[mayankk]

I'm wagering a podium or retirement for Hamilton.
I'm hoping for the podium.

[MaserQ]

Now that Maldonado has been demoted to 6th on the grid, it means Kimi, Alonso and Hamilton start from the clean side in rows 2, 3 and 4 respectively. And with Button on pole, I reckon we have an unpredictably exciting race ahead of us today.

All eyes will also be on Vettel to see how he responds from 10th on the grid, especially after Schumacher's comment that he should learn to be a 'better loser'. The Saubers are clearly the dark horses, although their race pace remains to be seen, but one can never count them out given their recent form.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by MaserQ

Now that Maldonado has been demoted to 6th on the grid, it means Kimi, Alonso and Hamilton start from the clean side in rows 2, 3 and 4 respectively. And with Button on pole, I reckon we have an unpredictably exciting race ahead of us today.

And that may help the frontrunners to pass the first corner without the fear of Maldonado crashing into them. Hamilton will need to really watchout though

[anachronix]

Originally Posted by J.B

JB ran a low-downforce setup. The new rear wing they brought is for low down force circuits like spa and monza. Both cars struggled with it in FP3, but Lewis decided to go back to old wing to play it safe and so he is the one running high-downforce setup. You can here it from the horse's mouth here,

, from 2.20.

Also, AFAIK Kimi is also running a low-downforce setup, it will be interesting to see if LOTUS gains advantage from their secret drag reduction system they have been developing recently.

Dont know what you are referring to as the horse in the video , but MW agrees that its Lewis who is on Low DF setup. The cars in front of the grid are running a Higher DF compared to the rest of the top 10. If Kimi is there in the 3rd place with a lower DF setup, then its looking great for him in the race.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Button' S2 time is good, 5th fastest. But that doesn't mean that he lost out on other sectors.

No one has bettered his S1 & S3 times and he is leading the charts in the high speed sectors as well. Button's car was strong just everywhere. McLaren has clearly dialed in some magic.

Interestingly, Lewis is faster than Button in S2. He is the one looking compromised in S3 & S1

But it is very difficult to call a race with these new Pirellis.

It could be the liberal use of DRS in Qualifying that has made the difference. Its pretty clear when JB complained of understeer, went in for the wing change and comes back puts purple sectors. It might be a different story in the race today. Like you said, its difficult to predict... so I will stop here

[SilentEngine]

I am quite sure that Kimi is on high downforce setup. His S1/S2 times were consistently 0.2,0.3 slower than Button and Ferraris. Button was simply good in all sectors.

Fastest S1:
1 Jenson Button 31.104
2 Fernando Alonso 31.144
3 Felipe Massa 31.163
5 Mark Webber 31.274
8 Sebastian Vettel 31.315
10 Kamui Kobayashi 31.325
11 Sergio Perez 31.342
13 Kimi Räikkönen 31.426
17 Lewis Hamilton 31.523

Fastest S2:
1 Kamui Kobayashi 47.326
2 Kimi Räikkönen 47.525
3 Lewis Hamilton 47.554
4 Sergio Perez 47.601
5 Jenson Button 47.605
7 Mark Webber 47.756
9 Fernando Alonso 48.191
10 Sebastian Vettel 48.433
15 Felipe Massa 48.914

Fastest S3:
1 Jenson Button 28.797
4 Fernando Alonso 28.970
7 Sergio Perez 29.037
8 Felipe Massa 29.044
9 Sebastian Vettel 29.044
10 Kamui Kobayashi 29.064
13 Kimi Räikkönen 29.166
15 Lewis Hamilton 29.198

And then look at the speed traps:
1 Sebastian Vettel 14:35:28 310.6
2 Mark Webber 14:59:40 309.7
3 Fernando Alonso 14:09:54 308.4
4 Felipe Massa 14:10:16 307.7
11 Kamui Kobayashi 14:18:50 303.4
12 Sergio Perez 14:04:05 302.4
16 Jenson Button 14:59:49 301.2
20 Kimi Räikkönen 14:59:27 300.0
21 Lewis Hamilton 14:41:31 296.4

There is clearly a pattern here. Both Ferraris, both Red Bulls are on low downforce setup which explains their top speed and good S1/S2 times. Both Saubers, Kimi and Lewis are on high downforce setup which explains their slower S1/S3 and slower top speed. Button topped S1 and S3 but his top speed is still slower, so may be he has hit the sweetspot with the setup. That's the reason i think he will be hard to beat. Lotus have to rely on their lower tyre wear if Kimi has to win this.

