.

Hijpo

Doesn't look like it's letting up anytime soon.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117814891#Comment_117814891

Not on that safety car shot we saw before the ad break.

Itssoeasy

Qualifying not surprisingly delayed.

Faugheen

I just hope they don’t wait until it’s practically bone dry before they let them go out.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117814930#Comment_117814930

I doubt they’ll do that given the alpine team director said it’s 80% chance of rain today and tomorrow so they’ll likely not got a bone dry track.

another point that was just made, they teams have four sets of inters and three full wet sets for possibly two days of running.

Faugheen

So which one of Russell or Latifi will bin it first?

Itssoeasy

Ah disaster for George Russell when he was on a good lap.

Faugheen

Latifi it is!

I imagine the Williams is fueled for a few laps so Russell will just have to do it again.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117814959#Comment_117814959

Latifi answers your question.

Itssoeasy

The Williams had the right idea going out on the inters.

Jordan 199

Chocolate firegaurd 😄

Itssoeasy

George Russell is having a good session.

Faugheen

Russell is flying out there even with everyone on the inters

Itssoeasy

The mercs will most likely get through to Q3 but they are going to have to work for it.

Itssoeasy

Third set of inters on for Mercedes out of a total of four for the race weekend.

Jordan 199

Nice one Ocon.

Itssoeasy

They did get through but they was harder then it should have been especially if the conditions are the same in the race as it is during qualifying.

waynescales1

Brundle making a mess of the commentary there.

Faugheen

From what I can see, the Merc is lightning in S1 and S3 but is like a pig in S2. The amount of time they lose there is mental.

SureYWouldntYa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117815108#Comment_117815108

They're probably running little downforce compared to the rest, S2 is twisty and almost all downhill so you need some wing for that

waynescales1

Norris is really walloping the kerbs on the final chicane.