2013 Formula One Shell Belgian Grand Prix

[MarcoM]

Very common yes.

I saw a spectator walking around with one after the race was over. I can imagine that a torn of visor in the wrong place can cause quite some trouble.

 

[HKS racer]

We will not win the Championship but THANKS FOR THE SHOW!

 

[MarcoM]

nice one HKS racer!

 

[BHRxRacer]

Surprisingly boring race.

I don't what happened to everyone that's saying Grosjean wasn't pushed. The guy was braking hard ONTO the curb. How can you blame him for what happened with Jenson at Hungary and say it's perfectly okay here? It was almost a carbon copy of that incident except he was the victim this time. The same thing happened again wth Gutierrez in the middle of the race but luckily he survived.

Shame to see Kimi retire for the first time since his comeback.

Also I'm blaming Maldonado and the track for the crash. It may be a stupid pit entry but if you know you're going to pit don't try to gain/maintain a position going in there with TWO other cars. Stick to the inside.

In the end, Vettel did what he always does and stole the race from the first lap or two. I'm not trying to start the argument again but until I see him winning a race from lower than 2nd after the first few laps, without the guys ahead of him retiring, I'm not giving him credit.


RE Hamilton getting pole
To all of you that praised him, Brawn himself basically said he was lucky he was last across the line and there was NO timing or planning involved whatsoever. Fanboys..

See Van der Garde, you can put in what looks like a great time in the wet if you're on the right tyres at the right time while everyone else is no where.

Certainly though Gutierrez has looked a bit closer to Hulk so far this weekend. Weirdly enough though, I never thought his problem would have been speed, but consistency. In GP2 he was horribly inconsistent. In F1, he has been inconsistent and slow.
That said, not the best car and team combination to really judge. You have to be really lucky to get a good result in a Sauber.

Close? He was pretty much ahead all the time. I'd call it luck if it was once in a session but it was many times in different sessions as well. He also seemed to be on fire in the race for some reason. I guess he just likes the track.

 

[MarcoM]

Nice pics Kristof!

 

[zippy_the_cat]

Finally saw the video; acquisition was greatly delayed.

As BHRx said, a surprisingly dull race after a hugely exciting quali.

The Maldonado/FI contretemps I actually put down to Gutierrez, who was all over the road from Stavelot to the bus stop and more or less created the stack-up. He was driving like an idiot and forced the other three to take odd lines in self-defense.

Button turned in a great drive. Was clear from the on-boards he was getting all there was on offer from the McLaren. The drivers ahead of him did nothing particularly special.

Edit: One shouldn't forget the mega job Rosberg did in quali. In the middle of Q3 he put in a time that was within 0.5 sec of Di Resta's when everyone else was struggling to get within 2 secs. Next trip around he actually got the provisional pole only to lose it to the changing conditions. The Red Bulls and Hamilton only topped him by luck; no skill on their part was involved.

 

[Whodoyouthink]

Agree that qualifying was great but the race wasn't what we typically expect from Spa.

I still think Malaysia was the most entertaining race of the year due to the all the 🤬 ups; from Alonso crashing out from the stupid mistake of not pitting to fix his front wing, Force India practically burning down their cars in the pits, to Vettel overtaking Webber when he wasn't really suppose to. Oh yes, and the uncertainty of whether the start was going to be wet or not. It really was a circus act.

Can't say Spa has lost it's glitz though, as the Spa 24 was probably one of the best 24hr races for this year. Le Mans had Allen's death and another [dare I say] easy win for Audi, Nurburgring was partially ruined by the 9hr red flag (although still had some really great racing and the most exciting final hour I've ever seen), but the Spa 24 as a whole was probably the best.

Anyway, I'm wondering if Alonso is going to have to face up anything due to taking off his tear-away when probably he didn't need to. I mean a tear-away still has the potential to get caught in to a brake duct during pit stops during the race anyway, but when someone takes it off when everyone is lined up, it does have a higher chance of going in to one I suppose. It's almost as if he meant for that to happen

 

[Peasantslayer]

Edit: One shouldn't forget the mega job Rosberg did in quali. In the middle of Q3 he put in a time that was within 0.5 sec of Di Resta's when everyone else was struggling to get within 2 secs. Next trip around he actually got the provisional pole only to lose it to the changing conditions. The Red Bulls and Hamilton only topped him by luck; no skill on their part was involved.

Or they saw how quick the track was drying out and had the foresight to save their tyres until the very end?

 

[f40]

Also I'm blaming Maldonado and the track for the crash. It may be a stupid pit entry but if you know you're going to pit don't try to gain/maintain a position going in there with TWO other cars. Stick to the inside.

I agree, Maldonado shouldn't have made the dive for the pits so suddenly. Di Resta and Sutil couldn't have done anything.

In the end, Vettel did what he always does and stole the race from the first lap or two. I'm not trying to start the argument again but until I see him winning a race from lower than 2nd after the first few laps, without the guys ahead of him retiring, I'm not giving him credit.

He just qualifies too well for that to happen.

 

[SagarisGTB]

Or they saw how quick the track was drying out and had the foresight to save their tyres until the very end?

Except the track wasn't drying out on the first flying lap and Rosberg was 1.7 seconds faster than anybody else in that pack. Second lap it started drying and Hamilton and the Bulls probably backed off later in the lap to save the tires for a third lap, but I doubt they would have beaten Rosberg then either. It was the third lap that saved them.

