Changing Fortunes at the Belgian GP

It's been a long four weeks since the Hungarian Grand Prix and Formula 1 couldn't have returned a day too soon. Nor could it have returned to a better racetrack than the classic Belgian circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. It's a firm favourite of drivers and fans alike and has appeared consistently on the F1 calendar since the very first season, way back in 1950. Due to it's unique location it has it's own micro climate and owing to it's length, can often have rain on one part of the track while being simultaneously dry on another, which often makes for an unpredictable race weekend.

This was highlighted during qualifying on Saturday when Force India driver, Paul Di Resta, claimed provisional pole position early in Q3 by being the only driver on wet tyres as rain started to fall. Unfortunately for him the track began to dry very quickly and in the dying moments of the session had his time beaten by the Red Bull and Mercedes teammates with Lewis Hamilton, in the last car to cross the line, securing pole position.

Starting from 5th on the grid would at least give di Resta a good chance of scoring some points come race day. Sadly, this was not to be. Going through the Bus Stop chicane on lap 27 Pastor Maldonado's Williams got caught in a Force India sandwich, bounced off Adrian Sutil's car and ended Paul's race by shunting him off the track with extensive car damage.

Another driver that had a change of fortune was ex-World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen. His record run of 27 consecutive race finishes ended with brake failure, forcing him to retire at the end of lap 24. This is only his second non-points scoring race since joining Lotus and I think I'm right in saying that he was the only driver to complete every lap of the 2012 season.

In contrast, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso started from 9th place, due to the rain affected qualifying session, yet managed a great start when the lights went out and set a blistering pace allowing him to carve his way through the field in spectacular fashion to finish on the podium in 2nd place. The only man able to fend him off was Red Bull driver and Championship leader, Sebastian Vettel. Unless Fernando, Lewis or Kimi can pull off a few more race wins it looks like Vettel will take his fourth consecutive title.

 

Tyred Out

The British Grand Prix started off well with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes leading the race from pole position, closely followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and fellow Mercedes driver, Nico Rosberg. It was not to last though as, within a handful of laps, Hamilton's left rear tyre disintegrated coming out of turn 5. Having only just passed the start/finish straight he was forced to limp around the rest of the lap before he could enter the pits for fresh rubber, dropping him from first to last.

This was not to be the only tyre issue during the race as Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Sergi Perez (McLaren) all had major blow outs, some quite spectacularly, while battling for position at high speed. The amount of debris from these tyres required the deployment of a pair of road sweepers under safety car conditions. There was much debate about the reason for the tyre failures during the GP. If it wasn't from a sharp kerb/circuit issue then Pirelli will need to get its act together pretty quickly.

Toward the end of the race Vettel's Red Bull suddenly lost power, cruising to a standstill on the racetrack. A huge cheer went up from the pit straight grandstand, not, I feel, from any sense of dislike for the triple world champion himself but more for the fact that, like myself, the predominately British crowd knew that this would blunt his lead over the other drivers.

I don't know about you but I like a championship to be decided at the last Grand Prix of the season between two or three drivers, under immense pressure to claim the title of Formula 1 World Champion. How exciting was it when Lewis and Sebastian won their first titles? Nobody could have guessed the final outcome until the final lap had been completed by each of the drivers in the hunt. That's when F1 is at its best.

Rosberg claimed victory on this day, flanked on the podium byRed Bull's Mark Webber, who had a tough but determined race after being knocked off track at the first corner, and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, second in the championship and desperate for his third title.

As a McLaren fan I wasn't impressed to see Sergio Perez retire close to the end of the race with car damage from his high speed blowout or Jenson Button crawling across the line in an unlucky 13th place. The twitter hashtag #BelieveInMcLaren has been adopted by the team in recent weeks. I haven't given up on them but it isn't easy to watch such a successful team failing so miserably.

 

The "Great" British Grand Prix

This weekend Formula 1 returns to its spiritual home. The Silverstone circuit hosted the inaugural Grand Prix way back in 1950 and has been an almost permanent fixture ever since.

The qualifying session for today's race held a few surprises which, as a McLaren fan, have left me less than happy. In the first session (Q1) the top 10 places were filled by the usual suspects, Mercedes, Lotus, Red Bull, McLaren and Force India. The biggest surprise here was that the Ferrari team mates, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, were 14th and 15th, barely scraping through to Q2.

The next session is the reason for my (Mc)misery as neither Jenson Button nor, McLaren new boy, Sergio Perez managed to get their cars into the top ten. Button starts from 11th and Perez 14th. This season is probably the worst I've ever seen my favourite team competing at since I started seriously following the sport in 2001.

Q3 barely matters to me by this point but I'm going to give you the details anyway.

In pole position is Lewis Hamilton flanked by Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg. On row two are Red Bull drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

Actually, I really can't be bothered with who is on what row. The fact that McLaren are so far down the order has me bordering on depression. It won't stop me watching the race but I really wish they would pull their fingers out and make me proud.

Did you see the Malaysian Grand Prix?

The Malaysian GP seems like weeks ago... because it was. I never got round to posting a report, so here is a brief catch up.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso lost the front wing under his car on the pit straight on lap 2 after a touch with Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull at turn 2 of the previous lap and went flying off the track. Race over for Alonso.




Too brief?
Alright, a little more.




Vettel showed his true colours by overtaking team mate, Mark Webber for 1st place in the final phase of the race after receiving instructions to hold position from the pit wall. Mark was not a happy bunny, to say the least.







