August 25, 2013

Vettel Dominates Spa

Photo: RBR


It was all over in less than one lap. Watch how much more grip the Vettel has available into the bottom of the Eur Rouge Radillon complex, despite a good start by Hamilton, VEttel can get right under him up the hill and use the tow to just blow by him as if he had DRS activated. Amazing. From then on it just seemed like the only difficulty was for the Red Bull pit wall to keep Seb from doing harm to himself as he did not have to pass anyone else for the whole race.

Behind, a good race for Alonso, storming from 9th on the grid to second on the podium.   The obvious question is what would have happened if he had not made the mistake in Q3 and could have been there close to Vettel on lap one?
His battle with Hamilton at the braking zone at Les Combes was just an epic moment, pure talent, beating one of the best brakers in all of racing.
But Vettel is now 46 points ahead, that's alms two DNF's worth of cushion with a potential maximum of 200 points still in play over the next 8 races. Not looking great for Fernando's quest.

Hamilton was hoping for rain, his Mercedes seems to have solved the tire wear issues but perhaps at the expense of speed.

Disappointment for Raikkonen, who had to retire for severe lack of brakes!

Honorable mention to Pastor Maldonado for one of the dumbest moves I've seen in a long time. How long is this guy's state sponsored wallet going to keep him in F1?



The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           
 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                            
 3.  Hamilton       Mercedes                           
 4.  Rosberg        Mercedes                           
 5.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault                   
 6.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes                   
 7.  Massa          Ferrari                            
 8.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault                      
 9.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes               
10.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari                 
11.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes                   
12.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari                 
13.  Hulkenberg     Sauber-Ferrari                     
14.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari                     
15.  Bottas         Williams-Renault                   
16.  van der Garde  Caterham-Renault                   
17.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault                   
18.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth                  
19.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth                  

Fastest lap: 

Not classified/retirements:               

Driver        Team                         
Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes               
Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault                      
Pic           Caterham-Renault  

World Championship standings, round 11:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel        197        1.  Red Bull-Renault          312
 2.  Alonso        151        2.  Mercedes                  235
 3.  Hamilton      139        3.  Ferrari                   218
 4.  Raikkonen     134        4.  Lotus-Renault             187
 5.  Webber        115        5.  McLaren-Mercedes           65
 6.  Rosberg        96        6.  Force India-Mercedes       61
 7.  Massa          67        7.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         25
 8.  Grosjean       53        8.  Sauber-Ferrari              7
 9.  Button         47        9.  Williams-Renault            1
10.  Di Resta       36       
11.  Sutil          25       
12.  Perez          18       
13.  Vergne         13       
14.  Ricciardo      12       
15.  Hulkenberg      7       
16.  Maldonado       1       
(table: Autosport)






5 comments:

  1. As a fan of F1 since 2007 I missed the Ferrari Schumacher years.I stopped watching NASCAR long before 48 started winning championships. I watch Moto GP when I catch a race. However, I am not going to rant about Vettel and how he is ruining my love of the sport. I will say it is hard to watch great battles and driving come short of the championship and to see the exit of respected drivers for sponsored incompetence. Poor Paul.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maldonado will be there with Venezuela's money, crashing and being stupid, while in his country people can't find toilet paper in the market.
    A country plenty of oil, with extremely corrupt government, and struggling people.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And once more he says it wasn't his fault. It was Sutil. The first touch made him loose control of the steering and veer right into Di Resta... Poor Pastor... Always a victim...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dittos! Put Darth in any other car and it would be a fun series to watch.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Did you forget Maldonado wining GP2? The way he did it?. Yes I remember his mistakes in Australia and Valencia which costed a place in the podium last year, and others this year. Who has the right to call him stupid ? How many books do you read per year ? We venezuelans hope better times for him and Williams. Proud to have Maldonado and many others as World Champions such as Carrera Cup, GT , LMP2, Ferrari Challenge and a government that supports 65 pilots Worldwide. Dont blame pilots for government mistakes or behavior. Gracias.

    ReplyDelete

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