Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2022Formula 1

[Samus]

Looking at the standings now, Perez is now #2 with Max having a 93 point lead so yeah, this season is done with Max and Red Bull as the clear winner.

The potential entertainment left now for the remaining races is whether or not Mercedes can beat Ferrari to P2 in the constructors cause right now their drivers are within a reasonable gap. George is only 16 points behind Charles and 1 point behind Sainz.

In terms of the front of the field all we can hope is that Ferrari get back closer and Mercedes close the gap, but it's not looking promising. The championship is gone even if LEC wins four or five but at least we'd see some good racing for the wins, not like today.

 

[andrea]

I wonder if Piastri is now regretting not wanting to go with Alpine.

 

[IcySlivers]

I wouldn’t mind seeing a totally dominate rest of season by Verstappen, even if the races are blow outs, I still like watching

 

[PaMu1337]

In terms of the front of the field all we can hope is that Ferrari get back closer and Mercedes close the gap, but it's not looking promising. The championship is gone even if LEC wins four or five but at least we'd see some good racing for the wins, not like today.

Leclerc is depending on Verstappens results now. Even if he wins every single race, with fastest lap, Verstappen could still win the championship by being second every time. Not a great place to be at with a third of the championship still to go

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

Not even sure if Ferrari is going to challenge for wins at this point. Also certain at this point Lewis will have his first winless season. Then again, Spa could be an outlier compared to the rest of the season.

 

[Samus]

Leclerc is depending on Verstappens results now. Even if he wins every single race, with fastest lap, Verstappen could still win the championship by being second every time. Not a great place to be at with a third of the championship still to go

Yeah I mean let's be real, a handful of VER DNFs is the only realistic chance LEC has and even then I could see PER taking enough points off him to stop it.

That's why I'm just hoping for some good individual races although as a neutral that's all I watch for anyway. A championship battle just adds a bit of tension on top.

 

[AshenGraey]

There's also a battle for 4th in the constructors with Alpine and McLaren.

With Riccardo's performance (another disappointment for me this season cause I've been rooting for him) I don't see McLaren taking P4 over Alpine when both Alonso and Icon are consistently bringing in the points.

In terms of the front of the field all we can hope is that Ferrari get back closer and Mercedes close the gap, but it's not looking promising. The championship is gone even if LEC wins four or five but at least we'd see some good racing for the wins, not like today.

Unless Max gets hit with a string of unfortunate events, I really can't see him losing this championship. His pace in that car is unrivaled and sadly within Red Bull right now, it's quite similar to the Lewis and Bottas era in that Perez is not fast enough to challenge Max despite what he might say and when he is in the lead the team is more than happy to tell him to move over for Max. While Ferrari has a strong car, they just can't get their crap together and capitalize on that. Watching them fumbling and tripping over themselves like this over and over just really annoys me and frankly with performance like that, they deserve to lose their position in the championship especially if the other teams are performing better.

 

[PaMu1337]

Yeah I mean let's be real, a handful of VER DNFs is the only realistic chance LEC has and even then I could see PER taking enough points off him to stop it.

That's why I'm just hoping for some good individual races although as a neutral that's all I watch for anyway. A championship battle just adds a bit of tension on top.

Even if RB doesn't finish a single race anymore, Ferrari would probably still find a way to win neither championship

 

[Samus]

it's quite similar to the Lewis and Bottas era in that Perez is not fast enough to challenge Max

It's worse than that IMO, BOT was usually pretty close and sometimes had the edge. PER looked decent at the start of the season pace wise but as soon as VER fully got to grips with the new '22 car (and his car stopped breaking) he's not been anywhere near.

Even if RB doesn't finish a single race anymore, Ferrari would probably still find a way to win neither championship

This is also true.

 

[Blitz24]

It's worse than that IMO, BOT was usually pretty close and sometimes had the edge. PER looked decent at the start of the season pace wise but as soon as VER fully got to grips with the new '22 car (and his car stopped breaking) he's not been anywhere near.

This is also true.

Ferrari will try for the sympathy championship (which doesn't exist) in that scenario.

 

[OutlawQuadrnt]

Ferrari will try for the sympathy championship (which doesn't exist) in that scenario.

And they'll lose that to Andretti F1 (which doesn't exist).

 

[Terronium-12]

I lost interest during lap 6 or 7. First time that I can remember that ever happening. A much better race than last year — considering there wasn't one last year — but this was a snooze fest for me.

Lewis and Alonso had a weird collision that Lewis took full responsibility for (still weird that Alonso turned left with the Mercedes right next to him, did he lose control for a bit?), and Ferrari did...Ferrari things.

 

[Roo]

Verstappen needs to set the AI to something higher than Beginner.

(still weird that Alonso turned left with the Mercedes right next to him, did he lose control for a bit?)

That was when Alonso's left front rode over the area of floor ahead of the rear wheel of Hamilton's car, and it snatched the Alpine's front wheel left. Fernando's wheel wasn't on the ground at that point.

 

[Moglet]

Today was the hottest 21° day I've ever experienced. Fun though. Some photos.

 

[-Fred-]

Incredible how Ferrari and their drivers can manage to shoot themselves in the foot week in, week out. Just when you think you've seen everything.

 

[IcySlivers]

@Moglet
Jealous 🤩🤩🤩

 

[Liquid]

At least Verstappen winning the title at a canter eliminates any doubt about him being a World Champion... to sensible heads at least.

 

[Grayfox]

Incredible how Ferrari and their drivers can manage to shoot themselves in the foot week in, week out. Just when you think you've seen everything.

