By James Broughton, August 27, 2018
It was the best of times it was the worst of times most certainly for Fernando Alonso who was an innocent victim in the first corner melee at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix. As Alonso approached the tight turn 1 hairpin bend, with caution, behind him was the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg hurtling forward like a meteor. Hulkenberg obviously doesn’t do caution.
Hulkenberg’s last-minute braking from high speed had inevitable consequences, as all four tires smoked from the exertion of having to stop the Renault in time to prevent a collision. The German driver ran out of time, distance and seemingly spacial awareness before he ran out the latter two. The Renault plowed into the back of Alonso’s mid-field placed McLaren whereupon he was launched into the air and over the Sauber of Charles Leclerc. Formula One cars are not meant to be flown but Alonso had no choice in the matter. As Alonso flew over the Sauber, a wheel impacted the Halo, the much-derided driver protection saving Leclerc from injury, before the McLaren flip-landed sideways smashed and battered, the left side ripped open like a butchered animal. All of this happened within a 2-3second period. Alonso’s race was over, as was Leclerc’s’ but Hulkneburgs misadventure also pin-balled others into retirement, notably Kimi Raikkonen and eventually Daniel Ricciardo. At the front, the race for the lead was between Ferrari and Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari has a power and car advantage, particularly evident at high-speed circuits like Spa Francorchamps. On Saturday Hamilton was able to use his innate abilities to drag the Mercedes impressively to pole-position in mixed conditions. Had qualifying ran in dry conditions Hamilton would have been happy with 3rd. Though the differences in speed are equated to around 1-3 tenths over a qualifying lap, over a race distance 1-3 tenths per lap can prove to be advantageous. And so it was for Vettel at the Belgian Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver took the lead with the race no more than 2 corners old. Despite the safety car being called out to clear up the first lap/corner incident, Vettel seemed to have a clear advantage in dry conditions and he eventually eked out a small but clear margin over Hamilton. The 2018 Belgian Grand Prix wasn’t a classic race by any means, while the mid-field provides a bulk of the action the battle for the lead was more like watching a stalemate. Eventually, presumably with nothing more to offer Hamilton decided to back off and settle for 2nd. Behind the top two, Max Verstappen drove a spirited race into 3rd position, benefitting from Valtteri Bottas’ back of the field start, the latter still finished 4th. Behind Bottas the Force Indias showed some actual force after staring down the barrel of bankruptcy. The Italian Grand Prix is next, another power circuit, another race surely at the mercy of Ferrari. You can be sure they (Ferrari) will be in no mood to show mercy. 2018 Belgian Grand Prix Results, Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsPos | Driver | Time/Retired | Pts |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 1:23:34.476 | 25 | |
2 | +11.061s | 18 | |
3 | +31.372s | 15 | |
4 | +68.605s | 12 | |
5 | +71.023s | 10 | |
6 | +79.520s | 8 | |
7 | +85.953s | 6 | |
8 | +87.639s | 4 | |
9 | +105.892s | 2 | |
10 | +1 lap | 1 | |
11 | +1 lap | 0 | |
12 | +1 lap | 0 | |
13 | +1 lap | 0 | |
14 | +1 lap | 0 | |
15 | +1 lap | 0 | |
NC | DNF | 0 | |
NC | DNF | 0 | |
NC | DNF | 0 | |
NC | DNF | 0 | |
NC | DNF | 0 |
Note – Bottas received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sirotkin