[delta5]

What the hell just happened? Total disappointment. don't know who is responsible gross-jean or Lewis. anyways, thanks for taking out Alonso. :(
Schumi and Force India's best chance though.

[vb-saan]

Massive crash in the first corner! Hamilton, Alonso, Grosjean out of the race. Grosjean cut on to Hamilton, and both of them got onto Alonso and Kobayashi! Somehow Kobayashi managed to emerge unscathed from this fiasco.

[arun_josie]

Crash at first corner - Alonso, Hamilton, Grosjean, Perez out. Looks like Grosjean is the cause for this crash.
Kobayashi pushed to P20.
Force India @ P3 and P4, great chance for them for a podium finish.
Also, a great chance for Kimi who is at P2 now.

[Hatari]

Romain Grosjean should be spanked for being the child he is and banned for a few races. No responsibility whatsoever. This is not go karts...someone needs to drill that into his head.

[vb-saan]

Quite a procession after the initial mayhem. More than 10 seconds difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Good run from start to finish by Button, and I expected Schumacher (7th) to do better than this.

[ganeshtvpm]

@delta5
Seems like you are not a fan of F.Alonso and even I 'm not an ardent fan of Alonso. But we have to accept the fact that he is the best in the grid and even Michael has said that he is the best in the current lot.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/mi...-f1-48751.html

[mayankk]

my soothsaying came to be unfortunately......:(

Originally Posted by ganeshtvpm

@delta5
Seems like you are not a fan of F.Alonso and even I 'm not an ardent fan of Alonso. But we have to accept the fact that he is the best in the grid and even Michael has said that he is the best in the current lot.

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/mi...-f1-48751.html

thats a broad statement. why do we HAVE to accept anything?
schumachers statements,going by recent trends.....not the best in the game.

[J.B]

Originally Posted by anachronix

Dont know what you are referring to as the horse in the video , but MW agrees that its Lewis who is on Low DF setup. The cars in front of the grid are running a Higher DF compared to the rest of the top 10. If Kimi is there in the 3rd place with a lower DF setup, then its looking great for him in the race.

Lol, MW clearly Corrects EJ and says lewis went for a high downforce setup, at 3.25 to be exact. Anyway, it doesnt matter nymore, looks like the championship is going to the wire.😊

[ecenandu]

Wow what a race! well done Button, truely deserved this victory.What an incident packed race it was, 4 people crashing out in the first lap.Its really a pity that Alonso have to end his Belgian GP like that, but then its how motorsport is.

Kimi's fight with Schmi was a real treat to watch, the straight line speed deficit of Lotus clearly visible in those fights. Schumi was able to regain the lost place from Kimi in DRS zone for couple of times I believe.

A good race for Force India, both of their drivers finishing in top ten, but then I wished Paul to finish higher than 10th, having been in the top 5 after the first lap fiasco.

Redbull made the right call for Vettle by selecting one stop strategy, he drove like a champion and manged to get the best possible result.


Pastor Maldonado, less said the better, really, when was the last time you saw some one jump start in F1 by that margin. Even Steve Slater manged to note that he made a jump start. William is having a great car, all they need is great consistent drivers.

There were a lot of other incidents as well, let me recollect, Hekkie Kovalainen incident in the pits, where he manged to hit HRT I believe, while making the exit from the pits to the pit lane, but we cannot blame Hekkie, its the duty of the lollipop man to make the decision.

The entry made by Schumi to the pit lane, my god, after having a massive lock up trying to defend his place from Vettle, he just cut across Vettle from the left to make it to the pit lane.

Webber's incident in the pits,not as bad as Hekkie's but mighty close to Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

Karthikeyan's accident, not much to talk about, but a silly mistake from him having his left rear wheel over the kerbs on to the dirt, oversteer because of it and in to the walls.

[harshavardhan]

MS could have easily been 2nd but for the strategy and car. Mercedes ought to be kicking themselves for this. The least I expected from Mercedes was to give a great gift to MS on 300th race. They have goofed it up. Shame on you Mercedes...