Grand Prix 2012 Belgian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Doesn't time fly! The summer break is approaching the end and after an astonishing Olympics which gripped a nation, the attention now turns across the Channel to see if another Brit can continue his push for glory. Victory in Hungary saw Lewis Hamilton reignite his stuttering season and closed (however small) the gap to Alonso to just over 40 points. The update package introduced in Germany have thrown McLaren back to the front again and just in time as any longer and Hamilton would have been out of the title battle just like his team-mate has been after a nightmare summer for Button. Hamilton has generally gone well at Spa with 1 win, a third place and a fourth. Although depending on your viewpoint it should be 2 wins and a fourth after the 2008 mess.

Although the true king of Spa has returned to the throne in the Lotus and with wins in 2004,2005,2007 and 2009 (close to winning in 2008 as well) not many would bet against the Iceman taking his first victory of the season at his favourite track. The Lotus has been in good form in recent races and a second and third in Hungary proved that where they pushed Hamilton from lights to flag but couldn't quite get past the McLaren driver.

Belgium is famous for it's 4 seasons in a hour in all different parts of the track weather and no doubt if rain is about that plays into the hands of the Championship leader Alonso as the Ferrari is the quickest car in the wet but possibly only the 4th quickest car in the dry, that was evident at Hungary anyway, whether that translates to Spa it is unknown, however Ferrari have traditionally been quick at Spa having won more times there (16) than anyone else so they/Alonso will be in the mix on race day, well let's face it, Massa won't be.

The big unknown here is Red Bull, having had to make several changes to their car to stop make sure it is legal and it has affected performance in recent races and they weren't in the hunt in Hungary. Indeed, Double World Champion Sebastian Vettel is on the longest winless streak since he joined Red Bull in 2009 having not won since Bahrain in April and the young German is currently a few points behind Mark Webber who has had somewhat of a resurgance this year having won at Monaco and Silverstone to become the leading chase driver in the Championship behind Alonso. No doubt Red Bull will be keen to avoid the infighting that nearly cost them the 2010 Championship and to ensure that they don't fall foul of any more FIA regulations as any more problems could see them slip behind Hamilton and possibly even Raikkonen.

Raikkonen is viewed by many as the dark horse for the Championship. He's only a few points behind Hamilton despite having yet to win a race this season which is a testament to his consistency, something which so nearly got him the 2003 title despite only winning one race all year (Malaysia). He's closed down bigger gaps in the past (2007) so he could play a major part in the Championship and if he doesn't ultimately end up in the mix at the end of the season, he'll certainly play a part in terms of taking points off other drivers as he will want to be in contention for podiums and wins as the first win has eluded him so far. He's certainly having a very successful comeback so far and has shown that the 2 years he's had out hasn't affected him whatsoever.

For Galahad 's circuit write up - http://cliptheapex.com/pages/circuit-de-spa-francorchamps/
 
"I was told the difference in wings was not so great, so it is definitely a surprise. I was told that in qualifying my wing would be quicker but for some reason it wasn't"

Great race apart from losing the saubers and a couple of championship runners early on. Vettel did so well, the McLaren looks beautiful (well the one in one piece does) and it's so refreshing to see positions change on track rather than in the pits. Hurrah.
 
Then why didn't Haimlton demand that his car have it? Once again Keke, did LH not learn from previous years with high-downforce setups, or did he not have the backbone to demand the "proper" wing? Your evaluation of the cause seems to leave no third option.
 
Oh for goodness sakes

"I was told the difference in wings was not so great, so it is definitely a surprise. I was told that in qualifying my wing would be quicker but for some reason it wasn't"

I understand why people feel the need to jump on anything anti Hamilton with some of the crap spouted here but please don't jump on the fact he 'chose' the wing as cut and dry. He never denied choosing the wing, his frustration is because he 'was told' one thing and it did another.
 
Looking at another replay of the start, Grosjean was way out on the left side of the circuit and then inexplicably veers all the way across and in to Lewis like a homing missile...

Anyway, great weekend for Jenson and from today McLaren should really be looking at having both drivers on the podium at every race now to mount a serious championship challenge. Vettel also had a fantastic race and pulled off a few decent overtakes.
 
Hamberg - it's likely that the team told Hamilton information based on the simulator results- suggesting little time difference between the two set-ups.... However, even with the spa spec wing in p3, Hamilton was still about 0.5 seconds behind button....
 
I think too much of the performance deficit between Jenson and Hamilton is being put down to the wing. Who knows, had Hamilton gone for opposite downforce levels with the wing he had, it could've been a different story. It has been obvious for a while now that the sensitivity of the Pirellis means any small imbalance in setup is easily magnified in car performance. Coupled with the lack of running in FP, quail was always going to be a lottery. There were less than two tenths between him and Kimi in 4th (and under a tenth between Alonso) which suggests that it wasn’t all bad. There was absolutely no need to go public with this information and the subsequent tweet about telemetry and it seems to me Hamilton still has a lot of growing up to do.
 
Awesome performance from JB today :1st: No surprises that Pastor and Romain made a dog's dinner of the start, glad Alonso escaped injury, good race from Kimi and Seb- all to play for in the rest of the season!

I am much reinvigorated for the rest of this year now... :chuffed:
 
The Artist..... I don't give a shit about that, I don't agree he was faster than Button at all in the weekend wing or no wing.

What's fucking me off is that some people are extracting such glee that Hamilton made the decision and he should have told the team no, as though he had the knowledge and the power. He was given false information, that's what he made his decision on and that's what he and others are frustrated about.

Of course the 'rational/reasonable/impartial' lot seem to be conveniently overlooking that.
 
Grosjean and Hamilton have been called to the stewards' room at 1515.

Expect an announcement several hours later if past performance is anything to go by.

And I'm going to make an executive decision here and say enough with the Hamilton/Button/Whitmarsh back and forth.
All but a handful of people are sick to death of it.
 
So we've got Webber, Schumacher, Maldonado, Grosjean/Hamilton, Kovalainen under investigation... This race and next with likely changed outcomes. Wonderful.
 
Jenson was impeccable this weekend so :chuffed:
Lewis had a weekend to forget, his post race interview summed things up nicely & at least he didn't spout off his mouth re the incident.
Seb had some good overtaking moves & a bit of a brown moment with Michael cutting into the pits.
The lad leads a charmed life getting through all that first corner debris without damage. A good solid drive.
Kimi drove well all things considered & must be in contention for quote of the race when asked to push harder :snigger:
His move on Michael was mega.
Grosgean - WTF! The boy needs to know there's 23 other cars on the start line & they wont part like the red sea for him.
Ruined at least another 3 drivers race & potentially affected the WDC for the wrong reasons.
Alonso probably needs a new race suit now...
I feel so sorry for Sauber, they had a brilliant qualifying and then were punted out of the race through no fault of their own. One day soon they'll win.

I had real hopes of the little teams picking up a point, there were times when the HRT, Marussia & Caterhams looked good.
Great battle within Marussia.

So the championship is wide open again. Less than a win between Fernando & Seb & several drivers in contention. Red Bull stretch their lead in the constructors despite McLaren winning. Will we see a McLaren 1-2 this year?? I'm rather doubtful.

Sorry about waffling...I'll shut up now!
 
Funny old day and would like to think that it has 'shaken things up' a bit, but not really - maybe a bit tighter though.

Good on Jenson and Kimi - even a nod to Schumi - I have an empathy for the 'elderly'. Even Massa managed a respectable fifth and the Toro Roso boys made a mark, but Sauber seem to be on a sticky wicket again.
 
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