Grand Prix 2015 Belgian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So the second half of the F1 season will start with the epic race through the Ardennes forest that is Spa-Francorchamps. The track has more iconic corners and sections than most of the rest of the F1 tracks have put together. What would a modern F1 season be without a race here? Well I guess it would be 2003 or 2006 but lets forget those and say how F1 would not be F1 without a race here. The teams certainly enjoy it and after they've all be sunning themselves on beaches for the last month (apart from Ferrari of course who have secretly been developing parts with Haas in America....allegedly) so they will be raring to go. No one will want it to come round quicker that Mercedes who had a bit of a nightmare in Hungary. Both their drivers have a reputation of losing heart after a bad result and dropping form so they'll be hoping that things run smoothly in the first part of the weekend and they start to get back in the control position they have sat in for most of the season. With Ferrari winning the race on pure pace last time out though both the team and drivers will be forgiven for looking curiously over their shoulder. Is it possible that Ferrari could mount a second half of the season championship challenge? Vettel certainly seems to have got a sniff of it.

Away from the front pair with have a Red Bull team who will probably be depressed as hell that their form of double podium last time out will sink into nothingness as their engine power lets them down and dumps them back into the pack. Whilst they've had a lot of stick off everyone for how they keep complaining about the Renault engines after seeing how good their chassie was at a track that doesn't require as much engine grunt you start to see their point. Wherever they are in the field Danii Kvyat will hope he continues to take little chunks out of Ricciardo's points lead on him. The young Russian will be on a high after his first podium and he showed in GP3 days he's pretty good round Spa. That's not to say Ricciardo isn't on form though, he had a great race last time out, but he really needs to work on those starts. In the Red Bull B team the fight between Sainz and Verstappen will continue. Verstappen has the points upper hand after his 4th in Hungary but Sainz has usually come out on top on this one.

Will the McLaren revival be dead on arrival? Great results in Hungary but I can't see the Honda engine doing too well on the long straights of Spa and Monza. However both have been known to have a high attrition rate through crashes so maybe if the McLaren keeps it clean and tidy they'll continue to pick up points. That means from a McLaren point of view they have to hope Pastor Maldonado carries on as he has been doing for the Enstone team. 4 penalties in one race I think is a record for F1 and surely we are approaching a 1 race ban for Crashtor. It can't be doing Enstone any favours in the cash department either especially as they are supposed to be broke. They at least have Grosjean quietly doing a good job though. Williams should be on strong form at Spa but you never really sure which Williams you're going to get on race day. I'm sure they'll make it their priority to not get involved in a race with the Mercs but whether they can mix it up with the Ferrari's is anyones guess. One man who will probably be mixing it up in the top 10 as long as his car holds together is Nico Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg seems to have re-discovered his appetite for F1 after his Le Mans win. The other curve ball into the F1 mix at Spa might be Manor. The decision still hasn't been made on whether they will run their 2015 car with the 2015 Ferrari engine. If they decide to it could bump them up the field a bit and make everyone have to be on their toes in Q1.

I hope the run of good races F1 has will continue with this one but once again I can't see past a Hamilton pole and cruise to victory. Mind you I said that at Hungary.
 
NBC seems to think it wasn't thread, but maybe smoke being dragged over the tire? Definitely a scary place for a tire to explode. I loved Grosjean's radio, absolutely hilarious!

No definitely a thread not smoke Herbert said same & will Buxton had on twitter that Paddy Lowe told him during the session that initial investigation suggested no part of the W06 had rubbed against the tyre to cause failure.

The custard in theory is good as you can easily run across custard so driving no problem But what about when rosberg stops in run off area Marshalls might not appreciate having to dig his car out of custard
 
Have Red Bull found something to be 3rd and 4th in the break and ahead of Ferrari's or is there sandbagging going on

That is an impressive lap time from Hulkenberg if its correct to match a Red Bull and be0.5 seconds faster than his teammate. I hope he will focus his anger on the track and make people take note
 
Is he angry? Seems like he's pretty calm to me. He just won one of the blue ribbon motorsport events at his first try. I don't think he feels he has to prove anything to anyone.
 
Apparently Jonathan Neale of McLaren has said that they're running 2 further fresh engines today - so I'm guessing in addition to the fresh engines they were already using. Sounds like they've pretty much given up.
 
Did Fernando make it out into P3? I was watching them talking about it sounding like a diesel and then took the dogs out for a walk so missed the rest of practice.
 
Do you think they have a very oversized pram in the McLaren motorhome for Fernando to sit in after each race and throw all his toys out? :snigger:
 
Both Mercedes in 1 and 2 in Q1, despite being on the medium tyre, with everyone behind them on the soft.

Undoubtedly they turned the engine up a bit to ensure they got through but still.
 
I might be getting a bit confused about these new rules but why did the McLaren drivers bother going out again at all? Whatever lap they did wasn't going to make any difference anyway.
 
What a great lap by Grosjean.......shame he's bumped down to 9th!

The Ferrari challenge goes up in smoke very quickly and the Mercs look dominant and only have the Merc B team anywhere near them.

Still Perez is in 4th and he could get a bit over excited off the start and course a rukus. Pastor is there to shake it up if needed too.
 
Vettel said he didn't make any mistakes. So that's probably what the car was capable of. Tomorrow in the race they might be faster though. But faster than the guys ahead? Dunno. He'll have Maldonado and Grosjean alongside him though. That's gonna be interesting. No, worrying.
 
Vettel probably lost time going off into that bit of gravel he's been doing every single lap. He's less than impressive round Spa it has to be said.
 
So here's the grid, starting from the back:

TEN CAN.png
 
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