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One of the more intriguing aspects of tomorrow will be the first time the cars plunge down the hill towards Eau Rouge.

Although everyone says that the corner is easily flat these days, wet or dry, lap one will be an eye opener for most drivers. With this year’s full load of 150-160kgs of fuel on board the cars might behave a little differently, and the question of ride height could be an issue. Then there’s the matter of tyres not being in their optimum working window, and the fact that in traffic, cars ahead will take downforce off those behind. If the track is wet, that will add another dimension.

Obviously the reconnaissance laps to the grid will give drivers a little idea of what to expect, albeit not necessarily at full racing speed, but it could still be quite exciting up there.

“Don’t get me wrong, pole position is the place everybody wants to be,” said Sebastian Vettel when this blog asked him what he might expect. “But it’s probably better with our top speed not to be the first car, or in my case not to be the first car. You never know what happens in the first corner, you never know if it will be wet or dry, if there will be a start behind the safety car or not.

“Should it be dry and all normal I’m quite happy, I don’t have to use my mirrors too much, and I can focus on what’s happening in front of me, and using the tows of the cars ahead. But yeah it will be quite difficult, still a little bit of cold tyres, when the pressures are not yet up to target. And as you said, around 150, 160 kilos in the car.”

Vettel admitted that RBR hasn’t actually tackled Eau Rouge with a full tank yet.

“I think no one really has. Yesterday, if anyone tried to do a long run, I think he did one lap! I think we should be fine, I don’t expect any surprise. But for sure it will be an adventure once you get there.”

In fact Jenson Button did have a brief go with heavy fuel yesterday. It’ll be interesting to see if that gives him a little more idea of what to expect…

Nineteen years after he qualified seventh on his Grand Prix debut, Michael Schumacher will start the Belgian GP from 21st on the grid, thanks to his Hungarian penalty.

Michael is pretty confident that he can make progress, but he faces one big problem. He’s had some great first laps this year, but rain or shine, he’s going to have to get through intact. Given that he’ll be mired in traffic, he concedes that he can’t afford any bad luck.

“That’s obviously exactly the point,” he smiled when asked about it by this blog. “You have to make sure that you be as aggressive as possible, but come with the car past the line the first time with all the pieces on the car, rather than to exit through the pits and grab new stuff, a new front wing!

“I was joking to Nico, him being put five places further back, he’s not too far away, so I’m going to meet him pretty soon I guess after the start. Let’s hope that happens and then we’ll see how the race might develop thereon.”

Michael only completed one corner on his debut, so let’s hope he gets a bit further this time! The other big talking point on the first lap is what might happen at La Source. After Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of running wide last year, the FIA is hoping to discourage a repeat.

“I think we probably have some discussion about this, whether you anticipate being pushed out, or you have to wait until you’re pushed out. Because if you look at Kimi, I mean quite honestly he wouldn’t have been able to go this line keeping the speed on, otherwise he would have had to brake. So he was anticipating to make this move to avoid maybe to slow down. Is this right, is this wrong?

“Well, we’ll find out. Luckily we have a driver colleague up there that helps the stewards to find the right decision. So Nigel [Mansell], with his experience, I hope he’s going to judge it well and have the right decision input.”

I’m not sure that Michael was too happy with Derek Warwick’s input at the last race, so it’ll be interesting to see what might unfold tomorrow…

Mark Webber was untroubled by his lowly 18^th place in the dry at Spa today, despite it being his birthday. He admitted that he didn’t even know where he had ended up until the media questioned him about it.

It’s worth remembering that in Malaysia earlier this year the Aussie made a great call on a drying track in qualifying to grab pole, and clearly he’s hoping for a repeat of that sort of form tomorrow.

Having been seventh in the damp morning session Webber didn’t get in a properly representative time in the dry. He lost one run when he backed off while the team investigated an engine oil issue, which turned out not be to be serious. He’s confident that the package is strrong.

“Today’s a bit of a messy day, so I’ll not lose any sleep over today,” said Webber. “It was actually a pretty good day for us to be honest, we did some pretty good stuff. So I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve got some good information to go through tonight.

“I think there’s a few quick guys out there, but we’re not exactly slow either. It looks like an interesting weekend. So we’ll see tomorrow. As always it’s changing and mixing a lot with the weather conditions, and it’s very hard to get a feel on what anyone’s doing. We went through our programme today, the car ran well, and tomorrow’s obviously a bit more important.”

Webber admitted that the Belgian GP would be a nice addition to his CV: “It’s a beautiful track, any driver would be lying if it wasn’t a special victory here in Spa. I’m looking forward to a very competitive weekend. It’s up there with Monza and Monaco, it’s a real signature event. Spa is a really special track for all the drivers. Today we got to sample all conditions, which is not unusual for Spa.”

The Red Bull and Ferrari wings will face the new test today

The FIA is set to try its new and stricter deflection tests on the Red Bull and Ferrari front wings after practice at Spa this afternoon.

However teams have been able to do their own tests in their factories, having been told by the FIA on August 13 exactly what format would be used, and thus in theory they should not expect any surprises.

