Haas F1
The seventh round of the 2020 FIA Formula One World Championship began with practice Friday at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps as teams prepared for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – were run under mostly cloudy skies on the 7.004-kilometer (4.352-mile), 19-turn circuit.
FP1 started in the worst possible way for Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen with both VF-20’s forced into early retirement with unrelated power unit issues. Magnussen was out with just his install lap to his credit while Grosjean had started his wake-up run when he encountered a loss of power out on-track and returned to the garage. Neither driver set a timed lap with both cars subsequently requiring a power unit replacement.
Each car crew worked feverishly enabling Magnussen, who was first to hit the track, and Grosjean to join FP2 with just over 30 minutes left in the afternoon session. Both drivers banked some bedding in laps on the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tires on low fuel. Grosjean’s best lap was a 1:45.834 – placing him P19. Magnussen lapped in 1:46.242 for P20. With the clock winding down and following a short red-flag stoppage for debris at the first turn, a handful of high fuel laps brought a frustrating day to a close.
Haas F1 Team was limited to a total of just 27 laps on Friday – 14 by Grosjean and 13 by Magnussen.
Romain Grosjean
“It was a tough day for everyone, especially the mechanics. Going out in the morning, then having to straight away change the engine – that’s not ideal, especially with both cars and at Spa where you really want to get laps and knowledge. We at least managed to get out in the afternoon – the boys did a mega job. The car didn’t feel too bad. We’re obviously not at the top of the timesheets, but that’s understandable after doing just one timed lap on a one lap tire. Being two tenths away from Vettel after having only done one lap, it’s not bad. The car actually felt good, so that’s nice, but we’ll pay the price for the straight line here. I believe we’ll be in the fight for 15th to 20th – I just don’t really see much more, but I hope I’m wrong.”
Kevin Magnussen
“It wasn’t the ideal day. We didn’t get out in FP1, then because we had to change the power unit, we were also delayed in FP2. Not a great start to the weekend but of course we’ll try and make up for it tomorrow. The car didn’t feel too bad, you only really get one lap on the C4 soft tire – and that’s your first flying lap. It’ll come though. We’ll see where we are tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get on top of the pace. You can’t just go into your first lap and be right on the pace. There’s a lot of lap time missing from us just getting up to pace. If it rains tomorrow though it doesn’t give any value to the experience anyone else gained today, so maybe fingers crossed for that.”
Gunther Steiner
“It’s been a very disappointing day today. We didn’t do any laps in FP1, other than the installation laps, because of both engine failures. The only good thing from today is that the guys did a fantastic job to get the cars together again. We at least got back out in the afternoon to find some kind of balance on the car, that’s what we achieved. We just need to get the best out of tomorrow’s one-hour practice session. Again, I just want to say a big thank you to the guys – they kept on working hard to get us back out there.”
AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly
“Another Friday finished and it was good to end the day in the top 10. However, at the moment I’m still not fully satisfied with the car balance and I have the feeling we haven’t found the sweet spot yet. I think we have a bit of work to do tonight to find more performance because I’m sure we can do even better. We’ll analyse everything and try to make the right changes to take the fight for the top 10 this weekend.”
Daniil Kvyat
“I think it was an OK Friday, we ran the usual procedures and did as many laps as possible today. We were able to get the car in a decent place straight away, so we will put in some good work overnight to make the balance better for tomorrow. Hopefully, it will put us in a good position to fight for Q3 in Qualifying.”
Jonathan Eddolls (Chief Race Engineer)
“Coming to Spa, we faced the usual uncertainties around the weather as the forecast was changing daily with a mix of rain, overcast and sunshine. This made planning for the weekend more difficult when it came to rear wing level and downforce choice because when the track’s dry, it favours one level, but when it’s wet it favours something completely different. We built that into our plans and the weather today has been good with no rain affecting the sessions, so we could run a completely dry programme to gather a lot of useful data. FP1 was quite a productive session, the performance was in line with expectations, particularly over the short run, and our top speed was looking competitive. We lost a bit of time with Pierre’s car due to some damage to his floor after having hit a kerb, which was unfortunate, so he didn’t get all of the running that we would have liked in that session. You can run a car quite low and aggressive here, but the downside is that if you run a bit wide you can cause quite a bit of damage. While this cost him some time, we were still quite positive at the end of FP1. We made some changes heading into FP2, but the balance went to more understeer for us, which wasn’t ideal, and I think overall, we didn’t quite show the competitiveness in FP2 that we hoped to, so we will look to make some changes tomorrow to help with the balance. Our long runs weren’t as clean as we would have liked as there was a VSC and a red flag. With Spa having such a long lap, it means if there’s an interruption on track, the number of laps you get on each tyre is reduced and this makes it a bit more difficult in understanding the compounds in preparation for Sunday. However, we have information on all three compounds now, and we’ll complete our analysis with the view of making the best choice for tyres and downforce level heading into tomorrow and the race.”
