2014 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX

[FaultyMario]

Come on, it's Spa. After the summer break. nuff said.

Power Unit failure galore? Lots of drivers are on 3 PU component failures already, with Kvyat on 5.

And Andre Lotterer subbing in for Kobayashi. You guys think we'll ever see the kamui back?

[FaultyMario]

Oh, and drivers reckon Eau-rouge is not flat out anymore.

Yay for Power>Aero!

[Godson]

Needs more boost

[FaultyMario]

Spa is pretty tough on the engines, isn't? there's the high lateral loads and sometimes oil starvation as a consequence, I seem to recall it's also high on fuel consumption, so that puts some stress on Mercedes, who are aiming for a conservative weekend and Ferrari who have a really thirsty engine. I guess if it stays dry, then Kimi's chances are pretty slim. But conditions are expected to be cool and greasy. So that's good news for Williams Bottas and Force India, right?

Nico Hulkenberg's, anyone?

[FaultyMario]

Aaaaand that american kid gets Max Chilton's seat at Marussia.

Now what's more likely to happen, for Chilton to get his seat back or for the team to be revert to Manor Motorsports?

[Godson]

who, Rossi?

[The359]

Yeah, Rossi is going to race now. Apparently Chilton isnt bringing in enough money so far.

[Kchrpm]

And it's been reversed, Chilton's back in, reportedly his dad's check cleared.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Unbelievable!

[SupraDupra]

Money talks. :angry:

[G'day Mate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv0hQijEG9M

[FaultyMario]

1. Nico Rosberg 2’05.591
2. Lewis Hamilton 2’05.819
3. Sebastian Vettel 2’07.717
4. Fernando Alonso 2’07.786
5. Daniel Ricciardo 2’07.911
6. Valtteri Bottas 2’08.049
7. Kevin Magnussen 2’08.679
8. Kimi Raikkonen 2’08.780
9. Felipe Massa 2’09.178
10. Jenson Button 2’09.776
11. Daniil Kvyat 2’09.377
12. Jean-Eric Vergne 2’09.805
13. Sergio Perez 2’10.084
14. Adrian Sutil 2’10.238
15. Romain Grosjean 2’11.087
16. Jules Bianchi 2’12.470
17. Pastor Maldonado 2’11.261
18. Nico Hulkenberg 2’11.267
19. Max Chilton 2’12.566
20. Esteban Gutierrez 2’13.414
21. Andre Lotterer 2’13.469
22. Marcus Ericsson 2’14.438

[tigeraid]

Jesus christ, over 2 seconds...

[Random]

"FRIC what, bitches?!"

:D

[FaultyMario]

You mean Alonso's on Kimi's or Andre's on Marcus'?

I know, I know mixed conditions. Some tires were dead after the track 'dried up' in Q3.

Now, a question for you engineer types, Hamilton blames his lack of slow-corner pace on a glazed front brake (Sky's side-by-side showed him lose around .3 seconds at T1 and the Bus stop chicane, each), as he came out of pitlane for Q3 he called it on the radio "car's pulling", but, how much of the glazing was his fault? Brundle called it on the air when Lewis held back to get some fresh air as he started his hotlap, "those brakes won't have enough temperature". IIRC, metal glazing is a result of sudden temperature changes, right?

[G'day Mate]

Well bugger me, I won the poll for a third time!

[G'day Mate]

Anyone see the interviews? Good on Eddie for giving it back to the crowd.

[G'day Mate]

Also, what's with Lewis wanting to take his ball and go home? There's teams out there like Force India and Sauber racing for nothing week after week and you never see them withdrawing - they continue fighting tooth and nail over 14th.

[FaultyMario]

Well bugger me, I won the poll for a third time!

I think 'we' are allowed a sentimental victory over this one.

[IMOA]

Nico is going to get a bollocking to end all bollockings tonight. Not only did he fuck his teammates race but then he also managed to make a series of mistakes which gave the win to a much slower car.

Unbelievable win from Dan, showed amazing pace throughout the race, he was consistently a second a lap quicker than Vettel and .5 quicker than Bottas, and managed his tyres to perfection. Brilliant drive.

[Blerpa]

Nico was terrible. Rookie mistakes all over.
G'Day: 1) Fuck the lower teams, one has to think only about his own standing and level 2) You seem to forget that engines have to be used carefully in F1. Useless to keep going and maybe ruin an engine when so down the standings.

Great drive by Ricciardo. Also good going for Bottas. Mclarens can't seem to be able to do more than this. Must suffice for now.
And whiny Alonso can rightly fuck off at his getting pissed at Magnussen. And marshalls can fuck off too, what a travesty (re:20 seconds penalty to Magnussen, after the race).
Good to see Kimi getting the hangs of that car, for once.

[Godson]

Interesting race. Sad to hear about them not letting the race stand and getting politics involved after the flag drop.


