Grand Prix 2016 Belgian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

People have different opinions about most of the F1 circuits but if there is something everybody agrees on is that SPA-Francorchamps circuit is great, for many their favourite.

How could it not, you've got the Ardennes forest, the very high speed, the ups and downs and iconic turns like La Source, Eau Rouge and Raidillon, Stavelot, Bus Stop. Could it be the motorsport heritage? For as long as cars have gone racing, Spa is associated with velocity. Of course at the turn of the 20th century they used the original circuit of 86km (or was it 118km?).

Even after it was shorten to 15km and then 7km, it kept its pedigree, its spirit. As the race comes closer, the anxiety continues to build in F1 fans; a 4-week summer break may be deserved for the drivers and teams but creates a void that cannot be filled with race reruns or silly season discussion. And it's mind-boggling that they have kept it as is but they've added more and more races (currently we are at 21) making each result of little relevance is the great scheme of things.

It is also Spa back in 1991 the race that saw the debut of F1 most successful driver ever, one Michael Schumacher. He never raced there before and went around the circuit in a bicycle to get to know it, before posting the best 7th time and running as high as 6th when his clutch gave up.

That was then but back to 2016, as it has been the case the past 3 years, Mercedes are the clear favourites. At the beginning of the year it seemed like this was going to be Nico Rosberg year, 4 victories in the first 4 races, a testimony of that, yet after his retirement in Spain the German has failed to recover his mojo and instead Lewis Hamilton seems destined to win his 4th championship (3rd in a row) with 6 victories in the last 7 races. It doesn’t seem likely that Rosberg is going to be a challenge for the remaining of the year which is a shame but confirms he’s not really a top-drawer driver.

Even though mathematically Mercedes can still lose the championship this year, it won’t happen and they have decided to go with a conservative approach to the race, having the fewest sets of supersoft tires. And why wouldn’t they, at the beginning of the year it seemed like Ferrari was mounting a challenge but they have clearly faded away. Also, after a stellar debut with the Scuderia last year, Sebastian Vettel seems to be at odds with the team. No longer have a quick smiled ear to ear but rather a wry one (if any); the German is conflicted by the lack of performance of his car and the off camera politics that are at play and seem to be more prevalent than ever. Almost the opposite can be said of Kimi Raikkonen who seemed to have recovered some of his flare, especially after his contract has been renewed for yet another year.

RedBull has taken over as the challenger to Mercedes but they are a few ways down the road when it comes to challenging the Silver Arrows. However the intra-team battle has been really interesting; Ricciardo the established lead and Max Verstappen the newcomer, very little separate them when it comes to qualifying and race results. If anything the young Dutch has allowed Daniel Ricciardo to shine again with superb performances in the past 2 races. Will the Aussie be able to capitalize and win a race this year? Let’s hope it is at Spa to mix it up a little bit.

Summer break also brought news of Manor racing demoting one of their drivers, Indonesian Rio Haryanto in favour of French DTM and F1 test driver Esteban Ocon, a moved caused by Haryanto’s inability to pay the 6.5 million pounds required to keep his seat. This in turn has lost Pertamina as Manor sponsor.

One of the best f1 weekends is just around the corner but the shadow of terrorism is upon it and the race organizers have made sure security takes centre stage. This is not really comforting for fans but it’s the new 2016 reality.

What are your predictions?
 
Why don't we get weather like that.

The RedBulls think they have pulled ahead of Ferrari and are chasing The Mercs.

We shall see.
 
In Spa when it rains anything can happen because the track is so long they are areas where its really dry and some that are wet It does spice things up
 
In the days when it was a proper road race the drivers could experience all four seasons in one day, most of them changing areas during the race. This made for near impossible conditions, it was impossible to have any worthwhile medical services or marshalling in the case of accidents. It was a sad day when it was finally abandoned but it really was too much of a death trap.
 
Bill Boddy ..... Sir Jackie would certainly agree with you and rightfully so. Sad to loose any true road race though, unfortunately none of the past road races suit modern F1 with the exception of Monaco, though it's so enclosed and short it doesn't really qualify as a road race.
 
Looking at forecast, 30c weather all weekend seems wrong at spa. As always disapointed when its not Chucking down.

Incase nobodies aware if you are a sky tv subcriber but down have sky sports you dont have to miss out on live coverage of Belgian or Italian GP (cant remember which one C4 have highlights for) as apparently the new sky sports mix channel will have live coverage of both
 
You want to do it early so to minimise the damage further down the line

Someone should tell Mercedes they might as well start from the pitlane if they are back of the grid
 
They will make a whole throng of Dutchmen happy as well if they take the likely penalty. Apparently they are expecting Schumi-Ferrari sized crowds in Belgium this weekend. Max starting from the front row would be fascinating.
 
Did you hear the comment on the podium in Germany about the Dutch fans and their caravans? I nearly pissed myself.
 
What they also don't seem to have made their mind up about, is whether they'd take two engines. I can't see why they wouldn't, he's already taking two components , so it's back of the grid ( or pitlane). Only thing I can think, is possible further engine upgrades down the line,otherwise it's a no brainer to take two for the price of one.
 
I'm not sure if there are any rules to dictate how many elements you are allowed to take during a race weekend, there could be limits. Also, there could be limits in terms of what you are physically able to bring to the track, either in the rules or otherwise. It may be that the new components need to be installed and run, and making the changes is too costly in terms of time taken, and track time hampered.

I would make an assumption that there is a limit, otherwise, why not bring 12 new complete engines, and be set for the rest of the season?
 
I can't believe they haven't made there mind up yet. Why not just come out with it.

im surprised they doing it in now, because 1st race back you think he want to keep his momentum up & not "give" it straight back to his teammate & surely in monza he's guaranteeing 2nd

also all the obvious talk of Max Verstappen being Dutch, official F1 website surprised me with their Belgian gp quiz, because last question was who was the last Belgian born racing driver to take part in Belgian gp & answer was Max Verstappen as he was born in Hasselt. Beligium 50 miles from Spa Francorchops
 
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