Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

Spa Franchorchamps - Free Practice 2

01; Sebastian Vettel; Red Bull Renault; 1:49.331;
02; Mark Webber; Red Bull Renault; 1:49.390; +0.059;
03; Romain Grosjean; Lotus Renault; 1:50.149; +0.818;
04; Felipe Massa; Ferrari; 1:50.164; +0.833;
05; Jean-Eric Vergne; Toro Rosso Ferrari; 1:50.253; +0.922;
06; Kimi Raikkonen; Lotus Renault; 1:50.318; +0.987;
07; Fernando Alonso; Ferrari; 1:50.510; +1.179;
08; Sergio Perez; McLaren Mercedes; 1:50.536; +1.205;
09; Nico Rosberg; Mercedes AMG; 1:50.601; +1.270;
10; Paul di Resta; Force India Mercedes; 1:50.611; +1.280;
11; Adrian Sutil; Force India Mercedes; 1:50.629; +1.298;
12; Lewis Hamilton; Mercedes AMG; 1:50.751; +1.420;
13; Nico Hulkenberg; Sauber Ferrari; 1:50.972; +1.641;
14; Pastor Maldonado; Williams Renault; 1:50.991; +1.660;
15; Jenson Button; McLaren Mercedes; 1:51.195; +1.864;
16; Daniel Ricciardo; Toro Rosso Ferrari; 1:51.447; +2.116;
17; Valtteri Bottas; Williams Renault; 1:51.568; +2.237;
18; Esteban Gutierrez; Sauber Ferrari; 1:51.644; +2.313;
19; Giedo Van der Garde; Caterham Renault; 1:53.157; +3.826;
20; Charles Pic; Caterham Renault; 1:53.251; +3.920;
21; Jules Bianchi; Marussia Cosworth; 1:53.482; +4.151;
22; Max Chilton; Marussia Cosworth; 1:54.418; +5.087;

Spa Franchorchamp. A brief summary of what happened today
This morning. At the beginning of FP1 the track was very damp and all pilots have used the intermediate tyres (green stripe - with grooves in the tread pattern) for 40/50 minutes (lap time around 2 min)then the circuit began to dry out and pilots went on slick tires (all have used only hard compound - orange stripe) In this phase the lap times has continued to tumble(Alonso set the fastest time), but in last 10 minutes the weather conditions are worsened and the ranking is not changed anymore.
- Free Practice 2 – Today afternoon
The sun has finally arrived over the track with dry conditions at Spa Francorchamps for the second session
Red Bull seems the best car. Fast over a single lap with both drivers and with an excellent race pace, despite they have a different set-up. Vettel, using a lower-downforce configuration in relation to his team mate, is faster in 1st and 3rd sector while Webber in the 2nd. Only one problem: a slow puncture on Vettel's car. Due to a damage on the floor of his Red Bull, this session ended up in advance for the world champion. Today beyond Vettel and Webber there was a large gap on a singole lap.
Lotus: strong pace race for Grossjean around the average of 1:56 more or less as Webber
Mercedes: two long run with a good pace race for Rosberg. Approximately 10 laps in the first one with an average of 1:56.500 and less then 1:56. in the second one. I suppose with different tyres compound.
Ferrari? A lot of work and changes. Not a good impression.
Massa has often complained understeer everywhere on his car.

The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday are not good
Tomorrow afternoon there is a high probability of rain and as well Sunday the rain is expected for the race, but at Spa the weather conditions are usually difficult to predict.

Japan GP will take place on Suzuka circuit at least untill 2018
After 1 year of negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone, the
organizers announced the good news

2013 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
practice1 results
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:55.198 11
2 14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:55.224 0.026 10
3 15 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:55.373 0.175 11
4 6 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1:55.518 0.320 14
5 9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:55.614 0.416 10
6 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:55.636 0.438 14
7 12 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:55.954 0.756 18
8 11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1:56.110 0.912 11
9 19 Daniel Ricciardo STR-Ferrari 1:56.770 1.572 14
10 17 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:56.858 1.660 18
11 4 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:56.863 1.665 10
12 16 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:57.081 1.883 14
13 18 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Ferrari 1:57.084 1.886 17
14 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:57.281 2.083 14
15 10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:57.358 2.160 10
16 20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 1:57.821 2.623 16
17 21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:57.887 2.689 16
18 23 Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1:58.600 3.402 14
19 2 Mark Webber Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:58.929 3.731 12
20 22 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1:59.209 4.011 12
21 7 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:59.441 4.243 11
22 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2:03.176 7.978 15

