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The first day of
action at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit was dominated by various shades of
orange. Max Verstappen was quickest in the first session in a time of
1’43”372, much to the delight of the orange army that packed the grandstands
and viewing areas around the Ardennes circuit. However, in the second
session, the three time world champion and his Red Bull had to give way to
the papaya shade of orange. Max topped the time sheet in FP2 after his first
run on Softs with a time of 1’42”477, but then had to give best to the
McLarens of Oscar Piastri, by just two thousandths of a second and then,
more emphatically outpaced by Lando Norris who posted a time of 1’42”260.
Not only was the Englishman’s time much quicker than the 2022 pole position
time of 1’43”655 set by Verstappen, it was also well under the predicted
time of 1’42”800. The 2023 event was run to the Sprint format and both
qualifying sessions were not comparable to today’s times as the track was
wet.
THE DAY ON
TRACK:
Both sessions were run in reasonably constant climatic conditions, with
cloudy skies and track temperatures going from a fraction over 37 °C in FP1
to a low of 30 °C in FP2. Twelve of the twenty drivers have already used one
set of Hard tyres out of the two they can use per race weekend. Only the
Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine drivers have kept both sets.
In FP1 and FP2, a few cuts were seen in some tyres, caused by gravel brought
onto the track by cars that went through the run-off areas and back onto the
track.
Simone Berra: Chief Engineer:
“It looks like being a particularly demanding weekend on the tyre front, as
in fact was to be expected on a special track like Spa-Francorchamps. The
fact that large sections of the track have been resurfaced has seen a
significant increase in grip which, on the one hand, has made the track much
quicker, already by almost 1”4 compared to the pole from two years ago, the
last time there was a realistic reference point, while on the other hand it
has probably led to an increase in graining, especially on the Medium and
Soft and therefore a consequent increase in performance degradation over a
long distance. In both sessions, we also saw a marked track evolution.
As the track is expected to be mainly wet tomorrow and then dry on Sunday,
the teams will have to rely on the data gathered today to come up with the
best set-up and strategies on a track where it is already more complicated
than usual to find the right compromise between the need for aerodynamic
downforce to stop the tyres from sliding, especially in the second sector,
and maintaining good top speed to be competitive in the quicker first and
third sectors. Compared to what we saw over the previous two years with this
new generation of cars, the C2 seemed to be pretty competitive and could be
a valid choice for the race, which explains why four teams have kept two
sets for each of their drivers."
FORMULA 2
This afternoon, the three drivers who top the championship standings have
secured the top three places on the grid for Sunday’s feature race.
Estonia’s Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) secured pole position with a time
of 1’56”959, ahead of Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing), second in
1’57”127 and France’s Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), third in 1’57”241.
Hadjar currently leads the Drivers’ standings on 140 points ahead of Aron
(122) and Bortoleto (110).
There has been no change from past years in the compounds chosen by Pirelli
in collaboration with the FIA and the promoter for the Spa-Francorchamps
round: the teams are using the P Zero Yellow medium and P Zero Red soft this
weekend. As was the case at the Hungaroring last weekend, it’s a selection
that offers a wide window of strategy options, starting with Saturday’s
Sprint which could also be tackled with the Soft. A lot depends on the
weather, always very changeable in this part of Belgium, even in the height
of summer. The drivers who made it to the 2023 Feature Race podium went with
different strategies: the winner Jack Doohan started on the Medium before
switching to the Soft after 16 of the 25 laps, while second and third placed
Theo Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi, went just over half distance on the
Soft before finishing on the Medium.
FORMULA 3
Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport) took pole position for the penultimate
round of the season, the first time the British driver has done so. His best
time of 2’04”321 was 123 thousandths faster than Ireland’s Alexander Dunne
(MP Motorsport) with Italy’s Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident) third, 132
thousandths down. Fornaroli is thus best placed of the four main title
contenders, given that series leader Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing) is
eleventh, his team-mate Arvid Lindblad is way down in 27th, while Luke
Browning (Hi Tech) is seventh. Pirelli has chosen, in conjunction with the
FIA and the promoter, the P Zero Yellow medium compound. The drivers will
have to deal with thermal degradation generated by the high number of
corners at this track, with some combinations, such as Eau Rouge-Raidillon,
being truly unique. It will also be important to manage the possible
appearance of graining and if it does occur, those who do the best job of
dealing with it, particularly in the high speed corners, could have a
significant advantage. |
