FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[myownalias]

McLaren, Force India, Mercedes... Spa is a power circuit and Mercedes have the most powerful/reliable power unit!

That's a complete myth in my view, just look at the winners in the V8 era... it's all on aero. Toyota had the weakest engine and still got a front row grid slot in 2009!

Every now and again a strange result is thrown up, who would have predicted a Williams victory after last years disaster? Like Monza I believe that Spa tends to favor a powerful engine, obviously aero helps like it does everywhere but a lack of grunt shows at Spa.

[Nin-Chin]

McLaren will not introduce a double DRS device at the Belgium Grand Prix but the car will feature a number of visual updates in free practice on Friday.

Ever since Mercedes introduced a front wing stalling device operated by the DRS at the start of the season, rival teams have been exploring the benefits of designing their own systems. At recent races Lotus has tested its own version of the double DRS in Friday practice with a view of racing it at the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

McLaren is known to be working on its own system, with such devices set to be banned at the end of the year, but team principal Martin Whitmarsh said it would not feature on the car this weekend.

"It [the double DRS] hasn't received the maximum amount of resource because we have got a finite amount of resource, and we try and spend it where we get the biggest bang for the buck, and our judgement so far is that we have been able to find other projects that deserve that resource and we can get a greater performance return from," he told the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in. "There is no denying that the double DRS is interesting and I think there are other variants on it that have started to be seen on teams' cars, but they might not all follow a pattern that we saw on the Mercedes.

"We are not announcing when, where and if we are going to be introducing it. I think we will see different wing variants, certainly on our car along with a number of visual items as they go through scrutineering later today and hit the track on Friday. We will see new bits, but McLaren will not have a double DRS in Belgium."

McLaren's upgrades before the summer break saw Lewis Hamilton return to the top of the podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix and Whitmarsh is confident his team can continue to build on that momentum.

"We came out of the box very quickly at the start of the season and arguably slipped a little bit behind and I think we've pulled back up again," Whitmarsh added. "To establish and retain your edge is difficult for all of us and undeniably the tyres have been a really substantial challenge. The influence of the tyres on many occasions has been quite significant and hidden the underlying performance itself. All of those things have made it quite a challenging season for everyone.

"But we had a couple of good races just before the break and since then we've continued to push hard to try to develop our car. We're focused on winning more races and we're still focused on winning the championships because everyone recognises that they are still wide open."

[Nin-Chin]

http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/15700/15779.jpg
http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/15700/15778.jpg
http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/15700/15775.jpg
http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/15700/15776.jpg
http://en.espnf1.com/PICTURES/CMS/15700/15772.jpg LOL funny hair

[vlad]

Nice details and nice to know Seb is still learning.

GOD, I MISSED FORMULA 1!!!!!!!!!!

[Nin-Chin]

Incase u havent heard Lewis' aunt Diane passed away yesterday after cancer battle

[andrew]

Funny hair? That's his usual ain't it? I was expecting something like this.

[Nin-Chin]

AHHHHHHHHHHH less than a day 2go TAKING FOREVER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!

[LRW]

AHHHHHHHHHHH less than a day 2go TAKING FOREVER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ..... <snip>

Well technically FP1 is tomorrow....

[Nin-Chin]