Meanwhile RBR boss Christian Horner insists that his team has not had to modify the wing to meet the new requirements.

“There’s been a lot of noise from other quarters about our car, but I think our guys take it as a compliment,” he said on BBC radio this morning.

“We’re totally happy that our car complies. The FIA have had concerns that have been raised to them, and they’ve raised the tests, but we’re confident that our car complies.”

Horner says he isn’t worried about the new floor tests which will be used in Monza for the first time.

“I think it will affect us only as much as any other team. I don’t think it will have any significant impact upon us. We’re confident that we will comply with any tests that are required.”

Lewis Hamilton has been fined a modest AU$500 – less than £300 – for his Mercedes hooning incident in Melbourne earlier this year. However, he did not get a conviction that would have left him with a record.

The McLaren driver did not attend the hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court, but communicated by letter, apologising for his absence due to his “international racing duties.”  He was represented by lawyer Sandip Mukerjea.

Hamilton pleaded guilty to improper use of a motor vehicle. His lawyer said that he had apologised and had suffered “embarrassment, humiliation and distress” as a result of the bad publicity he had received.

In his letter Hamilton stressed that he was involved in various road safety campaigns, with Mercedes-Benz, Johnnie Walker, and the FIA. he added that the bad publicity could be “potentially detrimental to my efforts to promote road safety.”

Magistrate Clive Alsop said that Hamilton was a role model and should behave appropriately, but as it was a first offence, the Briton did not get a conviction. The fine was the maximum he could give.

The return of the story to the headlines just before Spa will ensure that Lewis gets a media grilling in Belgium on Thursday, but otherwise he can now put the event behind him.

The full text of Hamilton’s letter can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/25z3duv

Pirelli motor sport boss Paul Hembery says that Nick Heidfeld was the ideal choice as test driver, and will do a “great job” for the Italian company.

Pirelli will use a Toyota TF109 for its initial testing. As previously reported the existing teams will get their chance to try the new rubber during the week after the Abu Dhabi GP.

In a statement Hembery said: “We’re delighted to welcome Nick into the Pirelli family, and we’re confident that he’ll do a great job for us. The role of test driver is a crucial one, so we were looking for a driver who had plenty of recent Formula One experience, the speed to push our new tyres as hard as possible, and the consistency to provide reliable simulations, as well as the analytical skills to relay information accurately to our engineers.

“Nick fits the bill in every respect and we’re very pleased to have secured his services and obviously thankful to Mercedes GP Petronas for agreeing to release Nick from his contract. As for the car, we have a policy of complete impartiality, so we did not want to favour any existing team. The Toyota was the perfect solution, as it is a contemporary racing machine with proven speed and reliability but without links to any of the manufacturers currently competing in Formula One. I’m confident that we have an extremely good package that will give us every opportunity to maximise the potential of our tyres prior to the start of next season.”

Meanwhile Heidfeld added: “It’s a great privilege for me to join Pirelli in order to carry out this vital work and I am very grateful to Mercedes GP Petronas for releasing me from my contract to take on this role. Through the experience I have built up over the years, I’m confident that I will be able to provide Pirelli with some important feedback regarding the development of next year’s tyres.

“I’ve got a lot to give but I haven’t been driving so much this year, so it is good to get started! Together, I’m sure that we can create a dynamic range of tyres that will make Formula One an even more exciting sport in the future.”

Mercedes has confirmed that it has released Nick Heidfeld from his reserve driver role so that he can take up his new job as Pirelli’s official test driver.

Pirelli had earlier made it clear that in the interests of fairness it did not want to have a driver associated with an existing team, or indeed one who had ambitions to race again in the future, so the nomination of Heidfeld came as a surprise.

While the Mercedes news has addressed the first issue Nick still has ambitions to compete – and indeed one of his own bosses says his Pirelli experience will make him a valuable asset for another team.

Mercedes in theory has now safety net should either Nico Rosberg or Michael Schumacher be unable to race in the latter part of the season, but one imagines that should that be the case Heidfeld might just find that he is available after all…

Ross Brawn said in a statement: “We can confirm the team is pleased to allow Nick Heidfeld the opportunity to join Pirelli and contribute to their development work for the company’s imminent return to Formula One. Nick is an extremely experienced driver and we are confident that his racing knowledge and technical feedback will prove extremely useful to Pirelli and therefore of benefit to the sport as a whole. Nick has been a real asset to our team this year and we are pleased to see his career progressing.”

Norbert Haug added: “It was clear from the beginning of our cooperation that Mercedes GP Petronas would release Nick from his obligations as soon as a promising opportunity as an active Formula One driver developed. This is now the case and there could be no more experienced and knowledgeable driver in the cockpit to steer the tyre development for next season. We thank Nick for his contribution to our team over the last nine months and wish him well with his new challenge. It would be great to see Nick in a competitive car in next year’s Formula One World Championship and I am sure his leading role in the new tyre development, in addition to his skills, puts Nick in a good position for the remaining seats in 2011.”

