Spa Friday: Best time for Antonelli, fine for Ferrari

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We have now also reached the end of our Friday ticker. FT3 is tomorrow at 12:30 pm, qualifying at 4:00 pm, and we will be back on time with a new ticker for you.

Have a nice evening, have a good weekend and see you then!

The Briton only landed in P8 today and was almost 1.3 seconds behind his teammate. Andrew Shovlin from Mercedes clarifies: “I don’t think this deficit is representative of what George is capable of.”

Russell did not get a good lap, says Shovlin, who is therefore sure that the world championship runner-up will finish much further ahead tomorrow. “There are many things we can identify that will be relatively easy for him to solve based on the data,” he emphasizes.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be much closer tomorrow, if not even a threat [to the front],” says Shovlin.

The Frenchman says about his crash in FT2: “I lost control of the car.” The Alpine broke out a bit, and it took too long to regain control.

“By the time I had it under control again, I was already off the track,” says Gasly. Apart from that, things went pretty well for Alpine with P7 for teammate Franco Colapinto.

He is “happier” with the car than recently, reports the Argentine and explains: “We have gained a bit of performance this weekend.” Although they still need to find “a bit more pace.”

But overall, the day was “positive,” says Colapinto.

The record world champion reports after P4 today: “The car feels good overall, but we are still missing a bit in the middle sector. That’s why we are currently trying to figure out what the cause is.”

“It seems to be somewhat related to downforce,” says Hamilton. They could add more downforce to the car, but that would cost time on the straights.

Apart from that, he also emphasizes: “Mercedes is always the team to beat. That has been the case all year.” And that probably won’t change in Spa.

If it does not rain on Sunday, Pirelli expects only one pit stop. Simone Berra explains that a one-stop race is currently “very likely.” Apart from that, he reveals that the rain caused some minor surprises.

“The rain that fell overnight and throughout the day significantly reduced grip on the track, causing lap times to increase compared to our expectations and those of the teams,” says Berra.

He also clarifies: “As long as there is no further precipitation, the track will gradually be covered with rubber and reach the expected level again.”

P12 and P14 today for the US team. “Overall, I am quite satisfied because the car felt strong today,” reports Oliver Bearman, who knows, however, that Haas is still lacking performance.

“With the new [front] wing, the characteristics we suffered from in the last races have slightly improved, so I am quite satisfied,” says the Brit.

However, he also emphasizes: “We are still far from where we should actually be. We are still far from the level of VCARB, we are still far from the level of Alpine.”

“We have made a small step, but we need four or five times as many steps to be able to fight for points on our own,” he clarifies.

The Ferrari team principal also spoke about the sporting situation and emphasized: “If you look at the last three or four Fridays, it is not always representative of qualifying.”

“I think we all run with different modes, different fuel loads, and so on,” he recalls. Therefore, one has to wait and see how it looks tomorrow.

Ferrari only landed in P4 and P11 today. Lewis Hamilton was 0.747 seconds behind the best time of Antonelli, Leclerc’s fastest lap was deleted due to track limits.

Much was already discussed about the new regulations this year ahead of Spa. Lando Norris explains, not very enthusiastic: “There is simply a lack of deployment everywhere.”

“To be honest, we lack deployment on every single straight. I think the worst is through Blanchimont. We drop from almost 320 to 270 km/h because we simply have no more battery,” says the Brit.

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur adds: “Spa is definitely a challenge. It always has been, but given the energy demand, it is now an even bigger challenge.”

On one straight, you are “20 km/h slower” than another car, on the next suddenly “ten to 15 km/h faster,” says Vasseur. The race therefore requires good preparation regarding the battery.

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Despite P2 today, the world champion is not completely happy. He reports: “FT1 was not particularly good. FT2 went a bit better, but I am still not completely satisfied with the car.”

“It is still very, very difficult to drive,” he emphasizes, “but we seem to be a bit closer.” However, one should not overestimate that on a Friday.

“On Fridays, we are always quite close in practice. I think we just show more pace than some of our competitors,” explains Norris.

Nevertheless, they are “relatively competitive,” he says cautiously optimistic. “But we definitely don’t want to be premature. I think we should expect nothing other than the usual,” says the world champion.

