Piastri dominates the Sprint Pole.
1. Piastri
2. Max
3. Norris
4. Leclerc
5. Ocon
6. Sainz
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Piastri dominates the Sprint Pole.
1. Piastri
2. Max
3. Norris
4. Leclerc
5. Ocon
6. Sainz
Interesting start to the weekend. It looked like Oscar would easily best Max, but Max made the move stick early on and managed to defend. He was just fast in the right places.
The move Charles made on the opening lap was solid as well. But with the top speed deficit he was a sitting duck after the fact.
Qualifying was interesting as well. With the way the weather forecast is looking it's going to be interesting to see who got it right on setup. I'd like to see it stay wet enough to bring driver skill into the equation more.
Overall a horrible weekend for Lewis. Coming to grips with the changes isn't going his way at all.
This is my favorite track on the current calendar, and I hope the weather lets us have a good race. If it stays wet I think there is a lot of potential for a really interesting race day.
Mercedes drivers are not making a very good case that they are the "future" of Mercedes. I really thought Max would compete for pole after his sprint performance. It appears they adjusted his setup (I assume due to the potential rain), and he was sliding into the start of his lap and was on the back foot the whole lap.
It will be interesting to see if Piastri can pull a Max on Norris.
New names for the Belgium GP:
1. The Belgium Washout Grand Yawn
2. Eua-Ruge No-Go
3. The rain-out Spa
4. Spa FIA Paraylsis GP
Started interesting, ended dull.
FIA = Fabricated Interpretations Authority"
One rulebook, 20 ways to apply it—none consistent.
Why do they have full wet tires if they are never going to use them?
We could have another exciting race today like we did at Silverstone in the rain but FIA decided to spoil the party.
Well.... I'm not quite sure what to say about the rain and race control. A delay on the start might have made sense for safety reasons, but waiting until the track had dry spots before the start was really nonsense, and made the cars and teams set up for the wet pay a greater penalty. With wet tires that nobody ever uses these days, maybe they need to look harder at standards, as well as appropriate equipment to clear any standing water more quickly.
Oscar didn't waste any time at all, and forced the issue. From there it was kind of boring at the front, even if the commentary kept talking like the tire offset would bring them together at the end. With the mediums hanging on long term, Oscar seemed to have the issue under control. Charles did a great job keeping Max at bay in the wet laps, and that was really all he needed. Even once DRS was allowed, Max couldn't find a way to get by him through the laps. Very similar to what Hamilton experienced once he moved up through the slower cars, just the leading car being fast in the right places to make it work. At times P7 though P4 all looked like they might be able to push up and make a move, but a few laps of getting close in dirty air and they would drop back again. So just when we thought there might be some real action.... well it didn't happen.
Lewis had a good recovery from his qually woes, and overall Ferrari didn't look bad this weekend. Alex did a fantastic job to defend for all those laps, and proved that the Williams can be good at times. With Lawson, Bortoleto, and Pierre all in the points, we ended up with a good spread of cars at the top.
I just wish we had the race we could have had, and really got a good gauge of how the current drivers are in the wet for a longer distance.
With the spray that these cars make , nobody can see , so it's pointless to try to race until it's starting to show dry lines , and that makes the full wet a useless tire .
I don't think we've even seen full wets at all , with their stated ability to vacuum up even more water than the inters and toss it into the plume of spray .
That plume is pushed higher with higher downforce levels used for wet racing conditions .
With the rules as they are , I find it difficult to say they missed the sweet spot by more than a lap or two .
Full wets are dumb .
As the Sky presenters would say , "It's a chocolate fireguard of an idea" .
I also would like to put up another culprit here for the crime of boring me this race , and that is the sprint format .
They knew too much .
I don't disagree that current cars make a lot of spray, but years ago they raced full wets in conditions that created just as much if not more spray. And I don't think the current drivers are lesser talent, but I think race control is more prone to not allow racing in wet conditions. I mean looking back, how many times have the current wet tires even been used?
The gas and brake pedals are progressive. And I never remember any era where drivers tried to drive flat out in poor conditions. On the contrary, they drove to their abilities.
The current cars are the safest ever made by far. And almost every track has huge runoff areas now, something that didn't exist in the past era.
Every year the teams set out to push the air up in the most efficient way they can muster , and they manage to do so to the point that the FIA has to change the rules to keep them from going too quickly .Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
We've got a current formula designed to control the plume of low pressure behind so that the following car can be closer , but even so you've got zero visibility because of that spray .
It's been a heck of a long time since I remember seeing the blue tires used .
The inters are maybe too efficient , themselves , at pumping water off the track . Perhaps they should be blue , and a less "pumpy' spec inserted . That might make the viz better , to a degree .
I know they have the controls , and can drive to the grip available , but 200 mph blindfolded essentially is just dangerous .
Take the wings off and we could have them race in a hurricane .