Happy for Ric and super happy for Kimi. It is a day late and a dollar short, but I think his career is riding on the last half of the season.

[XHawkeye]

A twitter dump from the race.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvvsxgTIUAA9HN9.jpg:large

One of these guys has been in all season, another is making his #F1 debut. Hmm... pic.twitter.com/YmGwWq5bcc

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BvzZjVJIYAAyfjk.jpg:large

Rosberg right now #F1 pic.twitter.com/XIlat1uj1W

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bvzwp1uIMAAZrdB.jpg:large

Toto Wolff furious after the race #F1 pic.twitter.com/wYr91KRrIZ

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bvz8__gIQAAyEc-.jpg:large

#FerrariBELGP Raikkonen just off the podium, Fernando eighth #ForzaFerrari http://bit.ly/1vAwEql pic.twitter.com/mL4YAfTLiF

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv0An5yIUAAriAC.jpg:large

Our Team pit board was stolen today. Anyone with information please contact us! There is a reward. #BelgianGP pic.twitter.com/5b655B65Gr

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv0BsDPIMAAG63N.jpg:large

Remains of Rosbergs wing… Guessing quite a lot of people will be talking about this bit of carbon fibre tonight. #F1 pic.twitter.com/igtlgHkddD

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv0LsqaIYAIKydZ.jpg:large

That moment... #Hamilton - #Rosberg, #MercedesF1. #BelgianGP #SpaF1GP #Formula1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/dcKXRQKIPM
(pic.twitter.com/igtlgHkddD)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv1ILVsIMAAvZGc.jpg:large

Somewhere, Ross Brawn is laughing #F1 pic.twitter.com/eB185vBvYx

[url]http://wtf1.co.uk/belgian-grand-prix-2014-gifs/

http://wtf1.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hamiltonrosbercrash.gif

@harrismonkey (aka Chris Harris)


Remaining tight-lipped on Hamilton-Rosberg-gate. Well, trying to.

Okay- avoidable contact, and by that Nico could have avoided it. And he's been a bit naughty a few times this year. But it's racing...

...And if the Mercs are allowed to race from the start, it's bound to happen. And even though Lewis came off worse, there's no way Nico...

...knew what the outcome of that 'tap' would be, so it wasn't deliberately malicious. Just very punchy and probably not a good idea...

...just a shame people are gassing about that and not Ricciardo. Or the straight-line speed of that RB with the skinny wing. Monza anyone?

Oh, and I'm an unashamed Lewis fan. There's Karma in racing. Many races to go in 2014. If I was Nico, I'd be v.vigilant for banana skins...

[Freude am Fahren]

I completely agree with the monkey on the incident.

Also...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv0z72TCYAASf69.jpg:large

[ca6]

I'm so fed up with Hamilton, he's a pathetic crybaby.

Nico was aggressive, but it was in Lewis interest to stay out of situations like that. For Nico a DNF wouldn't have mattered that much, for Lewis it's starting to get critical.
Nico just stuck his nose in there and waited for Lewis to fuck himself, which he did.

[FaultyMario]

Ricciardo's balls of steel were so massive in Spa, that the trophy just gravitated into his hands, I mean, the new Monza-spec wing is not only skinny, but quite shallow too, and for that the petrol gods must reward his courage.

I really hope he clinches the WDC at the Abu Double Fantastic Season Bonanza. Really crossing my fingers for him to win it. If I had a safe way to bet, I'd but the equivalent of $10AUD on him. That'd be the biggest fuck you to both Bernie's cash machine ideas, and to the pair of selfish idiots in silver and green. Right now, he's within striking distance, and hopefully RedBull can develop the miniwing enough to stay ahead in their specialty tracks.

What do you folks think of my opinions?

Monza - Advantage Mercedes
Singapore - A Lottery, really
Suzuka - Don't Know
Sochi - Don't Know
Austin - Advantage Mercedes
Interlagos - Advantage RedBull
Yaz Marina - Advantage RedBull


A DNF by Rosberg would really put this championship on fire.
Valtteri is owed a win this year.
Magnussen's on Alonso was pretty clear. As good as his defensive moves were on turns -covering the apex and leaving the wrong lines on the outside to his rivals, making them fall for it-, his defense on the straights was idiotic rookie behavior, he pulled the trick for which he was penalised earlier in the race against a FI, It might have been Pérez, who in turn was penalised last year, driving that same seat, for doing the exact same thing. Kevin's good, but he ought to learn that Hockey tactics have no place at 300 km/h.
Another one for Rosberg, It was embarrassing to see him schooled by Vettel in the chicane.

[IMOA]

Every track is advantage Mercedes, it's more a case of one track is a big advantage Mercedes and another is a really really big advantage Mercedes

That said, I had a look at the results this afternoon. For the last 6 races the points are Nico 98, Lewis 73 and Dan 102. Given the Mercedes has been comfortably the quicker car in every one of those races for Dan to be beating both drivers is really shocking for Mercedes. The whole team needs enormous kick up the arse. Whats also interesting is after the first three races Dan has scored 144 points to Lewis's 141.

