Scuderia Ferrari has arrived in Belgium with a spring in their steps after a moral boosting and much needed 1-2 in Hungary brought their poor run of results to an end, but Spa could be a different story given the circuit characteristics.
Spa has always been a true test for the team’s cars, with power and aerodynamic performance equally important around the challenging track.
Hungary marked their first win since Monaco, with both tracks being similar in nature, and not too similar to the task facing them around Spa, the longest circuit on the calendar that will put a premium on engine power and aerodynamic performance in high speed corners. While Ferrari might then be expected to struggle relative to Mercedes here, its worth casting an eye back to last years qualifying, where the Ferrari, in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen at least, looked surprisingly capable of claiming pole position (although Kimi would miss out on pole), before their race hopes were undone at the first corner courtesy of Red Bull’s other torpedo, Max Verstappen!
The Maranello team is well aware of the fact that they cannot afford to have any more race weekends where they simply yield easy results to Mercedes, and with Red Bull looking to raise their game considerably as they sort out their own early season aero struggles, any slip ups from the men from Maranello will put the squarely where they don’t want to be – in Max Verstappens range! After all the rancour of the Hamilton/Rosberg rivalry over the last few years, Mercedes may have found themselves with the most harmonious team-mate pairing in F1, but one is left to wonder if they’d trade it all for the tension and bad vibes of the past few years if they let the drivers title slip through their fingers this year!
Follow us in the afternoon for the latest updates and results from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as the qualifying session ahead of the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix is about to get underway in Stavelot, with Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen ready to fight with rivals Mercedes and Red Bull Racing for a front row start ahead of the race on Sunday.
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