Team-BHP - 2012 F1 - Belgian GP

As expected Button was untouchable. He made one stop work and still finished way ahead of all two stoppers.
Vettel was the big winner in terms of championship standings. Alonso DNF opens up the WDC a little bit now. And if Button can continue his good form, he is still in the hunt.

Some trivia:
Kimi for the first time has finished the Belgian GP in a position other that first. Kimi is the only driver to have driven 100% of laps this season.

Dramatic crash to begin the race and then a total snooze fest until the old man and Mr.Ice were showing their best skills on the track, the snooze fest followed again!

Button was untouchable, but the real star would be Vettel for me. He did work his way through the grid to finish on the 2nd step of the podium!

I am glad the FIA gave some serious penalty to Romain for causing the mayhem! His car flew scarily close to Alonso's helmet!

Apparently Paul di Resta's KERS wasn't working.

Grosjean has been handed a one race ban and a fine of 50000 euros.

Madcap said that the clutch slipped at the start of the race, and was the reason for his jump start. He has been handed two separate penalties, one for the jump start and the second for his collision with Glock, costing him ten places on the grid at Monza.

Finally the stewards are acting tough with guys, who have had it coming for a long time. clap:

One of the most thrilling starts in recent history, good race. Pity, Kimi could only manage 3rd.

Grosjean, I accept, was the instigator of the crash, but a race ban I think is too much. It was a simple racing/driving mistake. He just over estimated his speed and banged into Hamilton. Yeah, he was responsible for the entire scene but he can't be blamed for that; it wasn't his fault that the other cars were nearby. Had this happened some time later in the race, with no other car nearby it would have been a simple maneuver gone wrong.
Feel happy that Alonso and Grosjean are both safe though. Romain took one heck of a flight, flying frenchman! and Alonso, woah he's lucky to still have a head and hands.

Quote:

Originally Posted by negativeH (Post 2890674)

Yeah, he was responsible for the entire scene but he can't be blamed for that; it wasn't his fault that the other cars were nearby. .

At start of the race, one cannot expect the cars to be far apart.Its okay, if it has happened twice or thrice, but he had seven first lap incidents in the last 12 grand prix. So stewards would have definitely accounted for that also. Controlled aggression is good, but not over aggression.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anachronix (Post 2890626)

OUCH!!!

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/...s-cause-furore

Never knew he did this to his team! This is third rate stuff :eek:

Yup, really bad from Hamilton. I thought they both had a good rapo, may be its only when Hamilton is wining.:D.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganeshtvpm (Post 2890420)

@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.

Oops..Dude,That was supposed to be sarcastic! Sorry about you, but I am the greatest fan of Alonso this side of Spain/Italy(self-proclaimed) and yes I too share the view of the Master. :p
I had my heart in my mouth when Roman flew straight into alonso, especially when he didn't get out of his car immediately. I think that post was full of angst. Great race though for the rest of the pack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mayankk (Post 2890433)

my soothsaying came to be unfortunately......:(
:) thats a broad statement. why do we HAVE to accept anything?
schumachers statements,going by recent trends.....not the best in the game.

Mayank,
I had a strange feeling when i read your post this morning about Lewis not finsihing. You know what, I am going to be watching for your posts before the race. You could be t-bhp version of Paul-the-octopus.:)

Cheers,
D

It is always a shame to lose fast cars at the first corner. And more so at Spa.

Glad that no one was injured. The other positive is that Alonso and Lewis each have a new engine to spare for the rest of the season. And fair penalty by FIA I guess.

As we thought, Button with the magic wing was in a class of his own and Vettel' setup came alive during the race. The early retirements helped too.

I was caught between Spa & Arsenal yesterday. But it was easy to make a choice after about half the laps.

Over to another classic next week. Hope it delivers.

Edit: Maldonado picked up 3 different penalties yesterday. I see that he has 9 penalties from 12 race weekends now. And I often wonder who drove that race at Catalunya. I think Maldonado should also be made to sit out at Monza.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deetjohn (Post 2890734)

Edit: Maldonado picked up 3 different penalties yesterday. I see that he has 9 penalties from 12 race weekends now. And I often wonder who drove that race at Catalunya. I think Maldonado should also be made to sit out at Monza.

Being a Williams fan, I support that. He hasn't finished a race in points since his victory. He seems too stupid to learn. A race ban for him would be a nice way to evaluate Bottas. From my readings, many teams look at him as a future talent.

Regarding Hamilton, are the negotiations not going well for him?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganeshtvpm (Post 2890420)

Without doubt, Alonso is the best driver on the grid. He has matured outside of racing as well, over the last 2-3 years, has learnt to accept defeat and bad luck. He would have made brusque statements 2-3 years ago with such accidents, but he was so dignified yesterday and tweeted even before the race got over, saying that he is preparing for Monza.

In fact, Lewis showed great maturity yesterday. He did not tweet, considering his tweeting blunder before the race!

Kimi seems to be the dark horse. If Lotus can give a consistently good car, he will be a contender for the championship, which is already crowded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anachronix (Post 2890626)

OUCH!!!

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/...s-cause-furore

Never knew he did this to his team! This is third rate stuff :eek:

Mighty stupid of Lewis to put up his telemetry on twitter, MW's comments say it aptly "He wasn't thinking, obviously"...

Lewis still needs to be strong in the mind, when things don't go his way you do see outbursts in public. Something he needs to learn from the old man or even Button.
It was nice to see him pick up the Lotus' wing (?) on the way back !!

Quote:

Originally Posted by asr245 (Post 2890853)

What is Bottas' background, suddenly he seems to be all over the place in Williams. I know he is managed by Toto Wolff, but has he done something spectacular in the feeder circuits.

On other things, not telecasting the race in HD was real bad. ESPN HD was showing the football matches (Btw was it shown on Star Sports HD ? I don't get that on Videocon D2H.
Espnf1 picture gallery is amazing and got has HD snaps of Grosjean's flight (into danger).
http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/image/index.html