After one of the most dramatic qualifying sessions of the 2011 Formula One season, fans and viewers were not disappointed come Sunday afternoon.
It was a thrilling, breath holding race which led to Sebastian Vettel winning his 7th race of the season, and extending his championship lead to 92 points ahead of team mate Webber.
Mclarens Lewis Hamilton was looking strong on new rubber, but a slip streaming Kobayashi was alittle too optimistic too pass Hamilton on the outside going into Les Combes. It looked as if the Japanese driver began turning in, as Hamilton was slightly drifting across, catching the British drivers rear wheel, spinning him into the barrier. The impact was hard, and Hamilton was very disappointed for his race to be finished after just 13 laps.
Sun, yes sun, greeted the F1 drivers as they entered the spa-francorchamps circuit on race day. With Vettel on pole, but a rather mixed up grid after a thrilling wet-dry qualifying, read here, the race was set to be a thriller.
The start lights went out, and the obvious sign came from Webber, starting 3rd, who was bogged down with anti-stall and fell back to 8th place. Senna, who had qualified an excellent 7th, was far too ambitious on the brakes into turn 1. However he was also struggling with full fuel tank and cold, worn tyres, which led to him locking up and hitting Jaime Alguesuari. This propelled the Torro Rosso driver into Fernando Alonso breaking young Jaimie's suspension. It was disappointing to end his race that way after being one of the stars of qualifying.
Further behind Timo Glock locked both front tyres up into turn 1, resorting to him side swiping Paul Di Resta into Jenson Button's read wing. Behind that however the two Team Lotus cars of Trulli and Kovalainen collided causing Jarno to spin.
On the run to Eau Rouge, there order was Vettel, Rosberg who had vaulted from 5th on the grid to 2nd, Hamilton, Massa and Alonso. Button, who had started 13th, moved up the field but then Bruno Senna, who's contact with Alguesuari had dislodged his front wing, lost the whole front wing of his car sending debris high into the air, and into the path of Jenson Button. One piece even cut his right wing mirror off, while more piled into his front wing. The team decided to leave it a while and change it on lap 5.
Going along the Kemmel Straight both Massa and Rosberg where on the move. Rosberg steamed past championship leader Vettel on the outside while behind Massa took Hamilton on the inside. Meanwhile Perez got past Webber.
On the move on the first lap where Schumacher, up from 24th on the grid to 15th, and Di Resta in 13th from 17th. Numerous drivers pitted at the end of the first lap including Glock, Kovalainen and Senna. Alonso got past Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight on lap 2 as behind Webber disposed of Perez.
Vettel re-took the lead from Rosberg on lap 3 after DRS was enabled. Lap 4 and Webber came in for new tyres after Red Bull raised concerns with starting on the used tyres from qualifying, as many Q3 drivers had severe blisters. Button also pitted on lap 4 to replace his nose cone, and fit some new, soft, tyres. Lap 5 and Alonso overtakes team mate Massa at rivage despite running wide. Massa attacks over the next few corners but Alonso defends, slowing him into the clutches of Hamilton as the Brit gets past at Pouhon.
Vettel pits at the end of lap 5, replacing his old, worn soft tyres with a brand new shiny set. Senna and Glock both got drive through penalties awarded to them during the next lap following collisions at turn 1 on the first lap.
Rosberg has a train of cars following his every move, with first Alonso and then Hamilton disposing of him on a lap later. Alonso pits on lap 8, bringing him out far behind Vettel. Vettel, and Alonso are now on the same new tyres. On the exit of the pits Webber fast approaches following his bluffed start, and overtakes him on the outside of Eau Rouge. A move that stood out from all the rest. BBC co-commentator David Coulthard had too look away at that point.
Webber however loses the place on lap 10 after a great DRS slipstream catapults Alonso ahead. Petrov and Kobayashi are now holding up the leaders as they have yet to pit. Hamilton leads on lap 10 but pits as they go on to lap 11, Rosberg has Vettel all over his again and the Red Bull driver passes the struggling Mercedes driver on the outside of Blanchimont.
By now the drivers seemed to have formed little gangs of cars, of 4 or 5, with adleast 1 lead driver amongst them. This was created due to the pitting of the lead cars while behind drivers plodded along conserving them. With several drivers pitting Hamilton caught up to Kobayashi on the 13th lap. Call it unlucky but after a brave pass into Eau Rouge Kamui tucked into the slipstream and took the outside line. The two drivers touched as they reached the braking zone, sending Hamilton into the barrier to end his race.During the race, Lee Mckenzie of bbc sport interviewed Hamilton in which he claimed "i am really not quite sure to be honest". The safety car was deployed leading to many drivers including Vettel, Button Sutil and Schumacher to pit, and benefit from a free pit stop.
Lap 16 and the Safety Car went in, as Alonso led the field across the line to commence the 17th lap. Into turn 1 and both Perez and Button disposed of a car. With Webber having a poor turn 1 exit Vettel took the place, before then getting by Alonso the following lap. Button took 2 cars going into turn 1 on lap 18 while out braking Petrov, and then continuing the corner around the outside of Perez too.