Red Bull
MAX VERSTAPPEN
“The car seems to be handling well, it is of course early days but from our side it was a positive Friday and overall I’m pretty happy. A racing car is never perfect and you always try to find things on the car and with the tyre prep that you can improve, so we will be looking at that tonight. Personally, I think Mercedes are still struggling a bit with the balance and I expect them to be stronger tomorrow. You can see already that they are very competitive on the long runs and I don’t think I will be fighting them for pole because we can’t really follow when they turn it up in qualifying. If we can at least be a bit closer that would be good ahead of the race. It was important to get some decent dry running today, even if the conditions change over the weekend, so we can find a good baseline. It’s never easy around Spa to find the perfect downforce level and you can see everyone trying different things, but I think we are in a reasonable place and we will find out tomorrow exactly where that puts us.”
ALEX ALBON
“It’s been a promising day and I felt good with the car from the very first lap. It felt strong and the car is gelling better. The corner balance feels good and so I’m happy things are progressing the right way. I think it’s actually helped a lot having that experience in the car from my first race with the team here last year as coming into this weekend I knew what we were going to do, what worked at this track and what didn’t – having that experience is really beneficial. It’s hard to say what everyone else is doing as it’s practice and people are running different engine modes and fuel but you can see some people are targeting straight line speed more than others so let’s see how tomorrow plays out. The times are surprisingly close and so we’ll continue to fine tune the car and dial out what we can but it will be tight tomorrow.”
Renault F1
Renault DP World F1 Team completed a productive day’s practice at Spa-Francorchamps today in preparation for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Daniel Ricciardo ended the day second on the timesheets with team-mate Esteban Ocon eighth after competitive low fuel runs for both drivers in the afternoon session.
Esteban set the fastest overall Sector 1 time in Free Practice 2 with Daniel quickest of anybody in Sector 3.
Both practice sessions remained dry, though, there is a threat of rain for Saturday and Sunday.
Daniel and Esteban ran inside the top ten throughout the day as they progressed through their usual practice programme, which centred around finding the right downforce balance and assessing the tyres. Daniel’s day was cut short after a problem with his car during Free Practice 2, which the team is investigating.
It was a decent day’s practice and that is backed up on the timesheets. We will assess our work overnight to make sure we’re well prepared for qualifying.
Daniel Ricciardo
“It was another good FP2 as has been the case for us at the last few rounds. We have to do it tomorrow, though, as that’s when it counts. Today was strong, even with the issue at the end. For safety, we pulled the car over as there’s no point taking risks with mechanical issues on Fridays. Our low fuel run was a good one. During the lap, I knew it felt good and sometimes you just know when the car’s working. I knew it was competitive and I wasn’t that surprised it was up there on the timesheets. It was a good day and we certainly understood a lot from it.”
Esteban Ocon
“Today was decent and we seem to be competitive as a team. We’ve made a good step from Barcelona and I’m happy with today’s running. There were lots of things we understood, which we’ll aim to put into tomorrow and Sunday. It definitely looks promising for qualifying. It’s always nice to see a purple sector next to your name and that shows we have the speed. The long runs are hard to read especially with the red flag. We might see some cars running high fuel in FP3 to make up for the lack of running.”
Ciaron Pilbeam, Chief Race Engineer
“We’re mostly happy with today’s running. The morning session went smoothly and to plan. There was some rain before FP2, which meant most teams held back before going out on track but, by the time we went out, the track was completely dry, and it didn’t have a significant effect on our overall run plan. Both drivers are reasonably happy with the car today. Daniel’s Soft tyre run was competitive; however, we’ve seen that before on a Friday so I would say only that we are cautiously optimistic. Esteban was also happy with the balance on his car. Daniel’s long run was going well but, after a couple of laps, the car stopped on track with a problem. That interrupted everyone’s long runs, including Esteban’s, but his run on Mediums looked consistent. We have everything we need to look at tonight to work on our qualifying and race strategy.”
McLaren
Lando Norris
“A decent day – the car is feeling pretty good. There are some things I’m struggling with a little bit, but on the whole I have good confidence in the car and it’s probably a better start to the weekend than in Barcelona. We completed all the testing items on the car and did everything we needed to in the session. The car balance is feeling pretty nice, but we have to wait until tomorrow to really see what the weather does – and when everyone turns up their engines.”
Carlos Sainz
“A normal Friday for us. We used both sessions to try some alternative set-ups and ideas that we had from the last race, which were interesting. We were competitive pace-wise and we seem to be in the mix for the top 10, but it’s only Friday. The Racing Points and the Renaults looked particularly quick here, so if we want to battle them this weekend we need to keep finding pace going into tomorrow.”
