Wonderduck's Pond

August 26, 2017

F1 Quals: Belgium 2017

Belgium, man... Belgium! Sure, the skies looked clear and wonderful and lovely, but the weather here in the Ardennes forest is like a deadly snake wearing a top hat: it can turn nasty in a second, no matter how cute it looks. So it was with one eye cocked to the skies as the F1 Circus stepped on the loud pedal and went fast at Spa-Francopants. Here's the provisional grid for the 2017 Grand Prix of Belgium:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:44.184	1:42.927	1:42.553
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:44.275	1:43.987	1:42.795
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:44.773	1:43.249	1:43.094
4	Kimi RÃ¤ikkÃ¶nen	Ferrari	1:44.729	1:43.700	1:43.270
5	Embryo Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:44.535	1:43.940	1:43.380
6	Smiley Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	1:45.114	1:44.224	1:43.863
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	1:45.280	1:44.988	1:44.982
8	Sergio Perez	Force India Mercedes	1:45.591	1:44.894	1:45.244
9	False Esteban!	Force India Mercedes	1:45.277	1:45.006	1:45.369
10	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:45.447	1:44.685	No Time
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	1:45.668	1:45.090
12	Lettuce Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:45.728	1:45.133
13	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:45.535	1:45.400
14	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso	1:45.374	1:45.439
15	Stoffewaffle	McLaren Honda	1:45.441	No Time
16	Felipe Not Retired Massa	Williams Mercedes	1:45.823
17	Kid Kvyat	Toro Rosso	1:46.028
18	Pleasant Stroll	Williams Mercedes	1:46.915
19	Sony Ericsson	Sauber Ferrari	1:47.214
20	Hehrlein Wehrlein	Sauber Ferrari	1:47.679

There really wasn't much doubt that one of the Mercs would be on pole, for this is the type of circuit that they live for: friggin' fast. Remember back when Seb Vettel won all his world championships in the Red Bull? Remember how those cars weren't the fastest in a straight line, but seemed like they could go through any turn seemingly without losing any speed whatsoever? Well, the Merc is like the anti-Red Bull. Not as fast as some through the turns, but enough grunt in the power unit that all sins are absolved. Except, of course, the Mercs are no slouches in the twistybits. In a lot of ways, Ferrari is the new Red Bull... great on the tracks that don't depend on horsepower. Except, of course, that the Ferrari power unit is only a tic or two below Mercedes. Y'know what? It's kinda dumb to try and compare new to old. Mercedes fast. Ferrari nimble. Grr argh.

This was Lewis Hamilton's 68th career pole position, tying Slappy Schumacher for first all-time in that category. That's kinda impressive. Will it translate into a win? I'm of the opinion that any car with a Merc engine has a good shot at a podium (except for the Williams boys... yeesh). Force India historically loves this place after all! However, if I had to put my money on someone to win, it'd have to be Hamilton. It's just set up for him too perfectly. Oh, did I mention that his pole lap is the fastest lap ever around Spa-Francoamerican?

Sadly, there is practically no chance for rain forecast for the race. But, as previously mentioned, this place is notorious for weather coming out of nowhere. Let's hope. Race in the morning, F1U! sometime after that. See you then!

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