The trip into the forest, the rollercoaster that is Eau Rouge, the masterful and brilliant Pouhon corner and the kart-like, mesmerising second sector, writes guest blogger Sebastian Ampofo. To some people, this may seem like a load of gibberish. But to a lot of F1 aficionados around the world, this natural ampitheatre I have just described is the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, which hosts Round 12 of this year's Formula One World Championship, a championship which Sebastian Vettel has dominated, despite not having won a race since Valencia all the way back in June. He even managed to extend his championship lead in the last race in Hungary.
This natural ampitheatre has always been subject to a very precarious and unpredictable natural climate, such was the case in Practice and probably less so in qualifying. Q1 and Q2 required the drivers to go out on the intermediate tyres, and this wet period of qualifying was not necessarily a useful barometer as to the race pace performance of the front runners. The McLarens looked strong in the wet conditions in the hands of Button and Hamilton, with Hamilton going top, albeit briefly in Q2 with a 2:02.8 on a drying track.
This has in some part, something to do with the good mechanical grip and traction that the McLarens have, especially this year, which is absolutely pivotal in wet conditions. And despite the frantic worries that there would be flurries of rain during qualifying, it actually turned out that it got drier and drier with Q3 enabling the runners to put on the soft option slick tyres.
The emphasis was very much on McLaren and Ferrari "ganging up" so to speak, against Red Bull and taking the fight to them. But as Anthony Davidson, BBC Radio 5 Live commentator, said in Practice, the drivers from McLaren and Ferrari would continue to take points from each other, making Vettel's job of extending his championship lead easier. What a far cry from the days of the late 90's when McLaren and Ferrari were very bitter rivals, and this rivalry exploded at this very track in 1998 - when Schumacher, trying to lap Coulthard, slammed into the back of him on the straight after Bruxelles, resulting in Schumacher going after Coulthard in the pitlane.
Special mentions in qualifying must go to Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus, who outqualified Paul di Resta of Force India by a second. Granted, this is di Resta's first visit to Spa Francorchamps in an open-wheeled car since 2005, and with the wet conditions in practice, he probably hasn't had enough dry running to acclimitise himself with the circuit. It wasn't a good day for Force India generally (which is ironic considering their success in 2009 when Fisichella grabbed pole position with a stunning lap) with Adrian Sutil crashing out in Q2 after losing the rear end on the exit of Eau Rouge towards Raidillon, taking off his front wing and damaging his nose in the process. The fact that Sutil lost the rear end was probably a reflection of how nervous in general the cars looked. It was rumoured that many of the teams were going to sacrifice qualifying performance to go on a predominantly-dry setup for the race, as Ross Brawn had said on the BBC's pre-race coverage.
Q2 was beset by further incident when late in the session and pressured to do a good lap after slipping down to 12th, Lewis Hamilton overtook and made slight contact with Maldonado on the exit of the Bus Stop chicane. Once Hamilton had done his hot lap (2:02.8) and upon slowing down on the short straight between La Source and Eau Rouge, Maldonado, as if he was asleep quite frankly, turned in on Hamilton, damaging Hamilton's front wing and causing substantial cosmetic damage to his sidepod. Perhaps a slice of revenge of Hamilton's antics in Monaco which led Maldonado to retire at St. Devote.The stewards will surely investigate what surely seems to be a piece of dubious driving on Maldonado's part, and surely, he must get a penalty for his dirty tactics.
However, Q3 was not full of incident, but rather full of blistering pace and was more of a better reflection of how the front runners were shaping up. Webber and Hamilton were swapping fastest laps and provisional poles, and it was looking good for Webber at a time - he has the edge in changeable conditions in qualifying, and goes well around this track having recorded a stunning pole last year. Hamilton won last year's race and his car was reported to be very quick in Sector 2 in Q1, quicker than Vettel in what is Red Bull territory. And his new rear wing means a super-efficient DRS which gives him much less drag whilst being able to set the rear wing with a steeper angle and therefore more downforce.
Just as Hamilton went quickest at the end of Q3 with a 1:48.7 and surely looking very ominous for a first McLaren pole position since Canada last year, Vettel came in with a brilliant last gasp lap five-tenths quicker than Hamilton on a 1:48.2, to snatch what would have been glory for Hamilton and Webber. A McLaren is still on the front row, despite Button being well down in 13th due to a call to bring him in - a possible miscommunication as he slid down the table as drivers set faster times on a drying track. But if the conditions are changeable, do not count out Button tomorrow - I certainly did not think he could win after 6 pit stops and ending up 21st in Canada at one point, but he was able to find grip and thread the eye of a needle of a drying track where others failed and couldn't.
Hamilton is looking very good for a win tomorrow and he could be a threat at the start, especially with Vettel and Webber prone to tardy starts. If Hamilton gets his start hooked up with KERS, he could race away with his general speed in all three sectors. Vettel and Webber though, have excellent straight-line speed after opting for a skinny rear wing, and could be a threat on the Kemmel straight, but their speed in the second sector could be threatened by the likes of McLaren and Ferrari.
Speaking of Ferrari, Fernando Alonso was outqualified by his teammate for the second-race running as he starts in 8th, with Massa in 4th. No doubt they will be right up there with McLaren and Red Bull provided they don't take any gambles like the one to keep Alonso in the garage in Q2, which so nearly backfired. As for Massa, this race could be the perfect opportunity to prove he can still outrace Alonso - and if he gets a bad start and has a bad race tomorrow and slips behind Alonso during the race despite qualifying four places ahead, questions will really be asked about Massa's place at Ferrari and his pace with these Pirelli tyres.
Mentions in Q3 for Rosberg, qualifying 5th for Mercedes, proving their speed in the first sector with the powerful Mercedes engine, and Jaime Alguersuari in 6th for Toro Rosso, an excellent performance and a continuation of the form he has shown after Valencia. Bruno Senna in his first race for Lotus Renault GP outqualified Petrov to finish 7th in Q3, showing he does have the pace and could possibly be challenging Nick Heidfeld for a race seat in the remainder of this season. Whatever happens tomorrow, we are geared up for a great race. Have rain dropped into the mix and we could have a race which could top Canada in terms of excitement, competitiveness and euphoria.
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