Andrea Stella - Racing Director
“We’ve had a productive Friday. The rain that was expected at some stage didn’t show up, so we were able to run consistently with both cars and get through the programme. Today, that involved assessing some aerodynamic and mechanical parts being introduced at this race, and, of course, understanding the tyres – in case it’s a dry race.
“Going forward, I think we have a good baseline both in low fuel and high fuel, but at the same time we know there’s weather around which can affect qualifying, Sunday’s race, or both. We have to be prepared for every eventuality and be ready to give our best whatever the weather.”
Alfa Romeo
A dry day in Spa is somewhat of a rarity, but precipitation held off on the Ardennes on Friday, letting teams go on with their work during the first day of on-track action. It wasn’t the most straightforward day for Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN, a small issue with Antonio’s power unit keeping car #99 marooned in the garage for the first session; it was, however, a productive day nonetheless, with the team manging to adapt the afternoon programme to catch up on lost time.
Placement in the low teens for both sessions is a good sign, although Fridays are never a solid indication of what the rest of the weekend harbours. The objective remains the same – making progress to be able to fight for a place in the top ten come Sunday. There’s no silver bullet, but a time-honoured recipe for it: lots of hard work, an evening spent crunching numbers and the need to put together a good lap in qualifying – no small feat on a circuit like Spa-Francorchamps…
Kimi Räikkönen
“It has been a relatively straightforward Friday for me. As always, there are still many things to improve but the feeling is that if we put everything together, we can be a bit more competitive. It’s still very early in the day, we need to build on what we did today and see where we are tomorrow when it matters.”
Antonio Giovinazzi
“Missing out on FP1 was not ideal, but we made good progress in the afternoon so we made up some of the ground we missed. I felt good in the car and, when you do, everything becomes easier, so I am happy now. Hopefully we can find some more performance tonight and see where we stand tomorrow. The weather is still a big question mark for the race, but for now our focus is firmly set on qualifying. My target is to make it to Q2 for the first time in the season.”
Racing Point
Sergio Perez
“I felt really good in the car today and we can be happy with a positive Friday programme. I’m excited to go away tonight and see if we can find a few extra tenths in the car and fight for a strong starting position for the race – I think we’ve shown today we’re certainly capable of that. We can be optimistic considering our pace in the short and long runs today. Like everyone else, the red flag late in FP2 means it’s harder to figure out the pecking order, but I’m confident we’re in a good place right now. We didn’t get any truly wet conditions, so we’ll have to see what tomorrow brings. I think we’re better prepared for wet conditions than we were at the beginning of the season, so we’re ready for whatever tomorrow brings.”
Lance Stroll
“It’s been a good day and I’m happy with how the car feels – I just wasn’t quite able to put together a clean and quick lap in FP2. But we’ve already shown that the pace was pretty good in FP1, so I’m happy with today’s work. Checo was able to put together a strong programme, so we’ve got plenty of positives to take from today. I also think we’ve found a couple of small areas where we can make a few tweaks and find some improvements for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to trying to take a step forward in FP3 and then fighting for a good starting position inside the Top 10 for Sunday.”
Williams
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance
Both drivers had solid days as we looked at some downforce configurations and general set-up. We had no issues with the cars, and we are now in a good position to push things along tomorrow. Although today was dry for the F1 sessions, the forecast for tomorrow and Sunday remains mixed and we will need to be alive to any rain during qualifying and the race.
The cars are running well, and the drivers are enjoying each lap of this great circuit. We need to find a bit more pace if we are to compete with Haas and Alfa Romeo tomorrow, but we have a good baseline on which to build that performance.
George Russell
It is always great to drive around Spa. We tried some different set-ups to try and get a bit more straight-line speed. Some were more beneficial than others, but I think we have a good understanding to gather the data and make the most of it tomorrow. It is going to be a tricky Saturday, Q2 is still the target and beating the Haas and the Alfa. We would like to see some rain to mix things up which would give us a chance to get a good result if we can maximise it. Nevertheless, we have got to make the most of whatever the conditions throw at us, and I will be ready to do that.
Nicholas Latifi
It was an average day and there are some things we have to work on. We don’t have a true reference to the Haas from their missed running in FP1, so they were always going to be on the back foot.
We definitely seem to be struggling a bit more to the Alfa, we knew it was going to be a weaker track for us because of the efficiency of the circuit that is all dependent on straight line speed. There are some things to work on but it wasn’t a bad day overall. It would be nice to have some mixed conditions in either qualifying or the race to create a bit of a challenge. I see that as a positive for us and something that we will try to capitalise on. However, even if its dry we will be able to make some gains tomorrow.