The judgment in the Hülkenberg case is in. He receives a warning for ignoring a yellow flag in FT1. Here is the long judgment in full:

“During the session, a vehicle was stopped on the right edge of the track at the entrance to turn 5, which triggered a double yellow flag. The evidence showed that the double yellow flag was only called after car 27 had already entered the relevant marshaling sector and after car 27 had already passed the stopped vehicle.”

“The driver therefore had no opportunity to react before entering the sector. The driver stated that he had neither seen yellow flags on the track nor a yellow light signal and was therefore not aware that a double yellow flag was in effect in this sector.”

“However, the evidence showed that as the driver approached the apex of turn 6, a warning in the form of a yellow flag was displayed on the steering wheel of car 27 and a green light was visible at turn 7.”

“Due to the display on the dashboard, the driver lifted off the throttle. He said he did this because he noticed the light on his steering wheel and saw the green light panel indicating the end of a yellow section.”

“He said he did not know he was in a double yellow section but recognized from the light on the steering wheel and the green light panel that the section was yellow. He said there was nothing on the track ahead of him indicating a hazard.”

“The warning light on the steering wheel was flashing. The team admitted that this probably indicated a double yellow sector, while a single yellow sector is indicated by a steady warning light.”

“However, the race stewards acknowledge that the driver had very limited opportunities to recognize that the light on the steering wheel was flashing to indicate a double yellow sector while passing through the direction changes in turns 5 and 6 and before passing the green light system.”

“Given the circumstances, the race stewards considered that the driver could be forgiven for not knowing he was in a double yellow sector and accepted the driver’s statement that he did not know.”

“However, he knew he was at least in a single yellow sector. He also could not know that it was definitely not a double yellow sector.”

“The driver’s reaction to lift off the throttle and reduce speed slightly was insufficient to meet the expectations of a driver in a double yellow area.”

“Therefore, the driver did not comply with the regulations. Considering the described exceptional circumstances, the race stewards concluded that a warning to the driver was the appropriate penalty.”

Only P13 and P17 today and Nico Hülkenberg admits: “The top 10 are perhaps a bit further away than the last two times, but let’s see what we can achieve tomorrow.”

He explains: “Sectors 1 and 3 are high-speed sectors, and sector 2 is the sector where grip matters. I think this weekend it will probably be a bit more demanding here,” says Hülkenberg.

The German is still waiting for his first world championship point this year.

The world championship leader is only partially happy with Friday despite P1. “In the first practice, we had big difficulties, much bigger than expected,” he reports and explains that the Mercedes slid strongly.

“I can’t go into too much detail, but overall the car slid quite a bit, and I just had trouble finding confidence in the car,” says Antonelli.

FT2 went better. Nevertheless, they still have “a lot of work” ahead because the competitors are also fast.

The Dutchman has been more dissatisfied on a Friday before. He explains after P3: “For me, it went quite well, I actually had no major problems. The car was in a pretty good window.”

“Probably in FT2 the actual gap will be a bit clearer, but that’s nothing shocking or unexpected,” says Verstappen, who was 0.472 seconds off the best time at the end.

“It is also a pretty demanding track in terms of energy management. It seems we are a bit slower on the straights than some of our competitors, but in terms of balance, it is going quite well,” he emphasizes.

Not only Nico Hülkenberg is still facing trouble, Ferrari has also been investigated. For the Scuderia, it concerns that two sets of tires each for Hamilton and Leclerc were not correctly returned to Pirelli after FT1.

The case is now with the race stewards.

Recently, Nikola Tsolov made headlines in Formula 2. Today in qualifying, the Red Bull junior only landed in P4, while the pole went to Ferrari junior Rafael Camara. Oliver Goethe was 14th.

Expert Karun Chandhok believes that the balance of power could completely reverse again tomorrow. On Sky he explains that the gaps at the front are sometimes unusually large.

“The teams will work intensively on the calculations for energy deployment and try to find the best solution,” he explains.

“A lot of work will be done overnight in the factories. I don’t think it is a given that we will see the same picture tomorrow,” he says.

He would be “surprised if Verstappen were so far behind Antonelli.” The Dutchman was almost half a second behind at the end of the day.

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