2011 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

  • Thread starter Thread starter LewyOs
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Sutil is quietly going about a solid race again. Flying under the radar, which given all the carnage, is admirable.
 
Schumacher hit the strategy better than Button... I think he pitted later than Button, so he'll have more laps at the end on the soft tire, when the track is fully rubbered in.

But, do note: both drivers have more soft tires than anyone else, so they have a potential advantage at the end of the race.

Great tit-for-tat between Sutil and Button. Sutil locks up but doesn't lose it... Button gets a clean overtake.

Forget "Best first ten laps", I'm calling this "Best first half ever".
 
Race results prediction:

Alonso not first.
Button not second.
Schumacher not third.

You heard it here first. :lol:

Button versus Massa... Massa doesn't leave him much space, but Button makes it through anyway.
 
Button, Schumi, Rosberg and Sutil have really impressed me today, Schumi the most I have to say!

I have faith Bruno will improve on today though, simply not crisp enough yet though.
 
mattythedog
surely this race won't be better than montreal earlier this season?
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If Button wins it? I think they'll be co-equal. :lol:

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What a drive. He's already shoved his way up Rosberg's tail pipe... and past it.

Now he's in forth place, and on the same pit window schedule as the top three... perhaps later than Vettel and around the same as Alonso...
 
I'm pretty sure Hamilton's dirty talking on the radio, which is why Button's just slicing through the field :lol:
 
Hamilton: "The championship wasn't ours anyway." Surprising to hear from him.
 
Button on radio: "I need more cars to overtake!"

McLaren to Button: "Their front tires are shot... go for it..."

Apparently Button still doesn't have blistering issues... so he can go further on this tire set than they.
 
So the Hamilton Kobayashi incident won't be investigated any further, I guess they will would put it down to a racing incident and I have a feeling Kobayashi's damaged front wing may have played a part. It really hasn't gone Lewis' way this weekend!

Really exciting race, Spa rarely disappoints rain or not.

homeforsummer
1) Thanks for reading all the valid and completely logical points I made. They've clearly sunk in :rolleyes:

2) Have you even watched the on-board video? Lewis was already going slower than Pastor and got completely side-swiped. Backing off would have done absolutely nothing...

3) ...apart from increase the risk of Pastor getting flipped around Lewis' front wheel and slamming into the barriers.

4) Again, there's a very real difference between backing out of an overtaking move or avoiding one that isn't going to work, and expecting another driver to pile straight into you. If you think that Lewis and Pastor's collision was avoidable, then you presumably think every collision in the history of F1 was avoidable. Surely everyone could just back out to avoid an accident.

You really need to start thinking before putting finger to keyboard.
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The stewards gave Hamilton a reprimand for the collision (in addition to Maldonado's punishment) therefore they felt he was to blame for not avoiding it. Are you a steward?... no, so basically you have no argument any more.

By braking slightly Maldonado's car would have missed the front side of Hamilton's car as he pulled in. Its so obvious to me and clearly obvious to the stewards.
 
"You've taken one second out of Webber. This is brilliant, Jenson."

Yeah, stroke his ego some more...

Alonso in for new tires. Only his second stop. He got 21 laps out of the softs... pretty good work, there. Comes out 4th. Let's see how much time he takes out of Vettel's lead before Vettel comes in for his own stop. I would have pitted Vettel as soon as I saw the Ferrari pits get ready for Alonso...

RBR tells Vettel to stay out. Vettel wisely chooses to come in, anyway. Which is the right decision... you want to stay in front of Alonso, damnit!

Button now second behind Webber, who will have to pit sometime soon.
 
Hollidog
I have seen plenty of passes around the outside of Le Combe in the support races already this weekend, so it is certainly doable. In fact, just as Vettel just did to Alonso.
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Vettel was ahead going into the corner. Koby was miles behind.
 
Schumi 6th, my drive of the day....wow brilliant, fair play! Button fair play too but I'd say Webber must be favourite? Vettel will have to pit again so that should be interesting.
 
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Vettel seems to have this race in the bag. The question is who will be on second and third... Webber seems to have the pace to take Alonso, and Button is on the freshest tires of the group... with one extra set of softs in case this current set won't make it to the flag.

The big question... will this set of tires make it to the flag?
 
