Bojan Vrbnjak
Summer break it’s over and the racers are active on the tracks again. It's the first stop Belgija with the famous racetrack Spa-Francorchamps under the Ardennes. And the second half of the season begins with the otherwise unpopular trio they make up Belgija, Nizozemska with Zandvoort and Italija of Monza.
Valtteri Bottas drove the fastest lap of the first free practice GP of Belgium in Spa-Francorchamps. Team racer Mercedes was a good tenth of a second faster than Max Verstappen v Red Bullu who was at the beginning of training with a hard rubber compound in his world. Lewis Hamilton however, he struggled with setting up your car and training ended only towards the end of the table. The seven-time world champion was faster than just both Haas racers.
It's before training starts rain made sure the racers first went to the track with rubber intermediates, but after a good ten minutes the track was already dry enough that they could put on tires for the dry track. But just before the end of the morning workout, the rain came again, so no improvement in weather was expected.
Results
Valtteri Bottas he needed for his fastest lap 1: 45.199 minutes and this on a soft rubber compound. The Finn was in favor 0,164 seconds faster than Max Verstappen v Red Bullu on equal rubber compounds. Exactly one second behind in third place Pierre Gasly with his AlphaTauri. For the top three, we find both racers Ferrari, where he was Charles Leclerc fourth, his teammate Carlos Sainz on the fifth.
The second racer came in sixth Red Bulla Sergio Perez, which was five hundredths faster than Sebastian Vettl at Aston Martin. Both racers were also the last to be less than a second behind the fastest in training. Eighth Lando Norris from McLaren he was 1,137 seconds behind. The top ten is completed by both racers of the AlpineF1 team, here was the winner of Hungary Esteban Ocon a good tenth of a second faster than Fernanda Alonso, who extended his contract here in the framework of the Belgian GP.
Od eleventh place onwards however, the racers were classified as follows: Lance stroll (Aston Martin), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo), George Russell (Williams), Yuki tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Nicholas latifi (Williams), Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Nikita mazepin (Haas) and Mick Schumacher (Haas).
Incidents
On the plane Camel you got a little too close George Russell in Lance stroll, but without serious consequences for both. It's later Kimi Raikkonen at the entrance to the pits he lost control of the car and crashed slightly into a firewall, making it easier to damage the car.
He had a tricky moment, too Lewis Hamilton before the last turn. The Briton was on a fast lap (he certainly wouldn’t be 18th by this time) when he ran into Nicholas Latifi in Williams. Hamilton wanted to overtake him, but he did Canadian he obviously didn’t see what made the racer have to Mercedesa drive partially off the track to prevent a collision.
Charles Leclerc but with his Ferrari in the seventh turn he took care of the only "rodeo”Along a sand barrier. Monacan was lucky to be able to catch his race car, as this trip of his could have ended significantly differently. But he is a racer Ferrari put quite a few stones on the track.
Technology
On no other track aerodynamic effect not as important and desirable as here in They connect. In the first sector it is required top speed, and in the middle vacuum. Because of this, the teams here drove with a special aerodynamic package. In the first sector, the teams were still looking for an optimal compromise. “Where I waste my time,”He wanted to know Lewis Hamilton. "On the plains, we expected that”Was the answer of his engineer Peter Bonnington.
While his teammate had Valtteri Bottas the smaller rear wings are on the race car Hamilton usually installed larger rear wings. Regardless, however, v They connect no novelties were seen on the race cars. Red Bull tested the front brake cooling, and tested an improved version in this area as well McLaren.
Engines
Immediately after the summer break, there are two extremely fast tracks that also require engine power: Hot Tub in Monza. That's why eleven racers got new engines. Almost everyone who could afford it without penalty, they bet on new engines and thus on the rear joker.
Among these are all the racers who use Mercedes generators - except Sebastian Vettl, which already has a third engine. Max Verstappen had his third engine after colliding in Silverstone already used in Hungary.