Blink and you will miss it

Infiniti Red Bull Racing sets new pitstop world record - GONE IN 2.05 SECONDS

The Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps - Winners, Podium and pole position (last 3 editions)
2010: 1° Hamilton – Mc Laren (2°Webber and 3°Kubica) – fastest lap: Hamilton – pole: Webber, time 1m 45.778
2011: 1° Vettel – Red Bull (2° Webber and 3° Button) – fastest lap: Webber – pole: Vettel, time 1m 48.298
2012: 1° Button – Mc Laren (2° Vettel and 3° Raikkonen) – fastest lap: Bruno Senna – pole: Button 1m 47.573
Wins for current pilots: Raikkonen 4 wins (2004-2005-2007-2009) – Button, Vettel, Hamilton and Massa 1 win.
Pole position: Raikkonen, Hamilton, Webber Vettel and Button 1. Quite strange Alonso: no wins and no pole
Podiums at Spa: Raikkonen(5 times) – Vettel and Button(3) – Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Webber(2)
Stats on this season after 10 races.
Wins: Vettel(4 times) Alonso and Rosberg(2); Raikkonen and Hamilton (1)
Pole position: Hamilton(4 times) Vettel, and Rosberg (3)
Podium: Vettel(7); Raikkonen (6); Alonso(5); Hamilton(4) Webber(3) Rosberg and Grosjean(2) Massa(1)
• F1 - saturday qualifying game - Spa Francorchamps:
Team battle(Ferrari) Alonso vs Massa 7-3*
*The asterisk indicates that Massa didn't participate to qualifying in Monaco.
Average qualifying position: Alonso (5,4°) after 10 qualifying - Massa (7,2°) after 9 qualifying (without Monaco)
Hamilton. Average qualifying position2,1) – Average Grid position: (2.6)*
*The asterisk indicates that he was penalized five places on the grid in Bahrain
These are the results of Hamilton in qualifying: 4 pole position – 3 second place – 1 third place and 2 fourth
places. Hamilton has the best score in qualifying followed by Vettel (2.7)
tomorrow: Free Practice One (morning) and FP 2 (afternoon)

Weather Update Belgium At Francorchamps !

Thursday ( pitwalk ) : Sunny ,around 23°C a 25°C
Friday : Sunny ,between 25°C a 27°C
Saturday : Sunny , around 27°C
Sunday : Cloudy , Rain , between 11°C & 17°C ( aaaaah come on )

Kind Regards
Shaky

I'm hedding to the circuit

The Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps 23-24-25 August
The world Championship of Formula 1 returns in this weekend on the mythical circuit of Spa Francorchamps. it is a circuit like no other; simply the best in the world. The first and third sectors include long straights, while in the middle sector, there are high-speed and medium-speed curves, extremely technical. Along the whole track there are several ups and downs and many changes of direction. Spa-Francorchamps is the longest active circuit of the season. The hills, the trees, the mist and the rather changeable weather make unique its atmosphere. Spa, Monza and Monaco are the oldest circuits still on the calendar. Date back to the 20's of last century; long before it started the world championship of Formula One(1950). The original Spa circuit consisted of public roads that ran between the Belgian towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot, in the heart of the Ardennes. In 1925 the first Belgian Grand Prix was won by Antonio Ascari, father of future World Champion Alberto Ascari. In the old layout(more than 14 km) there was the famous Masta Kink - a high speed chicane in the middle of the Masta straight between Malmedy and Stavelot. The old track was dropped in 1970 because it was too dangerous, but in the eighties the new shorter circuit (7 km) was included again in the calendar. The circuit was rebuilt very well, and the modern track is well loved by fans. In addition some historical parts (Eau Rouge Raidillon for example) have remained the original ones. Tyre allocation for this GP. Pirelli will bring: medium compound(white stripe) and of course hard compound(orange stripe).the most conservative choice, because it’s certainly one of the most demanding circuits for tyres and together with the next race at Monza, the race at Spa is also the most demanding event of the year for engines. Two drs zone: start-finish straight and of course Kemmel straight
.
Raikkonen and Ferrari rumors. it would be good to see him again at the wheel of Ferrari in 2014. Only one thing. The end of 2009 the Finn received a lot of money as severance pay. Ferrari team paid him not to drive for them in 2010 despite a regular contract. The managers of Ferrari chose to keep Massa, but after 4 year they seem to have changed their minds. Wait and see.

