2011 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

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Alex.
The 'Vettel can't overtake' brigade are strangely nowhere to be seen.
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Well spotted sir. Earlier this year, I was unsure of Vettel's overtaking skills, so I looked back into his apprenticeship with Torro Rosso, and he did pull off some good moves in '07 and '08. Plus, he has become a much more mature racer this year, and hasn't really needed to show off overtaking skills. Glad he did here though, even of he did pass Webber
 
homeforsummer
There is absolutely no way Hamilton could have avoided Maldonado. Pastor came from miles back at a much higher speed.

Quit with this "he could have braked" nonsense. It was rubbish to start with and gets no less ridiculous every time you say it. A car ahead of another shouldn't need to brake to avoid a car behind him.
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This needs to stop. Without getting into another debate about who was right and who was wrong, it is very possible that if Hamilton braked, the incident could have been avoided. Are you disputing this fact? His car's not going to explode if it goes under a certain speed. This isn't the (terrible) movie "Speed".
 
UK-Gamer
Karma for getting crashed out? No sense there :odd:
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Well, he pretty much ruined Maldonado's effort yesterday eventhough in the latter part it was Maldonado's fault. Today, he got a payback. Just what I think because I was pretty mad when he tried to claim a position from someone whose obviously on a hot lap. But whatever, I'm not going to bring the case back up...
 
F1 Fan, Hamilton could have braked, in the same way that I could turn around and jump out of my window. Why the hell would he brake, seriously? The guy is coasting along after a hotlap and Maldonado swipes in front of him, like he's going to expect that :rolleyes:
 
Alex.
So anyway that's a few more overtakes Vettel did this weekend.

The 'Vettel can't overtake' brigade are strangely nowhere to be seen.
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I don't want to fuel the fire but overtaking down one of the longest straights in F1 with KERS and DRS probably isn't the best barometer of overtaking ability.

F1 fan
This needs to stop. Without getting into another debate about who was right and who was wrong, it is very possible that if Hamilton braked, the incident could have been avoided. Are you disputing this fact? His car's not going to explode if it goes under a certain speed. This isn't the (terrible) movie "Speed".
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Yes. He was ahead of Pastor by quite a distance and Pastor came from a fair distance back at much higher speed to sideswipe him. Hamilton had neither reason to brake (since he was ahead) nor suspicion that anyone would be mental enough to run into him.
 
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What struck me as a bit strange regarding the Hamilton Kobayashi incident was how easily Koby could get up alongside Hamilton even though the McLaren was using DRS. I almost have the feeling there was some sort of mechanical problems withe Lewis' car just before the crash.
 
Well that was a pretty fine race! It could have used some more action in the second-half/middle but if this was a 2004 race it would have been immense!

Can't fault Vettel, how much more of this before people finally accept his abilities? Double World Champion is surely secured now which makes his career oh so like Alonso's and oh so much better than Hamilton's.

Speaking of Hamilton, its ironic that he did pretty much what Maldonado did but this time completely accidentally. After seeing the replays over and over, it seems Hamilton put his car in a very strange position - he placed the car in the middle of the track but he pointed it at an angle towards the outside line. This gave him a very strange and uncertain line into the corner as he was neither defending his line or taking the racing line, sort of drifting from one to the other. This is pretty lazy almost like he fell asleep! He never made any inputs on the steering wheel, so he didn't move across into Kobayashi, he just took a strange line that crossed from inside to outside.
Kobayashi was alongside Hamilton and had every right to think he had been seen and could turn in as normal. Hamilton however clearly didn't see him and wasn't thinking at all!

I agree with the stewards that it was a racing incident as I do agree with Brundle and others that Koabayashi wasn't really fighting Hamilton and wasn't really going to get the move done on the outside. But at the same time he was entitled to be there and have a go. Hamilton was completely oblivious to the situation. I would have been tempted to give a penalty if Hamilton had survived but as it is crashing out of the race is punishment enough.

