Belgian GP : Preview

The sandwich filling of the power circuit trio of races takes place at Spa-Francorchamps, a favourite for the drivers with two very long straights leading into great overtaking opportunities, plus a series of fast and flowing corners in the middle of the lap. Eau Rouge is also a spectacular place to view the action, partly because a large shunt is almost inevitable, such as the infamous 2002 incident when both Andy Racing drivers split their cars in half on the first and the more recent 2014 race when the Exolite of Kimi Raikkonen ploughed headfirst into the barriers, losing all wheels in the process.

Kimminen goes from strength to strength

The last race at Hockenheim saw the first grand slam result of season with Vaino Kimminen taking pole position, fastest lap, and win over 25 seconds. He was kept honest by Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso in the early stages but problems for both made things more simple for the leading Tornado driver. Although Alonso was still able to finish 3rd, he now sits 31 points behind Kimminen and still has Lewis Hamilton and Romain Grosjean in front of him. The championship looks to be between those four drivers, but Kimminen’s 23 point lead gives him the advantage. The teams championship is far less close with Tornado having nearly twice as many points as their nearest challengers, and team boss Tobias Wolff was almost tempted to suggest that his team may still be challenged!

There was a high attrition rate at Hockenheim with half the field failing to finish for a variety of reasons. Kimi Raikkonen and James Clark had individual crashes at the Agipkurve. Both Catharina Caracciola and Daniel Ricciardo were taken out on the first lap by an out of control Carlos Sainz, who can consider himself very lucky to have a drive for next season after being described during commentary as the “worst driver of the season,” a legacy of being promoted to FF1M too soon. The incidents left the unlikely prospect of the two drivers starting on row 10 finishing on the podium, but while Sergio Perez took a well deserved 2nd from 19th on the grid, Max Verstappen had a maiden podium cruelly taken away from him due to suspension failure.

Paddock News

With the silly season period complete and all 26 seats filled, the one driver who can feel particularly aggrieved is Jean-Eric Vergne. He had been having a quietly solid season with Andrew Racing, scoring points in all but two races and having the measure of Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying being 7-4 up. He was tipped to take one of the seats at Ajay Motorsports, but the lure of Kimi Raikkonen and sponsorship from Mattia Alfonsi proved too strong.

Megatron have taken their second engine upgrade of the season and will have a new ICE, ERS and CE

Tornado to extend more records?

Despite taking the most Belgian Grand Prix wins in the race’s history with six, Tornado haven’t won at Spa since 2011. His Climax powerplant have also had just the one podium which came courtesy of the defunct Meister team back in 2015, but it’s probable that the Somerset team and their engine can rectify some of those statistical anomalies. Grosjean in particular will be fired up for his first win at the circuit after an error at the Agipkurve somehow left him four laps down, but he’ll have to overhaul the in-form Kimminen before moving to Willows next season. A win for either will extend Tornado’s consecutive wins record to seven.

Support Races

FF2M is alongside its big brother again this weekend. The FF1M silly season has also had an impact on the current FF2M grid as Gojira2 have handed George Russell over to Tildesley for the remainder of the season. Rather than a straight up swap with Lance Stroll, Gojira2 have favoured Pietro Fittipaldi for national reasons. This leaves Stroll without a drive for now but entries are due to open for the 2018 FF2M Season soon.