2016 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand PrixFormula 1

[SVT Cobra GT]

Lewis Hamilton finished the first half of the F1 season on a high winning comfortably in Germany and setting a record of 4 wins in one calendar month. Everyone's been on their summer breaks and now it's back to the racing and we head to one of the sport's favourite circuits. Spa. Eyes will be on the Mercedes boys once again as the championship battle carries on and Red Bull will look to carry on beating Ferrari. Also newboy Esteban Ocon will make his debut for Manor so he'll have eyes watching him too. Get ready for the second half of the season at the Belgian Grand Prix.

CIRCUIT DE SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

FIRST GRAND PRIX
1925

NUMBER
OF LAPS
44

CIRCUIT LENGTH
7.004KM (4.352 Miles)

RACE DISTANCE
308.052kM (191.410 Miles)

LAP
RECORD
1:47.263 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 2009

TYRE ALLOCATIONS
Super-Soft, Soft & Medium

SKY SPORTS CLASSIC RACE SCHEDULE
Tuesday - Belgium 2000
Wednesday - Belgium 2005
Thursday - Belgium 2010

2015 RESULT

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

2 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

3 Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Mercedes)

2015 Fastest lap - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:52.416 (lap 34)

For those of you taking part, don't forget to submit your picks in @LMSCorvetteGT2's fantasy F1 league. Here.​

 

[spyrrari]

After many years of watching f1 on tv and not attending a grand prix since the late 90's ,finally going to the grand prix again coming weekend!!... cant wait,going with 10 friends,so let the party begin friday morning



Oh,and ofcourse.... GOMAX!!!!!!




Spy.

 

[Dennisch]

After many years of watching f1 on tv and not attending a grand prix since the late 90's ,finally going to the grand prix again coming weekend!!... cant wait,going with 10 friends,so let the party begin friday morning



Oh,and ofcourse.... GOMAX!!!!!!




Spy.

You and roughly 50000 other Dutchies and they expect even more if the weather stays good. Spa already has sold 70000 3 day passes, numbers they haven't seen since 2001-2.

 

[Bram Turismo]

This week's weather is going to be mental, they're expecting temperatures of up to 32C on Saturday, so it should be a fantastic race weekend!

 

[PeterJB]

Shame that means it won't rain though.

 

[GroupB]

An unfortunate new development if you're a US fan--for the first time that I know of, NBC has relegated live qualifying to streaming only.

 

[DesertPenguin09]

NBC is a douche. They don't know how to cover anything.

 

[ukfan758]

An unfortunate new development if you're a US fan--for the first time that I know of, NBC has relegated live qualifying to streaming only.

I could understand why if the GP happened last week due to the olympics, but what's the excuse this weekend?

 

[SuperDiscoDaz]

I could understand why if the GP happened last week due to the olympics, but what's the excuse this weekend?

Quite simply they're idiots

 

[MustangManiac]

An unfortunate new development if you're a US fan--for the first time that I know of, NBC has relegated live qualifying to streaming only.

Saw that, surprised F1 allowed it, seems they have always mandated live qualy & race in the tv contracts.

 

[GroupB]

I don't really care why they did it, my concern is that now they'll start to make a habit of it.

 

[Roo]

Hamilton set to take his expected grid penalties this weekend.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Could some Aussies please tell me how to watch this race weekend please?

 

[H20HYBRID_GT]

I wish I could watch this on Playstation, I always have to take the receiver out of the closet and then don't even have surround sound... Plus while the German commentators aren't all that bad, it gets very, very old after so many years, the main guy is doing that since or even before Schumacher started to race in F1, lol.

I just want no commentary honestly, oh well I guess you have to have "sky" or something like that for this?

Also did they change something about the cars sound design this year? They sound "slightly" better?

 

[Akmuq]

Could some Aussies please tell me how to watch this race weekend please?

With a can of Fosters?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Could some Aussies please tell me how to watch this race weekend please?

Our TV deal is similar to what you have back home in the UK, so unfortunately live coverage wont be available on free-to-air but a highlights package will air on ONE at 9:30pm, Monday. If you're lucky enough to be in a house or building with Foxtel (our cable/satellite TV provider), you'll find the coverage on Fox Sports 5.

With a can of Fosters?

No self respecting Australian drinks Fosters.

 

[NW48]

Oh how I've missed Formula 1... Finally gives me something to watch on the weekend again, and I can get my motorsport fix once again.

 

[Akmuq]

No self respecting Australian drinks Fosters.

No self respecting person drinks Fosters to be fair.

 

[axletramp]

Hamilton set to take his expected grid penalties this weekend.

If I were Mercedes, I'd take the full hit here and shy out of qualy to save fresh tyres for the race and let Hamilton get as far up the points as he can. With the penalties he'd probably be in 20th anyway, or 15th at best without changing everything, and even being cautious he'd get past the Saubers and Manors in the first lap anyway. I reckon that taking it easy and staying out of trouble he'd get 4th or 5th and still be leading the WDC over Rosberg (even if Rosberg won, which we'd have to expect).

No self respecting person drinks Fosters to be fair.

Shouldn't even be classed as a beer. Who actually drinks that stuff?

