Official 2022 Belgian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Piginapoke]

Hope you all had a good break. Round 14 of 22 and we’re in Belgium and wonderful Spa. Note that Eau Rouge and Raidillon have been remodelled for greater safety:



The race can’t be worse than last year of course…. and the forecast is better. Off track, it will be interesting to see the Ricciardo/McLaren and Alonso/Alpine relationships- frosty, one assumes. On track, I imagine pace will be super close again between Ferrari and Red Bull, but then you factor in Ferrari’s operational problems…. Max wins again for me.

Here’s to another great race.

Date(s): Friday 26 to Sunday 28 August 2022.

UK Broadcast Timings (and local time)

All sessions are live on Sky F1. Qualifying and the race are shown as highlights on Channel 4.





2021 “Race” Highlights:

https://youtu.be/MjmywbEfzk0

Live timing for all sessions available here:

https://www.formula1.com/en/f1-live.html

Lap times, PU component use, technical reports and Stewards' decisions for the weekend will appear here:

https://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-c...

Weather forecast:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2798003

Tyre options:

Pirelli has chosen the medium range of tyres: C2, C3 and C4. The old Q2 tyre rule is scrapped for 2022.



2021 “Race” Result:



Drivers’ Championship:



Constructors’ Championship:

Edited by Piginapoke on Saturday 20th August 07:22

[Hub]

Back already!

There has been a bit of speculation over the future of the Belgian GP... Let's hope we have a good race this year! (Can't be worse that last year's farce anyway!)

[Pflanzgarten]

Piginapoke said:

Hope you all had a good break. Round 14 of 22 and we’re in Belgium and wonderful Spa. Note that Eau Rouge and Raidillon have been remodelled for greater safety:

That’s the run down to double gauche isn’t it?

[Tyre Smoke]

My favourite track of the season.

Ferrari pole, Max win for me. But perhaps a Mercedes in the mix too?

[PhilAsia]

Thanks PiaP. Max win for me too.

Not sure if RBR were given enough time change from their "illegal" flexi plank and get the new underfloor perfect. The extra few races must have helped given the buffer of a few more race wins and less races to go.

Let's trust there is more than RBR and Ferriarse sailing away at the front. It would be great to see McLaren, Alpine, MB, RBR and Ferriarse all mixing it up. One can but dream...

[vaud]

I wonder if RB will take an engine penalty here - good track for overtaking and they have the points cushion.

Here or Italy…

[Tyre Smoke]

Good point vaud.

[TDK-C60]

PhilAsia said:

Thanks PiaP. Max win for me too.

Not sure if RBR were given enough time change from their "illegal" flexi plank and get the new underfloor perfect. The extra few races must have helped given the buffer of a few more race wins and less races to go.

Let's trust there is more than RBR and Ferriarse sailing away at the front. It would be great to see McLaren, Alpine, MB, RBR and Ferriarse all mixing it up. One can but dream...

There has not been much recently on the new legal floor. Does it seem likely Perez was trying it - was this apparent in any times in practice that seemed different?

It seems like it is not going to make that much difference - but it's not clear anyone really knows either way yet.

[Piginapoke]

TDK-C60 said:

PhilAsia said:

Thanks PiaP. Max win for me too.

Not sure if RBR were given enough time change from their "illegal" flexi plank and get the new underfloor perfect. The extra few races must have helped given the buffer of a few more race wins and less races to go.

Let's trust there is more than RBR and Ferriarse sailing away at the front. It would be great to see McLaren, Alpine, MB, RBR and Ferriarse all mixing it up. One can but dream...

There has not been much recently on the new legal floor. Does it seem likely Perez was trying it - was this apparent in any times in practice that seemed different?

It seems like it is not going to make that much difference - but it's not clear anyone really knows either way yet.

RB has been clear that it won’t need to make any changes for Belgium. Depends if you take that at fave value I suppose.

[ntiz]

Piginapoke said:

RB has been clear that it won’t need to make any changes for Belgium. Depends if you take that at fave value I suppose.

I take nothing from any F1 team at face value, least of all RB. Long may it continue.

[Petrus1983]

I feel Hamilton could do well here in conjunction with the Mercedes strategists.

[rdjohn]

Piginapoke said:

RB has been clear that it won’t need to make any changes for Belgium. Depends if you take that at fave value I suppose.

I suspect that Christian speaks with forked tongue.

There was a sudden fall in Perez’s performance and so it is reasonable to assume that he has been developing the Spa floor. RB were most vociferous when it was proposed to bring in the extra tests before they had had sufficient time to analyse their effect. Toto reckons it was worth 0.25s/lap.

So much of Spa is foot-to-the-floor that the worst aspects of Porpoising should be evident.

However, I tend to think that the outcome will be that Lewis and George will only be a little closer to Max and that Ferrari could fall out of serious contention.

[moffspeed]

Just over 30 years ago his dad put his Jordan 7th on the grid at what was his GP debut.

Can't help feeling that Mick, courtesy of his Ferrari engine in particular, has a fighting chance of being the "best of the rest" next weekend and replicating the feat..

[Stealthracer]

And what a lovely car that was, compared to the uggoes we've had to put up with since!

[Petrus1983]

moffspeed said:

Just over 30 years ago his dad put his Jordan 7th on the grid at what was his GP debut.

Can't help feeling that Mick, courtesy of his Ferrari engine in particular, has a fighting chance of being the "best of the rest" next weekend and replicating the feat..

O/T but it does remind you that Jordan did a bloody good job with their budget - Michael wasn’t too shabby either

[moffspeed]

Stealthracer said:

And what a lovely car that was, compared to the uggoes we've had to put up with since!

Yes, absolutely gorgeous. Incidentally the "Osama" sponsorship was nothing dodgy - an Italian stationery company.
However, whisper it, the Williams GP team were officially the "Albilad - Williams F1 team" during the 1980/81 seasons. Albilad was a supposed Saudi Hotel chain owned, as the name hints, by the Bin Laden family….

[gtsralph]

Pflanzgarten said:

That’s the run down to double gauche isn’t it?

Pouhon

[gtsralph]

Pflanzgarten said:

That’s the run down to double gauche isn’t it?

Pouhon

[Pflanzgarten]

gtsralph said:

Pflanzgarten said:

That’s the run down to double gauche isn’t it?

Pouhon

A rarity on pistonheads, we can both be right;

https://www.spa-francorchamps.be/sites/default/fil...

(You twice though so you win )

[Niponeoff]

Max does well here, especially with the support he gets. Ferrari will be out to prove themselves and they have the car to do it.

A good result here for mercedes will consolidate their progress and prove they have got ontop of their bouncing.