2011 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Brabham said:
Mercs team order at the end was a bit pointless.
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It wasn't a team order. Nico admitted in a post-race interview that he got the OK to switch to a fatter fuel mixture while leading in the early parts of the race. I think Merc just wanted to clock some lead laps for the stats, knowing that it would never stick till the end. So they tried to get a bit of spot-light, accepting a possible fuel-shortage in the end. Had the SC phase been a bit longer, it might have worked out for Nico.
 
HAM vs KOB : Racing incident, hamilton didn't expect kobayashi to come back for a re-pass, so ham edged left for the ideal entry line. Kobayashi on the other-hand thought hamilton saw him and would give room.
 
MadCow809 said:
HAM vs KOB : Racing incident, hamilton didn't expect kobayashi to come back for a re-pass,
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Except that a look into the mirrors would have given him a clue. He was 3/4 lengths ahead, so he should have seen him. Going by assumptions is a bad idea at 315 kph. It is a race incident, but it was entirely avoidable had HAM used his mirrors and stayed on his line
 
Well done to VET for the win and Red Bull for the 1-2.

Probabaly MSC for my driver of the day, though there was some good drives today. Last to fifth was an excellent day's work by MSC.

The HAM & KOB incident, after several replays I go along with the stewards.

Great race, I really enjoyed this one and the camera works & track layout made for some great viewing.

May have been fun to have some rain, but other than that a good day.

:)

(Andre Villas-Boas, the Chelsea FC manager, was at the race and had a quick chat on the BBC.)
 
I wish I could watch these races live, they take forever to appear on iPlayer. :(
 
lukenwolf said:
It wasn't a team order. Nico admitted in a post-race interview that he got the OK to switch to a fatter fuel mixture while leading in the early parts of the race. I think Merc just wanted to clock some lead laps for the stats, knowing that it would never stick till the end. So they tried to get a bit of spot-light, accepting a possible fuel-shortage in the end. Had the SC phase been a bit longer, it might have worked out for Nico.
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Ok, my bad(In the race it just seemed like clear team order to me).
 
Of course the weekend I moved out of my apartment had to coincide with this race weekend, so I wasn't able to watch....le sigh. Oh well, judging by the results, the race seemed par for the course.
 
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Aston Martin said:
No further action.
That means it was Kobis fault, if it was Hamiltons fault, there would be further action.
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Your quote makes no sense. No further action was taken as the judges saw it as a race incident or that it was Hamiltons fault, making it pointless to penalize someone who is already out of the race. If they had believed it was Kobas fault, they would have penalized him, as he was able to continue in the race after the incident, in which Hamilton failed to check his mirrors and turned into Kobayashi, creating a race incident. :)

PaperBiro said:
I wish I could watch these races live, they take forever to appear on iPlayer. :(
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I watched it on the iplayer live, worked great. A bit crap quality given that it's the BBC and they should have plenty of bandwidth, but stable at least. Of course I do not know easy that is to access from Shit iran, but hey, pancakes.
 
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I have to take these back massages every Sunday when the races are on, not my choice. :(
 
Cellos I don't think you should be passing judgement on a race you didn't watch.
I think everyone here will agree when I say that was a brilliant dry weather race. Lots of overtaking and strategy playing an important role as well, what else can you ask for.
Good drive by Schu and Button I feel, if they sort out their quali troubles they would be getting many more positive results.
 
Brabham said:
Ok, my bad(In the race it just seemed like clear team order to me).
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It's not the first time this season that Merc mucks up the fuel calculation. I can't remember where, but I think it was Malaysia, where Nico had to limp home on a lean mixture as well. Of course it's all speculation from here, but I think that Merc went all guns blazing - do or die - because they know that Spa and Monza are the only tracks that really suit their car. Wouldn't surprize me if they ran into the same prob next race. One also needs to keep in mind that a car driving by itself uses more fuel than a car in a slipstream. Since Schumacher spent most of the race slipstreaming other cars, his fuel consumption was most likely substantially lower.
 
LEDF1 said:
Cellos I don't think you should be passing judgement on a race you didn't watch.
I think everyone here will agree when I say that was a brilliant dry weather race. Lots of overtaking and strategy playing an important role as well, what else can you ask for.
Good drive by Schu and Button I feel, if they sort out their quali troubles they would be getting many more positive results.
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I wrote one line, barely lifting a finger of judgment. Relax, mate. I'll watch the race when it is available to be downloaded.
 
Well, I think it is a step in the right direction that he owned up to an own mistake. He's been coddled since he was old enough to drive a kart, but I hope at one point Lewis' character will match up with the level of his driving.
 
This was a disappointing result for me. I'm glad Button made it from 13 to 3, but Hamilton should have been in the running for a win. After the post-race interviews, he said his car was slow... Maybe, but Button's was fast, so it must have been in the aero package. I hate seeing a good car and driver suffer due to a strategic muckup.

As for the rest of the race... I really hate seeing Red Bull cruise to another 1-2 without incident. I would ever cheer for Alonso at this point.

Fantastic drive for Senna and Schumacher. In the right situation I think Senna could be a world champion. Schumacher clearly still has it. Spa is one of the sport's most technically demanding tracks, and his experience shows. I would love to see him in a more competitive car again, though it will unfortunately never happen. I think he is quite happy retiring from a German home-team.

Overall, disappointing restart to the F1 season. It had promise, but didn't deliver. Looking forward to Monza!
 
Incredibly exciting until Vettel started winning again xD.

Webber, buddy, I like you and all but please practice your starts. You see Rosberg? Do it like him.

Alonso was being too nice today. Webber's pass on him at eau rouge shouldn't have happened (though they would've crashed spectacularly if it didn't). Bit of a dick move by Webber.

I felt like Massa fell asleep towards the end of the race. He had the pace at the beginning, keeping up with leaders and he just kinda.........got tired?

As for Koba and Ham, I think it was both their faults. Ham didn't expect Koba to be there because it just didn't make sense to try to regain/attack from the outside RIGHT AFTER being passed. But of course, you can't just drive into someone so it's still partially Ham's fault because even though it made no sense, Koba was entitled to be there.


F1 Site poll:

Which of these men impressed you most with their charging Spa race drives?

- Button

- Schumacher

- Maldonado?!?!?!? trolololol?
 
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Pininfarina_ said:
Incredibly exciting until Vettel started winning again xD.
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It's his first win since June. Can you guys just once take a good drive without whining.

Pininfarina_ said:
Alonso was being too nice today. Webber's pass on him at eau rouge shouldn't have happened (though they would've crashed spectacularly if it didn't). Bit of a dick move by Webber.
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So he overtook your favourite driver, why's that a dick move? That was the bloodiest bestest overtaking move since Hakkinen toasted Schumacher down Kemmel many moons ago.

Pininfarina_ said:
I felt like Massa fell asleep towards the end of the race. He had the pace at the beginning, keeping up with leaders and he just kinda.........got tired?
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No, he's just as mediocre as he's been all season. Ever since the accident in hungary, he's never been the same.


Pininfarina_ said:
As for Koba and Ham, I think it was both their faults. Ham didn't expect Koba to be there because it just didn't make sense to try to regain/attack from the outside RIGHT AFTER being passed. But of course, you can't just drive into someone so it's still partially Ham's fault because even though it made no sense, Koba was entitled to be there.
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Agree with you there. I think Koba was far enough alongside Ham's MCL that Lewis would've seen him, had he bothered to use the mirrors.
 
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