Considering the pace of the RBs, Sainz did a good job.

 

[ShiftingGears]

It was unbelievable just how inevitable it felt that he would win from 14th, and then having him drive that home by taking the lead at quarter distance in a bone dry race.

That was incredible

 

[TumeK5]

That was a bit aggressive from Hamilton. I would say the blame lies mainly on him.

That was some dangerous driving, man.

 

[GroupB]

Some years the luck just lines up for one guy:

https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/...tuck-charles-leclerc-brake-ducts?platform=amp

 

[toastet]

Surely Max had the time on Kemel to fold the visor to a paperplane and throw it right at the Ferrari

 

[Jimlaad43]

Fun race. Plenty of passing and I show why Spa should never leave the calendar and some great drives.

Verstappen: Absolutely peerless and unstoppable at the moment. This guy is in another league and everything he does goes right. He even rolled a Natural 20 on ripping his Tearoff, as it completely ruined the race for his title rival! Getting Hamilton in Brazil 2021 vibes from that race as the new engine was only a small part of his incredible pace difference and ease at which he appeared at the front.

Perez: Didn't really feature but stayed out of Max's way and followed him home ahead of everyone else.

Sainz: Wasn't able to do anything with the inherited pole as Ferrari chose an "SMH" strategy, which sums them up really.

Russell: Merc were third fastest so beating a Ferrari was the best he could hope for.

Alonso: Innocent on lap 1, comical on the radio and flawless after that for another strong result, with another strong front-of-midfield drive.

Leclerc: Mugged by Max on lap 1, it was obvious what was going to happen after that. Ferrari don't even have the confidence to ruin their own race anymore, and the strategy discussions on the radio were so embarrassingly obvious it just hurt them in the long run. Melted wheelspeed sensor causing the pit speed violation is a very valid excuse, but nonetheless embarrassing as that late pitstop was a total flop.


Ocon: What a pass on Vettel and Gasly! And another amazing recovery drive from the back.

Vettel: Definitely ruined Stroll's chance of scoring a point on the first lap, but once again showed that Aston are much faster in the races than in quali.

Gasly: Totally anonymous, but pitlane to points is always impressive.

Albon: Great drive to keep the back-of-the-grid car in the points and hold everyone off behind. DRS may have been powerful, but not everyone can get past.

Stroll: Should have been left space on the opening lap, and recovery to 11th was OK, but being the first car with DRS in a DRS train means you're the one ruining everyone elses race by not being able to overtake.

Norris: Starting at the back didn't help, but McLaren's pace didn't really look anywhere this weekend, so couldn't do anything much.

Tsunoda: I didn't see him at anytime in the broadcast TBH so no idea.

Zhou: Another driver stuck in the DRS train that got nowhere really.

Ricciardo: Was running as high as 5th at the start of the race, but to fall back so far was pretty damning and further cemented McLaren's decision to part ways as a good idea.

Magnussen: Wait, Haas were at Spa?

Schumacher: a nice pass through Eau Rouge, but for last place.

Latifi: Bottled it on Lap 2 and his race was done at that point.

Bottas: Innocent victim and unlucky with gravel.

Hamilton: Why he turned in that sharply I don't know, but a first Lap 1 DNF since Barcelona 2016 for him and one he can't apportion blame to the other car for.

 

[Veinz]

F1's top **** stirrer speaks

Horner jokes: ‘I have to thank Wolff for new floor rules’ after Spa 1-2 finish

Christian Horner has jokingly thanked Toto Wolff for F1’s new technical directive following Red Bull’s dominant 1-2 finish at the Belgian Grand Prix.

www.crash.net

“On the face of it I’d probably have to thank Toto for the TD! In all seriousness, I think this circuit has played to our strengths,” Horner said. “We have a very efficient car, we’ve found a very good setup and Max has just been in phenomenal form the very first lap in first practice

 

[MagpieRacer]

Fun race. Plenty of passing and I show why Spa should never leave the calendar and some great drives.

What race did you watch? It was dull dull dull and wasn't an advert for why Spa should stay. And overpowered DRS passes don't really count.

 

[Dennisch]

It was dull. They really need to experiment with having the DRS off at tracks like Spa and Monza.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

 

[Jimlaad43]

What race did you watch? It was dull dull dull and wasn't an advert for why Spa should stay. And overpowered DRS passes don't really count.

It was dull. They really need to experiment with having the DRS off at tracks like Spa and Monza.

It was a two stop race with plenty of different tyres, a race win from the back and lots of overtakes - some epic like the Eau Rouge pass and the triple one down the back straight. For a supposed "boring" race it really wasn't, because we instead had overtakes and good racing. Just because someone wins a race by 20 seconds doesn't automatically make the rest of it a bad race...

 

[Dreadmed]

To be fair this whole season is an experiment re: DRS, and this race was a bit polarised in that respect; on one hand you had Max in his rocket ship effortlessly breezing past cars halfway up the Kemmel, while on the other there was Albon conducting a DRS train for most of the race.

Just throwing it out there but it may get to the point in the future where they designate "Primary" and "Secondary" DRS zones in the future if they stick around (depending on how this generation of car is developed); using Spa as an example, the start-finish straight would be the "Secondary" zone, wherein DRS functions as normal, but for the Primary zone (where an overtake is most likely to occur), DRS would be disabled for a specific number of laps, possibly based on distance covered so event specific, until it's clear that the following car can't make the overtake naturally.

 

[Veinz]

I would rather drs be gone completely, there would be less overtakes but at least they wouldn't feel as cheap.