Formula 1 MSC Cruises Belgian Grand Prix 2023Formula 1

[Jimlaad43]

Appearing on the other side of the Summer Break, Spa-Francorchamps rounds off the first half of the season with another Sprint Race weekend. The circuit is one of the most legendary and loved tracks on the calendar with fans and drivers, as the near 100-year history of racing round this part of the Ardennes is not lost on anyone in the area. The weather is notorious for being unpredictable in the area, something which this highly-predictable Formula 1 season needs. Red Bull have won every race this year and look nowhere near stopping. Will the circuit or weather allow the chasing back to stop squabbling and stop Max? We will find out at the BELGIAN GRAND PRIX!

First Grand Prix
1950​

Number of Laps
44​

Circuit Length
7.004km​

Race Distance
308.052 km​

Lap Record
1:46.286 Valtteri Bottas (2018)​

 

[AshenGraey]

My favorite track on the F1 Calendar. Hopefully there will be some good racing this weekend (Max and RB not included 🙄). We also have the sprint format. Considering this is a rather long track, I can't see that sprint race having too many laps for it to be "interesting". I guess we will see!!

Does anyone know if there are any teams besides McLaren planning to bring more upgrades at Spa?

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I know Mercedes are bringing upgrades, will be interesting to see how competitive they are on a track that suits the Red Bull. Hopefully they can hit the ground running with setup.

 

[Liquid]

Racing director given the boot.

 

[AshenGraey]

I know Mercedes are bringing upgrades, will be interesting to see how competitive they are on a track that suits the Red Bull. Hopefully they can hit the ground running with setup.

Considering it's a sprint weekend, they are going to have to hit the ground running otherwise it will be very ugly for them especially considering this track will not suit their cars at all.

Racing director given the boot.

Isn't he supposed to already be going to another team?

 

[Liquid]

It's Ferrari. Calamity is the order of the day.

 

[Pupik]

"MSC Cruises" could have been the title many races in 1995, 2001, 2002, and 2004...

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Considering it's a sprint weekend, they are going to have to hit the ground running otherwise it will be very ugly for them especially considering this track will not suit their cars at all.


Isn't he supposed to already be going to another team?

They had strong race pace last year, looks like they have new sidepods. Last race was really encouraging in terms of pace too. The upgrades could put them comfortably the second fastest team in the race if they work and setup is hooked up. Will be interesting to see if they can make lower downforce rear wing work as they tend to struggle due to not enough downforce from floor.

Alpine got new floor upgrade for both cars so hopefully brings them back into the fight for decent points especially after what happened last race.

He is going to AlphaTauri or whatever they will be called for next year.

 

[AshenGraey]

They had strong race pace last year, looks like they have new sidepods. Last race was really encouraging in terms of pace too. The upgrades could put them comfortably the second fastest team in the race if they work and setup is hooked up. Will be interesting to see if they can make lower downforce rear wing work as they tend to struggle due to not enough downforce from floor.

Alpine got new floor upgrade for both cars so hopefully brings them back into the fight for decent points especially after what happened last race.

He is going to AlphaTauri or whatever they will be called for next year.

The Merc are changing the sidepods again? Does that mean they also be getting a new floor? I don't think I saw any articles detailing the upgrades that the team will be bringing for Spa so I'm honestly very curious because that battle for best of the rest is seriously tight.....if Max and his Red Bull wasn't there, this season could have been very fascinating with 5 teams fighting for the lead and seeing it changing from race to race.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Considering it's a sprint weekend, they are going to have to hit the ground running otherwise it will be very ugly for them especially considering this track will not suit their cars at all.


Isn't he supposed to already be going to another team?

Replacing Tost at Alpha Tauri apparently.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

The Merc are changing the sidepods again? Does that mean they also be getting a new floor? I don't think I saw any articles detailing the upgrades that the team will be bringing for Spa so I'm honestly very curious because that battle for best of the rest is seriously tight.....if Max and his Red Bull wasn't there, this season could have been very fascinating with 5 teams fighting for the lead and seeing it changing from race to race.

