F1 - 2018 Belgian Grand Prix

[gofast182]

F1 - 2018 Belgian Grand Prix


US TV Times:
Practice 1 – Friday, August 24 4:55 AM ESPN2
Practice 2 – Friday, August 24 8:55 AM ESPNU
Practice 3 – Saturday, August 25 5:55 AM ESPN2
Qualifying – Saturday, August 25 8:55 AM ESPN2
On The Grid – Sunday, August 26 8:30 AM ESPN2
Race – Sunday, August 26 9:05 AM ESPN2
Encore – Sunday, August 26 8:00 PM ESPNEWS

Current Standings:
Drivers
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 213
2. Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari, 189
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari, 146
4. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 132
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 118
6. Max Verstappen, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 105
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1, 52
8. Kevin Magnussen, Haas, 45
9. Fernando Alonso, McLaren Renault, 44
10. Sergio Perez, Force India, 30
Constructors
1. Mercedes AMG Petronas, 345
2. Scuderia Ferrari, 335
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 223
4. Renault Sport F1, 82
5. Haas, 66
6. Force India, 59
7. McLaren Renault, 52
8. Toro Rosso, 28
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber, 18
10. Williams Martini Racing, 4

For more, including track data, analysis, and video please check out my full post on TOV Motorsports.

 

[Brad_C]

My favourite race of the year.

 

[Indydriver]

Yes, love Spa and it will be fun to hear the latest on all the “silly season” moves.

 

[DeepFriar]

Grojean - P5 !! Nice way to start the weekend for Haas.

 

[A_Harman]

Very entertaining qualifying session. Q1 and Q2 were dry, and the top 3 cars were within 0.1 seconds of each other, with all below the all-time track record. Then in the opening minute of Q3, it rained, and all of the cars were on slicks. Everybody had to abort their laps and get into the pits to fit rain tires. It only rained for part of the session, so in the waning three minutes, the track was drying, and different drivers took turns setting fast time. At the end, it was Hamilton first, Vettel second, and Ocon third, with Perez in the other Force India filling out row 2.

 

[Garak]

Alonso must have been very happy at the result. He didn't have to manufacture a reason to retire from the race (since he was destined for zero points) and he could get on his high horse nice and early.

 

[Brad_C]

Nice to see Vet get one over Ham. Other than that, I don't really think it had anything to recommend it.

Across his career I think Alonso has had more air time than some pilots.

 

[Garak]

No, not an overly exciting race, but I was enjoying the result, of course. It was nice to see Vettel come ahead at basically halfway through the first lap and never have to look back. Grid penalties did mix some of the rest up, but yes, it didn't have a huge number of moments to recommend it.

 

[Brad_C]

It was more exciting than the Silverstone MotoGP anyway, and I don't remember the last time I said that.

Anyway, on to Monza where I'd wager Ferrari will pip Merc again and it'll be another high speed procession. Singapore should liven things back up though.

 

[newbe46]

Thank God for Federica and Natalie from Sky F1, otherwise not an exciting race to watch for me.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Anyway, on to Monza where I'd wager Ferrari will pip Merc again and it'll be another high speed procession.

I hope so. Hamilton was, as is his wont, pretty quiet since he couldn't find blame with strategy or pitstops or failing equipment. If it weren't for bad luck, Valtteri and Kimi would have none at all, same goes for Daniel, too, really. Good show for Max, though. I don't think he had a single session this weekend where he had to be returned to pit lane on the back of a moped or in a wrecker.

I don't know if you guys saw it, but a number of days ago, Jenson Button gave Alonso a bit of a rib, calling him on his little stories. Alonso was recently saying he's leaving F1 because of the predictability, not because he's not winning. Button commented that Alonso must have misspoken, since he hasn't left WEC, and in WEC it's totally predictable, with there being only one manufacturer in LMP1.

Now Alonso is claiming, to hear him tell it, that Red Bull offered him a contract many times, including for the period where Vettel won four consecutive championships. We already know Alonso can't pick a winner. If he thinks he's making himself look better, he's delusional.

 

[billt460]

Did anyone catch Hamilton wiping his butt with the towel in the pre podium room? I can't believe they kept the camera on him so long. Or the fact he didn't know he was on camera the whole time he was doing it. I don't know how you expect to wipe your butt with a driving suit on, but he sure was trying!

 

[billt460]

For those who missed it, here you go.

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/9ag5l4/as_requested_hamilton_scratching_his_butt/

 

[newbe46]

Originally Posted By: billt460
Did anyone catch Hamilton wiping his butt with the towel in the pre podium room? I can't believe they kept the camera on him so long. Or the fact he didn't know he was on camera the whole time he was doing it. I don't know how you expect to wipe your butt with a driving suit on, but he sure was trying!


Surely did see that and I was wondering how much or what was he wiping and for that long?

Spa isn’t that hot to begin with and by the time he’s in the cool down room he was already out of the car for some time.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: Garak
No, not an overly exciting race, but I was enjoying the result, of course. It was nice to see Vettel come ahead at basically halfway through the first lap and never have to look back. Grid penalties did mix some of the rest up, but yes, it didn't have a huge number of moments to recommend it.


Yeah, that run from Eau Rouge on the first lap pretty much told the whole story. Ferrari must have made a big step in power with the new powerplant to be able to blow by the Mercedes like that, especially without the benefit of DRS. After Vettel got a 3+ second lead, he just managed the gap to Hamilton the rest of the race. I expect more of the same at Monza. Hamilton was very downbeat about his second place finish because he knows they had nothing for Ferrari in this or the next race. The rest of the season could be quite competitive, and maybe Mercedes will the ones scrambling to catch up.

 

[Garak]

Mercedes in general seems to be downbeat about their engine performance. I don't have any pity. They've had the engine advantage for ages, and they forgot the gaps they used to win by at places like Spa at the outset of this hybrid era. This is their last engine update of the season without incurring grid penalties. They wanted the engine rules, they have them.

Now, for Monza, if Kimi can get some luck and there's a Ferrari 1-2, the crowd will be impressed, to say the least.

 

[finmile]

Seems like Kimi's race engineer was totally lost with the broken DRS:

 

[weasley]

Bottas around the outside of Hartley at Eau Rouge was probably the highlight for me - ballsy move. Reminiscent of Kimi around the outside of Schumacher in the same place, 2012.

 

[Brad_C]

Originally Posted By: weasley
Bottas around the outside of Hartley at Eau Rouge was probably the highlight for me - ballsy move. Reminiscent of Kimi around the outside of Schumacher in the same place, 2012.


Or Webber on Alonso in 2011. Seems like a fun place for ballsy overtakes.

 

[Garak]

Oy vey! I wonder what Danny Ric's conversations were like, too.

I didn't listen to all the Kimi radio chatter, but it sounds like he wasn't exactly making it clear about the DRS trouble until near the end of the conversation, but given all the difficulties he had, perhaps that was just one of a million issues.