By contrast, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg showed his team colours by doing what was asked of him. He found himself rapidly catching his team mate, Lewis Hamilton, and after several requests to overtake were denied, settled for 4th place behind Lewis. I doubt Nico was a happy bunny either but at least he has respect, both for and from his team.




Next stop China.

F1 to come

As of this season I'll be writing my Formula 1 posts from this blog. It doesn't really make sense for me to have two blogs on the go at the same time because I don't have a huge following on either of them.
I'll be keeping my other blog around for a while, mostly for archive purposes, but also as a way for anyone remotely interested in what I have to write to be able to find this blog.
All previous posts can be found here: http://agent337.wordpress.com/

R u watching f1?

Five laps into the start of the German Grand Prix and I get a text. I thought I'd share the rest with you...

R u watching f1?

For sure

Can u keep me updated i'm working




Lewis overtook Webber at the start :))
Ham, web, vet, alo, ros, mas by lap 6

Fab. Ta

Possibility of rain at some point...

Lap 8, alo passes vet

Bloody ferraris are dangerous

Lap 9, perez pits

Lap 10 vet spins off track, keeps 4th

Lap 11 heid flies into gravel trying to pass buemi

Lap 12 mas takes ros for 5th.

Web & ham fighting for 1st v exciting. Alo closing them down. What a great race

Lap 14 web in pits

Lap 16 but fighting pet for 8th

But been a real disappointment this weekend

Lap 17 mas web ham alo pit action craziness going on mas still needs to pit




Mas pits

Lap 18 spots of rain on car camera lens

Very close top 3 web ham alo

How did web get in front?

During ham's pitstop. When he came out there were cars everywhere!

Lap 23 both mercs pass petrov for 7&8th

Lap 24 shumi spins into 11th

Web ham alo but mas vet ros sut...

Ur doing a great job its like watching it

Lap 25 but pits all wheels stay on ;)

Lmao

But in 8th

Lap 26 vet pit radio may have probs with brakes

Omg pls pls

Rubens out engine failure

Lap 29 but hunting sutil for 7th rain may be 30 mins away

Lap 31 web pits

Web rejoins in 3rd. Chandok spins off

Ham pits alo leads

Ham bullies Web for 2nd coming out of pits




Lap 33 alo pits...

Yeeeeeeessssss

Ham kills alo for 1st!!!!!!

Yahoo

Ham alo web mass vet ros but sut sut st shu kob

Lap 35 but passes ros for 6th at the 1st corner

Lap 36 button retires with hydrolics problem :(

Shame the germans r having such a shit day. Found a telly with the race on

Lap 37 ros pits

Hang on. Are you watching this now?

...Lap 39 ros fighting bob for 7th

Lap 40 ros passes kob

Liuzzi out

Lol. Yes 5 texts ago but dont stop ur analysis is better than the professionals

Ok :)

Lap 42 mas pits from 4th into 4th again

Vet v close behind

Lap 44 cold track temp affecting tyres and brakes

Ham alo web mas vet sut ros kob pet shu

Lap 46 shu & pet fighting for 9th

Untidy at final chicane

Lap 47 pet pits from 10th rejoins in 11th crucial tyre choice

Lap 49 vet fastest closing in on mas for 4th

Lap 51 ham alo web mad vet ros sut msc dir kob pet

Where did diresta come from?

Ham pits rejoins in 3rd

Lap 52 Ferrari in pits for alo

Alo doesn't pit

Lap 53 alo pits Crucial time for tyres

Ham passes alo. Web still needs to pit

Web can't get past mas. Gonna ruin his race

Sorry. I mean vet (not web)

So much going on can't keep up!

5 laps remaining web still has to pit

Lap 57 web pits. Ham leads from alo

Lap 58 ham Alo web mas vet sut ros msc kob pet per

Penultimate lap 59 mas & vet gonna have a pit stop race for 4th place

End of lap holding my breath...

And it's vet in the lead

Lap 60 ham cruises to victory yasaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!




Ham alo web vet mas sut everyone else was lapped or out

Web gives alo a ride back to the pits. Look familiar?




Thanks 4 that didnt get to see it to the end. Ur a champ

You're very welcome. It was quite hard to keep up at times. But fun ;)


Bear in mind, I'm doing my best to text while trying to enjoy the race so you will find a few mistakes. On the whole though, I'd have to say it was 98% accurate.

Shows what I know

In my last post I praised three rookie drivers, Paul di Resta, Paster Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi, who had qualified their cars into the top ten for the British Grand Prix. Unfortunately, I had taken my eye off my favourite rookie of the year, Sergio Perez.




While Kobayashi was forced to retire due to an oil leak, di Resta and Maldonado both ended up being lapped by the end of the race. However, and I don't know how, Perez raced his Sauber to 7th place by the chequered flag and a tidy 6 points in the bank.
I won't take your eyes off him again.

Qualified rookies

The British Grand Prix qualifying session brought up a few surprises, due to light rain and a constantly changing track surface.

Congratulations to three rookies who drove their midfield cars to the front of the pack and into the top ten for Sunday's race.

Paul DiResta, Force India



Pastor Maldonado, Williams



Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber



6th, 7th and 8th, respectively. Well done, guys and good luck for the GP.

BRITISH Grand Prix 

The first Formula 1 Grand Prix took place at Silverstone in 1950, so it always feels a bit special when the F1 circus comes home to Blighty.


I'm keeping my fingers crossed that either Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton will keep Sebastian Vettel from the top step of the podium. So far, they are the only drivers to put a dent in the Red Bull driver's title hunt.


And it goes without saying that we'd all be over the moon to have a Brit win his home GP.