Schumi, Button well done. Schumi for 4th? :sly:

Kamui has always been a bit reckless and involved in incidents. Why does he not get criticized but Hamilton does?
 
DQuaN
Vettel was ahead going into the corner. Koby was miles behind.
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Id say KK was at least 75% past LH, KK just braked earlier because of his front wing damage and LH moved over on him without looking.
 
UK-Gamer
Schumi, Button well done. Schumi for 4th? :sly:

Kamui has always been a bit reckless and involved in incidents. Why does he not get criticized but Hamilton does?
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Good question, I guess he's still more spectacular, while doing still less mistakes.
 
The rain didn't show itself on raceday, but it didn't need to. The rain of the past few days has prevented rubber from forming on the track properly, which has caused blistering problems on the softer rubber for many teams.

The drama started, really, long before the race, with Schumacher failing to record a qualifying lap and Button missing out on Q3. And the Hamilton-Maldonado incident cast a pretty big shadow over qualifying. Maldonado, perhaps feeling slighted by Hamilton's aggressive overtake on a flying lap decided to pull his own racing incident after the racing had actually ended.

A huge fracas on the first corner ruined the race for Brunno Senna, the surprising 7th place qualifier, and dropped Webber far back in the lead pack. Rosberg stormed to a short-lived lead, his (literally) smoking Mercedes jumping everyone else at the start and overtaking Vettel on the very first lap. The Ferraris, traditionally good on tire wear, both showed good form on the first stint on soft tires and took places from Hamilton and Rosberg, who lost his lead to Vettel pretty early on.

Button and Schumacher were the only runners to start on the prime medium tires, and this allowed them to make up a huge number of places later on.

Hamilton seemed to be the best placed amongst the top cars to win, as he managed to make his soft tires last longer than even the Ferraris. Unfortunately, he underestimated Kamui Kobayashi. After overtaking him right before the DRS zone at Eu Rouge, he used his DRS to build up a lead over the Williams that never quite happened. Kobayashi managed to get a fantastic tow up the hill behind him and pulled out to pass. They came together and Lewis was out.

Alonso seemed to have things well in hand early in the race, but Ferrari dropped the ball, as Hamilton's huge shunt brought out the safety car and sent everyone else but Alonso diving for the pits. After a fantastic drive, he only managed fourth.

Given the McLaren's uncharacteristically good tire preservation here, Button managed to make his soft tires last longer than even Lewis did, and a late race charge saw him go all the way to third place. With all positions gained on-track, via overtaking. One wonders, if he'd had better luck during qualifying, if he could've won this race.

Webber's early stint on medium tires gave him an advantage over Alonso, despite not pitting either during the safety car period, and gained him second.

The Vettel train seems back on track. He scrapped for position where he had to, overtook where he had to, and put in (literally) tire-blistering laps to make the lap times required to stay in contention and out in front. Well deserved win for him, and the celebratory bump-hug as left the car was priceless.

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Outside the top four, Schumacher managed to go from 24th to 5th, overtaking team-mate Rosberg for position near the end. Rosberg does a solid job of coming in 6th, but he'll be disappointed to have not won that race after such a fantastic start.

Sutil does a solid and quiet job of making 7th, 8 places up from where he started... Petrov does the business, too, making 8th... and finishing with just enough fuel to finish his cool-down lap... :lol: Team-mate Senna salvages 13th from a disastrous start, but it'll be a while before he lives down that move on Algesuari.

Massa in 9th can't be happy with that... as he spent too much time jockeying for position with Pastor Maldonado and Kamui Kobayashi, despite being in an arguably superior car.

Vindication for Maldonado... 10th place after a disastrous qualifying.

All-in-all, a very exciting race, though the results would have you believe otherwise. Drive of the day is split between Schumacher and Button. More places gained by Schumi... but Button's drive is more memorable due to the quality of the overtakes he performed.

Nobody else matters. Peace out. :D
 
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My driver of the day is Schumacher, 24th to 5th. Brilliant drive, old Schumi has come back today! As a fan I'm really pleased to see him up there after such a poor position to start from.

Button second best driver of the day, great passing moves and place gains were impressive, as a fan I was pleased for him too.

Senna didn't do too bad for his first start after a while, after all everyones eyes were on him. He'll improve.

Vettel wins but Schumi and Button were the best drivers on the day imo.
 

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