F1 Quals: Belgium 2014

So.  We're back.  It rained.  What happened?  Take a look:

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	2:07.130	2:06.723	2:05.591
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	2:07.280	2:06.609	2:05.819
3	4Time Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	2:10.105	2:08.868	2:07.717
4	HWMNBN	Ferrari	2:10.197	2:08.450	2:07.786
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	2:10.089	2:08.989	2:07.911
6	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	2:09.250	2:08.451	2:08.049
7	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	2:11.081	2:08.901	2:08.679
8	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	2:09.885	2:08.646	2:08.780
9	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	2:08.403	2:08.833	2:09.178
10	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	2:10.529	2:09.272	2:09.776
11	Kid Kvyat	STR-Renault	2:10.445	2:09.377
12	Jules Vergne	STR-Renault	2:09.811	2:09.805
13	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	2:10.666	2:10.084
14	Adrian F'n Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	2:11.051	2:10.238
15	Lettuce Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	2:10.898	2:11.087
16	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	2:11.051	2:12.470
17	Crashtor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	2:11.261
18	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	2:11.267
19	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	2:12.566
20	Esteban!	Sauber-Ferrari	2:13.414
21	Balrog Lotterer	Caterham-Renault	2:13.469
22	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	2:14.438

In effect, nothing happened.  Since it was wet from the get-go (though it didn't rain in Q1, the track was so wet it may as well have been raining the whole time), nobody was at a particular advantage or disadvantage.  Which is weird... usually you'd see a Ferrari (for example) out in Q1, or a Caterham making it to Q3, or what have you... but not today.  We almost saw 4Time Vettel fail to make it to Q3, but no, he cleared it at the last moment.

Lewis Hamilton's initial reaction to qualifying second was his usual whinyness, but it changed to remembering what happened last year.  Then, he was the polesitter, and had his doors blown off down the Kemmel Straight by Seb Vettel on Lap 1.  What's to say that won't happen this year? 

Pay no attention to the two-second gap from the polesitter to the first non-Mercedes.  Lots of reasons are possible for that: Merc could have a wet-weather setup on their cars, for example, or they just like the wet-weather rubber.  It'll be a much smaller gap on raceday... which is Sunday!  See ya then!

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F1 on TV: Belgium 2014

The Summer Break is over.  The assembled teams of Formula 1 have loaded up the transporters and taken the Circus on the road.  Drivers have come back from their vacation spots, with Switzerland being a favorite in the past.  And this high-tech road show is aimed directly at the Walloon municipality of Stavelot in the east of Belgium.  There, in the vicinity of a small town named Francorchamps, is found a seven kilometer monster, the home of the Grand Prix of Belgium.  Here's the track map:

Of course, the overhead map hardly tells the whole story of Spa-Francopants.  Unlike most circuits on the calendar, Spa is all about elevation change.  From Turn 01, the track heads generally downhill until it reaches Eau Rouge.  From there to Raidillon, the circuit climbs steeply, then levels out until you reach Malmedy. From there until Blanchimont, the track descends, then climbs slightly back to the level of the start finish line.  All of which is raced at high speed; only the Bus Stop chicane could arguably called "slow." 

Unless it rains.  The hoary old gag about Spa is that if it isn't raining, it's getting ready to.  There's precipitation forecast for Quals, but the race is currently supposed to be dry... but this is the Ardennes.  We've seen rain appear out of nowhere before.

Of course, the Legendary Announce Team will have their slickers and bumbershoots ready as they provide their live coverage!  Here's the broadcast schedule:
FRIDAY
7a - 830a: Practice 2 live on NBCSN
SATURDAY
7a - 830a: Quals live on CNBC
SUNDAY
630a - 9a: 2014 Grand Prix of Belgium live on NBCSN

Of course, the good sprouts of F1U! will be all over the weekend.  We'll see ya then!

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