 

[niky]

If I were Mercedes, I'd take the full hit here and shy out of qualy to save fresh tyres for the race and let Hamilton get as far up the points as he can. With the penalties he'd probably be in 20th anyway, or 15th at best without changing everything, and even being cautious he'd get past the Saubers and Manors in the first lap anyway. I reckon that taking it easy and staying out of trouble he'd get 4th or 5th and still be leading the WDC over Rosberg (even if Rosberg won, which we'd have to expect).


Shouldn't even be classed as a beer. Who actually drinks that stuff?

Hamilton himself has suggested that he could even take multiple penalties and take two engines and turbos at once, just to be sure.

-

I could see him getting, at worst, sixth from starting at the back of the grid... or if he was on a particular blinder and the Ferraris fade as predictably as in the past few races, third or fourth.

 

[Samus]

Given how tight and potentially dangerous T1 is I think a pit lane start might be wiser.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Hamilton himself has suggested that he could even take multiple penalties and take two engines and turbos at once, just to be sure.

Honestly, I think that's wrong.

I get that the cumulative penalties last year were utterly ridiculous and scrapping them was the right idea. But at the same time, I think that the pendulum has swung too far back in the opposite direction. Mercedes could, in theory, replace Hamilton's engine eight times, giving him a brand-new power unit for every remaining race and only take a single penalty for it.

A better way of doing it would be to divide up the penalties per engine, and apply them at each subsequent race. So if Mercedes replace Hamilton's engine twice in Belgium, he takes two separate penalties: ten places in Belgium and ten places at Monza. In a sense, it's a simplified version of the carry-over penalties. After all, the whole point of the component penalties is to promote longevity of engine parts.

And before anyone suggests that I'm just looking to penalise Hamilton further, let me just point out that if Hamilton qualifies on pole, then under my system he starts eleventh; if he takes two penalties, he starts twenty-first.

 

[niky]

Again, though, part of racing is using the rules to your advantage. If I were in his position, I'd be considering the same thing.

There's risks If they improve the engine and he wants whatever Nico's getting, he'll have to take another penalty to get it, or risk coming in second quite a few times over the next few races after this one.

This one, there's no chance he's coming in first, second is a monumental effort, and third to fifth are a big stetch. So take all the penalties now.

If he takes a penalty in Monza, he will potentially be fifth twice. Of course he is not going to want that.

Given how tight and potentially dangerous T1 is I think a pit lane start might be wiser.

That would not actually be a bad idea. Might as well preserve that new engine.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

This one, there's no chance he's coming in first, second is a monumental effort, and third to fifth are a big stetch. So take all the penalties now.

If he takes a penalty in Monza, he will potentially be fifth twice. Of course he is not going to want that.

Huh. I was under the impression that he was astonishingly amazing and that he could win the race even if he started somewhere in Portugal.

I'm sick of teams and drivers playing fast and loose with the regulations. The point of the component penalties is to stop teams from spending their way to victory.

 

[NW48]

I'm sick of teams and drivers playing fast and loose with the regulations. The point of the component penalties is to stop teams from spending their way to victory.

This wouldn't be a problem, but unfortunately the FIA is the team's b:censored: so anything that the teams want, the FIA will do for them.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Honda have spent seven upgrade tokens for Spa, while Sauber have brought a "raft" of updates - a somewhat ironic description, given that the C35 has had the performance of an actual raft all season long.

 

[H20HYBRID_GT]

Huh. I was under the impression that he was astonishingly amazing and that he could win the race even if he started somewhere in Portugal.

I'm sick of teams and drivers playing fast and loose with the regulations. The point of the component penalties is to stop teams from spending their way to victory.

If he really manages somehow to get in 2nd place, which isn't so far fetched if all goes well, watch him win because Rosberg will cave in, since that's what he's doing when pressured by a "faster" car / driver.

Sauber have brought a "raft" of updates - a somewhat ironic description, given that the C35 has had the performance of an actual raft all season long.

Lol.

 

[Ryk]

Lewis could switch to Manor... then he can have 5 new Mercedes power units and not take any more cheaty grid penalties as he is in a new team.

"Unless he drives for more than one team, each driver may use no more than five power units during a championship season."

 

[Jimlaad43]

Honestly, I think that's wrong.

I get that the cumulative penalties last year were utterly ridiculous and scrapping them was the right idea. But at the same time, I think that the pendulum has swung too far back in the opposite direction. Mercedes could, in theory, replace Hamilton's engine eight times, giving him a brand-new power unit for every remaining race and only take a single penalty for it.

A better way of doing it would be to divide up the penalties per engine, and apply them at each subsequent race. So if Mercedes replace Hamilton's engine twice in Belgium, he takes two separate penalties: ten places in Belgium and ten places at Monza. In a sense, it's a simplified version of the carry-over penalties. After all, the whole point of the component penalties is to promote longevity of engine parts.

And before anyone suggests that I'm just looking to penalise Hamilton further, let me just point out that if Hamilton qualifies on pole, then under my system he starts eleventh; if he takes two penalties, he starts twenty-first.

I highly doubt a team would spread out penalties for the spirit of the rules.

 

[daan]

Honda have spent seven upgrade tokens for Spa, while Sauber have brought a "raft" of updates - a somewhat ironic description, given that the C35 has had the performance of an actual raft all season long.

Just a pity it's going to be dry.