Belgium Grand Prix - Qualifying Analysis

It appears once again that when Lewis Hamilton needs to turn up his game he simply can. The Brit stole the show and recorded his 6th straight pole position of the season yesterday in Spa.

Pole Sitter Lewis Hamilton

It was again a second fiddle for Nico Rosberg as he couldn't find an answer to Hamilton and finished almost 5 tenths down to his team mate.

One of the best chances for a win other than Mercedes is Valterri Bottas. In the last 2 races, the car in the P3 grid slot has found themselves leading out of turn 1. If Mercedes can continue to have problems with the starts, especially with the new rules applied here, Bottas could be a chance to secure his first race win. The numbers are also good for him considering the Brackley team haven't yet experienced the winners champagne in Spa.

P4 was taken by the flying Frenchman of Romain Grosjean in his Lotus but due to a gearbox change has a 5 place grid drop. This will promote Force India to the best grid spot of the season with Sergio Perez qualifying in 5th after flying lap time in Q3. The odds are with him as well as the Silverstone based team tend to do well here with a 1, 2 finish in 1998 (As Jordan Grand Prix) and Giancarlo Fisichella scoring Force India's maiden pole position and podium here in 2009. Perez will hope to repeat the scenes of Bahrain 2014 where he drove his Force India to 3rd place behind the Mercedes.

Force India consider themselves a chance for serious points with P5 and P11 on the grid.

This has certainly been made easier for him with a disappointing session from Ferrari. With Kimi Raikkonen in 14th place after his engine gave up down at turn 15 on his out lap. Sebastian Vettel was the last man to cross the line in Q3 and could only manage a very mediocre 9th. It's definately advanatge Williams in the constructors battle for 2nd.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari will start in P14.

Red Bull weren't much better with Ricciardo managing 6th and Kvyat only 12th. This probably points to a low fuel load being used in practice where the team appeared to be quite strong and now we are just seeing there true pace.

It was no better day for McLaren as Jenson Button managed to outqualify Fernando Alonso in 17th and 18th places. Both cars will drop to the back due to there engine penalties.

The Belgium Grand Prix will commence in just under 5 hours. The grid order looks like this:

1st) Lewis Hamilton

2nd) Nico Rosberg

3rd) Valtteri Bottas

4th) Romain Grosjean (5 Place Grid Penalty)

5th) Sergio Perez

6th) Daniel Ricciardo
7th) Felipe Massa
8th) Pastor Maldonado
9th) Sebastian Vettel
10th) Carlos Sainz
11th) Nico Hulkenberg
12th) Daniil Kvyat
13th) Marcus Ericsson
14th) Kimi Raikkonen
15th) Max Verstappen (10 Place Grid Penalty)
16th) Felipe Nasr
17th) Jenson Button (50 Place Grid Penalty)
18th) Fernando Alonso (55 Place Grid Penalty)
19th) Will Stevens
20th) Roberto Merhi

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenflagf1

Belgium Grand Prix - FP3 Analysis

It was a pretty quiet session on the beautiful flowing Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. The teams would have been thankful that no red flags were shown after losing a lot of time to them in FP2. Things were a little nervous in the last few moments of the session as Romain Grosjean passed a slower car of Kimi Raikkonen down at Turn 16.

The session was topped by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes setting a 1:48.984 on the yellow wall soft (option) tire. His team mate Rosberg was 4 tenths slower and found himself in second.

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.

It was an impressive lap from Sergio Perez as he put his Force India in 5th behind 2 Ferrari's and 2 Mercedes. The new b spec aero package of the Force India and the Mercedes power unit make it a prospect for strong points in Sundays race.

Williams finished lower down in 9th and 10th after again opting to run more fuel during the session. Rob Smedley of Williams said: "I think were we'd be happy with that session" sounding very confident and positive. Could Williams again dupe Ferrari and steal the second row? Are they really hiding there true pace? It's very hard to tell, but they seem to be further up the grid than they were yesterday.

Looking ahead to qualifying the biggest moment I'm waiting for is to see where Red Bull find themselves. Red Bull finished 3rd in FP1 (Ricciardo) and 3rd and 4th in FP2. FP3 they found themselves in 6th and 7th which personally I couldn't have pictured earlier in the week. The Milton-Keynes unit seems to be taking a lot of Confidence from the double podium they achieved in Hungary.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing.

Red Bull could realistically be in the fight for the 2nd row joining Ferrari and Williams. I am looking forward to it as it shall definitely provide some excitement and heartbreak. Could a team like Force India join the party due to the track history of the team based in Silverstone? Qualifying kicks of in just under 2 hours and it is set to be a cracking session.

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenflagf1

Belgium GP 2015 Preview: I believe we should be in a reasonable position - Lotus

With the Belgium Grand Prix now just 2 days away many enthusiasts are thankful that the Summer Break has come to a close and what better track to start the second half of the season on then the fast and flowing Spa-Francorchamps in the beautiful Belgium countryside.

The circuit is the longest track of the season at a tick over 7km. Famous for its long striaghts and fast corners like Eau Rouge and Blanchimont Spa is very power dependent and teams like McLaren-Honda and Red Bull should find themselves struggling to keep up. This opens the door for a team to follow behind the top three of Mercedes, Williams and Ferrari. But just who exactly would this team be?

The first option is the newly Mercedes powered Lotus. With an experienced driver line up of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado the team is definitely in a good spot to contest Red Bull. The reason why Lotus aren't already there has been reliability with Maldonado retiring in the first 4 races of the season. With only 11 finishes out of a potential 20, Lotus have been in the points 7 of those 11 times. If Lotus isn't plagued by any of these niggling issues they should be on for a very good weekend. In an interview with formula1.com Lotus technical director Nick Chester has said: “It’s a strong power track and we have a strong power unit. We have fairly low drag on the E23 so I believe we should be in a reasonable position.”

Pastor Maldonado at Pre-Season testing in Jerez.

Lotus had strong competition from Force India though, with a new car they'll have both the grip and the speed and will be tough to beat. Force India's team principal Vijay Mallya told formula1,com that "We expect to be in good shape this weekend and we will be aiming for Q3 on Saturday and good points on Sunday.”

Sahara Force India race driver Sergio Perez

Sauber is another potential to spoil the party. After an amazing start to the season with 14 points the Swiss team have only managed 7 more points and have really dropped off in terms of pace. But with a newer spec Ferrari power unit and brand new aero package the team is feeling confident to launch up the field.

Once again Belgium is a track to suit Mercedes but don't fully discount Ferrari. They will have a lot of confidence from the result in Hungary.

The Belgium GP begins on the 21st of August with Friday practice.

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenflagf1
Subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUJ2eNrgU1RHcEweh23bpvg/videos