Belgian GP qualifying

[Dino Scuderia]

Looks like things went McLarens way today...but all you can say about this race is it depends on the weather of Spa's own micro-climate.



1. 10 MONTOYA McLaren Mercedes M 1'46"313 236.223 Km/h
2. 9 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'46"468 + 0'00"155
3. 6 FISICHELLA Renault M 1'46"501 + 0'00"188
4. 16 TRULLI Toyota M 1'46"594 + 0'00"281
5. 5 ALONSO Renault M 1'46"753 + 0'00"440
6. 17 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota M 1'47"391 + 0'01"078
7. 1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'47"483 + 0'01"170
8. 12 MASSA Sauber Petronas M 1'47"889 + 0'01"576
9. 3 BUTTON BAR Honda M 1'47"906 + 0'01"593
10. 7 WEBBER Williams BMW M 1'48"110 + 0'01"797
11. 4 SATO BAR Honda M 1'48"363 + 0'02"050
12. 14 COULTHARD RedBull Cosworth M 1'48"429 + 0'02"116
13. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'48"571 + 0'02"258
14. 11 VILLENEUVE Sauber Petronas M 1'48"828 + 0'02"515
15. 8 PIZZONIA Williams BMW M 1'48"875 + 0'02"562
16. 15 KLIEN RedBull Cosworth M 1'48"984 + 0'02"671
17. 20 DOORNBOS Minardi Cosworth B 1'49"772 + 0'03"459
18. 21 ALBERS Minardi Cosworth B 1'49"834 + 0'03"521
19. 18 MONTEIRO Jordan Toyota B 1'51"512 + 0'05"199
20. 19 KARTHIKEYAN Jordan Toyota B 1'51"672 + 0'05"359

[Wouter Melissen]

I suspect Schumacher pretty much ran a rain setup with tons of downforce. Should be interesting when there actually is rain.

[Dino Scuderia]

Yeah, it was obvious some teams had more of a rain setup than others. I would bet on MS instincts on that though, he usually makes the right call on such matters.

[Wouter Melissen]

Yeah, it was obvious some teams had more of a rain setup than others. I would bet on MS instincts on that though, he usually makes the right call on such matters.
Sadly we'll be off to Frankfurt for the motorshow so we can't see the race.

[jorismo]

Sadly we'll be off to Frankfurt for the motorshow so we can't see the race.

Must have been a hard choice: go to the IAA in Frankfurt, or stay home a watch another boring F1 race... :D :p

[lightweight]

I think that nobody lifted on Eau Rouge. I thought it was not that easy.

[Jack_Bauer]

I think that nobody lifted on Eau Rouge. I thought it was not that easy.

The entry into Eau Rouge used to have a huge bump just as they reached the compression. That would comletely upset the balance of the car as you reached the compression and started the climb up to Radillon. A few years ago they resurfaced it and smoothed out the bump in the process, making it a lot less scary and dangerous. Plus with the huge downforce levels they run these days there is never much chance of the cars being unstuck in the dry in the hands of a decent driver. Back in the 'old days' the cars would literally take off at the crest of Radillon but there is no danger of that these days. It'll be interesting to see what happens if they reduce the downforce levels to about 10% of what they are now from 2008, then it'll sort the men out from the boys! :p

[Dino Scuderia]

Another factor is in qualy you're going through that section alone with full downforce, I wouldn't want to try not lifting if behind another car rather closely.

[Jack_Bauer]

This cracking picture demonstrates the kind of downforce working on Mark Webber's Williams...

http://www.planet-f1.com/mediastore/Belgian_GP_qualifying/_08_Webber.jpg

[Dino Scuderia]

This cracking picture demonstrates the kind of downforce working on Mark Webber's Williams...

http://www.planet-f1.com/mediastore/Belgian_GP_qualifying/_08_Webber.jpg


Downforce+compression.

[ScionDriver]

With Alanso so far back and Raikkonen and Montoya up front, weather aside I think that means there is a chance for McLaren to take over in the Constructer's points and for Kimi to catch up on the Drivers Points.

[Rockefella]

With Alanso so far back and Raikkonen and Montoya up front, weather aside I think that means there is a chance for McLaren to take over in the Constructer's points and for Kimi to catch up on the Drivers Points.
They'd need a miracle if Kimi wanted to win the driver's title. Jesus would have to be present at every remaining race imho. :p

[lightweight]

Jesus? In Shangai? They won't issue him a passport :D

[h00t_h00t]

This cracking picture demonstrates the kind of downforce working on Mark Webber's Williams...

http://www.planet-f1.com/mediastore/Belgian_GP_qualifying/_08_Webber.jpg


When they hit the floor like that the car supposedly looses alot of its downforce, apparently that is what made Senna loose control all those years ago......

[lightweight]

When they hit the floor like that the car supposedly looses alot of its downforce, apparently that is what made Senna loose control all those years ago......

You are right on this one, but it is just a theory. Didn't they have telemetry back then in order to understand the cause? They have trial after trial and still no result.

[Jack_Bauer]

You are right on this one, but it is just a theory. Didn't they have telemetry back then in order to understand the cause? They have trial after trial and still no result.

They did have telemetry but nothing that could measure downforce levels. I guess we'll probably never have definitive proof but all the investigations found nothing actually wrong with the mechanicals of the car itself that could've caused the car to veer off track. It was never fully captured on the TV cameras but all the eyewitness reports from fans/photgraphers etc said that there was the tell-tale shower of sparks from the back of the car, and this seems the most probable cause of the accident. Also the fact that they'd been running behind a safety car for a few laps and had lost some tyre pressure and therefore lost ride height, would also suggest this was the case.

To be honest from the pic of Webber it looks as though it is the trailing edge of the left hand side of the main diffuser that is catching the ground. If it was the whole undertray then there would be a heck of a lot more sparks.