The next 5 laps led to Button struggling to get by Schumacher along the Kemmel Straight, due to the great straight line speed of the Mercedes, before getting by at the Bus Stop Chicane. Also Perez got a drive through for causing a collision and drivers still where squabbling for position up and down the field.
The halfway point came and the drivers came in the order: Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Massa, Sutil, Button, Schumacher, Petrov and Perez as the top 10.
Jenson Button carried on his march through the pack, even with a damaged rear wing, to get past Sutil on lap 23. With the Mclaren driver on a charge he then disposed of Rosberg and started closing down Webber. With Perez's drive through that catapulted naughty boy Pastor Maldonado into the points. Perez later retired on lap 28 with suspected suspension damage.
Over the next 10 laps Rosberg bunched up the field with a Que of Massa, Sutil and Schumacher behind. Alonso, then Vettel a lap later, pitted for new tyres. They both put on the harder tyre. Also Di Resta followed Petrov, Massa and Rosberg into the pits for new tyres. Webber then pitted for another set of Hard tyres, and Vettel overtook Button for the lead as Jenson then pitted for soft tyres. Further on Massa pitted again for a puncture, and Schumacher jumped into 6th place behind team mate Rosberg.
Lap 38 and Webber took Alonso for 2nd with the DRS open. He began closing in on leader Vettel as Alonso dropped into the clutches of Button. Massa meanwhile took Maldonado for 9th dropping the Venezuelan into 10th, but still a points position. With just 2 laps to go Button took Alonso for 3rd and Schumacher took Rosberg for 5th all on the Kemmel Straight. Barrichello hits Kobayashi at the Bus stop chicane and had to pit, dropping him to 16th.
Lap 44 and Vettel crosses the line ahead of Webber. This is the teams 1st 1-2 finish since the opening rounds. Button came 3rd ahead of Alonso and Schumacher.
Behind them came Rosberg in the Mercedes Gp car, who in the later stages struggled with tyres and had to let team mate Schumacher past. 7th was Sutil for Force India, another strong race for them. Petrov put some difficult races recently behind him to finish 8th ahead of Massa and Maldonado, his first points of the season. Di Resta was just outside the points in 11th ahead of 12th place man Kobayashi, 13th was Senna after his first corner accident, 14th and 15th came Trulli and Kovalianen in the Team Lotus cars with Barrichello 16th, D'Ambrosio 17th, Glock 18th and Liuzzi 19th.
Retirments where Perez, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Buemi and Alguesuari.
Fastest lap: M Webber 1m.49.883
Click here for the full results table.
Vettel extended his lead in the championship to 92 points ahead of Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton. Monza is next up. Hope you enjoyed reading this long article, lets wait and see what Italy has to offer.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Mclarens Lewis Hamilton was looking strong on new rubber, but a slip streaming Kobayashi was alittle too optimistic too pass Hamilton on the outside going into Les Combes. It looked as if the Japanese driver began turning in, as Hamilton was slightly drifting across, catching the British drivers rear wheel, spinning him into the barrier. The impact was hard, and Hamilton was very disappointed for his race to be finished after just 13 laps.
Sun, yes sun, greeted the F1 drivers as they entered the spa-francorchamps circuit on race day. With Vettel on pole, but a rather mixed up grid after a thrilling wet-dry qualifying, read here, the race was set to be a thriller.
The start lights went out, and the obvious sign came from Webber, starting 3rd, who was bogged down with anti-stall and fell back to 8th place. Senna, who had qualified an excellent 7th, was far too ambitious on the brakes into turn 1. However he was also struggling with full fuel tank and cold, worn tyres, which led to him locking up and hitting Jaime Alguesuari. This propelled the Torro Rosso driver into Fernando Alonso breaking young Jaimie's suspension. It was disappointing to end his race that way after being one of the stars of qualifying.
Further behind Timo Glock locked both front tyres up into turn 1, resorting to him side swiping Paul Di Resta into Jenson Button's read wing. Behind that however the two Team Lotus cars of Trulli and Kovalainen collided causing Jarno to spin.
On the run to Eau Rouge, there order was Vettel, Rosberg who had vaulted from 5th on the grid to 2nd, Hamilton, Massa and Alonso. Button, who had started 13th, moved up the field but then Bruno Senna, who's contact with Alguesuari had dislodged his front wing, lost the whole front wing of his car sending debris high into the air, and into the path of Jenson Button. One piece even cut his right wing mirror off, while more piled into his front wing. The team decided to leave it a while and change it on lap 5.
Going along the Kemmel Straight both Massa and Rosberg where on the move. Rosberg steamed past championship leader Vettel on the outside while behind Massa took Hamilton on the inside. Meanwhile Perez got past Webber.
On the move on the first lap where Schumacher, up from 24th on the grid to 15th, and Di Resta in 13th from 17th. Numerous drivers pitted at the end of the first lap including Glock, Kovalainen and Senna. Alonso got past Hamilton along the Kemmel Straight on lap 2 as behind Webber disposed of Perez.
