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AT& T Williams 2008 Belgian GP Preview

2007 Belgian GP
By Williams F1 Team
August 28 2008
The penultimate European round of the season takes Formula One to the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit for the Belgian GP. The Williams team has identified where improvements can be made with the FW30 and are making the necessary adjustments to take them into the final few races. So the team is hopeful of a points soring finish but is realistic about the difficult job ahead.
 
 Belgian Grand Prix: Spa-Francorchamps
 
2008 Belgian GP
 
Race Preview:
 
The penultimate European round of the season takes Formula One to the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Sunday 7 September. The Belgian Grand Prix is one of the oldest on the calendar, having debuted as a World Championship venue in 1950 and hosted 52 Grands Prix at its three race tracks, Spa, Nivelles and Zolder.

Winding through the Ardennes forest, Spa is renowned for its long, sweeping straights and technically challenging, yet fast turns, which have provided the stage for some of the sport’s most epic battles over the years. Corners such as Eau Rouge, Blanchimont and La Source are some of the most evocative in motor racing and combine to make one of the most favoured tracks amongst drivers, teams and fans alike. With just six races outstanding, Spa will provide the perfect stage for another compelling Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg:
 Nico Rosberg "We had a great race at Spa last year. I finished sixth, which was one of my best results of the season. The important thing for the team at the moment is that we’ve identified where improvements can be made with the FW30 and are making the necessary adjustments to take us into the final few races. The work everyone at the factory is putting in should help us out in Spa. We’re not going to make a huge jump, but we’ll definitely be heading in the right direction. I’m really looking forward to the Belgian Grand Prix because Spa is an amazing race track. It will be difficult to score points there, but you can never predict what will happen somewhere like Spa, so we’ll have to wait and see."

Kazuki Nakajima:
 Nakajima "It’s going to be the first time I’ve driven a Formula One car around Spa, so my first priority will be to learn the circuit and to find out how the car behaves on this track. I have, of course, driven Spa while racing in GP2 so know what a great racing track it is. In fact, it’s probably one of the greatest tracks on the calendar so I’m really looking forward to taking my FW30 out and doing that first lap! "

Sam Michael Technical Director:
 Sam Michael"Spa is one of the greatest tracks we visit. The circuit is steeped in history, with one of its most prolific characteristics being its fantastic corners, created by some significant undulations over the course of the lap. It’s a real challenge for the drivers to put in a perfect lap, on what is the longest on the calendar at seven kilometres.

Spa is a fairly fluid track, with the corners flowing smoothly from one to another. As they are either medium or high speed, good car stability is a pre-requisite, and mistakes made in the early part of the lap are difficult to recover from. A car that can withstand some kerb-riding is also important to get through the Bus Stop chicane quickly.

Weather is at its most unpredictable in Spa. The mountains in the area create their own micro-climate and small bursts of rain can appear on one part of the circuit and not on the others, which makes tyre choice an additional challenge! Strategists usually adopt a one or two stop approach for Belgium and Bridgestone will take the medium and hard tyre compounds"

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Located between Liege and Brussels in the Ardennes forest, at seven kilometers Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit on the calendar. Despite some significant modifications over the years from its original 14.9km layout, the current circuit is still predominantly run on narrow, public roads while following the natural landscape. The track boasts an exhilarating sequence of 19 sweeping medium and high speed corners connected by even faster straights. Of the nine left and nine right turns, the most technically challenging for any driver is undoubtedly Eau Rouge. Approached at over 300km/h after a plunging exit out of turn two, the drivers experience up to -3.5 of vertical G (the only circuit at which drivers experience negative G forces).

A medium downforce track, with medium tyre and brake wear, it’s the engines that experience the greatest demands at Spa with the average lap speed circulating the 237kph mark and top speeds reaching 320kph. As such, 66% of the lap is driven at full throttle with the longest period lasting a full 23 seconds from the exit of La Source through to the culmination of Eau Rouge.

Stretching across such a broad area, it’s little surprise that different parts of the circuit can experience different weather conditions at one time. With rain not uncommon to the region, it’s often the case that one part of the track will be wet while another completely dry. It might make for some great action for the fans, but such unpredictable weather conditions can wreak havoc with car set-up which must be carefully considered at this race track.
  
KEY RACE DATA:
RACE DISTANCE / LAPS: 7.004kms 44 laps = 308.052kms
RACE START TIME: Local: 14.00, BST: 13.00
2007 FASTEST LAP: F Massa, Ferrari 1:48.036
2007 POLE SITTER: K Raikkonen, Ferrari 1:45.994
2007 RACE WINNER: K Raikkonen, Ferrari
PIT-STOP SCHEDULE
1 stop: Laps 23 – 29
2 stops: Laps 15 – 20, 27 – 33
3 stops: Laps 9 – 12, 18- 22, 29 - 34

WILLIAMS IN BELGIUM (Spa, Zolder & Nivelles)
Car     Wins  Poles   Fastest  2006 	     2007
Starts	      Laps    Laps  

28 	4     9       5        n/a           NR Q5 / R6
					     AW Q15 / DNF
AT&T WILLIAMS DRIVER PERFORMANCE STATISTICS 2008
     NICO ROSBERG               KAZUKI NAKAJIMA
GP   RESULT  FASTEST LAP    PTS RESULT  FASTEST LAP    PTS
AUS  Q7/R3   1:28.090, 5th  6   Q13/R6  1:29.639, 14th 3
MYS  Q16/R14 1:36.782, 13th 0   Q22/R17 1:37.711, 17th 0
BHR  Q8/ R8  1:34.072, 6th  1   Q16/R14 1:35.433, 17th 0
ESP  Q15/DNF 1:23.319, 13th 0   Q12/R7  1:23.549, 15th 2
TUR  Q11/R8  1:27.795, 9th  1   Q16/DNF n/a            0
MON  Q6/DNF  1:21.270, 15th 0   Q14/R7  1:19.910, 13th 2
CAN  Q5/R10  1:17.977, 5th  0   Q12/DNF 1:18.784, 14th 0
FRA  Q19/R16 1:18.311, 17th 0   Q15/R15 1:18.054, 15th 0
GBR  Q22/R9  1:34.797, 16th 0   Q15/R8  1:34.277, 14th 1
GER  Q13/R10 1:17.380, 15th 0   Q16/R15 1:17.691, 17th 0
HUN  Q14/R14 1:22.397, 12th 0   Q16/R13 1:23.307, 18th 0
EUR  Q9/R8   1:39.577, 10th 1   Q11/R15 1:39.803, 13th 0

WILLIAMS PERFORMANCE STATISTICS 1978 TO 2008

GPs 	Wins  Poles Fastest Podiums Laps    Laps  Points
Entered		    Laps	    Raced   Led
498 	113   125   129     295     51,042   7,470 2,568.5
 

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AT& T Williams 2008 Belgian GP Preview
Posted by: Williams F1 (IP Logged)
Date: 28/08/2008 15:19

AT& T Williams 2008 Belgian GP Preview

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Re: AT& T Williams 2008 Belgian GP Preview
Posted by: gpl (IP Logged)
Date: 28/08/2008 15:30

The important thing for the team at the moment is that we’ve identified where improvements can be made with the FW30 and are making the necessary adjustments to take us into the final few races. The work everyone at the factory is putting in should help us out in Spa. We’re not going to make a huge jump, but we’ll definitely be heading in the right direction.

I like the word DEFINATELY not should do , or we think so but DEFINATELY.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2008:08:28:15:44:48 by gpl.

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