It's tough to call... I'm hoping for a Hamilton win, but I'm sure RBR will come back strong in Spa and Vettel will stretch his lead (barring any car failures). I don't see Ferrari getting back in the fight at Spa, but I'm usually wrong, so clearly Alonso will win it.
championship wise the ideal result is 1) Hamilton 2) Raikkonen 3) Alonso Vettel: DNF Well I can dream
You can write this in your diary.... That isn't too much to envision.... If Vettel doesn't get on the front row and he has to do long stints behind cars with more engine power then he runs the risk of an engine failure especially if he doesn't listen to the guys on the pit wall when they tell him to drop back from the car he is following. And we know he doesn't like to obey those type of orders (lol) so that result is also a possibility. Vettel needs to get his car at the front quickly or else he will struggle. And if Ferrari and lotus have made a step forward as I suspect, then he is in for a long battle in the next race. My opinion.
Oh..one more thing...I think if a certain other Red Bull driver is up there and they don't tinker with his car too much he wouldn't be much help to Vettel. I think he will try to end his f1 career showing that he could take Vettel. But who knows, maybe Vettel will get some help from Ricardo. But I am sure he wouldn't get too much from Vergne (lol). I think if Vettel comes up the backsides of Webber, Vergne, Massa, Rosberg or Grosjean he will have a long hard day at the office. And the Mclarens will be trying to beat any of the big teams in front of them...just for bragging rights..lol
I'd be surprised if Vettel is on the podium if it's a dry race, wet race then it's very likely. Vettel was very lucky last year here, he had a bad qualifying but finished 2nd due to the first corner carnage. I can see him finishing around 5th/6th/7th. I see it being a 4 way battle at the front between Kimi, Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg.
He finished ahead of Kimi who was 2nd into turn 1 so Seb wasn't lucky to get on the podium since he was setting up for race pace rather than qualifying and the gamble worked. Even if he couldn't overtake Lewis or Alonso on track his tyre wear management that day was incredible with his overtakes in the bus stop. IMO a very deserved 2nd for a 2 stopper which *I think* only Jenson was able to do the same in clear air, while the rest were 3 stopping. That was his best race performance I have ever seen with a car that had both drivers fail to get into the top 10 for the race, getting a crap start and having 4 drivers go past him because of the crash dropping him down even more.
To be honest, I think Vettel struggled a bit in the 2011 Spa race. Had not for the big crash early I dont think he would have made the top five. If you look back at that race you would see he struggled to get by Schumacher and at one point Red Bull had to tell him "opposite Schumacher"... he was on the outside trying to get pass and had to brake hard to go into the pits almost crashing into the back of Schumacher's mercedes. Red Bull wanted him to do the opposite to Schumacher because he just couldnt get pass so the best thing was to pit and try to find good clean air. If he had continued behind Schumacher he would have been stuck there for another lap which would have cost him a lot of time. He has to qualify on the front row or else he wouldnt make the top three. In my opinion.
Guess which were the top 2 fastest cars in the speed traps in 2012 Spa quali? Guess who was the 2nd and 3rd fastest in the race? Thats right, you probably didn't guess it, it was Red Bull <style type="text/css"> table.tableizer-table { border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif font-size: 12px;} .tableizer-table td { padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc;} .tableizer-table th { background-color: #104E8B; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold;} </style><table class="tableizer-table"> <tr class="tableizer-firstrow"><th>Qualifying</th><th> </th></tr> <tr><td> Cla </td><td> Nº </td><td> Driver </td><td> Km/h </td></tr> <tr><td>1</td><td>1 </td><td>Sebastian Vettel</td><td>310.6</td></tr> <tr><td>2</td><td>2 </td><td>Mark Webber</td><td>309.7</td></tr> <tr><td>3</td><td>5 </td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>308.4</td></tr> <tr><td>4</td><td>6 </td><td>Felipe Massa</td><td>307.7</td></tr> <tr><td>5</td><td>17 </td><td>Jean-Eric Vergne</td><td>307.6</td></tr> <tr><td>6</td><td>18 </td><td>Pastor Maldonado</td><td>306.4</td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> </td></tr> <tr><td>Race</td><td> </td></tr> <tr><td> Cla </td><td> Nº </td><td> Driver </td><td> Km/h </td></tr> <tr><td>1</td><td>6 </td><td>Felipe Massa</td><td>310.1</td></tr> <tr><td>2</td><td>2 </td><td>Mark Webber</td><td>308.3</td></tr> <tr><td>3</td><td>1 </td><td>Sebastian Vettel</td><td>306.2</td></tr> <tr><td>4</td><td>19 </td><td>Bruno Senna</td><td>304.2</td></tr> <tr><td>5</td><td>17 </td><td>Jean-Eric Vergne</td><td>303.9</td></tr> <tr><td>6</td><td>9 </td><td>Kimi Räikkönen</td><td>303.3</td></tr> </table>
And not getting caught in the first lap melee and not having to get past Hamilton, Alonso, Grojean and Maldonado later in the race! Was a good drive, but as half his main opposition had been taken out it wasn't spectacular.
I was there at Spa last year and he wasn't struggling to get past Schumacher as he only just caught him before he shot into the pits. Schumachers tyres were gone with Vettel about to take him into turn 1 or Eau Rouge with better traction. Vettel would of been on the podium with or without that crash as like I said Kimi was the 3rd fastest race guy that day and he was 2nd into turn 1, not Lewis or Alonso and they would of had to stop again even if they were able to keep him behind.
Like I said Kimi was 2nd into turn 1, not Alonso, not Lewis and not Grosjean. He would of overtaken all of them regardless as he stopped 1 less and still had the speed to match.
I hope Vettel bought Grosjean a good Christmas present last year..lol. I think Grosjean gave him the title on a platter in my opinion. I think Alonso was a bit too conservative when he was leading the championships. Dont get me wrong, I like Grosjean, I think he wants to do well and he gets a little over anxious at times (well most of the time) but I am predicting he will come good and win a lot of races.
If Vettel was going to take Schumacher (who was on old tyres) before Vettel shot into the pits why did Red Bull tell him "Opposite Schumacher"? I am curious as I was not there, I only watched it on television. Vettel was almost past the pit entry and on the outside of Schumi when he got the call to "Opposite Schumacher". He had to brake really hard and skid around the back like a rally car in order to make the pit entry and he almost took out the back of Schumacher's mercedes. If he had better tyres why didnt they leave him out for another lap? I am just curious.
"Don't follow him into the pits" Schumacher almost caused a collision as he was taking the racing line into the pits which is considered dangerous as you're meant to take the inside line during the bus stop area for the pits. Schumacher took the racing line and then sliced Vettel's nose off which was unexpected since he was going to try and enter the pits himself and was thinking Schumacher was going for another lap. The reason he pitted was obvious, for clean air as soon as possible which was just ahead of Schumacher and that is where the time is made not focusing on tyre wear.
difficult one as I want to go for my usual choice, but, for some reason, I have the feeling Alonso is going to win
I'm always split on which one of Spa or Monza is my favourite race of the season, they're both my favourites to drive on racing games too, sadly the online varieties are generally ended by some moron at the first corners.
maybe you are playing with Grosjean...LOL I am just kidding really... I like Grosjean, soon we will see the real racer. He will win lots of races.
