#spa.fri.24

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notes from fp2 -spa

bruno famin stepping down from being tp at alpine

long run pace has been the main focus today, because overtaking is possible at spa but you need significantly better tyre deg and race pace

tomorrow is expected to be wet all day, so teams needed to get in as much running as possible

verstappen was the fastest by several tenths in the middle sector in fp1, but mclaren made big gains this session to end up several tenths ahead of redbull

oscar slid along the kerb at turn 7, immediately concerned abt the floor

vcarb spent some of the session prepping for yuki to give daniel tow in qualifying

haas drivers are running different levels of downforce - kevin has the higher downforce setup and was faster than nico all session

daniel pitted 5mins before the end of the session, but the issue was resolved in time to get him out to a practice start

drivers are going so slowly between turns 14 and 15 that they appear on the tracker as stopped

mclaren and ferrari are looking similar on race pace, within a tenth of each other, but mclaren are much faster on single lap pace

mclaren, ferrari, mercedes, and alpine have all saved a set of hards - tyre decisions will be made overnight, but wear is looking higher than expected

lando used only softs, nico and zhou used hards and softs, all others used mediums and softs

the gap from p1-p6 is 1s, the gap from p7-p19 is 0.9s

most laps - mv w/ 26

least laps - lando w/19

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notes from fp1 - spa

Track changes

lots of new tarmac; t17-t2, t4-t8 and t14-t15 - will hopefully increase grip around the circuit

pit entry and the fast lane have new tarmac - drivers will be practising their entry so the teams know if their pit time is accurate

at turns 1, 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15 the white line has been moved to widen the track and reduce the width of the kerb to hopefully reduce the number of track limit violations

Upgrades

sauber have upgraded their floor fence to increase local load and reprofiled their front, rear and beam wing to balance the load at low drag tracks, like Spa

haas have brought new, low-drag options of their rear and beam wings

mercedes have an additional flap on their floor edge and reprofiled their diffuser to increase local load, removed a flap from their halo and brought a new beam wing for the low-drag track

alpine have reprofiled their front wing for better balance at low downforce tracks

Penalties

yuki will start from the pits after taking a new ICE, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store, control electronics and exhaust

verstappen has a 10 place grid penalty for taking a new ICE

Session

all teams have reference dots on their front wings and cameras on their nose cones to measure the f.wing deflection - so the fia can make sure their tests are up-to-date

esteban told to pit urgently after one lap - had to retire from the session due to a water leak

yellow flags as daniel span across the track out of la source, and came very close to hitting the wall at pit entry

perez struggling all session - lacking confidence reporting that he's "really struggling to know what the car is doing on entry" for all corners

lando had a big lock up, when practising his entry to the pits on the new tarmac

haas struggling with grip all round the circuit

oscar had a rear snap through the chicane, catching the car before he could dip into the gravel

mercs struggling with rear grip, and bouncing with high fuel at high speeds - lewis on the radio said "i've got to come in, the bouncing is so bad"

yuki suffering with understeer and oversteer, calling the car "unpredictable"

logan saying his soft tyres are "destroyed" after only 11 laps on them

plank wear will be high - all cars sparking up eau rouge

traffic will be horrible as slow lap times are almost double quick lap times - mv did a 1m43s quick lap and a 3m10s slow lap

most laps - charles w/ 25

least laps - nico, kevin and alonso w/ 19, esteban w/ 1

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crofty's ollie oakes/hollyoaks joke,,, funniest thing he's ever said