2010 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa Francorchamps

Coulthard put it best: Schumacher used to run into people so often, they make cars that can take it. Maybe it explains why they are always a bit slower than the second fastest car :)
 
Coulthard put it best: Schumacher used to run into people so often, they make cars that can take it. Maybe it explains why they are always a bit slower than the second fastest car :)

Lulz!

But from the looks of the angle of collision, i think most cars would've made it through. The test would've been the RB6. ;)

While we're on strong cars, i think last year's BGP001 was the king. Rubinho survived a pretty hefty shunt from the back at the opener at Melbourne, and Button did the entire season with just 1 chassis if i'm not wrong.
 
Rubens was talking about how he thought he broke the car before the podium at Melbourne, he told Ross that it was one hell of a strong car.
 
VERY interesting this:


Front wing flex caused the crash?

EDIT: It just got blocked by FOM. But it shows Vettel's wing flex downward a lot the second he starts spinning. Could be that as he pulled out of the slipstream to the right it gained a ton of front downforce when he turned left, while none was goined at the rear because only the front wing flexes. Hence oversteer. Just a theory. Credit to scarbsf1 on twitter.

EDIT 2: It's on dailymotion:
 
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It sure bounces a lot. On second looks, if the angle of impact was more perpendicular, Button might have made it through with a few points.
 
To me it looks like the front wing came loose. You can see the wing itself is not flexing, instead the entire wing is moving down on one side and up on the other, like a see-saw. That would happen if it isn't fixed to the nose properly anymore, which would explain loss of front end grip.
 
It sure bounces a lot. On second looks, if the angle of impact was more perpendicular, Button might have made it through with a few points.

i don't think his car whas damaged THAT much, but his radiator was punctured. nothing to do about that...
 
That white puff from JB's car when it was hit was all of the water in the radiators. Had he kept going, the engine would have blown or seized from overheating by La Source.
 
To me it looks like the front wing came loose. You can see the wing itself is not flexing, instead the entire wing is moving down on one side and up on the other, like a see-saw. That would happen if it isn't fixed to the nose properly anymore, which would explain loss of front end grip.

The reason it see-saws is because it gets out of the slipstream on one side only. Also, it was not a loss of front end grip, but rear end grip that caused the crash.
 
And the sudden flexing of a wing closer to the ground would cause more front downforce, leaning the whole car forward slightly, taking grip away from the rear wheels, and causing vettel, weaving to pass button and expecting grip that was there a second ago (or a race ago... see speculation below), to spin out.

But this would mean he isnt used to the downforce changes the car is doing in the race, does this mean red bull made adjustments to pass the tougher flexing tests that vettel just wasnt ready for? Hmmm... :think:
 
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just watched the highlights ( to save bandwidth on this guest house wifi) and looked like typical spa race! in other words all over the shop. great race. gutted about button though, just a bystander in that one.

great move my schumi on his team mate early on when petrov got nico and then schumacher swooped in to clean up.

great result for webber after that cack start, and as for vettel.....that was just scruffy, he seemed like he was barely in control of his chariot at times, poor show imo.

hamilton was flawless pretty much, deserved win
 
Well it's no news that the very complicated and delicate Aero in the RBRs works like a charm when there's clean air in front, but they're not great "following" cars... Getting out the slipstream all the downforce was on one side of the wing and it was moving around like jelly. I too wouldn't have been surprised if the wing had collapsed at that point
 

the start of the GP last sunday...

look at where massa parked his car...he's already a meter passed his startline!
 
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They should have pushed him back but they decided to start as is. Massa was wrong for missing the box but reversing might have been more dangerous. Drive-through would have been silly but a warning had to be given.
 
Eh, I don't see why a couple of marshals couldn't get into the track and just push if it was this serious. This is more of a race organization mistake in my opinion.
I've rarely seen an F1 in reverse but perhaps it was too dangerous in the tight pack of the grid to launch in reverse?
In any case it doesn't matter that much... Massa didn't take any positions at the start.
 
In any case it doesn't matter that much... Massa didn't take any positions at the start.

While that is true it doesn't mean he did not have an advantage from that mispositioning.
Who knows, maybe he would have lost a position if he was in his proper grid slot?
Who knows, maybe he would have been involved in a collision if he was a bit further back?

Nobody, that's who.
 
When the officials wave the green flag it's cos they're satisfied with the placement of the cars. They have a kajillion people looking out for stalled engines, these same marshals have to verify the positions of the cars. Nothing was done, they decided to run it like that.
Let whoever knows of the effects give out the penalty. In this case, nobody.
Moving on!
 
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When the officials wave the green flag it's cos they're satisfied with the placement of the cars. They have a kajillion people looking out for stalled engines, these same marshals have to verify the positions of the cars. Nothing was done, they decided to run it like that.
Let whoever knows of the effects give out the penalty. In this case, nobody.
Moving on!

You're turning the situation around. They didn't give a penalty because their systems malfunctioned and the stewards did not see it. Everyone is very clear on the fact that he breached the regulations. And he did in fact gain a position. He was just ahead of Webber out of La Source.
 
Let whoever knows of the effects give out the penalty. In this case, nobody.

Nope, the rule of where to line up isn't one of interpretation (for example, "If X gained an advantage by doing Y"). It's a hard and fast, black and white rule; "This part of the car must be positioned here at the white line". You don't need to know the effect of it.
If you rocked up with a 6 litre turbo engine you'd still be punished even if you didn't gain any time/places :)

Martin Brundle noticed it before the start, so I'm sure some marshal's must have - it may have been put to the back of their minds to investigate/punish later but they got distracted with other higher priority issues (lap 1 bus-stop chaos, for example).
 
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