Vettel re-took the lead from Rosberg on lap 3 after DRS was enabled. Lap 4 and Webber came in for new tyres after Red Bull raised concerns with starting on the used tyres from qualifying, as many Q3 drivers had severe blisters. Button also pitted on lap 4 to replace his nose cone, and fit some new, soft, tyres. Lap 5 and Alonso overtakes team mate Massa at rivage despite running wide. Massa attacks over the next few corners but Alonso defends, slowing him into the clutches of Hamilton as the Brit gets past at Pouhon.
Vettel pits at the end of lap 5, replacing his old, worn soft tyres with a brand new shiny set. Senna and Glock both got drive through penalties awarded to them during the next lap following collisions at turn 1 on the first lap.
Rosberg has a train of cars following his every move, with first Alonso and then Hamilton disposing of him on a lap later. Alonso pits on lap 8, bringing him out far behind Vettel. Vettel, and Alonso are now on the same new tyres. On the exit of the pits Webber fast approaches following his bluffed start, and overtakes him on the outside of Eau Rouge. A move that stood out from all the rest. BBC co-commentator David Coulthard had too look away at that point.
Webber however loses the place on lap 10 after a great DRS slipstream catapults Alonso ahead. Petrov and Kobayashi are now holding up the leaders as they have yet to pit. Hamilton leads on lap 10 but pits as they go on to lap 11, Rosberg has Vettel all over his again and the Red Bull driver passes the struggling Mercedes driver on the outside of Blanchimont.
By now the drivers seemed to have formed little gangs of cars, of 4 or 5, with adleast 1 lead driver amongst them. This was created due to the pitting of the lead cars while behind drivers plodded along conserving them. With several drivers pitting Hamilton caught up to Kobayashi on the 13th lap. Call it unlucky but after a brave pass into Eau Rouge Kamui tucked into the slipstream and took the outside line. The two drivers touched as they reached the braking zone, sending Hamilton into the barrier to end his race.During the race, Lee Mckenzie of bbc sport interviewed Hamilton in which he claimed "i am really not quite sure to be honest". The safety car was deployed leading to many drivers including Vettel, Button Sutil and Schumacher to pit, and benefit from a free pit stop.
Lap 16 and the Safety Car went in, as Alonso led the field across the line to commence the 17th lap. Into turn 1 and both Perez and Button disposed of a car. With Webber having a poor turn 1 exit Vettel took the place, before then getting by Alonso the following lap. Button took 2 cars going into turn 1 on lap 18 while out braking Petrov, and then continuing the corner around the outside of Perez too.
The next 5 laps led to Button struggling to get by Schumacher along the Kemmel Straight, due to the great straight line speed of the Mercedes, before getting by at the Bus Stop Chicane. Also Perez got a drive through for causing a collision and drivers still where squabbling for position up and down the field.
The halfway point came and the drivers came in the order: Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Massa, Sutil, Button, Schumacher, Petrov and Perez as the top 10.
 |
| (c) Octane Photographic |
Over the next 10 laps Rosberg bunched up the field with a Que of Massa, Sutil and Schumacher behind. Alonso, then Vettel a lap later, pitted for new tyres. They both put on the harder tyre. Also Di Resta followed Petrov, Massa and Rosberg into the pits for new tyres. Webber then pitted for another set of Hard tyres, and Vettel overtook Button for the lead as Jenson then pitted for soft tyres. Further on Massa pitted again for a puncture, and Schumacher jumped into 6th place behind team mate Rosberg.
Lap 38 and Webber took Alonso for 2nd with the DRS open. He began closing in on leader Vettel as Alonso dropped into the clutches of Button. Massa meanwhile took Maldonado for 9th dropping the Venezuelan into 10th, but still a points position. With just 2 laps to go Button took Alonso for 3rd and Schumacher took Rosberg for 5th all on the Kemmel Straight. Barrichello hits Kobayashi at the Bus stop chicane and had to pit, dropping him to 16th.
Lap 44 and Vettel crosses the line ahead of Webber. This is the teams 1st 1-2 finish since the opening rounds. Button came 3rd ahead of Alonso and Schumacher.
Behind them came Rosberg in the Mercedes Gp car, who in the later stages struggled with tyres and had to let team mate Schumacher past. 7th was Sutil for Force India, another strong race for them. Petrov put some difficult races recently behind him to finish 8th ahead of Massa and Maldonado, his first points of the season. Di Resta was just outside the points in 11th ahead of 12th place man Kobayashi, 13th was Senna after his first corner accident, 14th and 15th came Trulli and Kovalianen in the Team Lotus cars with Barrichello 16th, D'Ambrosio 17th, Glock 18th and Liuzzi 19th.
Retirments where Perez, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Buemi and Alguesuari.
Fastest lap: M Webber 1m.49.883
Click here for the full results table.
Vettel extended his lead in the championship to 92 points ahead of Webber, Alonso, Button and Hamilton. Monza is next up. Hope you enjoyed reading this long article, lets wait and see what Italy has to offer.
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