Back on track: Sebastian Vettel does it again for Red Bull. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
By Eric Davison
Photos by Hugues Vanhoolandt for VeloceToday
The event at Spa held no major surprises in that the Red Bull duo of Vettel and Webber made short shrift of the competition. Although Webber made what has become a normal start for him and faltered, losing about five positions while Nico Rosberg surprised everyone by rocketing past Vettel into a lead that didn’t last.
Schumacher suffered a broken wheel in qualifying and had to start 24th. He then drove a superb race to place 5th. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
There was one very delightful surprise in the fact that Michael Schumacher placed fifth. His race almost never happened as he had a wheel come off in the first qualifying session and he earned no time. The car was repaired and he was gridded in 24th and last position when the green lights came on. He drove like the Michael of old and was a delight to watch.
Jenson Button up, with a credible third place finish. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
At the same time Jenson Button who had a terrible qualifying session and wound up in 13th spot at the start, rallied to take the third spot on the podium. Button is smooth and crafty and always seems to be able to find the speed and certainly has the ability to make the most of a bad situation.
The Ferraris seemed off pace and even Alonso had to settle for fourth. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
On the other hand Lewis Hamilton who had a set-to in practice managed to become involved in yet another incident and his race ended when he put the McLaren nose first into a guard rail. In Q2 he came together with Maldonado although it was deemed to be Maldonado who was at fault and he was penalized five grid spots.
Massa finished in 8th, also well off the pace. Not a good race for the Scuderia. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
On Sunday it was Hamilton coming together with Kobayashi during a scrap for fourth that sent Hamilton into the guard rail and out of the race and for all intents and purposes out of the championship fight. This correspondent agrees with earlier remarks by VeloceToday’s editor that Kobayashi is the man to watch and deserves a good seat next year, current contract notwithstanding.
Bruno Senna back in F1 as he replaces Nick Heidfeld. He finished 13th. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
Ferrari just wasn’t in the game and Bruno Senna did a very competent job in Heidfeld’s seat. Old Nick is going to court to try to regain his ride. Good luck with that.
There was a major tire issue. The rules state that a driver must start the race on the tires on which he qualified. The tires on Vettel’s Red Bull were already delaminating when the race started. Red Bull had petitioned the race officials for the right to put on fresh tires. Clearly delaminating tires put the drivers at risk.
Belgian D'Ambrosio in the Marussi Virgin Cosworth placed 17th in his first home Grand Prix. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
The petition was denied and Vettel pitted for fresh rubber after a very few laps. The race promoters should be questioned as to why a race could be flagged off with cars in an unsafe condition.
In our opinion, the tire situation is getting critical. Forcing drivers to start on delaminating tires is ill advised and dangerous in the extreme. Common sense must prevail over regulations that are arcane. Any team or driver should be able to change at any time for safety reasons. Also, why not have a team select a tire and use it for the race? Why have to use two compounds? Tires have not only become a dangerous issue, but the use/misuse and regulations of tires now dominates and overshadows the race itself.
The comeback kid? Schumacher is applauded for 20 years of Grand Prix racing and seven world championships. Photo by Hugues Vanhoolandt.
Race Results
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 1h26m44.893s |
| 2 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 3.7s |
| 3 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 9.6s |
| 4 | ALONSO | Ferrari | + 13.0s |
| 5 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes | + 47.4s |
| 6 | ROSBERG | Mercedes | + 48.6s |
| 7 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 59.7s |
| 8 | MASSA | Ferrari | + 66.0s |
| 9 | PETROV | Renault | + 71.9s |
| 10 | MALDONADO | Williams-Cosworth | + 77.6s |
| 11 | DI RESTA | Force India-Mercedes | + 83.9s |
| 12 | KOBAYASHI | Sauber-Ferrari | + 91.9s |
| 13 | SENNA | Renault | + 92.0s |
| 14 | TRULLI | Lotus-Renault | + 1 lap |
| 15 | KOVALAINEN | Lotus-Renault | + 1 lap |
| 16 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 17 | D’AMBROSIO | Virgin-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 18 | GLOCK | Virgin-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 19 | LIUZZI | HRT-Cosworth | + 1 lap |
| 20 | PEREZ | Sauber-Ferrari | + 17 laps, rear axle |
| 21 | RICCIARDO | HRT-Cosworth | + 31 laps, mechanical |
| 22 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | + 32 laps, accident |
| 23 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 38 laps, accident damage |
| 24 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | + 44 laps, accident damage |
| Fastest Lap |
WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 1m49.883s |
Note – Maldonado qualified 16th, but received five-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Hamilton. D’Ambrosio, Liuzzi, Ricciardo & Schumacher failed to meet 107% qualifying requirement, but allowed to race at stewards’ discretion.
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 259 Points |
| 2 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 167 Points |
| 3 | ALONSO | Ferrari | 157 Points |
| 4 | BUTTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 149 Points |
| 5 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 146 Points |
| 6 | MASSA | Ferrari | 74 Points |
| 7 | ROSBERG | Mercedes | 56 Points |
| 8 | SCHUMACHER | Mercedes | 42 Points |
| 9 | PETROV | Renault | 34 Points |
| 10 | HEIDFELD | Renault | 34 Points |
| 11 | KOBAYASHI | Sauber-Ferrari | 27 Points |
| 12 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | 24 Points |
| 13 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | 12 Points |
| 14 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-Ferrari | 10 Points |
| 15 | PEREZ | Sauber-Ferrari | 8 Points |
| 16 | DI RESTA | Force India-Mercedes | 8 Points |
| 17 | BARRICHELLO | Williams-Cosworth | 4 Points |
| 18 | MALDONADO | Williams-Cosworth | 1 Points |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | RBR-RENAULT | 426 Points |
| 2 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 295 Points |
| 3 | FERRARI | 231 Points |
| 4 | MERCEDES | 98 Points |
| 5 | RENAULT | 68 Points |
| 6 | SAUBER-FERRARI | 35 Points |
| 7 | FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES | 32 Points |
| 8 | STR-FERRARI | 22 Points |
| 9 | WILLIAMS-COSWORTH | 5 Points |
Thanks for your continued great coverage of F1. I read your story after each race, usually to get another perspective on the action. Sometimes I pick up on a nuance I may have missed during the broadcast. This time, however, you were my eyes and ears for the entire show. I live on Long Island, and Irene (and the resulting downed power-lines) conspired to decided that I really didn’t need to see Spa after all. This is probably the first race I’ve missed in over 10 years. Oh well, let’s just hope there are no storms during the Italian race in a little over a week! Thanks again for the great story.