Great drives from Schumacher, Button, Maldonado and Rosberg. I love Webber's ballsy move on Alonso, great stuff!

Gutted that Senna did indeed throw it all away in the first corner but I guess he has a few excuses. At least he finished 13th which was around where I thought he would before this weekend anyway - and at least he now has a race under his belt. Hopefully Monza can be a more normal weekend for him.
 
Anghammarad
What struck me as a bit strange regarding the Hamilton Kobayashi incident was how easily Koby could get up alongside Hamilton even though the McLaren was using DRS. I almost have the feeling there was some sort of mechanical problems withe Lewis' car just before the crash.
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No Hamilton was running more downforce plus Kobayashi had a great toe down the straight, as for the crash it was mostly Lewis' fault, he edged over on Kobayashi contact was inevitable, he was lucky to not be taken out the race.
 
Anghammarad
What struck me as a bit strange regarding the Hamilton Kobayashi incident was how easily Koby could get up alongside Hamilton even though the McLaren was using DRS. I almost have the feeling there was some sort of mechanical problems withe Lewis' car just before the crash.
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Didn't Kobayashi get a little more of a slipstream off Hamilton after Lewis passed him? That would seem a logical explanation to how he might have sneaked alongside.
 
After watching the video, what puzzled me is that why did Hamilton still pointing the car straight while he should've make the corner? On Kobayashi's side, he has every rights to be alongside with Hamilton. Just whether there was a failure with Hamilton's car or he misjudge the corner and misjudge the position of Kobayashi... Just my take on it.
 
The Sauber seemed to have good straight line speed and I think they were running a better 7th gear ratio than some were. I mean Perez got completely done by Barrichello at La Source but by Les Combes he was well ahead again (ok that was with DRS but still, to come back like that requires some good straight-line speed as most other drivers were unable to do that).
 
Ardius
The Sauber seemed to have good straight line speed and I think they were running a better 7th gear ratio than some were. I mean Perez got completely done by Barrichello at La Source but by Les Combes he was well ahead again (ok that was with DRS but still, to come back like that requires some good straight-line speed as most other drivers were unable to do that).
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And Lewis himself said the Maclaren had poor speed in a straight line. Probably due to a thicker rear wing which would have given Kobayashi a bigger slipstream.
 
Was a good race, would have liked to see what Bruno could have done but the penalty ruined that(at lease he already bested his best from last year:lol:).
 
Justin
Was a good race, would have liked to see what Bruno could have done but the penalty ruined that(at lease he already bested his best from last year:lol:).
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At the very least, he proved his pace, and showed that whether he's there because he's bringing in money for the team or not, he's there on merit.
 
Good race; Hamilton's off was a (strange) racing incident; Webber starts' (car?) sure hurt! Schumacher did a great job to get 5th. Good on Button for a podium drive!
 
Great drives by Schumacher and Button. That may have been Schumacher's most impressive race since coming out of retirement. Maldonado showed good form, too. Another solid race by Sutil. He has really stepped up as of late.

Senna, other than taking out Alguersuari, did a respectable job. Senna said before the race that he did not get a chance to do a full fuel load run in the dry. And it showed when he out braked himself heading into the 1st corner. Unfortunate, for Alguersuari. He had a great qualifying session.

Nothing left to say about Vettel. Looking forward to Monza. 👍
 
Jensen, Pastor, Jaime and Bruno have all impressed me today.

👍
 
Just watched the race again on SPEED Channel. Did anyone notice during the last few corners of the final lap, Vettel's steering wheel display was flickering and nearly gone out? It obviously didn't hinder him, but it's just something I noticed.
 
astrosdude91
Just watched the race again on SPEED Channel. Did anyone notice during the last few corners of the final lap, Vettel's steering wheel display was flickering and nearly gone out? It obviously didn't hinder him, but it's just something I noticed.
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Yup I noticed that. I was suprised that neither of the BBC commentators picked it up as they are always commenting on what gear the driver is using when we're onboard. Strange though.
 