Since Red Bull will promote Ricciardo as 2nd drive for 2014
and Lotus team principal Eric Boullier said that they would like
to have Kimi Raikonnen again next year, but only at "right
conditions", rumors spread that the Finnish driver could
rejoin Ferrari
What do you think, guys ?
I think it will be good if he will replace Massa, so Ferrari will
have two top drivers to fight for the 2014 title
Furthermore Raikkonen has been in Ferrari three years ( 2007-2009
with a title in 2007), so he knows very well how they work
Regards, Italianfan

19/08/1987 nicolas hulkenberg german f1 driver
[Verstecktes Bild - Registrierung notwendig]

The Countdown has begon









Hopefully this year no crash at the start that involves a Ferrari car/driver

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

17/08/1952 nelson piquet former brasilian f1 driver
[Verstecktes Bild - Registrierung notwendig]

last year belgium podium
1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 44 1:29:08.530
2 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 44 +13.6 secs
3 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 44 +25.3 secs
pole
1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.573

Robert Kubica said a few days ago about his recovery: "If you asked me this question one year ago, I will give less chances than now" [to return to F1]. That's very optimistic news

Here is the whole interview with him: [Versteckter Link - Registrierung notwendig]

News Update :

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari fined for DRS misuse :
Fernando Alonso and Ferrari have escaped with a fine for illegal DRS use during the Hungarian Grand Prix. The FIA technical officials reported the team to the stewards as data downloaded after the race revealed that Alonso had been able to trigger DRS on three occasions when not within one second of another car. In theory, the system should only be able to operate when a car is following within one second of another as they pass an activation point. The officials said that a setting error by the team was to blame, but that the advantage gained had been negligible. "The DRS enabling system was not changed by the team from the pre-race to the race setting," said a stewards' statement. "The driver therefore incorrectly received 'DRS enabled' messages and reacted to them (when not entitled to) on three occasions. "As soon as the team became aware of the problem they informed the driver to only use DRS when told to do so by the team. "Whilst a small sporting advantage (less than one second over the entire race) was gained, the team argued #3 also suffered a disadvantage by being unable to use DRS on every legitimate occasion.
"However, the team is ultimately responsible for ensuring the system conforms to the regulations." The stewards chose to bestow a €15,000 fine rather than any form of result penalty. Alonso therefore keeps his fifth place in the Hungaroring race.

Red Bull considering Fernando Alonso for 2014 Formula 1 seat :
Red Bull is considering Fernando Alonso as a potential team-mate to Sebastian Vettel for 2014. It has emerged that secret talks took place between the Spaniard's management and Formula 1's champion team at the Hungarian Grand Prix. High level sources claim that the notion Red Bull should consider Alonso as an option for 2014 emerged in a conversation that took place between the Ferrari driver's agent Luis Garcia Abad and team boss Christian Horner at the Hungaroring on Friday. Both Ferrari and Abad insist, however, that the talks he had with Horner were only related to a potential future for Carlos Sainz Jr, who he also represents.
While the specifics of the conversation between Abad and Horner remain disputed, Horner admitted in Hungary that the Spanish driver was now a candidate. When asked if he could deny the Alonso talks, or rule out the Spaniard for a 2014 seat, he said: "Any conversations between any of the drivers and any of the parties will always remain confidential. "But of course there have been quite a few drivers who have expressed an interest in the seat, as you can imagine." The suggestion of Alonso being a free agent in the near future is a particular surprise because it had previously been thought that he was firmly tied to Ferrari until the end of 2016.
Fernando AlonsoHorner said that while Alonso was being looked at, he was also unsure about the exact contractual situation, despite suggestions of break clauses. "Is he available?" said Horner. "I don't know. You ask him." Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali claimed that Alonso was firmly locked down at the team - but acknowledged that the outfit had to improve its current performance to please its driver. "First of all we have a contract with him," said Domenicali. "No doubt, Fernando is an asset for the team. "We need him to work very closely with everyone, because after all this is a difficult moment in the season.
"We have to deliver a job. Full stop. This is the same for everyone, not only for him." Although Alonso is not in the championship situation he had hoped to be this season, he made it clear on Sunday that he was still "happy" at Ferrari. Luis Garcia Abad and Fernando AlonsoThe team's situation is set for a boost with imminent confirmation of James Allison's arrival in a senior technical role, although the impact of Allison's arrival will take time to show. Horner's frankness over Alonso could also be viewed as an act of gamesmanship, at a time when the driver market is particularly fluid and the championship fight is getting more intense. The Alonso situation could weaken Kimi Raikkonen's bargaining power in his Red Bull talks, as well as causing internal friction at Ferrari.
Equally, Abad may have known that a meeting with Horner in front of photographers at a race would fuel speculation about a potential Alonso switch - which would serve to remind Ferrari about the Spaniard's desire to succeed. When asked if he could confirm he would see out his Ferrari contract, and was happy to stay at Ferrari irrespective of results, Alonso said: "I am very happy.
"Obviously we need to improve the car and we are going to have chances to win the world championship.
"August with four weeks with no F1 is a very dangerous period for you guys [the media]. Hopefully we will have a quiet summer."

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi