The strength of the tub when it gets a sharp impact from. The edge of the inner barrier is genuinely astounding. Incredible.

 

Well, that was interesting, well done Lance Stroll.

 

Never seen anything like what Vettel did when he pulled alongside Hamilton. Unbelievable!

 

Sebastian Maldonado

 

What a crazy weekend's racing !
Astounding high speed straights, followed by 'mickey mouse' corners.
Vettel's encounter with Hamilton was a disgrace and totally unworthy behavior of a rookie, never mind a multiple world champion.
Try that on the M4 and you'll get a 2 year ban, not 10 seconds 'penalty'.
Looks like the red cars are back in charge of the FIA.....

 

They've decided that Vettel did something wrong so guilt innocence is clear
That just leaves the sentencing to be looked at.
Pastor Maldonado was given a 10 place grid penalty for a similar offence in 2012 in Monaco vs what was ultimately around 30secs race penalty for Vettel.
At Monaco a 10 place grid penalty would be far worse than a 30sec penalty since it is so difficult to overtake and field spread would hurt badly
At Azerbaijan it is more straightforward for a quick car to overtake and a generally faster circuit so the 30secs was probably worse than a positional penalty but it isn't clear cut.
I'd guess that the stewards are more or less consistent with the penalty in the differing circumstances

 

What a *****.

A one race ban is probably not entirely unreasonable, but he got "points on his licence" so that could add up to a ban if he does something dumb enough in future. You'd hope once he'd calmed down he reflected on the easy win he just threw away.

Good race. Who else could have won? Perez and Ocon both; that would have been an amazing result for Force India. Vestappen certainly. Massa maybe. Both Bottas and Raikonnen had they not collided.

 

Just got back from a day at Williams in Grove to watch the Belgium GP.

This was their race day package and I'd highly recommend it to anybody into F1.

The day starts early with complimentary fizz on arrival and breakfast. You then get a tour of the heritage collection (for me the highlight of the day) and a chance to participate in lots of activities such as their simulators, having a go at changing F1 tyres etc.

You then get a 4 course lunch followed by a brief history of Williams in their cinema room, followed by live link up with the technical boffins at the circuit and driver interview (Massa today).
The presenter then goes through a history of the track and has analysis of every corner plus a critique of the pole lap.

Race is then broadcast live with screens showing all the timings and driver trackers.

Quick debrief after the race and prizes handed out for the activities/competitions during the day.

Plenty of time afterwards to go back retry any of the activities and look at the heritage collection.

The staff were super friendly and really knowledgeable.

Complimentary bar throughout ensured everyone left with a smile on their face.

Not cheap at £200, but worth every penny in my opinion.

 

William's day sounds v good and reasonable value value by the sounds of things.

Watched the race on TV here in the States and goodness me, I will never come plain about Sky / C4 coverage again. There were long periods of ad's left right and centre and 2 very clueless commentators.

As for the race itself, I thought Hamilton drove well and Vettel did a good job to hang on to his coat-tails. I can't see Mad Max sticking around at RB...but his options for a competitive drive next year are now limited...Bottas replacement?

How Ocon and Perez didn't manage a huge accident between them is beyond me - Perez in particular showed an unhealthy disregard for their safety. I don't like the stewards interfering with the racing, but cannot understand why they didn't get involved in the second incident which brought out the safety car??!

 

What a good race this was, though, especially compared with the borefest that was Hungary. three abreast overtakes, some very close racing between the leaders (admittedly safety car assisted). Great fan support there as well.

They should have two or three races at Spa each year if they want to make F1 more exciting.

Really interesting explanation of how Hamilton defended after the safety car here: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...ce-vettel.html