Hammy-Kobay...racing incident. 'Nuff said. ;)

Vettel and Webber both did well, they looked completely hopeless with tyres at the start and Webber once again made a fail off the start but they recovered well.

Great job by Button to rise from 13th to 3rd.

OK job for Alonso to get from 8th to 4th mind you...tire strategy killed it in the end though.

Schumacher...great race. 24th to 5th, obvious driver of the day.

Rosberg, lightning quick off the line but faded eventually.

Sutil had a quiet race to 7th, good on him to get there. :)

Massa once again struck bad luck again with his puncture. F1 really doesn't like him now :indiff:

What exactly did happen with Petrov at the end? Either way at least he gave Renault a little bit of salvation after Senna's unlucky start accident. Speaking of which, Alguersuari could have had a good result today :indiff:

Well done to Pastor Maldonado for getting his first point. Even with all the controversy he's taken this weekend he did good to get from 21st to 10th, and he deserves a point now.
 
When's the last time Webber has managed a decent start? Seems like every time the lights go green, he nearly stalls the damn car.
 
Fantastic race, good drive by Vettel, and brilliant drive by both Button and Shuschumacher, it was a really nice race to watch.

I still have this thought, if Button could qualify properly, he probably could have won that race, sometimes it seems like is just lack of luck.
 
akiraacecombat
Fantastic race, good drive by Vettel, and brilliant drive by both Button and Shuschumacher, it was a really nice race to watch.

I still have this thought, if Button could qualify properly, he probably could have won that race, sometimes it seems like is just lack of luck.
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Qualifying has long been Buttons weakness. It's cost him a few potential victories but when he starts further back, it usually means some excitement for the fans. His recent run of good form has brought him right back into the fight for second place in the championship. That's really as good as anyone, barring Vettel, can hope to achieve this season. In terms of the old points system, he is nearly 40 points ahead of everyone else. I'm racking my brain, but I can't think of anyone having a gap like that then losing the championship.
 
akiraacecombat
Fantastic race, good drive by Vettel, and brilliant drive by both Button and Shu Schumacher, it was a really nice race to watch.

I still have this thought, if Button could qualify properly, he probably could have won that race, sometimes it seems like is just lack of luck.
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There we go, fixed your errors. 👍
 
DQuaN
I see that as being mostly koby's fault. Where was he planning on going? There was mo way he could go around the outside, he should have dropped behind him and he would have had a better run into the next corner.
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Absolutely not. Even if he wasn't going to make a move stick into les combes, he would have forced Hamilton into a tighter line and perhaps had a run at him on the exit.

The incident was 100% Hamilton's fault. Kobayashi was alongside Hamilton and had the right to the outside line. Hamilton was oblivious and didn't notice Kobayashi. Lewis drifted to the outside and would have forced Kobayashi off the road had they not collided. Both were braking and Kobayashi had nowhere to go.

However, I give credit to Hamilton for taking all the blame in the incident. Racing drivers don't always take responsibility like that. It's an improvement on Hamilton's own character from Monaco.
 
UK-Gamer
You still have not explained what was so "head banging" about this?
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I decided to take Jackingtons advice and ignore it. I could do without getting involved in another arguement. But the headbanging was to do with your comment "that 🤬 didn't pit".
 
F1 fan
I decided to take Jackingtons advice and ignore it. I could do without getting involved in another arguement. But the headbanging was to do with your comment "that 🤬 didn't pit".
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Oh ok, by "that 🤬 didn't pit" it was meant in more of a joking way that meant that (since Im a McLaren fan) and that race IMO was Buttons because Seb was on 50 (?) lap old tires and just kept driving the car in a manner to fend off Alonso and Button on shot tires which was quite a feat.

So yeah, that comment was meant in such a way that it was basically an OMG how is he still going on those tires, rather than pure frustration aimed towards Seb.
 

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