August 28, 2010
F1 Quals: Belgium 2010
The best thing about Spa is that you can never really be comfortable with your car's setup, simply because you never know exactly what the weather is going to do. But did it play hob with today's qualifying? Here's the provisional grid:
As the Legendary Announce Team went to their first commercial break just before Q1 started, they said that there was no chance of rain for the session. When they came back, we were treated to a sight not often seen in Q1: practically the entire pit lane jammed with cars lined up, waiting for the track to go green. A radio transmission from Renaut explained it all: "Rain in 10 minutes." Since there'd be no chance to go fast once the rain began, everybody was trying to get on track and turn a hot lap on the soft tires. Once the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, everybody acted as if it was race day. Nose to tail driving, passing, the works, all to get a clear smidgen of track so to get that best time... but all that effort went to naught when Renault's Vitaly Petrov discovered that the curbs were still wet from the morning's rain. He wound up pronging his car at Turn 14, one of the few places where an immobile vehicle can't easily be extracted, as everybody was on their out-lap. A red flag was thrown, sending everybody back into the pits. Again we had the traffic jam when we came back from commercial, this time with only a couple of minutes before the rain was schedule to arrive, and again we had a swarm of cars on track hoping to get a fast lap in. It was not to be however, as it began to rain.
One of the odd quirks of Spa-Francorchamps is that it's a very long track. At just over four miles in length, it's quite possible for it to be dry in the pit lane, but pouring somewhere else. In this case, the second sector of the circuit, or roughly from Les Combes to Fagnes, was soaking wet while the rest of the layout was more-or-less dry. Wisely, everybody went to rain tires for the remainder of Q1 but not before Lucas di Grassi, Jarno Trulli and others caused a schmozzle that nearly collected Slappy Schumacher. Slappy did a great job threading his Mercedes through a rather narrow gap between pirouetting cars.
In the end, however, the usual suspects ended up on top. Red Bull got their 12th pole in thirteen races, McLaren was 2nd. The big surprise was the demise of Ferrari, seemingly resurgent in the past few contests. HWMNBN ended up in 10th, while his teammate Felipe Massa, a notoriously bad driver in the wet, outqualified him in 6th. Either the Red team is set up for a dry race on Sunday, or they just stunk up the joint.
A congrats has to go out to Virgin and Lotus, both of whom managed to get a car through to Q2. Sure the weather played a part, but it still counts. Spare a moment for Mercedes. Not only did neither of their cars make it to Q3, but both drivers are taking grid-spot penalties: Slappy a 10-spot for his attempted murder of Rubens Barrichello a month ago and a 5-spotter for Nico Rosberg, as he had to change his gearbox. Ross Brawn has probably designated Belgium as a "test race" now.
The Grand Prix is Sunday morning... we'll see you afterwards with F1U!
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As the Legendary Announce Team went to their first commercial break just before Q1 started, they said that there was no chance of rain for the session. When they came back, we were treated to a sight not often seen in Q1: practically the entire pit lane jammed with cars lined up, waiting for the track to go green. A radio transmission from Renaut explained it all: "Rain in 10 minutes." Since there'd be no chance to go fast once the rain began, everybody was trying to get on track and turn a hot lap on the soft tires. Once the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, everybody acted as if it was race day. Nose to tail driving, passing, the works, all to get a clear smidgen of track so to get that best time... but all that effort went to naught when Renault's Vitaly Petrov discovered that the curbs were still wet from the morning's rain. He wound up pronging his car at Turn 14, one of the few places where an immobile vehicle can't easily be extracted, as everybody was on their out-lap. A red flag was thrown, sending everybody back into the pits. Again we had the traffic jam when we came back from commercial, this time with only a couple of minutes before the rain was schedule to arrive, and again we had a swarm of cars on track hoping to get a fast lap in. It was not to be however, as it began to rain.
One of the odd quirks of Spa-Francorchamps is that it's a very long track. At just over four miles in length, it's quite possible for it to be dry in the pit lane, but pouring somewhere else. In this case, the second sector of the circuit, or roughly from Les Combes to Fagnes, was soaking wet while the rest of the layout was more-or-less dry. Wisely, everybody went to rain tires for the remainder of Q1 but not before Lucas di Grassi, Jarno Trulli and others caused a schmozzle that nearly collected Slappy Schumacher. Slappy did a great job threading his Mercedes through a rather narrow gap between pirouetting cars.
In the end, however, the usual suspects ended up on top. Red Bull got their 12th pole in thirteen races, McLaren was 2nd. The big surprise was the demise of Ferrari, seemingly resurgent in the past few contests. HWMNBN ended up in 10th, while his teammate Felipe Massa, a notoriously bad driver in the wet, outqualified him in 6th. Either the Red team is set up for a dry race on Sunday, or they just stunk up the joint.
A congrats has to go out to Virgin and Lotus, both of whom managed to get a car through to Q2. Sure the weather played a part, but it still counts. Spare a moment for Mercedes. Not only did neither of their cars make it to Q3, but both drivers are taking grid-spot penalties: Slappy a 10-spot for his attempted murder of Rubens Barrichello a month ago and a 5-spotter for Nico Rosberg, as he had to change his gearbox. Ross Brawn has probably designated Belgium as a "test race" now.
The Grand Prix is Sunday morning... we'll see you afterwards with F1U!
Posted by: Wonderduck at
12:37 PM
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1
That was one of the more entertaining qualifying sessions. Wonder if there is any way HWMNBM can claim rightful ownership of the 6th spot in the starting lineup?
Posted by: Mallory at August 28, 2010 03:16 PM (WJ2qy)
2
Kubica in 3rd! Surely that deserves a mention.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at August 28, 2010 06:46 PM (+rSRq)
3
I'm disappointed by Kubica ending up in third... but only because he was second until the final seconds.
Posted by: Wonderduck at August 28, 2010 08:35 PM (ODvBe)
4
Just caught the replay. That was a lot of fun! I hope the race is as good...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at August 29, 2010 01:56 AM (mRjOr)
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