Mercedes
Work to do for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team at Spa-Francorchamps
— Valtteri set the fastest time in the morning session with Lewis in P2
— Lewis finished the afternoon session in P3 with Valtteri in P6
— Today’s programme focused on rear wing comparisons and understanding tyre performance on low and high fuel around Spa
Lewis Hamilton
It’s generally been a good day – I love driving around this track, it’s incredible. Fortunately for us it was dry today, which gave us plenty of time to get a lot of running in and understand the car. It’s very close out there between Red Bull and us; I think they might be a little bit quicker even at the moment. Racing Point are also looking strong, they’re right with us as well and so was Daniel in the Renault. It’s really close with everyone and we have to understand why – whether they’ve taken a step forwards or we’ve taken a step backwards. So we’ve definitely got some work to do overnight, dig through the data and try and dial in the car a little more. But it looks like we’ve got an exciting weekend ahead of us.
Valtteri Bottas
It’s been a good birthday so far for me – I can definitely think of worse things to do on your birthday than driving this track. The first session was good, the second turned out to be a bit more tricky. It was nothing major, and I didn’t get the laps quite right, but I think we might have to revert some set-up changes back to FP1. We were struggling with understeer all day and didn’t really find a good solution for that. I think once the front end feels a bit stronger and I can get the car into the corners better, we’ll find some lap time. Every year you come here, you think ‘how can we possibly go faster than this around this track?’ But then you come back a year later and it’s faster still. The cornering speeds are so high, you feel the g forces – it’s just great fun, I’m really enjoying it.
Andrew Shovlin
We’ve had new power units in both cars today and some updated bodywork. So far that all appears to be working as expected. The sessions were a bit messy, although it’s always difficult with such a long circuit as you don’t get many laps in each run. Both drivers have struggled a bit with the balance, mainly with a weak front end and we looked a bit slower than we normally do on a Friday even when the car seems to be working well. We’ve got a few areas that we are already looking into and hopefully we can make some progress for tomorrow. On the high fuel runs the midfield appears a bit closer than they did in previous races, so we can probably find a bit of time there. Looking at the forecast, there’s a good chance of rain on Sunday, which would make this a very exciting race.
Ferrari
Ferrari did not enjoy the best of Fridays at the Belgian Grand Prix. The team struggled to get the tyres to work properly with both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel’s cars and so the performance of the two SF1000s was considerably worse than expected, even if the team knew before taking to the track that Spa-Francorchamps would not be an easy track this year.
FP1. In the 90 minute morning session, the team focussed on fine tuning the car working with the Hard tyres. Then, both drivers switched to the Soft tyre with which they set their best times: Charles stopped the clocks in 1’45”759, while Sebastian did a 1’46”179, good enough for 14th and 15th respectively on the time sheet. They completed 33 laps between them.
FP2. The afternoon session started on time, but with a damp track following a light shower, everyone stayed in the garages for the first 15 minutes. It did not delay the programme much and once the track had dried, Seb and Charles headed out to continue fine tuning the cars and evaluating tyres. This time, they opted for the Medium compound with Charles being quicker than Seb, the former doing a 1’46”030 and the latter 1’46”360. With 40 minutes remaining, they switched to the Softs to simulate qualifying but once again, they did not produce the desired results, with the SF1000 lacking grip on this compound. Charles did a 1’45”440, while Sebastian lapped around two and a half tenths slower in 1’45”683, only good enough for 15th and 17th places respectively. In the second session they completed 40 laps between them.
Programme. There is now plenty of data that will be analysed tonight to try and work out what did not work the way it should have done. Solutions arrived at by the engineers will then be tested in the third free practice session tomorrow at 12 CET. Then qualifying is next at 15, when it will be vital not to make the slightest mistake in order to get the best grid position possible. The Belgian Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 15.10.
Charles Leclerc
“It was a very difficult day. We are really struggling with the balance of the car. We tried quite a few things in the second session, including something quite aggressive in terms of downforce level but it didn’t quite work out.
It’s probably a surprise to be so far back, but we are just lacking pace at the moment and have to work hard to catch up. But I’m not expecting any miracles this weekend. Our job as drivers is to give our best and that’s what I am trying to do. It has happened before that we have been struggling on Friday and then come up with a solution on Saturday, so I hope this will be the case tomorrow.”
Sebastian Vettel
“It was a difficult day for us. The car was tricky and difficult to drive and we are not quite where we should be as we struggled with the balance. We are looking to find options for the set up and we tried something different.
I am sure tomorrow will be a bit better, but we don’t yet know what the weather will be like. We had a glimpse of wet conditions this year in Austria therefore we are aware it won’t be the easiest thing to deal with, but it always provides a chance to mix things up, so let’s wait and see what happens.”