Belgian GP - Spa Francochamp 2016

[henners88]

I haven't seen the race as I generally read about them these days, but what a great drive by Hamilton. Luck went his way today and he must be leaving Belgium with a huge smile.

[jas123f1]

I am a Vettel fan, but Turn 1 was his fault. As zako85 put it, extremely optimistic turn-in at a race start. Granted, you may not see everyone in your mirrors, but if you are not sure you have cleared everybody behind you, it is wiser to leave some room.

Milder blame on "Mad Max", who was pretty likely to hit Räikkönen in T1 even if Vettel had not existed there.

Other than that...Needless to say, I have been a great admirer of Verstappen Jr as well, but his racing is... too much on the limit. I appreciate that he has found a way around regulations and defends in a way which is hard to penalize. From that point of view he reminds me the greats of Senna and Schumacher, who were on the ultimate limit as well. But on the flipside as Kimi put it, it is only a matter of time before Max has a major crash with this driving. In Hungary I thought Max' defense against Kimi was awesome, but this time in Belgium it was too much...

Shame 'The Hulk' is never able to get onto the podium... Even on good days the podium somehow eludes him.

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I think that Verstappen is a good racer, but still too immature - this time it destroyed even his own race .. when he vas too eager in the start ..

[The Black Knight]

I haven't seen the race as I generally read about them these days, but what a great drive by Hamilton. Luck went his way today and he must be leaving Belgium with a huge smile.

Honestly there was nothing spectacular about anything Hamilton did today. He just kept out of trouble. He picked the right race to start from the back of the grid. The gods were smiling at him but his general race pace wasn't that great. He was lucky not spectacular.

[truefan72]

Honestly there was nothing spectacular about anything Hamilton did today. He just kept out of trouble. He picked the right race to start from the back of the grid. The gods were smiling at him but his general race pace wasn't that great. He was lucky not spectacular.

there was some skill there too, but i think that even more was at play if his conservative strategists had doen the right move.
1. At the time of the red flag he was on the mediums and keeping pace with the softs. I think he hd 10 laps on those tyres
2. he/they should have bolted on another set of mediums and let him run with them as long as he could since the softs were not lasting long.
3. then with lighter fuel load he would have put on his set of softs for a final 12 lap stint and gotten a legitimate chance to fight for the win.

But at the end of the day I'll take 3rd and minimized damage from his big handicap.
Off to Monza we go

[Rollo]

what a great drive by Hamilton. Luck went his way today

It certainly helps when you have a car which is the best and its been locked in by the rules.

[AL14]

You surely couldn't say that about Max's actions on the Kemmel straight, defending against Raikkonen. It was an extremely hair brained, and dangerous moved on his part.

No I was referring to the first corner not that one.

[The Black Knight]

there was some skill there too, but i think that even more was at play if his conservative strategists had doen the right move.
1. At the time of the red flag he was on the mediums and keeping pace with the softs. I think he hd 10 laps on those tyres
2. he/they should have bolted on another set of mediums and let him run with them as long as he could since the softs were not lasting long.
3. then with lighter fuel load he would have put on his set of softs for a final 12 lap stint and gotten a legitimate chance to fight for the win.

But at the end of the day I'll take 3rd and minimized damage from his big handicap.
Off to Monza we go

Yeah I agree but they had to use two compounds throughout the race anyway. What I didn't understand is why they put the softs on in the second stop as well and then moved onto the medium I think for the end. It was pretty clear from the beginning that the medium was the better race tire. Had they done that maybe second was on the cards. He made an awful hash of the restart though did Hamilton and was lucky not to lose out to Massa.

Not his best race but was okay. The win was, realistically, never on but second was there I think.

[The Black Knight]

Isn't it about time that F1 started with accumulated grid penalties (for engine changes and etc) so if a driver do what Merc/Ham did this weekend, they can currently
do allot of changes during one GP, start last in one GP and then all penalties are gone. So each time a driver gets a grid penalty, it should be added to a grid penalty pool.
So if a driver does two engines changes and one gearbox, those penalties should be carried over from one race to another until the driver has cleared all grid penalty points.

I.e. if Hamilton gets 40 grid penalty points, he would clear 23p this weekend but would still have 17points to clear in the next GP, so if he would get PP in the next GP.
he would get moved downed 17 places to 18th and then (unless more changes is made) he would start at the actual qualified position.

I think it's just about time they got rid of grid penalties and started docking the team constructor points for having to change engine. So, for example, Hamilton has to change engine so Mercedes lose their constructor points for that race but Hamilton starts from his normal grid slot and keeps any points he scores. It's true that in F1 they win and lose as a team but since their is a drivers championship there's a clear distinction there between both driver and team, therefore, they should have a distinction in rules, especially ones that so drastically impact a drivers season. I doubt many people would complain about Mercedes losing some constructors points with the huge margin they have but for Hamilton it's unfair to have done nothing wrong and be getting those penalties.

I think a constructor points impact would be enough of a deterrent from the teams perspective to ensure they won't go changing engines at every race as there would be no points gain in it for them. I always believe, and still do believe, that this is the simplest solution and alternative to the ridiculous grid penalties system.

[Starter]

I think it's just about time they got rid of grid penalties and started docking the team constructor points for having to change engine. So, for example, Hamilton has to change engine so Mercedes lose their constructor points for that race but Hamilton starts from his normal grid slot and keeps any points he scores. It's true that in F1 they win and lose as a team but since their is a drivers championship there's a clear distinction there between both driver and team, therefore, they should have a distinction in rules, especially ones that so drastically impact a drivers season. I doubt many people would complain about Mercedes losing some constructors points with the huge margin they have but for Hamilton it's unfair to have done nothing wrong and be getting those penalties.

I think a constructor points impact would be enough of a deterrent from the teams perspective to ensure they won't go changing engines at every race as there would be no points gain in it for them. I always believe, and still do believe, that this is the simplest solution and alternative to the ridiculous grid penalties system.

Use common sense in the rules? What a strange suggestion.

[Nitrodaze]

Vettel was squeezing Kimi , who he thought had beaten Max to the inside .
He wouldn't have seen Max on the other side of Kimi's car , and wouldn't have known he was squeezing both of them .
Kimi is the only one of them that knew where all three were in this situation , but , being ahead , had no obligation to back out .

So , in my eyes , that first corner was a racing incident .

Baggie, it was a daft racing incident which cost Ferrari dearly. Two podium finishes was on the cards for Ferrari this weekend. I think the Ferrari-Vettel relationship is strained at the mo. He disobeys team instructions and wreaks team chances for points in a hard fight with the surging Redbulls. They clearly need to have a frank chat internally to sort this mess out. They are shooting themselves in the foot at the mo.