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh says the team are not yet considering using team orders despite Jenson Button falling off the pace in the title race.
Button is 88 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso of Ferrari with team-mate Lewis Hamilton 44 adrift.
"It will be quite a few races before we make that decision," said Whitmarsh.
Whitmarsh added that he thinks Hamilton's contract situation, which runs out at the end of the season, will be resolved "in fairly short order".
Drivers' championship
Fernando Alonso - 164 pts
Mark Webber - 124
Sebastian Vettel - 122
Lewis Hamilton - 117
Kimi Raikkonen - 116
Nico Rosberg - 77
Jenson Button 76
Button started the season with victory in Australia and second place in China but began struggling to get the best out of the Pirelli tyres and suffered a dip in form.
The 2009 world champion looked to have got on top of his troubles finishing second in Germany and then sixth last time out in Hungary, where Hamilton took victory.
It was that upturn in form for both Button and the team as a whole which has led Whitmarsh to believe everything is still to play for in the battle for both championships.
"There may well come a point [when we decide to ask one driver to support the other], but there are still many races left and many points on offer - things can change quickly," he added.
"With the performance we were showing going into the break, we should be focused on winning more races and contesting for the championship. It's wide open and we're in contention.
Button in 2012
Australia - 1st
Malaysia - 14th
China - 2nd
Bahrain - 18th
Spain - 9th
Monaco - 16th
Canada - 16th
Europe - 8th
Britain - 10th
Germany - 2nd
Hungary - 6th
"McLaren prides itself on going into each championship giving both drivers equal opportunity to win races and fight for the championship.
"We therefore have to be measured in terms of when we talk to those drivers about putting their support behind the other.
"The good news for fans and for both drivers is that I can assure you both drivers will be going into the Belgian Grand Prix trying to win the race and as a team, we will do our best to allow them to do so."
Button added: "Forty points behind Lewis you'd say I was going to give up on the championship, but Lewis is 40 points behind Fernando and he thinks he has a pretty good chance of the championship. No, we go racing and see what happens. We come here positive we can get a good result."
Hamilton's future has been the subject of speculation as his current deal, with the team he has spent his whole career with, comes to end at the end of the season.
Earlier this month, Whitmarsh said Hamilton had told him he wanted to sign a new contract with the team and while it appears a deal is close to being resolved, the 2008 world champion has yet to put pen to paper.
"Lewis and the team have been focused on a little bit of relaxation after a hard first part of the season and also keeping our foot on the throttle to make sure we're developing the car as winning is what is important," said Whitmarsh.
"We are progressing things in the background while not letting it get in the way of doing our job."
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY ONE
Friday, 31 August: First practice 08:55 BST; BBC Red Button/online (audio and text). Second practice 12:55; BBC Red Button/online (audio and text).
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY TWO
Saturday, 1 September: Third practice 09:55 BST; BBC Red Button/online (audio and text). Qualifying 12:10 BST; BBC One online (audio and text).
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2012, DAY THREE
Sunday, 2 September: Race build up 12:10 BST; BBC On/BBC One HD/online. Race live: 13:00; BBC One/online/BBC Radio 5 live. Highlights 19:00 BST BBC Three.

[Nin-Chin]

Jenson Button will only start to think about helping team-mate Lewis Hamilton win the title this year if it becomes mathematically impossible for him to be champion.

On Thursday morning McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said "there may well come a point" when he asks Button to help Hamilton, but that "it will be in quite a few races' time" and at the moment the pair are free to race. Button is currently 41 points behind his team-mate, who is a further 47 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso, and says that he is not even entertaining the idea of helping Hamilton at the moment.

"I think it's a pretty pointless conversation right now," Button said. "If I was 40 points behind Lewis in the championship and he was leading do you think they would turn around and say you have to support your team-mate? It's not a big margin; it's less than two wins.

"Half of the grid is in front of their team-mates and the rest of the grid is not going to turn around and help their team-mate win the championship because you tend to still think you have a good chance. Until that chance has gone you are going to fight for it.

"I'm not here to just race around and help my team-mate win a championship because I'm here to fight and to do the best job I can for myself first of all and also for the team. I think it would be a pretty boring championship if there were only 12 of us fighting for the victory and the rest of us there to help our team-mates. It's not the sort of Formula we should want. I'm going to be fighting all the way until I either win the championship or it's not possible."

[racechick]

I guess jenson has changed his mind then. From the view he held at the beginning of the season, which was; the way to win championships is to have a clear number one and number two. He doesnt talk so much about number one and number two any more.

[andrew]

He should just concentrate on his own season.

[Nin-Chin]

AHHHHHHHHHHH less than a day 2go TAKING FOREVER NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ..... <snip>

Well technically FP1 is tomorrow....

TOO LONG!!!!!!!!

[racechick]

Godamn!! Im getting my hair done tomorrow I forgot when I booked it.

[Hammer278]

I guess jenson has changed his mind then. From the view he held at the beginning of the season, which was; the way to win championships is to have a clear number one and number two. He doesnt talk so much about number one and number two any more.

Yeah, it's expected from NoGrip. I agree with his philosophy right now, but he should stfu when there's a freak occasion where Lewis is behind him in the WDC.