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Monday, August 26, 2013
2013 Belgian Grand Prix -review of the race
I shall start by saying that Lewis Hamilton has really shown us all that he is going to fight for the championship till the end. Mercedes is performing a lot better than Lotus and they are now number 2 in the standings.
Both Hamilton and Alonso passed Räikkönen in the championship points when the Finn retired for the first time since the 2009 season. His record of back to back point finishes was now stopped at 27. It will take a while for somebody to break that record. Even Michael Schumacher couldn't do that in his "dream team Ferrari" years.
Usually the Belgian GP is one of the most exciting races of the year but for some reason I found this race quite boring. Maybe it was because Sebastian Vettel dominated the race from the start and nobody really had a chance against his Red Bull. I'm almost starting to feel sorry for Hamilton, Räikkönen and Alonso. It seems that Sebastian Vettel is going to take his fourth title this year unless something really dramatic happens.
But now let's see what I said before in my preview and did it come true?
"It seems that Räikkönen is very good every time the F1 circus goes to Spa, and every time he manages to finish the race it's with a very good result."
-Yes he does get good results when HE FINISHES THE RACE but unfortunately for his sake he didn't.
"It seems that this is an unlucky track for Fernando Alonso and a very lucky track for Kimi Räikkönen."
-This time the tables had turned and Kimi was the unlucky one and Alonso wasn't.
"Lotus is a very reliable car and it's almost impossible for him to retire with it."
-Yes it's true. ALMOST impossible but clearly not impossible.
"Lotus has also announced that they are probably going to use the double DRS on Räikkönen's car at Spa."
-They decided not to use the double DRS device so it was obviously a bad thing for Lotus.
My top3 guess was:
1. Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
The only man that didn't stand on the podium of these three retired. If Räikkönen wouldn't have had those problems I believe that my predictions would have been extremely close. He has won in Spa from the 10th place on the grid before so why couldn't he had been on the podium today as well?
In the previous race I guessed the three drivers correctly but now I only got two right (on different podium positions though).
I forgot to say who is going to set the fastest lap but it wasn't that hard to say Sebastian Vettel on that one.
I have seen that some F1 pages list their tops and flops after a race. I'm going to start with that also. So here goes..
TOP-5
1. Sebastian Vettel - He overtook Hamilton in the beginning and dominated the race after that till the end. Perfect result for him.
2. Mercedes - They managed to jump to second place in the constructors title with a very strong result. It seems that they are now Red Bulls number one contender.
3. Fernando Alonso - He managed to take second position at the track where he usually has bad luck. The start was great even though it was from 9th on the grid and he drove with great confidence till the end.
4. Jenson Button - McLaren has not been that good this season but I believe that Jenson did the maximum that is possible with his current car.
5. Lewis Hamilton - Great performance ones again but he lost his lead right in the beginning and that was the end of his chances for victory. He should anyway be proud that he is now third in the points.
FLOP-5
1. Lotus - They act like a top team but the truth is something totally different. They have had a tire advantage before but that isn't a reality anymore. Their biggest advantage has still been the reliability but that didn't do them any favors this time either. Räikkönen overtook a lot of cars as he usually does in Spa but it doesn't matter what you do if you can't finish.
2. Pastor Maldonado's crash - Maybe he was at the wrong place at the wrong time but it was still a bit embarrassing. First he collided with Adrian Sutil and then he turned straight into Paul di Resta's car. He was probably trying to turn into the pits when he had the chance but didn't look in the mirrors.
3. Sergio Perez - Many drivers has complained about his driving style. He turns aggressively into the other cars in places where you should be very careful. Romain Grosjean has really made some improvement but now he was the victim. Perez was supposed to turn right at the corner but instead he turned first left and then right. This maneuver forced Grosjean to drive outside of the track instead of turn into the corner. Perez got a drive trough penalty for this reason.
4. The activists - They were trying to get their banderol up for the whole world to see. No TV camera filmed it so what they did didn't really matter that much. They just sat up their and watched the race like any other F1 fan even though they were protesting against it.
5. The race itself - Every year this race is very interesting but now it was extremely boring. The weather didn't even cause any drama to anyone this year.
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