Topic: F1 Formula Sports Racing - Sportsbet.io promotions & discussion thread - page 48. (Read 29219 times)

Seems that FIA failed by delaying Sprint Race by 30 minutes. Quite heavy rain started bfew minutes before start and there is lot of water on track. While on original start time 16:30 it was sunny weather with dry track and didn't looked like it's not possible to start sprint on originally planned time.

Aston Martin really messed up with their team strategy in this sprint shoot-out.
With Stroll crashing into the wall he ended up bugging up Alonso's lap because they red flagged the rest of the run and called it there.
In the post interview Fernando mentioned that Aston Martin tried Lance on dry tyres and that is what caused him to go off track at the turn with no name. Which Sainz almost went off right at the very end of the shoot-out.
So that is the turn that is looking very tricky for this race for most drivers who don't know how to take it correctly.
Surprise of this run were the Alpine cars. They both made it through to the sprint race which begins in about an hour and a half from now.

Piastri really started to shine thanks to the big upgrade McLaren have brought. He is getting used to Formula 1 more day by day which is a thing that I love to watch. He can collect really important points for McLaren in the sprint race today. Perez was quite bad in this session so this is good news for Piastri to consolidate his place more.

Because I have no doubt we would see a different Perez in the sprint race. He would climb the places quite quickly. In the meantime I hope Piastri can open a really big gap as much as possible with the others. It gets boring to see similar results otherwise. Piastri is really working hard for himself and the team.

Oscar Piastri is the next big thing in F1 and I still think HE IS the only driver on the F1 grid right now who could beat Max on an equal machinery and I'm sure it will happen at some point as this kid is in his destiny to be a great one.

Too bad Russel had ruined Lewis last lap because of his massive ego but Russel should learn that Mercedes counts a lot more as a team than ruining your teammate lap just because you had a late time breaking zone... . Now , I can't wait for Sprint Race with Oscar being P2. 

Sprint shoot-out just starting right now. The weather looks overcast so shouldn't be delayed because of the rain today at all.
This is just for points for the teams so I wouldn't expect much over doing it on the drivers for this run on the track.

So pole position for Leclerc.
Max go the best time but due to the penalty, he is now in 6th position.


No doubt he can easily recover to 1st position in 4 laps in this track with his car.

Even though Verstappen got a grid penalty his performance in the qualifying session was a big signal to the other drivers for sure. I don't expect it will take him a long time to overtake all the drivers ahead of him. In 10 laps maximum he should be able to have got the lead already and opened the gap with the driver behind quite much. Even though the conditions are likely to be tough during the race as well he is still very fast.

Hamilton is just the man for rainy days actually but I didn't see him doing a good job in this session I'm afraid. Norris-Piastri duo were also not very impressive in Q3. At least we didn't see any crash by Norris again here. Because he had a really serious accident under heavy rain in the qualifying session the last time. Perez continues to make progress because he is starting in the 2nd place to the race. 

It was a bad penalty for Max Verstappen and because of that he didn't finish Practice 1 because of the said issue, but surely the Belgium Grand Prix rained hard that it was nearly zero visibility for most drivers, and when the said environment for Belgium Grand Prix is like this it is more getting dangerous when it comes to Eau Rouge but so far some car losing their grip because of the slippery road, but not because of the Eau Rouge, so for me it was so far so good,

2023 Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

It was surely a hard time for Max Verstappen because of that Penalty but still, he got the 1st position on the qualifier going into the Sprint Shootout, and because it was a wet race there are many getting their grips lose, but surely it was a great qualifying going into the Sprint, and this is the list who finish the Qualifying race today,

01] Max Verstappen
02] Charles Leclerc
03] Sergio Perez
04] Lewis Hamilton
05] Carlos Sainz
06] Oscar Piastri
07] Lando Norris
08] George Russell
09] Fernando Alonso
10] Lance Stroll

Piastri was close once again to be at least 2nd best on qualifiers and this kid is growing on such a face past that it cannot be ignore anymore and I also think that overall , he is much more faster than Norris in this McLaren and today he proved that once again.

For a second I had the impression that Max won't even make top4 as RedBull had to urgently changed a few components that were "illegal" or so they say ...Mercedes and others teams but it got changed and it was visible that Max lost some power in that car and I'm curious how sprint race and Sunday race will go.  

On picks ...I'm doing awful as I'm picking against Verstappen almost every race and I'm losing almost every race as well 

I was nearly forgetting about making the picks for the pool. It came to my mind 15 minutes before the session starts. 

Yeah the weather is really bad today and it will most probably be similar tomorrow and on Sunday also. Drivers couldn't drive for so many laps due to bad conditions. I wonder how the qualifying will go. Because we might even see a delay or a red flag during the session.

