Breaking news
Formula 1 Belgian GP
F1 reclaims Spa record from Porsche's LMP1 car
Sebastian Vettel’s effort during Belgian Grand Prix qualifying means a Formula 1 car has reclaimed the fastest unofficial lap of Spa-Francorchamps from Porsche’s 919 Hybrid LMP1 ‘Evo’ machine.
Scott Mitchell
Edited: Aug 25, 2018, 5:20 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In April this year Neel Jani set a 1m41.770s around the 4.352-mile Spa circuit in the revised Porsche, which has an uprated V4 turbo engine and energy retrieval systems that give it a peak output of 1160bhp plus 50 percent more downforce and active aerodynamics.
Jani’s lap beat Lewis Hamilton’s pole time for the 2017 Belgian GP by almost a second.
That made it unofficially the fastest-ever lap of the Spa circuit, with the quickest racing lap, which is used to determine the official lap record, a 1m46.557s set by Vettel during last year’s F1 race.
However, in the second part of qualifying for this weekend’s Belgian GP, three drivers lapped even faster than Jani’s effort.
Vettel ended up with the new benchmark, a 1m41.501s, with teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton lapping in the same tenth.
Rain started to fall before Q2 ended and continued into Q3 as well, which prevented further improvements and meant the eventual pole position time was a 1m58.179s set by Hamilton using intermediate tyres on a wet track.
Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, Porsche Team: Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani, Timo Bernhard
Photo by: Porsche
Porsche’s project with its LMP1 Evo car followed its withdrawal from the top division of the World Endurance Championship last year.
It followed up its Spa effort this year by smashing the late Stefan Bellof's outright lap record for the Nurburgring-Nordschleife two months later.
Two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Timo Bernhard set a 5m24.375s, almost a minute quicker than Bellof’s pole position time for the 1983 Nurburgring 1000Km.
After his Spa time was beaten, Jani tweeted...
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article New fuel worth "over 20 percent" of Ferrari engine gains
Next article Belgian GP: Hamilton beats Vettel to pole as Force India stars
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Scott Mitchell
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Alfa Romeo must do better in "chaotic" races - Vasseur
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Honda: Verstappen relationship 'like a young Senna'
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jan 3, 2020
Key team personnel shouldn't be F1 boss - Ferrari
More from
Sebastian Vettel
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
WEC
WEC 15 d
Why Daniel Ricciardo would consider a comeback at Le Mans
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
Formula 1
Formula 1 15 d
Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did
More from
Ferrari
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Latest news
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
General
Misc General 2 h
Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
8 h
TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
9 h
Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe