Grand Prix 2018 Belgian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

90 years ago, this November, the Bureau International Des Expositions was created by the signing of the convention relating to international exhibitions. Like most organisations, the BIE's home was Paris, France. The role of this organisation was to oversee the calendar, bidding process, selection and organisation of World Exhibitions and ensure that all countries worked together in the best conditions.

The first World Fair was held in Paris in 1844 and one of the best known of these early efforts became known as the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 and featured the gigantic crystal palace. All these early world fairs featured technological developments and saw many technical wonders shown to the public for the first time.

As the years progressed, and with the formation of the BIE, the purpose of these fairs gradually moved away from technological developments and towards overall cultural themes. Ironically, the first of these was held in New York in 1939 and was titled "Building the world of tomorrow". Of course, over the next 6 years, nations did their very best to demolish the world of tomorrow.

Following the second world war, nation states were too busy rebuilding their shattered infrastructure and attempting to re-establish their economies to worry about holding cultural affairs. That was until Belgium was selected to host their 11th world’s fair. Expo 58. The theme would be "A World View - A New Humanism" and was set to run from July to September 1958.

The most well-known legacy of this event is the Atomium. The giant sculpture displays 9 Iron atoms formed into a cube representing the shape of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. The sculpture remains in Heysel Park on the outskirts of Brussels and is still open to the public today. It represented mankind’s faith and hope in scientific development and the nuclear age.

In 1958, Formula One chose its own way of honouring technical development as for the first time a trophy was awarded not just to the world champion driver but the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers was awarded to the most successful manufacturer. Initially, and until the late 70's, only one car, the best finishing, scored points towards the title. Vanwall became the first team to lift the new cup but Mike Hawthorn lifted the drivers title in his works Ferrari. Both cups were heading to Britain for the first time. Vanwall won 6 of the 9 races it entered that season with Moss and Brooks taking 3 wins each but unreliability cost both drivers the title. The Vanwall quite literally either won or broke down. Perhaps it was the involvement of an extremely gifted engineer, brought in to revise the car in 1957 after Vanwall's initial efforts in F1 were dismal failures. The name of that engineer? Colin Chapman.

At the 1958 Belgian GP, Tony Brooks finished first while Hawthorn finished second for Ferrari and Stuart Lewis-Evans brought a third Vanwall home in third place. Moss suffered an engine failure on the first lap. Further down the field, in the second Ferrari, a Belgian called Olivier Gendebien finished 6th in his first ever Belgian GP.

Gendebien had come to the attention of no less than Enzo Ferrari himself through his performance in sports car racing. Ferrari signed him to his team to drive in these events but also allowed him to make the occasional appearance in an F1 car. His best year however, was in 1960 where he took 2 podiums behind the wheel of a Cooper for the privateer Yoeman Credit racing team.

Enzo Ferrari summed Gendebien up as "a gentleman who never forgets that nobless oblidge and, when he is at the wheel, he translates this code of behaviour into an elegant and discerning forcefulness."

Such was this elegant and discerning forcefulness that, while very few would have ever heard of him in F1, his sports car record reads like this, 4 wins in the 24 hours of Le Mans, 3 wins in the 12 hours of Sebring, 2 wins at the 12 hours of Reims, 3 wins in the Targa Florio and 1 at the 1000km Nurbugring. A truly remarkable sports car record that few drivers even today, can match.

So, if anyone asks you in the future to name some famous Belgian racing drivers, among the likes of Gachot and Boutsen, don't forget to tell them about Olivier Gendebien. Gentleman, outstanding driver and Belgian.

Enjoy the race.
 
Interestingly, Bottas was given a 5 second penalty after the race, which did not affect his final position. I don’t understand why they couldn’t give that penalty during the race; the 5 second penalty, if served at the pit stop could have affected track position, and impacted on the race more.

There is a worrying trend of Mercedes drivers not being properly penalised for events which Ferrari drivers are regularly penalised for!
 
Interestingly, Bottas was given a 5 second penalty after the race, which did not affect his final position. I don’t understand why they couldn’t give that penalty during the race; the 5 second penalty, if served at the pit stop could have affected track position, and impacted on the race more.

There is a worrying trend of Mercedes drivers not being properly penalised for events which Ferrari drivers are regularly penalised for!
You are not alone who has made that observation. Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen, and Ricciardo seems to be judged on a different standard than Ferrari drivers for some time (in recent years). Rosberg also lost some battles which he should have won. Racing commentators aren't exactly shining examples of neutrality either.
 
Izumi

This is the second race in an a row that Bottas has been given a non-penalty. I can’t remember the last time that a driver received a penalty after the race for a first lap incident when they were able to continue in the race!
 
Izumi

This is the second race in an a row that Bottas has been given a non-penalty. I can’t remember the last time that a driver received a penalty after the race for a first lap incident when they were able to continue in the race!
Vettel incurred over and above place penalty 3 demerit points on his rap sheet, despite that his alleged misdemeanor was totally inconsequential to Sainz's Q2 qualification efforts. How many front end drivers are treated in such shabby manner?
Button, Alonso, Hamilton, they all just had to radio in - have Charlie look at it, and he did. One (miserable) race however which will stay with me for rest of my days is Mexico 2016 race, where bias against Ferrari (or a driver?) came in full naked force. I do not wish to get into it in here, but it was really bad. That's F1 for you.
 
nice to see that F1 reporters at the times were paying attention so many mistakes, I figured out at least 4. you would hope they have a passing intrest in the sport they are paid to cover.

CTA 1.jpg
CTA 2.jpg
 
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It is interesting....
And which of "lost battles" should Rosberg have won?
In his case problems were internal to Mercedes favoring one driver over other, and clearly when one could argue Hamilton was not very nice on the track (to put it mildly), Wolff publicly almost always sided with one driver exclusively, something Rosberg rejected. It was so bad at one point, that MB was considering to separate them and let one driver go. Former friends, living in the same building, became estranged to each other. Until today some of my friends with better telephone numbers are convinced, acrimonious relationship contributed as a governing factor in a decision to retire from active racing. That's what happen when balanced approach to conflict resolution goes south.
 
Blimey, that slo-mo picture brings it home clearly to us Halo naysayers. Slices of humble pie all round.

Just shows how important driver safety is. Yes the halo did its job yesterday and thank goodness it did. I still have worries that in a different kind of crash it could prevent a driver getting out as fast as they need to. Hopefully I will never be proved right on that one.
 
That slow-mo makes it crystal clear he would of died. The Halo deflected the tyre and entire car up and over away from his head.

I still hate how it looks but the need for head protection has hopefully been settled now. I would love them to come up with a more aesthetically pleasing solution like an enclosed canopy.
 
Ive had to have the whole pie for lunch. :embarrassed:

Some concerns aesthetically & in the event of fire but that doesn't matter. It is case closed & all us against it were wrong. That saved another massa incident or
maybe worse
 
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First chicane too, then on to Lake Como for a week.

Como is one of the most beautiful areas in Italy being recommended for honeymoons (1st or 2nd etc). If you get the chance visits to Maggiore, the top of the lake is in Switzerland, and Garda are well worthwhile. Have a great time.
 
Blimey, that slo-mo picture brings it home clearly to us Halo naysayers. Slices of humble pie all round.
No. I'm still not in favour of HALO, despite this incident. Also, judging from Hartley's onboard it doesn't look like the tyre would have made contact with Leclerc's head.
 
FiA has not made determination yet, to what forces Halo device was actually subjected when it came into contact with McLaren. What is not disputed, there was interference of some magnitude, it was uncomfortably very close to driver's helmet, yet Leclerc got out of it without a scratch or even minor headache.
Halo is therefore a good thing, no doubt.
 
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I’m not in favour of the halo.

After crashing into the back of another F1 car, a car goes airborne mainly because the rear wheels of the car being hit propell the other car upward. This wouldn’t happen if the rear wheels were covered, even partially.

When a flying spring or wheel pings off a halo, or the halo stops the driver from their head connecting with a stationery object then I might change my mind.

It looks like the halo saved Le Clerc but there’s no actual evidence to say that happened. The line between airbox and front of cockpit may not have been breached by Alonso’s car without a halo, which would not have contacted with Le Clerc.

Reduce the likeliness of cars going airborne before worrying about them coming out of the sky.
 
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