2023 - Race 13 Belgium

[airshifter]

Lewis understeered into him but Checo also didn’t give him enough room initially and it was that which cause him to go into the kerb and understeer into him. Honestly I’m quite shocked Lewis got a penalty for it. My initial reaction was that it was either a racing incident or Checo should have received a penalty for not giving enough space which triggered the incident.

Anyway, it is what it is. Not a big deal given neither are going for the championship.

No racer in their right mind is going to leave extra room for the attacking driver, and Checo left him the room required by the regs. Lewis blew it and went into the corner too hot to keep the car under him. "Enough space" requires only a car width which was given, and it's the job of the attacking driver to not cause the collision, not the job of the leading driver to give all the room desired.

[The Black Knight]

No racer in their right mind is going to leave extra room for the attacking driver, and Checo left him the room required by the regs. Lewis blew it and went into the corner too hot to keep the car under him. "Enough space" requires only a car width which was given, and it's the job of the attacking driver to not cause the collision, not the job of the leading driver to give all the room desired.

I disagree - the point at which Lewis went onto the Kerb he didn’t have enough room to the edge of the track and had no choice but to go onto it. A collision at that point was inevitable because he wasn’t provided enough room.

[Mia 01]

I´m afraid that Max will take ten titles in a row as it stands now.

[N. Jones]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the mess at Alpine. Do these people know what they are doing?

[Steve Boyd]

I´m afraid that Max will take ten titles in a row as it stands now.

But Newey is 65 - will he be there that long?

[airshifter]

I disagree - the point at which Lewis went onto the Kerb he didn’t have enough room to the edge of the track and had no choice but to go onto it. A collision at that point was inevitable because he wasn’t provided enough room.

The regulations, the on board, and the stewards don't agree. There are no special rules for any driver.

[airshifter]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the mess at Alpine. Do these people know what they are doing?

It seems like they are pulling a Ferrari. Start chopping heads until the car improves. It's probably no surprise that Binotto has been mentioned as a strong rumor to go run the team, he is used to such pressure.

Otmar did leave a lot of egg on the face when Fernando left and the Piastri saga took place.

[Nitrodaze]

I'm surprised that nobody had any comments about the race. I thought it was great to watch myself.


Well Ferrari didn't blow it, but Carlos didn't help himself any at the first corner. Granted it was the first turn, and a risky move by Oscar as well, but Carlos had at least a car width to Lewis yet closed the door hard enough the contact was inevitable. From there the team managed to at least keep Charles on the podium... maybe they only have enough strategy power for single driver?

With Sergio back in the game this weekend I don't think any of us are surprised that him and Max would end up on the top steps of the podium. Charles and Lewis did what they could and retained top spot along with Fernando. Though the top 4 seemed sure and stable, at one point I thought Lewis might have the pace to make an attempt on Charles, but it wasn't to be. But even Fred had to fend off some challenges, even if nothing major.

Speaking of Fernando and AMR, with he strong start they have had to the season who in the world would have ever predicted they were calling in Fred to cover the possible undercut of Albon and Tsunoda, who were applying that pressure on pure pace and merit? It surely wasn't anything I ever expected to see this year, much less at this part of the season. Though the races of both Alex and Yuki didn't keep them that far forward, it was freakish to even watch it.

Just enough rain where nobody gambled on inters, but I think they got fairly close. Overall pace dropped 5 seconds or more, and it caused a few twitchy moments but no major problems. I thought the action through the midfield was great to watch, plenty of clean races and some excellent moves going on. The Williams was a straight line rocket, only to be reeled in by other cars in the twisty stuff. Even then it was hard to pass, but possible. Alex did well even if the car fell out of the points. Ocon's move on Tsunoda was a really good overtake, and happened so easily he made it look simple.

Overall George did decent, and though Lando had a rough start to the race recovered well. Ricciardo never bounced back much from a poor qually, but now it's 1-1 with him and Yuki, and Yuki has now scored all the points for the team since Daniel joined!


A classis track that usually provides a good weekend, and I think that was the case this year after a rocky start with the weather.

That's because it was a boring race. The outcome was as certain as the sun rising tomorrow. There was zero competition for the win. Perez did not even try, or his car was not completely repaired from his crash with Hamilton. I found myself needing to go for a walk during the race, to only return to see the conclusion of the race. The sprint was great. Piastri was the revelation of the weekend. It is clear Norris has something to worry about. This rookie is out to steal all his thunder. Great result for Gasly.

I would say though that the Alpine management is beginning to look like clowns. It is always difficult for a team to get out of a rut with overbearing boardroom messing with the operations. Look at how long it took Mclaren to start its recovery as it navigated several years of boardroom interference in the team operations. The messy parting of Ron Dennis, the following Honda years and Boullier, and finally stability under Zak Brown.

I suppose Alpine is about to make a similar turbulent transition towards a stable program but rather clumsily at the moment. The picture of Alpine as an F1 operation is looking somewhat chaotic and ugly. Sometimes that is what it take to regroup and orientate towards the aspired goal. For the sake of the two great driivers they currently have, l hope they work it out carefully and successfully.

[The Black Knight]

The regulations, the on board, and the stewards don't agree. There are no special rules for any driver.

The regulations do agree- you must provide a cars width and the onboard agree too if you bother looking closely enough, which I suspect you won't.

As for the Stewards, it matters not - a racing incident with them one day is a 5 second timed penalty the next.

[Nitrodaze]

The regulations, the on board, and the stewards don't agree. There are no special rules for any driver.

I think genuine wheel-to-wheel racing should not be punished. However, a clear intent to do damage to another driver's car should be punished unreservedly. What we saw between Perez and Hamilton was genuine wheel-to-wheel racing with both drivers taking an equal risk of damage to their cars if things go wrong. So it is up to each driver to do enough not to risk damage to their car. Unfortunately. Perez did not do that. One cannot turn in so tight into a corner knowing there is a car there and not expect the risk of damage to not increase sharply. The steward was reliably crap as usual with their knee-jerk reactions.

It was probabaly the only real battle that took place at the sharp end of the race. All others were DRS assisted. It is what it is.