2019 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, Aug 30 - Sep 1

[Moore77]

Good RBR debut from Albon, but all four wheels left the track when he overtook Perez, so he should have had to give that place back.

At what point did he leave track with all four wheels?

[Unc1eM0nty]

Ferrari is a team that lacks confidence. They had the car to finish 1-2 today . The strategy for Sebastian Vettel was amaturesque. Pitted him too early.

Lewis was all over Seb though, if Mercedes had done the undercut Seb was toast anyways.

The Mercedes had much better race pace, if, if , Lewis had got in front at the start he'd have pulled away and won this race by 30 seconds

[Unc1eM0nty]

Vettel's move on Ham was an exact copy of last year's one.

Yah casue Lewis didn't learn anything from last year. He overtook Vet after start and let him to use his slipstream... so bad strategy.

lol, Seb went too deep into the first corner, what's Lewis meant to do sit behind him and let Bottas past

[Wouter]

Good RBR debut from Albon, but all four wheels left the track when he overtook Perez, so he should have had to give that place back.

"But as Perez moved to his right, Albon put 2 wheels on the grass."

[TAG]

You talk as if everything is set in stone. It isnt. The car doesnt particularly suit Seb, hence he is naturally struggling. Evenso, the gap isnt that big. He has a lot of experience and i think Vettel has the right mindset to be of value to the team, even if he isnt beating Leclerc.

And next year, it’s a new car again, with a bigger change coming up in 2021. There’s absolutely no guarantee that Leclerc will be better then, just as there is no guarantee Hamilton will be better than whoever he will be driving next to. It’s just seems daft to write off the driver who still has more points and played the team player today.

His contract and his pay grade might be renegotiated though, come 2021.

Vettel has never been good driving a car that doesn't have a planted rear end. It's his achilles heel right after the red mist. If nothing else, not being "in control" of his team has helped him mellow out a bit on the red mist front. There's no reason for Ferrari to keep Vettel simply to come in behind Leclerc. Not at the price that they're paying him. There's a lot of available young drivers that would save the team 25 million in operating expense. There zero shame in that and Vettel is and will always be a staple in the F1 record books but it's also not inconceivable to think that he may very well decide to hang it up after his current contract expires, he knows very well the talent that Leclerc has and we saw that talent on full display today.

[zibby43]

Merc ran with the PUs turned down in the race today as a precaution. Still haven't determined the cause of the failures in the Perez and Kubica PUs. I don't think Mercedes have a snowball's chance in hell of getting on the front row at Monza, but I think they'll have every chance at winning it.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/01/wol ... rc-sooner/

Wolff also said the team had been slightly conservative with its engine settings after two of the six new power units it introduced this weekend suffered failures before the race.

“I know now a little bit how Red Bull felt in ’14 and ’15 when you are on the back foot on the straights,” he said. "Not a good weekend."

“We introduced phase three of our power unit and we had two failures on Checo [Perez’s] and Robert [Kubica’s] cars, which are not understood."

“It didn’t compromise us massively, it did a tiny bit. We were not taking any risks in the race. But it was certainly not a comfortable situation because the failures look to be different and are not analysed yet, and understood.”

[izzy]

"But as Perez moved to his right, Albon put 2 wheels on the grass."
https://i.imgur.com/6soO9aC.jpg

So Checo thoughtfully moved right to help Alex pass on his left

really these stewards

[ringo]

Hamilton's lead extends now with 8 races to go.

[saviour stivala]

"But as Perez moved to his right, Albon put 2 wheels on the grass."
https://i.imgur.com/6soO9aC.jpg

So Checo thoughtfully moved right to help Alex pass on his left

really these stewards

Perez defending his position pushed Albom out of track.

[Wynters]

Nice race, right down to the wire and plenty of racing up and down the pitlane. Great to see Ferrari finally hit the top step of the podium and, particularly, for Leclerc to finally get his first win.

What awful luck for Norris
But what great luck for Kimi! Another couple of inches and his right rear and Verstappen's left front would've met at Eau Rouge. That could've been very nasty. When I saw his car appear just as it became absolutely clear that Verstappen wasn't going to make that corner my heart stopped for an instant.

Also, am I wrong, or did Crofty spend the first few laps constantly saying the Stroll hit not one, but two Renaults?

[i70q7m7ghw]

Massive congrats to Leclerc, smashed his 4x WDC team mate. Ferrari are quick in qualifying, but it seems their race pace isn't as good as the Mercedes, should make for some interesting races for the rest of the season. Horrid luck for Norris, my heart sank when I saw him stopped on the start/finish straight. Impressive Red Bull debut for Albon, some very fiesty moves, I can't wait to see him versus Verstappen for the rest of the year.

Overall, a good race on a sombre weekend.

RIP Anthoine Hubert.

[izzy]

"But as Perez moved to his right, Albon put 2 wheels on the grass."
https://i.imgur.com/6soO9aC.jpg

So Checo thoughtfully moved right to help Alex pass on his left

really these stewards

Perez defending his position pushed Albom out of track.

Obviously! But FIA scoured the racing world for the only 4 adults who'd believe Checo, and made them stewards

[Just_a_fan]

there seems to be a lot of potential ferrari team managers here. the team has TWO drivers, both whom are capable of winning the race. just because one wins does not mean that the other is no good. ferrari went for a strategy that ensured that one of their drivers won, so what is the problem with that? mercedes have done the same in the past on many many occasions. the low ambient temperatures played into mercedes hands as was expected

I didn't realize that Ferrari's mod was a Seb fan too. Interesting.

[selvam_e2002]

there seems to be a lot of potential ferrari team managers here. the team has TWO drivers, both whom are capable of winning the race. just because one wins does not mean that the other is no good. ferrari went for a strategy that ensured that one of their drivers won, so what is the problem with that? mercedes have done the same in the past on many many occasions. the low ambient temperatures played into mercedes hands as was expected

I didn't realize that Ferrari's mod was a Seb fan too. Interesting.

I completely agree with you. See Mercedes stragegy, they can have botto to hold vettel and lecrec for a while to give Hamilton advantage but they did not... instead they try to collect more construction point.

It is pointless to pit vettel much earlier on lap 15, it is not good because Hamilton could not pass him with DRS. Vettel can go further but as you said, they decided Lecrec to win this race at any cost so they even not bothered about loosing construction point.

I don't still believe Vettel will race with Ferrari for next year. I doubt that after this race. He is a good driver but it seems something...

[sosic2121]

"But as Perez moved to his right, Albon put 2 wheels on the grass."
https://i.imgur.com/6soO9aC.jpg

So Checo thoughtfully moved right to help Alex pass on his left

really these stewards

It's another stupid and dangerous presedan, especially since they could give Perez 5s and he would still keep his 6th place.