 

[zippy_the_cat]

Second lap it started drying and Hamilton and the Bulls probably backed off later in the lap to save the tires for a third lap

Actually it was a very near-run thing that they crossed in time to get a third lap so backing off wouldn't have been the appropriate reaction. Cf Raikkonen who didn't make it across and had to live with the results of his first two laps.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Or they saw how quick the track was drying out and had the foresight to save their tyres until the very end?

By "they" I assume you mean Mercedes, right? ROSS BRAWN HIMSELF SAID HE DIDN'T SEE **** AND THEY GOT LUCKY LEWIS WAS THE LAST ACROSS THE LINE

I'd upload the interview from my sky rip but I'm afraid youtube's going to ban me or something.

He just qualifies too well for that to happen.

..And his clutch doesn't go ape**** at the starts AND his kers doesn't fail halfway through. All of that of course, while enjoying clean air for the full length of the race. Next time I hear/read someone say "Webber has the same car why hasn't be done that?" I'm going to punch him in the face.

Edit: One shouldn't forget the mega job Rosberg did in quali. In the middle of Q3 he put in a time that was within 0.5 sec of Di Resta's when everyone else was struggling to get within 2 secs. Next trip around he actually got the provisional pole only to lose it to the changing conditions. The Red Bulls and Hamilton only topped him by luck; no skill on their part was involved.

See this was the same story in Australia and Malaysia, but when I say that I get called a Rosberg fanboy and/or Hamilton hater.

 

[f40]

..And his clutch doesn't go ape**** at the starts AND his kers doesn't fail halfway through. All of that of course, while enjoying clean air for the full length of the race. Next time I hear/read someone say "Webber has the same car why hasn't be done that?" I'm going to punch him in the face.

That didn't happen to Webber though, did it? He didn't get a particularly bad start- he was just boxed in by Vettel and Rosberg, then out KERSed at La Source by the fast starting Alonso. Then he failed to pass Rosberg for the rest of the race, who defended valiantly. He's a good driver that just isn't as good as his teammate who dominated another race.

So indeed, Webber has the same car, why hasn't he done that?

 

[BHRxRacer]

That didn't happen to Webber though, did it? He didn't get a particularly bad start- he was just out KERSed at La Source by the fast starting Alonso. Then he failed to pass Rosberg, who defended valiantly. He's a good driver that just isn't as good as his teammate who dominated another race.

So indeed, Webber has the same car, why hasn't he done that?

You mean in the last race in particular? His start wasn't as bad as usual, but it was still awful. Rosberg passed him before Alonso did, btw, not the other way around. His KERS may not have failed in this the race, at least I don't think so, but he had to deal with traffic and dirty air throughout. I wish he'd get the clean air Vettel gets in a race for once.

--

Forgot to mention Rosberg getting screwed by the team. He made a subtle remark in the post race interview saying he was on the backfoot in terms of strategy because of his qualifying position (which wasn't his fault). If I remember correctly he wanted to start on fresh tyres but the team wanted to split strategies and gave started him on old tyres.

--

Oh and, why didn't they give out drive srough penaltees to all the cars? Pretty much everyone was completely leaving the track in one of the corners in the last sector. The one before the (almost) straight, that leads to the hard left hander before the last chicane. I'm bad with corner names/numbers. I think you know the one I'm talking about.

 

[zippy_the_cat]

The one before the (almost) straight, that leads to the hard left hander before the last chicane. I'm bad with corner names/numbers. I think you know the one I'm talking about.

Stavelot.

 

[BHRxRacer]

Thank you Mr. Cat.

 

[f40]

You mean in the last race in particular? His start wasn't as bad as usual, but it was still awful. Rosberg passed him before Alonso did, btw, not the other way around. His KERS may not have failed in this the race, at least I don't think so, but he had to deal with traffic and dirty air throughout. I wish he'd get the clean air Vettel gets in a race for once.

Yeah, I edited that in there, since he lost out to Rosberg before turn 1.

Anyways, MW will only get that clean air if he actually qualifies well and starts well. The car isn't always to blame for that. Otherwise he'll end up in traffic, conditions in which his teammate still easily bested him at this race last year.

Except the track wasn't drying out on the first flying lap and Rosberg was 1.7 seconds faster than anybody else in that pack. Second lap it started drying and Hamilton and the Bulls probably backed off later in the lap to save the tires for a third lap, but I doubt they would have beaten Rosberg then either. It was the third lap that saved them.

Yep, I remember seeing those guys slowing to warm the tyres for another lap.

 

[avens]

By "they" I assume you mean Mercedes, right? ROSS BRAWN HIMSELF SAID HE DIDN'T SEE **** AND THEY GOT LUCKY LEWIS WAS THE LAST ACROSS THE LINE

Also on the Sky transmission of the race Lewis himself analyzed the lap, in length and corner by corner, admitting he made plenty of driving mistakes and that he got lucky.

 

[Ardius]

Close? He was pretty much ahead all the time. I'd call it luck if it was once in a session but it was many times in different sessions as well. He also seemed to be on fire in the race for some reason. I guess he just likes the track.

Many times?

Practice 1 - Gutierrez
Practice 2 - Hulk
Practice 3 - Gutierrez
Q1 - Hulk
Race - Hulk
Fastest Race lap - Gutierrez

Looks "close" to me. Gutierrez was unlucky not to get the right strategy in qualifying from his team and he could have feasibly out-qualified Hulk. But in the end we are left with a lot of what-ifs and maybes. He certainly had the speed in flashes through the weekend.
Setting fast times in practice is definitely a good sign for him (as he hasn't done that much before). Let's see if he can keep it up at Monza.