Now that is cherry picking results a bit but in every single one of those races the Mercedes has been comfortably quicker, for them not to be absolutely smashing Dan is very very poor.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Didn't really watch the race, but after seeing the video of the 'incident', I really think it's a racing incident. I don't think it was intentionally malicious, or done purposefully to puncture teammate's tire so that he can go ahead and take the lead. It was a stupid stunt. I hope Rosberg won't be pulling this kind of stupid psychological stunt on his teammate again later and risk retiring both cars! I don't think they can afford it anymore. Anyway, I do place majority of the blame on Rosberg. He's the one who could avoid it..., but I suppose the 'point' could be an important lesson for Lewis to not quickly close the door and expect others to yield? That situation could've easily ended up the other way around... with Hamilton proving a point to Rosberg... closing the door quickly and end up causing Rosberg to be out of contention.

Anyway, Rosberg, if you wish to prove a point, then prove it by beating your teammate by being on pole... and prove it by not losing it after the start. No real need to prove anything from behind...

As for Mercedes, hopefully they managed this well... they still have the advantage. However, I also wouldn't mind seeing them self destruct... I was pulling for Rosberg at the beginning of the season, but I'm slowly changing my mind... It'd certainly be awesome to see and crown that young happy grinning champion as soon as possible! :D

[FaultyMario]

Bleeding heart fan mode:

It was an impressive start by my boy, Guti.

Yes I know, he has poor throttle control, Brundle can't wait to say it everytime car number 21 is on screen; I know he lacks the killer instinct of top-flight athletes, even the best intended people in the paddock have said it. He's shy and predictable when attacking, but seriously, he can drive; he can defend better than most midfielders and his starts are second only to Alonso. It's such a shame that the Sauber is such a turd and that they don't have the personnel to turn things around, its painful to see the car fall into its rhythm past the first round of pitstops. At the start Sutil and Guti can take the fight to the Lotus and Toro Rossos, and then, the fucking car just progressively stagnates to a level just above the Caterhams.

[overpowered]

I was a little surprised that Alonso was allowed to do his 5 second stop-go penalty during a regular pit stop. I thought that wasn't allowed.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, I noticed that on another penalty earlier this year, or maybe last year. I was surprised as well. I wonder if it's a new rule in recent years. Seems kinda lame, when you consider some of the other penalties given out.

[overpowered]

I thought that a stop-go was supposed to be a more severe penalty than a drive though penalty. Letting them do it during a regular pit stop renders it to be less. A drive through will cost them at least 10-15 seconds (more on some tracks) I would think.

[IMOA]

It's a new rule for this year, idea is that for the technical breeches of the rules (often where it is a team breech as opposed to a driving breech) which should have a penalty a drive through was often too harsh so they created this 5 second penalty. In the case of Alonso at Spa it meant that the penalty was a bit light imo as that wasn't a case of the mechanics being a bit slow, they simply disregarded the rule completely and created a dangerous situation where there didn't need to be.

[XHawkeye]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bv5beXLIEAA7zpJ.jpg:large

#f1 #BelgianGP @latphotographic Open air urinal + view of EauRouge. Not bad. But waiting for men to "go" wasn't great pic.twitter.com/PMDN8T25oW

[overpowered]

It's a new rule for this year, idea is that for the technical breeches of the rules (often where it is a team breech as opposed to a driving breech) which should have a penalty a drive through was often too harsh so they created this 5 second penalty. In the case of Alonso at Spa it meant that the penalty was a bit light imo as that wasn't a case of the mechanics being a bit slow, they simply disregarded the rule completely and created a dangerous situation where there didn't need to be.I thought I read somewhere that they couldn't get the car started.

[IMOA]

Yeah, battery was low charge so there was a bit of a panic in the last minute to get some more batteries. When the time came to clear the grid they stayed there working, a marshall came across to say 'get the fuck off the grid', they ignored it, lights go green and cars start the parade lap driving around alonso's car with 5 or 6 blokes still working on it and they finally get it started and he pulls away. Thing is if they had've left the grid, waited for the cars to pull away and then got Alonso's car started he would have had to start from the back of the grid so by ignoring the rules and creating a dangerous situation they got less of a punishment. I can understand why they did it which means that the punishment in that case is a bit too weak.

[Freude am Fahren]

They should add a start from the back proviso to that rule's punishment.

[SupraDupra]

One of the nice things about living in the States...F1 coverage sucks. So, when I have a busy weekend. I can record it and get back to it later, much later and still not know what happened. EXCEPT when my #$%#& COX DVR records 10 hours of grey screen. Was not happy on Sunday.