Spa-Francorchamps lies in the Ardennes forest in the east of Belgium, and is known for experiencing changeable weather conditions.
The coming days may justify that reputation, as a mixture of sunny spells, cloudy periods and occasional rain showers are forecast for the weekend ahead.One consistent theme among those variables will be cool conditions. Air temperatures are forecast to rise no higher than 17C during the first day of practice tomorrow and may be a couple of degrees cooler than that on race day.
To put that into perspective, last year the mercury nudged 30C during qualifying, producing track temperatures of up to 42C.
Friday is expected to see generally cloudy conditions but is likely to remain dry. Sunshine will bring some warmth in the late afternoon.
The risk of rain will rise slightly on Saturday. However race day is currently forecast to bring the highest chance of precipitation. The air temperature is set to be no higher than 15C, which would be closer to what we saw on race day last year, when the ambient temperature reached 18C and the track surface 31C.
Although the conditions will be slightly cooler this year, teams have a softer range of tyres available, featuring the C4 slick tyre instead of the C1. However the big question will be whether they have to turn to intermediate or even wet weather tyres on race day.
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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.
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BasCB (@bascb)
27th August 2020, 7:48
Ah, another weekend of “oh, will the rain fall during Q3, followed by “will the rain fall during the race” only for it to come down either early morning or just after the race finishes.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th August 2020, 8:58
In Belgie i expect a more accurate prediction of rain.
Mo
27th August 2020, 10:09
And “rain in 15 minutes” radios from lap 1 til the end
Simon
27th August 2020, 18:18
Ha ha yes, to all of the above and I’d like to add:
Pits to driver “rain in 15 minutes” which ends up being 30 seconds of light drizzle 🙄
But I agree there will be the usual talk of rain at Spa this weekend
Chaitanya
27th August 2020, 8:17
Mercs with their DAS will have benefit during quali in cold session, they might be able to get through on mediums or hard.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th August 2020, 8:57
Seems a dry Friday, light rain on Saterday and heavier rain on Sunday at this moment.
Patrick (@paeschli)
27th August 2020, 14:56
It’s been overcast conditions with some rain here and there all week in Belgium. Let’s hope the rain falls during the race.
roodda (@roodda)
27th August 2020, 9:12
Prediction – a shower will fall during quali, with an FIA forecast of 90% chance of rain on race day. It will rain at the water park (Ted can see it from Eau Rouge/Radillion), with rain in five minutes said more times than Grosjean complains. The race will be bone dry and then rain during the podium ceremony
Also, Spa has not had a wet race since 2010
black (@black)
27th August 2020, 10:46
Damn, you’re right, i hadn’t realise that. We’d think that Spa is the most likely circuit to be affected by rain, but it has been 10 years (9 GPs) since we had a wet race and in those 9 GPs we had 4 rain-affected qualies instead (2011, 2013, 2014, 2018)… 44% chance of rain in qualifying!
Matt (@hollidog)
27th August 2020, 18:22
I can’t tell if you’re joking or not but I don’t think there is a water park at Spa? I’ve been 3 times and certainly never seen one myself. Maybe you are thinking of Budapest?
roodda (@roodda)
27th August 2020, 21:53
There’s a water park at spa, a roller coaster at Monaco and Melbourne is a figure-eight
Tim Crimson (@tim-crimson)
27th August 2020, 12:52
Isn’t it sad that the only thing keeping me from sleeping through the race is the slightest chance of rain?
us-brian (@us-brian)
27th August 2020, 14:45
Every time they say it might rain at the race it actually rains where I live and is bone dry where the race is.
Dave
28th August 2020, 1:58
Sad case of affairs, that the chance of rain isn’t some that means the race will be harder… Although it will be… Instead it gets people excited at the ever so slight chance that we might not get stuck with Hamilton leading by 40 seconds over Bottas and Verstappen, who lead 4th place by a further 30.
I like the tracks this season, like that we got some variety thrown in, I’m even happy that the Pink Mercedes have copied their way into contention for 3rd best team… But blow me, its dull as ever once the Mercs get out in front. Accidents, and tyre mismanagement are the only things that give them competition