Heidfeld said: “First of all I would like to thank Ross Brawn, Norbert Haug and Nick Fry for allowing me the opportunity to become Pirelli’s official test driver. The team has always said that they would not stand in my way if such a chance arose and they have kindly allowed me to take up this exciting new role.

“I would like to thank everyone at Mercedes GP Petronas for the great cooperation that we have had this year. I have greatly enjoyed supporting the team in my position as Reserve Driver and have felt welcome right from the outset. It was impressive to have the opportunity to work with the current World Champions and I wish the team all the best for the remainder of the season and beyond.”

If you have $1m to spare you can buy one of these...

Lotus Cars has revealed the ultimate track day car for wealthy enthusiasts. And instead of following the Ferrari route and creating a GT car with F1 heritage – in other words the FXX – it has made an out and out single seater.

The Exos Type 125, unveiled at Monterey this week, is powered by a Cosworth V8 that’s good for 650bhp and can do 3000 miles or so between rebuilds.

What’s more the car can be started by the driver, as opposed to requiring a fleet of lap top wielding technicians.

Lotus expects to sell 25 of these amazing machines for $1m a pop. Customers will be able to choose their own liveries, and the company will even be offering versions reflecting Gold Leaf, JPS and Camel heritage…

Fernando Alonso and Stefano Domenicali appeared together for a book launch in Italy today, and made some interesting comments as the team heads into the summer break.

Both men made it clear that they won’t be switching off as they prepare for the next race in Belgium.  Indeed Domenicali implied that he expects his engineers to come back with new ideas, something that probably won’t go down too well with the wives and girlfriends who think that they have finally got the attention of their other halves for a couple of weeks!

“It won’t be possible to switch off my mind completely over these two weeks,” said Alonso. “I will try and relax and do a bit of sport, but at least once a day, maybe just for 10 minutes, I will inevitably think about the next race in Belgium. I think it will be the same for everyone and the timing of the break, does not make any difference.

“After a few unlucky races, which went badly for various reasons, we are now on the right road. The car is much improved and so that makes me more optimistic and has seen the whole team grow in confidence. In Spa, we will have a few more things and we hope they help us progress still more. The others will do the same, which means we will have to be better than them and quicker in terms of development work.”

“We will be on holiday, but that does not mean our brains will stop working,” said Domenicali. “Maybe one can even find fresh inspiration when outside the normal working environment and I expect this time to be a fertile one for ideas, which when all is said and done, are what make the difference.”

Alonso says he’s happy with the way things have gone in recent weeks, and clearly Ferrari has built up some momentum.

“It only took us two normal races to be fully back in contention for the title,” said the former champion. “It’s true we are still behind in the classification and it is always better to be in front, but I am convinced that in the final sprint, by which I mean the last two or three races, we will be closer to the top than we are now. The important thing is to remain calm and concentrated and to do our job well.”

He hinted at tensions in the Red Bull camp by suggesting that the McLaren drivers were better prepared for the title fight: “It’s hard to say who is my strongest rival – we are all almost equal. Maybe, Hamilton, Button and myself, who have already won a title, will tackle the final rush in a calmer way, having already experienced something similar. Percentage chance? I’d say 50%, which is the normal state of affairs.”

Alonso would not be drawn on the World Motor Sport Council meeting: “We have to await the decision with confidence, hoping for a positive outcome. We drivers and the engineers have the task of staying focussed on the car and on our work, trying to get the results on track.”

Domenicali also commented on the recent team orders and flex wing controversies.

“I was dumbstruck to see so much hypocrisy in our world,” said the team boss. “But I don’t want to add anything else: there will just be more work to do; who knows it might be an added distraction for some. I have to say I was very pleased with the way our team reacted at a point in the season when the results were just not coming.

“The second half of July went very well and I hope it has given the right impetus for the final part of the season. We know there is much to do, because we still do not have the best car, but this should simply be a further incentive. We said it with Fernando a few days ago: if we manage to always be there, in the top places, then we can get satisfaction.”

Somebody must have spent a lot of time on this

The unveiling of the logo of a new GP venue isn’t normally an earth shattering event, but the Korean organisers seem to have invested so much in theirs I couldn’t resist giving you its background. And anyway, it’s a slow news day…

 What at first glance looks like a fairly pedestrian graphic positively rocks with meaning and nuance, according to the press release that accompanies it. Apparently the logo is “an eloquent combination of national tradition and high-octane excitement. The design is inspired by the Korean flag, or ‘Taegeukgi’, and incorporates motorsports’ most recognisable symbol, the chequered flag.

 “The ‘Taegeukgi’ incorporates the four Taoist philosophical ideals of harmony, symmetry, balance and flow, and its swirling treatment on the KIC emblem depicts both the energy of motorsport and the flow of the circuit.

 “Commented Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVO) Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Yung Cho Chung:  ‘The Yin and Yang elements of the Taegeukgi represent perfect balance and give our emblem a local aesthetic, while the modern design reflects our technologically-advanced new motorsport facility, the only one of its kind in the country and set to become the heart of the sport in South Korea.  The emblem will be a symbol of motorsport excellence here.'”

So now you know!