The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

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Belgium '17 - Driver of the Day

Lewis Hamilton
1
100%
Sebastian Vettel
0
No votes
Daniel Ricciardo
0
No votes
Kimi Raikkonen
0
No votes
Valtteri Bottas
0
No votes
Nico Hulkenberg
0
No votes
Other
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 1

cmlean
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The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:10 pm

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 12th round of the 2017 season taking place in Spa between the 25th and 27th of August.

To submit your 10 'n' Pole Picks for Belgium click here, to register in the competition click here

Picks for Belgium close at the start of Saturday practice

The event timetable for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Friday
1st Practice 10:00 local time - 08:00 GMT
2nd Practice 14:00 local time - 12:00 GMT

Saturday
Practice 11:00 local time - 09:00 GMT
Qualifying 14:00 local time - 12:00 GMT

Sunday
Race 14:00 local time - 12:00 GMT

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Thu Aug 24, 2017 11:14 pm

This weekend the teams return to Spa after their summer hiatus.

The big question is, 'Who has done the most development over the break?"

Ferrari seemed to have the wood on Mercedes. Red Bull was a clear 3rd best team. Renault and McLaren were both on the improve while Williams and, to a lesser extent, Hass were on the decline.

Practice commences Friday so some small improvements may begin to show.

My instinct tells me that Mercedes have had a serious wake-up call with the break coming at the perfect time. They will come back with all guns blazing.

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:34 am

FP1 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	01:45.502	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
2	01:45.555	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
3	01:45.647	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
4	01:46.302	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
5	01:46.352	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
6	01:46.424	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
7	01:47.446	Carlos Sainz	  Toro Rosso
8	01:47.670	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
9	01:47.851	Daniil Kvyat	  Toro Rosso
10	01:47.865	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
11	01:47.930	Jolyon Palmer	  Renault
12	01:48.037	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
13	01:48.252	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
14	01:48.452	Sergio Perez	  Force India
15	01:48.541	Lance Stroll	  Williams
16	01:48.615	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
17	01:48.626	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
18	01:50.160	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
19	01:51.263	Pascal Wehrlein	  Sauber
20	No Time		Felipe Massa	  Williams
Kimi tops the timesheet however it was Lewis who shone. Fastest times for most teams were on the ultra softs however Mercedes times were done on the soft compound.
Massa crashed early in the session and the damage will require a new chassis due to a hole in the safety cell. Talk was that it could possibly make FP2 however the rules are the rules and the car will not be re-scrutineered until Saturday.

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:47 am

FP2 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	01:44.753	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	01:45.015	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
3	01:45.180	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
4	01:45.225	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
5	01:45.235	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
6	01:46.072	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
7	01:46.441	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
8	01:46.473	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
9	01:46.561	Carlos Sainz	  Toro Rosso
10	01:46.670	Jolyon Palmer	  Renault
11	01:46.743	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
12	01:46.984	Sergio Perez	  Force India
13	01:47.285	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
14	01:47.303	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
15	01:47.450	Daniil Kvyat	  Toro Rosso
16	01:47.556	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
17	01:47.861	Lance Stroll	  Williams
18	01:49.214	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
19	01:49.725	Pascal Wehrlein	  Sauber
Massa took no part in this session.
Red Bull have been using different set ups on each of their cars. Verstappen has been using a more conventional set up however Ricciardo is using the Monza rear wing which gives his car good speed in sectors 1 and 3 but is much slower through sector 2. We will see what they come out with on Saturday.

The rain came near the end of the session bringing the contest to an end. Some teams did venture out in the wet conditions as a test.

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Aug 27, 2017 8:00 am

FP3 Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	01:43.916	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
2	01:44.113	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
3	01:44.114	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
4	01:45.034	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
5	01:45.230	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
6	01:45.286	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
7	01:45.491	Jolyon Palmer	  Renault
8	01:45.857	Sergio Perez	  Force India
9	01:45.942	Carlos Sainz	  Toro Rosso
10	01:46.060	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
11	01:46.064	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
12	01:46.179	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
13	01:46.196	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
14	01:46.300	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
15	01:46.620	Lance Stroll	  Williams
16	01:46.667	Felipe Massa	  Williams
17	01:46.690	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
18	01:47.903	Daniil Kvyat	  Toro Rosso
19	01:48.296	Pascal Wehrlein	  Sauber
20	01:48.300	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Sun Aug 27, 2017 8:18 am

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Qualifying		Driver		  Team
1	01:42.553	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	01:42.795	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
3	01:43.094	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
4	01:43.270	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	01:43.380	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	01:43.863	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
7	01:44.982	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
8	01:45.244	Sergio Perez	  Force India
9	01:45.369	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
10			Jolyon Palmer	  Renault
				
11	01:45.090	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
12	01:45.133	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
13	01:45.400	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
14	01:45.439	Carlos Sainz	  Toro Rosso
15			Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
				
16	01:45.823	Felipe Massa	  Williams
17	01:46.028	Daniil Kvyat	  Toro Rosso
18	01:46.915	Lance Stroll	  Williams
19	01:47.214	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
20	01:47.679	Pascal Wehrlein	  Sauber
Palmer had a gearbox problem in Q3 denying him the opportunity to move further into the top 10.

Now, penalties.
Ericsson; gearbox; 5 place
Wehlein; gearbox; 5 place
Massa; ignoring yellow flags; 5 place
Kvyat; power units; 20 places
Vandoorne; engine, etc; 65 places

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:53 pm

Results

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver		  Team
1	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
3	Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull Racing
4	Kimi Räikkönen	  Ferrari
5	Valtteri Bottas	  Mercedes
6	Nico Hulkenberg	  Renault
7	Romain Grosjean	  Haas
8	Felipe Massa	  Williams
9	Esteban Ocon	  Force India
10	Carlos Sainz	  Toro Rosso
11	Lance Stroll	  Williams
12	Daniil Kvyat	  Toro Rosso
13	Jolyon Palmer	  Renault
14	Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren
15	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
16	Marcus Ericsson	  Sauber
17	Sergio Perez	  Force India
NC	Fernando Alonso	  McLaren
NC	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
NC	Pascal Wehrlein	  Sauber
Palmer also picked up a 5 place grid penalty to see him start from 14th on the grid.
This resultant 4 place penalty is because Vandoorne's penalty was applied after the application of Palmer's penalty allowing him to move up 1 grid position..

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Re: The 2017 Belgian GP Thread

Post by cmlean » Wed Aug 30, 2017 7:46 pm

I have given my Driver of the Day to Lewis Hamilton.
Yes he started from pole but he controlled the race so well. Every time Vettel threatened him, he made all the right moves to negate the attack.

Probably my next best would be Ricciardo for his move on the restart to take both Kimi and Valtteri and the lower step on the podium.

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