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Mercedes: Concerns about the set-up.
Mercedes was particularly strong today in sector 2, with many corners. That indicates a lot of wings, and makes Hamilton and Bottas vulnerable early on if they give Verstappen the wake. That plays “absolutely” a role in Mercedes’ pre-race considerations, says Toto Wolff of ‘Motorsport-Total.com’ in his zoom media discussion on the issue.
Even more than Verstappen, who is suspected of having a Mercedes-like setup, fears a different opponent on the first lap: “Ricciardo has the best top speed of everyone there.” That could be a decisive advantage after the start of the road to Les Combes. Especially since steep-winged Mercedes is not in the best position to counter opponents with high top speed.
End of working day!
So we turn off our ticker for today. The start of tomorrow’s race is at 3:10 pm, but of course we will be at the start as usual from the morning with a new ticker to get you in the mood for the race. Have a good night, sleep well and see you tomorrow!
That was close …
The luckiest guy of the day is this little squirrel. That could have turned out differently …
Speaking of overtaking …
That could also be a problem for Verstappen tomorrow if he falls behind his former Renault teammates early on. “He and the two Mercedes were mostly in a league of their own on Sunday this year,” says Ricciardo, though he recalls: “We have a strong first and third sector.” And that’s exactly what you could play on your cards. Because Verstappen can be so fast in the middle sector if he cannot overtake in sectors 1 and 3. The same also applies to the two Mercedes drivers if one of them lags behind Ricciardo.
Williams targets Ferrari
A sentence that was completely normal in 1997. In 2020 it sounds a bit bad. But in fact, Dave Robson of Williams says they hope to fight Ferrari tomorrow. “Why not? There were no specials on Friday with a lot of gas. Hopefully we can continue with them and fight them,” he says, reminding us that the speed of the SF1000 on the straight is not exactly good. In fact, that could be the biggest problem for Ferrari tomorrow. Because even with DRS, overtaking can be tricky. So if you get stuck behind another car, your cards are bad.
Toto Wolff advises Ferrari: withdraw the appeal
Will Ferrari withdraw its appeal against the Racing Point ruling? Renault has already done it. Toto Wolff says on ‘Sky’: “I really only see it from an observer role. I think the next few days will decide if Ferrari really pulls it off. I would also say: Focus on performance and not on the green table! But it’s not my place. it’s up to me to make those decisions. “
“Of course it would not be good if I went to the ICA. Then for the next three weeks, we will just have all the statements on the subject of plates. So it would be better to talk about racing,” said Wolff, who says about the performance of Ferrari. : “Of course, Formula 1 and none of us can be happy with this development. Ferrari is an iconic team. But on the other hand, they have to take their nose to the nose and think about where the performance has been lately.” . “
How perception changes …
My colleague Norman Fischer just pointed out to me that for the first time this year both Ferrari drivers retired in Q2. I didn’t have that on the list. But that shows pretty well how the perception of the Scuderia has already changed. You’re so used to being knocked out in Q2 and today you were so surprised too that no driver was sent off in Q1 that you didn’t even realize it was still Ferrari’s worst qualifying of the year.
Why does Hamilton change immediately after qualifying
A little story to relax. Anyone who followed the top 3 press conferences after qualifying and this year’s race should have noticed that the drivers are still in their racing suits except Hamilton. It has always moved. “This year the racing suits are even thicker,” explains Hamilton, who was sweaty after the session and couldn’t wait to change. You have time for it. “It just feels better,” he explains. So if this secret was also cleared up. Other pilots seem to care less.
Raikkonen: almost beat Leclerc at Ferrari
The Finn had less than a tenth of a second to go to Q2. With that he would have beaten Leclerc at the Ferrari factory. Both Alfa Romeo drivers retired again in Q1, Giovinazzi finished 18th. “There was a lot of traffic in the outlap and the tires were a bit colder than on my previous lap,” reports Kimi, who is therefore a bit “disappointed”. be. Because with a bit of luck, the move to Q2 would have been possible. By the way, you don’t want to depend on the rain on Sunday. Let’s see what else is possible.
