The Official Not606 Belgian GP Chat & Predictions

So where are the bans for the HRT's? Both of them held up drivers many times.. Yet they get nothing. One person mentions Maldonado's name and he gets a penalty straight away. Hulkenberg should just go cry somewhere else.

 

I think the HRTs were on a flying lap, so they won't be penalised for impeding, do feel a bit for maldonado but he's really only got himself to blame for his bad name.

 

Karthikeyan was almost 2 seconds off de la Rosa. He'd better hope there's no Safety car tomorrow because at that rate he'll struggle to keep within ten car lengths of it.

 

I always wonder who he paid off to get a superlicense. He certainly didn't earn one.

 

Caterham were 1.6 seconds off Rosberg and Senna's pace.

 

Anyone got the best sector times - curious to see who is quick in S1 & S3 compared to the higher down force cars in S2.

 

http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2012/875/7160/best_sector_times.html

 

So Kamui has gone for downforce then. Looks like he's not finishing on the podium tomorrow.

EDIT: I should explain, rather than appear to be jumping to conclusions (as usual.)

You need the right balance, Button's McLaren has obviously hit the sweet spot in terms of straight line speed/Downforce. Sauber have leaned too far towards the downforce side IMO to be a threat for the win, whereas RBR have leaned too far towards the straight line speed angle, leaving them especially vulnerable in the 2nd sector. if the race is dry, assuming the RBR can pass cars in sector 1 and 3, then they could be OK, but they'll have to defend for all their money's worth in sector 2.

 

Also interesting:

[TABLE="class: raceResults"]
[TR]
[TH]Pos[/TH]
[TH]No[/TH]
[TH]Driver[/TH]
[TH]Time of Day[/TH]
[TH]Speed[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]1[/TD]
[TD]Sebastian Vettel[/TD]
[TD]14:35:28[/TD]
[TD]310.6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]2[/TD]
[TD]Mark Webber[/TD]
[TD]14:59:40[/TD]
[TD]309.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]Fernando Alonso[/TD]
[TD]14:09:54[/TD]
[TD]308.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]Felipe Massa[/TD]
[TD]14:10:16[/TD]
[TD]307.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]Jean-Eric Vergne[/TD]
[TD]14:40:40[/TD]
[TD]307.6[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]6[/TD]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]Pastor Maldonado[/TD]
[TD]14:59:05[/TD]
[TD]306.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]7[/TD]
[TD]Michael Schumacher[/TD]
[TD]14:41:48[/TD]
[TD]304.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]Daniel Ricciardo[/TD]
[TD]14:08:15[/TD]
[TD]303.9[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]Paul di Resta[/TD]
[TD]14:40:18[/TD]
[TD]303.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]Bruno Senna[/TD]
[TD]14:07:23[/TD]
[TD]303.7[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]11[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]Kamui Kobayashi[/TD]
[TD]14:18:50[/TD]
[TD]303.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]Sergio Perez[/TD]
[TD]14:04:05[/TD]
[TD]302.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]13[/TD]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]Pedro de la Rosa[/TD]
[TD]14:08:19[/TD]
[TD]302.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]12[/TD]
[TD]Nico Hulkenberg[/TD]
[TD]14:41:04[/TD]
[TD]302.3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]15[/TD]
[TD]8[/TD]
[TD]Nico Rosberg[/TD]
[TD]14:08:38[/TD]
[TD]301.5[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]16[/TD]
[TD]3[/TD]
[TD]Jenson Button[/TD]
[TD]14:59:49[/TD]
[TD]301.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]17[/TD]
[TD]10[/TD]
[TD]Romain Grosjean[/TD]
[TD]14:59:33[/TD]
[TD]300.3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]18[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]Timo Glock[/TD]
[TD]14:06:36[/TD]
[TD]300.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]Narain Karthikeyan[/TD]
[TD]14:17:44[/TD]
[TD]300.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]9[/TD]
[TD]Kimi Räikkönen[/TD]
[TD]14:59:27[/TD]
[TD]300.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]4[/TD]
[TD]Lewis Hamilton[/TD]
[TD]14:41:31[/TD]
[TD]296.4[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]22[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]Charles Pic[/TD]
[TD]14:18:50[/TD]
[TD]296.3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]23[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]Heikki Kovalainen[/TD]
[TD]14:08:06[/TD]
[TD]294.0[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]21[/TD]
[TD]Vitaly Petrov[/TD]
[TD]14:07:50[/TD]
[TD]292.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

So red bull royally fluffed it then? Too much focus on straight line speed, no downforce. Obviously the straight line speed in that car is so poor they've had to shed more downforce than Ferrari and co. just to compensate for it.

 

McLaren expecting a wet race with all that downforce they are carrying?

 

according to the BBC forecast, it'll be dry and cloudy tomorrow, quite a bit warmer than today, so that'll hurt the cold happy cars, like Sauber.

 

Kamui

 

To be fair, he does carry a speed advantage over Button, so maybe all is not lost. He's faster in a straight line than both cars around him (which implies less downforce), yet set the fastest middle sector (which implies more downforce). I don't know how that works, but well done Kamui for defying the laws of physics. Maybe Cosi can explain?

 

The speed trap at Spa is on the exit of Radillon rather than an actual straight, so these don't really reflect straightline speed. Best comparison would be to watch what they hit the limiter at on Kemmel.

 

So that would imply that the Red Bull has excellent high speed downforce. So where was the pace?

I'm now officially confused.

 

Not necessarily, it's flat for everyone through there, it's probably more to do with traction off the top of Raidillon.

 

Top speeds according to McLaren: http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page=results&gp=875&s=7160&p=5

please log in to view this image

No idea how they get these. Looks about right though, and Kamui looking very well set. Red Bull look terrible, they must have the car geared short, that's why they were quick out of Raidillon then slow down the straight.

 

It still doesn't make sense though. Kamui has the fastest car in a straight line, again implying that they're limited on downforce, yet he sets the fastest time in the twisty 2nd sector. HELP!!!!

 

They might be running a longer 7th gear which gives them the straight line speed. Also in qualifying they have unlimited use of DRS, so if they're running more wing it doesn't hurt them as much on the straights.