FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers have mixed views about the extent to which they expect tyre degradation to affect this weekend’s races at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium after the track’s resurfacing last month.
At 7.004 kilometres in length, Spa is the longest circuit on the F2 calendar by nearly a kilometre, and its mix of characteristics can lead to substantial differences in car and tyre performance over a lap.
From June 9 to June 14, several portions of the circuit were resurfaced ahead of this year’s Belgian Grand Prix, covering almost half of the track length. The new asphalt has already played host to a variety of GT and touring car events, including the 24 Hours of Spa at the end of June, as well as a French F4 round the week prior.
The first resurfaced section begins at the start of Kemmel straight, after Raidillon (Turn 4), and stretches through Les Combes and Malmédy before terminating at the entry to the Bruxelles hairpin (Turn 8).
The next one goes from the entry to Stavelot (Turn 14) through the exit of the subsequent Courbe Paul Frère (Turn 15), while the last one begins at the exit of Blanchimont (Turn 17) and goes through the Bus Stop chicane and the La Source hairpin before ending at the entry to Eau Rouge (Turn 2). The pit lane has also been resurfaced.
They come in addition to resurfacing done between Eau Rouge and Raidillon and between Bruxelles and Jacky Ickx corner (Turn 9) in 2022.
“I’ve never had this much grip around this track,” pole sitter Paul Aron said about the new asphalt in the post-qualifying press conference. “You could just feel the mechanical grip that the track was providing.
“Actually, from how I prepared in the simulator, I changed my gears quite a bit. We were in higher gears because you were carrying so much more speed.
“Obviously with Turn 1 and the last corner being the two slower-speed corners on the track, the traction was so much better because there was just so much more grip. And that really makes the track more enjoyable.
“These two corners were always really difficult, especially if you were in races, because as the tyre would wear down, you started to struggle with traction and it would just feel really clumsy. And now, with his resurfacing, it just feels super nice because there’s a lot of grip.”
Pirelli brought the medium and soft compounds to the circuit this weekend, the same allocation as last year.
Thermal degradation tends to be high around the high-speed Belgian circuit, but Pirelli predicted that the grippier new surface could increase degradation globally as well.
Drivers first experienced the new asphalt in practice and qualifying today, both of which took place in dry conditions. Practice was interrupted by a nine-and-a-half-minute red-flag period after Van Amersfoort Racing driver Rafael Villagómez crashed exiting Malmedy.
Though Hitech GP driver Aron stressed that while tyre management would “be a key point” in the Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s feature race, he and other drivers were still uncertain about how exactly it would affect them on the renovated circuit.
“It’s hard to say,” Aron told InsideF2. “We didn’t do unlimited laps in FP. I mean, in the end, the tyres are the same as last year, and everyone has the data from last year.
“I think this track definitely has some degradation on the tyres. We’ll have to see exactly. I think different cars degrade the tyres differently and different drivers drive differently, so we’ll see on Sunday, or maybe if Saturday is in the end dry, we’ll see how any of us do on that side.
“For sure there will be tyre management. There is in every race, and it will be important to get it right with the strategy to not lose out on the potential pace of a quicker tyre.”
Second-placed Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing, however, suggested tyre degradation would be “not as much as [on] other tracks, maybe, but it will be there.”
“It’s a long track, long straights, high-speed corners, so I feel like it’s going to be there, but I cannot tell you,” he explained. “I have not raced here in F2 before, and we didn’t do many laps in FP, so it’s quite difficult to predict something. But I expect it just to be a little bit.”
Bortoleto set three flying laps in practice, while Aron set two. Both drivers set a total of eight laps in the session.
The layout of the circuit also means that when it rains – a common occurrence in the Ardennes, the forest region where the circuit is located – certain parts of the track may be wet while others are completely dry.
At the time of writing, the forecast from the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium says there is a 40 percent chance of rain in Spa at 1400 local on Saturday, 15 minutes before the sprint race starts. This climbs to 70 percent by the scheduled end of the race around 1500 local.
Rain is not expected on Sunday.
Championship leader Isack Hadjar, who qualified third after topping practice, has prior experience of the circuit from last year’s F2 round in Belgium, which saw wet weather affect both qualifying and the early phases of the feature race.
“I mean it’s obviously a tough track on the tyres,” the Campos driver said. “We’ll see compared to last year if the new tarmac is making any difference on the wear. Maybe it doesn’t.
“I obviously have the experience from the sprint race last year, but I don’t know if tomorrow is going to be wet or dry. Sunday looks to be clear, but hopefully tomorrow gives us still an idea, and then we’ll work ahead and prepare a good car for Sunday.”
In addition to the resurfacing, there have been drainage improvements made in the run-off area on the left side of Eau Rouge and at Jacky Ickx, where a new combination kerb has been installed along the inside of the turn.
Seven new concrete walls have also been added to the circuit, six of which replace existing guardrails.
With the two additional points he gains from taking his third F2 pole position today, Aron is set to close his points gap to Hadjar to 16 points. Bortoleto remains third in the points, 30 behind Hadjar.
Credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool
