Some news ahead of the race
Autosport.com wrote:Renault confirms F-duct for Spa
By Jonathan Noble Thursday, August 19th 2010, 11:00 GMT
Renault has given the official green light for its F-duct to be introduced at next week's Belgian Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT has learned, with the team having hit its development targets with the concept.
The Enstone-based outfit has been working on the blown-wing design for several months, and in July said it hoped to have it ready for the high-speed events at Spa and Monza - where it should provide a good advantage on the long straights.
Although the team's efforts are currently being interrupted by its mandatory two-week summer factory shutdown, which ends next Monday, the outfit has already seen enough positive feedback from the F-duct in the wind-tunnel to decide to press it into action for Belgium.
It is understood that Renault will head to Spa with the intention of racing the F-duct at its first event, rather than simply introducing it as a toe-in-the-water exercise for Friday practice. However, those plans could change if the early data from Friday running shows that the F-duct has not produced the step forward the team hopes.
McLaren was the first team to introduce the F-duct this season, and a number of its rivals – including Ferrari, Red Bull Racing, Williams, Force India and Mercedes GP, have introduced their own versions over the course of the campaign.
Renault's Robert Kubica said at the Hungarian Grand Prix that he had no doubts about the importance of the F-duct.
When asked which of technical innovations seens in 2010 was the most important, he said: "If it is working properly, it's the F-duct. The longer straights you have, the more of an advantage you have."
As well as using the F-duct for a pure top speed advantage, teams can also utilise the concept to help them run with more downforce for the corners – because the knock-on increase in drag is eradicated on the straights by the stalling of the rear wing.
Autosport.com wrote:Yamamoto keeps HRT seat for Belgium
By Jonathan Noble Friday, August 20th 2010, 12:34 GMT
Sakon Yamamoto will continue racing for HRT alongside Bruno Senna at the Belgian Grand Prix, the team confirmed on Friday.
The Japanese driver had his first race for the outfit at Silverstone, as temporary replacement for Senna, and has since then switched cars to stand-in for Karun Chandhok.
Although Chandhok had been expected to return to the HRT cockpit after the summer break, the team said on Friday that Yamamoto would be continuing for now.
Speaking about his continued spell in the car, Yamamoto said: "I am looking forward to be back in action after the break. In 2007, I was already running in Spa-Francorchamps with Spyker F1."
Senna said he hoped that the low-downforce nature of Spa-Francorchamps would be better suited to the HRT car.
"Spa is a medium downforce circuit and it demands a lot of high speed stability of the car, as the average speed of the corners is quite high," said the Brazilian. "It will be very important to find a confidence-inspiring car balance to extract the best lap time possible.
"The downforce levels of the track are in line with what we have in our car and I have a good relationship with the circuit as well, so I am really looking forward to driving the car for the time."
