Spa

[lkjohnson1950]

OK, a bit late to the party, but I thought others would jump at the chance to talk of Spa. The original circuit, designed in 1921 used public roads between the towns of Spa, Burnenville/Malmedy and Stavelot to form an 18 km triangle. The track was very fast and the Belgians replaced the hairpin at Stavelot with a sweeping high speed corner to make it even faster, shortening the track to 14 km. For most of it's life Spa was the fastest course on the calendar. It's size, location in the mountains of the Ardenne forest and proximity to the Channel made the weather completely unpredictable and it was frequently downpouring at one end of the circuit and dry at the other. Before 1970 there were no safety precautions taken, unless you consider a few scattered hay bales sufficient. Jackie Oliver said "If you crash at Spa, you never know what you'll hit". In 1966 Jackie Stewart crashed at the Masta Kink (in actuality a 180 mph+ left/right  like a chicane) smashing into a farm house, landing upside down in the basement, where he hung upside down with gas leaking everywhere for some time until the marshals freed him. Some say this is what fired his passion for safety. Safety concerns meant the course nearly fell into complete disuse by 1979 when it debuted in it's current general layout, though a number of modifications to the bus stop chicane at the entrance to the pit have been made.  F1 returned in 1983. Though the new circuit is still fearsomely fast, it does not compare with the 14 km layout of old. Jackie Ickx set the record in a Ferrari 312PB sports car at nearly 164 mph. Vettel holds the record for the current layout at 146 mph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_de_Spa-Francorchamps#/media/File:Circuit_spa_old.png

[Steve A.]

Looking forward to the start, see who gets away the best as they are effectively on their own. Mercs swamped again?

[Scott]

Great background Lonny...looking forward to it.  We have a big group, but I will hopefully be there for the start.

[cosworth151]

Eau Rouge was originally a highway junction, with a secondary road exiting to the left.

[J.Clark]

Nice review Lonny, late or not.   

Not much in the way of surprises in qualifying aside from Vettel, and of course, Kimi's bad break.  Mostly predictable otherwise.
Maldonado was a bit of a surprise, jumping into 8^th and Perez in 5^th as well.

1. Hamilton   Mercedes   1m 47.197
2. Rosberg      Mercedes   1m 47.655
3. Bottas      Williams   1m 48.537
4. Grosjean      Lotus    1m 48.561*
5. Perez      Force India   1m 48.599
6. Ricciardo      Red Bull   1m 48.639
7. Massa      Williams   1m 48.685
8. Maldonado   Lotus    1m 48.754
9. Vettel      Ferrari   1m 48.825
10. Sainz Jr      Toro Rosso   1m 49.771

11. Hulkenberg   Force India   1m 49.121
12. Kvyat      Red Bull   1m 49.228
13. Ericsson   Sauber   1m 49.586
14. Raikkonen   Ferrari   no time Q2
15. Verstappen    Toro Rosso   no time Q2**
16. Nasr      Sauber   1m 49.952
17. Button      McLaren   1m 50.978***
18. Alonso      McLaren   1m 51.420***
19. Stevens   Manor    1m 52.948
20. Merhi      Manor    1m 53.099

* denotes driver due to take 5-place grid penalty
** denotes driver due to take 10-place grid penalty 
*** denotes driver due to take grid penalty in excess of 50 places 

In the interviews, Bottas mentioned the start - Mercs have lost out on the start in the previous two races.

Rosberg and Hamilton both have some obviously unresolved issues over turn 5 at the end of the Kemmel Straight.

Should be interesting tomorrow morning.

[cosworth151]

Kimi's car sounded like a box of nails in a clothes dryer when it stopped at the start of Q2.

[Jericoke]

Kimi's car sounded like a box of nails in a clothes dryer when it stopped at the start of Q2.

"Something Broke"

[lkjohnson1950]

You know Cos, I've been looking at that picture you posted (a great picture, wish I had it in my office) thinking something is not right. This afternoon while I was running errands it hit me: it can't be 1967. In 1967, Graham Hill was driving for Lotus!! Just guessing, but I think this is 1965.

[J.Clark]

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/l/BEXX0031:1:BE

I am wondering how accurate this is - 100% chance of thunderstorms.

[Ian]

Could make for an interesting race. 

[Steve A.]

I really hope so. Rain dance time.

[cosworth151]

I think you're right, Lonny. I went with how it was listed without really looking at the cars.

I am wondering how accurate this is - 100% chance of thunderstorms.

To paraphrase the first line of Truth in 24, It always rains at Spa!

[J.Clark]

Except this time.  We could really have used it this year.

Sad outcome for Vettel - drove a superb race until . . .

Sad too for Bottas, who will no doubt rue his comment of having learned from their mistakes.  Frankly, I can't recall that ever happening before - getting one wrong tire out of four.

I hope Williams gets the butts in order before 9/6 at Monza.  They did not perform anywhere near expectations at a relatively high speed circuit and Monza is really little different in terms of speed.  Massa did well to have hung on to 6^th, which would have been 7^th were it not for Vettel's tire blow-out.

Grojean, Kvyat and Verstappen all had good races, especially Grojean though.  In fact, had Vettel not had the tire issue, I believe Romain would have overtaken him anyway, as his Lotus was truly up for it.

Vettel, in spite of his tire failure, still finished ahead of poor Alonso and Button.  Jense looked quite defeated in an interview after qualifying.  Alonso would no doubt rather be with his old team at present.

Ricciardo too had a bad day, while his teammate shined.

Perez had a pretty awesome race, and was able somehow to hold off the Williams of Massa on a few occasions.  That was a bit of a surprise, as Massa caught up to him very quickly with the fresh tires.

[Scott]

“Same with me I didn’t go off the track it’s just out of the blue, the tyre explodes.”

Ahem...

And one stopping when Pirelli clearly, and BEFORE the race suggests it was a 2 stopper at least.

[lkjohnson1950]

That seemed to be the preferred line. Lots of people with 4 tires off and not a single penalty from Charlie. Hobbs thought the combination of 27 laps of wear and striking the curb was just too much for the tire. This is one of F1's most exciting and challenging corners, and to allow sooo many of them to just straight line it was sad. I'd put armco at the edge of the track like Watkins Glen if they're going to do that.