You can see some photos below of the sidepods and the new rear wing. Will find out more in detail exactly what they have updated as well as for other teams. Hopefully it brings them a lot of lap time for first and third sector and they don't have to pay too much a price in the middle sector. The level of upgrades the teams might bring for latter races of the season could make the races more exciting if a lot of teams are closer to Red Bull as Hungary was meant to be last big upgrade for Red Bull. It will be interesting if Sergio can race Max for once too, all races this season they have always been separated by at least a car for majority of it. At least Christian Horner, can jiggle his feet again, been too easy for them given the only car that could give them a hard race is themselves.

 

[toastet]

"MSC Cruises" could have been the title many races in 1995, 2001, 2002, and 2004...

Looking at the weather forecast big boats will be handy this weekend.

 

[Liquid]

If you're a cynical auld lemon like me, you know they did those token laps just so they could declare an event. If the race had to be cancelled, I bet there is some liability insurance that the sport would be open to that they simply didn't want to entertain. Nothing gets in the way of the world's greatest motorsport!

And yes, different to an event being cancelled ahead of time. I'm on about an event that was actually taking place and being cancelled. Absolutely calling shenanigans on this. Minimal contractually-obligated effort to avoid court cases.

We met our minimal obligation of presenting an event.

Buck = Passed

Let's avoid this this weekend please.

 

[toastet]

Let's avoid this this weekend please.

I can give you the "new" numbers:

Sprint = 50% race distance for points
GP = at least 2 green laps for 50% points, not 2 SC laps anymore for points (not sure but I think it have to be 2 in a row not 2 individual laps)

 

[TheCracker]

Sounds like they're going to struggle to get qualifying and sprint shoot out done today, FP1 was just red flagged.

For a circuit that is frequently hit with heavy rain over the GP weekend, having one of the sprint race rounds there seems like a potty idea.

 

[Liquid]

a circuit that is frequently hit with heavy rain

Global warming was supposed to fix this.

 

[Blitz24]

Verstappen is slowest!* I wonder if they will even run qualifying?

*yes he didn't record a time.

 

[TumeK5]

Will be interesting to see how the weekend plays out, with such minimal time to set your car up, especially because of the rain. But, it's the same for everyone so they might run interesting setups if we supposedly get dry

 

[Veinz]

Szafnauer and Permane might be out at Alpine.

I doubt that they're the problem, Permane has been there forever.

edit

 

[TumeK5]

Hahahahahaha

Alpine breaking apart, and I'm all for it

 

[Veinz]

I keep seeing French Ferrari being posted, I think that's pretty accurate. But this team has been a **** show long before Otmar arrived, he just inherited it. Their engines for these regs have never been that good either, they were lucky to have Honda take some of the heat off of them in the early hybrid years.

 

[Veinz]

It’s raining pretty hard right now. If they don’t do qualifying today then they will probably cancel the sprint session for it.

 

[AshenGraey]

During FP1, the commentators were saying that if qualifying doesn't take place, they will use the championship standing for the grid on Sunday. If they do that though, I wonder at what point then would the cars get into parc fermé?

 

[TheCracker]

They should hold a one lap cycle race around the circuit in the wet to decide the Sunday grid. Probably more entertaining then watching the drivers not go out on Saturday. Gives the commentators something to talk about at least.

 

[Blitz24]

They should hold a one lap cycle race around the circuit in the wet to decide the Sunday grid. Probably more entertaining then watching the drivers not go out on Saturday. Gives the commentators something to talk about at least.

boat race down pit road

 

[Touring Mars]

Ricciardo puts the Alpha Tauri into 6th... and then has his lap time deleted and qualifies in 19th.

 

[Liquid]

Nice to see one of Alonso's teams collapse after he's left rather than before or during his time there.

 

[TumeK5]

Max gonna win Sprint and feature race, ez pz

 

[AshenGraey]

Just watched some of the qualifying action, the mixed conditions did make this interesting. When Max was closed to get eliminated in Q2 that was nail biting lol but obviously he didn't and got pole by almost a second 🙄....I'd like to believe that the gap is because everyone was being a tad bit conservative and not risking too much while Max goes all out leaving nothing on the table. Because if it is not the case, other than an act of God, Max will win this race by well over a minute and will probably lap everyone to P3 😂😂

 

[rsh]

Nice lap by Max.
These conditions suit his talent.