Drivers like Norris and Hamilton really like rain. I wonder if one of them can go for pole position. Verstappen isn't going for it for sure because he has got a 5-place grid penalty due to changing gearbox.

Once again very bad weather in Belgium (rain all weekend), it's very difficult to give a tip before qualifying, some drivers have also had powertrain components changed which could upset the grid. I'll probably take my chances, have you all given your picks yet?

Upon researching a bit it seems that the current driver has a high win rate with their total number of wins being Hamilton at 36% of his races. The next driver that is active is Verstappen at 24%. The chances for them performing well is understandable.

I hope that Norris would have a great run so that we have him in that spotlight so that he will outperform and show the world what he is capable of. Let's see.

There is forecasting of 40% rain according to a F1 pre-race video I was watching earlier today and during the practice, qualifying, sprint and shootout a higher chance of rain falling.



I believe whoever is good at driving in the rain will have an advantage in having the chance at that qualifying race to reach pole position.
If Norris is good in these wet conditions then he just might make another run for P1.

I'm expecting a surprise from Norris this week. I think he might have a chance to go for pole position this time. Because the weather conditions will be quite bad and maybe this might create a different driver than Verstappen to take the pole position. I know Hamilton won the previous pole by a really small gap as well. Verstappen would surely be more eager to get that pole this time. But as I said maybe the weather conditions can be some help for other drivers again to take that.

McLaren is the team that has made the biggest progress since the beginning of the season. Norris can do a really good work under rain as well so I'm giving him a chance this time.

Ferrari team its by far the worst decision maker of the pit, but by far, because they have the whole money and structure to do things good, but seems like that its also playing against them, they are making bad decission in all, in the team selection, in box strategy, in race strategy, in desing of the car, they are in a hole, were seems like they cant climb.

Its no so deep like the one it was Mcclaren a few years ago but still a hole.

There is no problem with the driver. If you followed the decisions Ferrari made, you can see how many mistakes they made. The fact that they do this more than once shows that they are insufficient in this regard. It is a pity that the Ferrari name is mentioned in this way in races. But I don't understand why they don't see them and take action. How many more seasons will this continue?

They already make mistakes in the races, but when I watch the qualifying sessions, I say let's see what they will do this time and the team will be in a bad situation. At Ferrari, the problem is not personal, but there is a problem in general.

I think that changing their drivers wouldn't be the solution to this important problem. Because the root of this problem is really not about any of their drivers in fact. We have seen e.g. Leclerc making simple mistakes also but it isn't main reason behind this. It is mostly about Ferrari's being inadequate about building the right strategies and applying them.

They don't do this only in race also. Lately they have been quite bad about making the right calls in qualifying sessions too. I'm worried about the possibility of their doing the same again on Spa track this week. Because it will rain on this race week completely seemingly. I don't think that Ferrari are one of the teams making the right calls under such weather conditions.

For sure Max Verstappen at the 1st run of the practice have surely had a hard time with the Hungaroring track but eventually both him and Sergio Perez have already got their momentum and already get a hang over it, for sure it is just in the start of the race that they are currently having problem with and for the qualifying and on the race it self they got a decent job in going for the win and landing in the Podium, many have though that Lewis Hamilton could get this Hungaroring track but they are surely wrong and have let Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez make a detrour on their win,


There are a lot that has change for sure even though Max Verstappen has gotten his lead in this race they have gotten a lot of competitors in the podium and Sergio Perez is having a difficult time landing the 2nd place so far, now that Lando Norris car has become this good for sure they will need to adjust aswell for the Current momentum in the Hungaroring many have though that Max Verstappen will not make a win for this Hungrarian Grand Prix,


Belgium is now next and for sure Hamilton and Alonso had a bad experience with this one back in 2022, and this track SPA corner is pretty much notorious with the deaths that in the latest Eau Rouge fatal crash, the Dilano Van 't Hoff and Anthoine Hubert is a two reminder that Eau Rouge has claim a life,

The same from Ferrari since several years, they allways brings all in the start of the season, and after that i dont know what happen to them but seems like they stop working on the car, never bring a package of upgrades that helps the car to be again on top. SO they start to fall behind and a few weeks before the season ends they start to talk about the next year car.

Ferrari did a lot of rookie mistakes that is so unbecoming of them. They'd literally go so far as to start from square one instead of working on their strengths and weaknesses which unironically made them even weaker as you're trying to imply. I don't think they have a stand at getting any more significant wins moving forward if they continue with this trend while the rest of the industry create formulaic decisions that will enable them to bag more wins.

Perhaps a change of driver could make something happen? Cause it's not always just going to be Ferrari's fault in retrospect and perhaps human error plays a role in this one too.