Mercedes: 8 km / h to go in Renault
So let’s go back to the beginning, and Mercedes’ fear of Verstappen and Ricciardo in the second row. Andrew Shovlin explains: “We drive with a bit more downforce here than Red Bull and as a result we lose a couple of tenths on the two long straights. But we are a little quicker in the corners so we eventually got ahead of ourselves. “.
“We’re looking forward to a very exciting way to turn five. It’s hard enough staying ahead here, but as Max is a little bit faster and Daniel seems to have an advantage of around 8 km / h over us, it could be towards him. end of the day”. Straight lines get pretty narrow, “Shovlin says. Because there’s also the wake. So maybe it’s not so good to be first on the straight.
Wolff: Hamilton gets along better with set-up
Bottas was half a second behind Hamilton in Q3. That is a house number. Toto Wolff explains: “We are still not very good at these very slow corners. Both at the 18/19 bus stop, and at La Source. Lewis understood a little better, he is with the set-up even then. Better. But those are not our strongest corners. We are safe in the midsection, with the long fast corners, the medium-fast corners, the benchmark. But we lag behind in the slow ones. ” You hardly noticed anything in Hamilton. By the way, here is the pole lap again in the video:
Haas: The weigh-in costs the Grosjean test in the first quarter
It doesn’t work on Haas, and then there’s bad luck too. Team boss Steiner reveals: “We had planned to do three races with both cars in Q1.” That is why Magnussen and Grosjean were the first two drivers on the track. “Romain became Libra [der FIA] called and has therefore lost one of his attempts. We had to break it because there was no more time, “said Steiner annoyed. Grosjean was at least 17th, Magnussen was last after a mistake. Steiner now expects it to rain on Sunday and announces that they will take” calculated risks “later perhaps in Hungary it worked quite well there.
Expert: The Ferrari can’t do anything!
Harsh words, but Christian Danner is not completely wrong here. ‘F1-Insider.com’ quoted RTL experts as saying: “The Ferrari is bad everywhere, it has no top speed and no grip. The car can’t do anything.” Oh. But, of course, he is not entirely wrong. All teams have improved compared to 2019 in qualifying at Spa, only Ferrari has not. You can put such a statement in the room once.
Gasly: Last chicane error
We stay in the midfield. The two AlphaTauri drivers barely missed their entry into Q3. Kwjat and Gasly were 0.008 and 0.023 seconds short, respectively. “I didn’t get the last chicane and had a bad result,” says Gasly, who is only looking to blame himself. However, it also reminds you that you at least have the freedom to choose tires in the race. Therefore, P11 and P12 could end up being “better” than P10. Except in the rain, of course, then it doesn’t matter.
Paseo and Pérez disappointed
“I was a bit surprised to be alone in P8,” reveals the Mexican, adding: “We have to look at the data and find out why we apparently lost some pace today. Because we were not as strong as in FT3 and qualifying yesterday.” At least he is “sure” that you have a good race pace. “I think we can move forward and score some points,” Pérez said optimistically. Meanwhile, Stroll reveals that he lost two tenths at the last chicane on his best lap in Q3. That is why he could not improve in the end.
Racing Point: Was it the war in Q3?
Stroll and Pérez only made one instead of the usual two attempts in Q3. What happened there? You ran out of tires. Team boss Szafnauer explains: “We were hoping to go into Q3 on the medium tire.” But because that didn’t work, both controllers had to be sent to soft again at the end of the second quarter. “That’s why both drivers only had one set of soft tires in Q3,” reveals Szafnauer. With P8 and P9 at the end it was definitely a disappointment for Racing Point. Let’s see what else is possible in the race.
Sainz: Lines of concern about Ferrari’s power are growing
P7 today for the McLaren driver. His “problem”: in 2021 he will drive for Ferrari. He admits that he “doesn’t feel good” about the Scuderia’s difficulties. It is not normal to see Ferrari so far behind. He “naturally” hopes that the situation will improve again next year. “Ferrari has a lot of resources,” he says. He is sure that you work hard to fix the problems. “If one team can do it, it can be Ferrari,” Sainz said. But it also sounds a bit optimistic.
