Friday data from Spa
After some surprises in the first practice, the afternoon free practice session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit delivered sensations much more in line with the expectations of the eve, albeit with a series of notable exceptions. Mercedes has definitely increased the aerodynamic load and the difficult performance seen in FP1 became explosive and unbeatable in the second session.
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However, this, once again, must be said, with only Kimi Antonelli, first at the finish line, who delivered an abyssal gap, even 1.2 seconds to George Russell, once again struggling to find the right level of grip with the car. Mercedes once again shows the engine qualities that guarantee it a long blanket on the aerodynamic front. In general, today seemed to demonstrate that if at Silverstone a slightly lower downforce setup could help, at Spa the aerodynamic load brings many benefits: not only does the central sector become faster, but the better grip allows a more profitable use of energy and a more effective recharge, ultimately guaranteeing a double advantage compared to having very high top speeds. This is a recurring theme this Friday that we will encounter several times.
Returning anyway to Mercedes and Antonelli, it should be emphasized that, compared to what was seen in the first session, the energy delivery has also changed with the impression that being able to unload on the various descents of the track brings a considerable overall advantage, and for this reason we see truly remarkable peaks of Antonelli’s top speed at the Source braking, downhill towards Eau Rouge and, more than anything, downhill towards Pouhon, one of the key points of the day. The sum of load, engine thrust, and better energy management makes Kimi’s W17 the number 1 candidate car for pole and victory, but clearly we are only on Friday.
McLaren very good with Norris (race load). RedBull confirms speed
Behind Antonelli we find a surprising Norris, but looking at the data it is quite evident that, given the 10-place penalty the Englishman will have to serve, McLaren has chosen a setup already focused on the race for the World Champion, with a more aerodynamically loaded approach that we see, also in this case, paying dividends in terms of lap time. McLaren also has the peculiarity of being the most balanced team in the Pouhon section, with an average delivery both downhill towards the fast corner and on exit.
These, along with a good overall cornering performance, guarantee Norris the best time in the central sector. The energy spent and aerodynamic load are felt then towards Blanchimont, where the MCL40 is the slowest among the top teams and where Norris likely leaves the best time.
Verstappen, on the other hand, continues to prove competitive, although remaining almost half a second behind Antonelli. The Dutchman confirms some particular trends of his RedBull, such as a very slow passage at Eau Rouge (albeit full throttle), a unique approach at Pouhon (low downforce downhill and concentration of deployment on exit) and a good exploitation of the RedBull PU which works very well at high revs and guarantees one of the best passages also in the final stretch up to Bus Stop, so much so that Verstappen guarantees the best third sector.
Read more Sainz invites Antonelli to calm down: “He shouldn’t have called me ‘idiot’ over the radio”
The impression is that, although at Spa as at Silverstone there are many fast corners, the compromise to be sought is different, given the pure straights and the differently structured central driven sector. This seems to put RedBull in a decidedly better window, with Verstappen who also seems to have chosen a lower downforce and attacking setup, compared to Hadjar’s, who will start from the back of the grid and who appeared, like Norris, much more aerodynamically loaded, evidently with a race perspective. The two RedBull drivers end up having similar times but with very different setups, a sign of a car that still works in a good overall window.
Ferrari not as good as in the first practice: the short blanket leaves little room for maneuver
Finally, regarding the Maranello team, the afternoon impressions were not as good as those of the morning. The car appears well balanced, but the performance in the central sector was particularly disappointing considering the good chassis of the SF26.
Surprisingly, however, we notice in Hamilton’s data significant top speeds in the first and third sectors, hinting that the choice of the engineers led by Vasseur is for now to use most of the energy in the two main straights, but having to give up some important parts of the performance also in the driven section, such as traction or aggressive braking, just look at Hamilton’s -12 km/h at the entrance of turn 8 or the -20 at the braking of the Campus esses.
The load is there, the strategy to maximize delivery downhill towards Pouhon was indeed a choice shown by Ferrari in the first practice, but it seems that the margin for improvement this Friday was smaller for the reds. Hamilton, however, continues to prove fast and effective, while Leclerc showed some hybrid usage problems in the third sector, perhaps due to imperfect grip in the first part of the lap, which constantly leaves him behind his teammate, despite them arriving each time close to the thousandth at the end of the second section of the track. We will see what further optimization margin Ferrari will have after the overnight work.
Antonelli favored, Max rival. But which PU was Ferrari using?
The impression is that Antonelli is again the favorite, confirming the pre-weekend predictions, and that Verstappen is the number 1 candidate to try to fight for the positions that matter, while Ferrari is currently playing defense. However, there is still the engine variable: it is not officially known which Power Unit Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars were using, whether those already modified by ADUO or the previous ones, used in free practice for simple rotation between units. Among the various aspects, certainly the third practice will clarify this doubt as well, combined with that of race pace, practically not tested due to the red flag towards the end of the session. The impression, however, is that there is low initial degradation but a sudden collapse after about 5 laps, which would open interesting strategic scenarios. We will therefore see in the third practice which impressions will be confirmed and what news we will find.
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