2013 Belgian Grand Prix Review: Vettel dominates and inches closer to 4th title

After a month long break, the drivers and fans were back on track to see the cars tackle the amazing Spa Francorchamps circuit once again. This time for the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix. Let's take a look at how the weekend panned out, 

Practice:

FP1 began with a wet and slippery track courtesy the rain earlier in the day. After sitting out for most part of the session, it was Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who topped the session followed by the two Force India drivers. Kovalainen made a come back to the grid after Caterham offered him a Free Practice outing this weekend. He put up the 16th best time. The track dried out for FP2 and it was Red Bull who showed their amazing pace after setting a blistering time which was over 8 tenths ahead of the rest of the pack. Vettel lead Webber heading into Saturday. FP3 was again a dry session and was topped by none other than Vettel. This time, Alonso closed in the gap in the run up to an exciting qualifying session.

Qualifying:

Q1 began with a wet track after rain hit the track shortly before qualifying started. Drivers set out on their intermediates and in the final few minutes all the drama began on a drying circuit. Caterham's Van der Garde set the third best time after risking to come out on mediums. Another shock of the session was that both Marussia made the cut into Q2 as neither Williams or Torro Rosso cars made the cut along with Gutierrez and Charles Pic. Alonso pipped Hamilton to top the session. Q2  started out on a dry track and drivers were out immediately to set a time. Raikkonen topped the session while neither Marussia cars made the cut along with Van der Garde, Hulkenburg, Sutil and Perez. Q3 went green and surprise surprise, the rain was back. Force India's Paul Di Resta was the only one to start out with intermediates in what could have been the young Scot's best decision till date. The Scot put himself comfortably on top until the rain eased out and the track offered more grip. The dying few seconds saw 4 drivers beating Di Resta's time, each bettering the other.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was the last one to cross the line and clinched his 4th consecutive pole. 8 poles out of the last 9 races for the Mercedes team. That's quite a turn around by the team this year. It was Vettel and Webber behind the Brit with Raikkonen and Alonso managing only 8th and 9th. 

Race:

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position on Saturday and was at the head of the field for the race ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Dry weather welcomed the drivers to the track but rain was expected later in the day.

As the lights went green, Hamilton had a good start but Vettel set the track on fire and passed the Mercedes with ease on the Kemmel Straight. Behind them everybody cleared La Source without any damage.  Webber dropped to sixth whereas Alonso showed Ferrari‘s real pace by moving up to 5th within two laps. Marussia’s Bianchi and Chilton, who surprised on Saturday with 15th and 16th, immediately moved to the back of the pack.

Within a few laps Vettel managed to get a good lead. Alonso moved up to third after passing Rosberg. DRS helped many drivers pass those ahead of them. There was action up and down the field as drivers pushed hard to get into the DRS zone to boost their straight line speed. 

McLaren’s Sergio Perez was penalized with a drive through penalty for pushing Grosjean off the track after making a move on him into Les Combes.

The first set of pit stops started from lap 10. Hamilton pit and then was held up behind Grosjean for a lap and this helped Alonso close in. Alonso passed Hamilton for 2nd on lap 15 after the Brit made a mistake heading into La Source. Button was one of the late stoppers and this moved him up into 2nd before he pitted for fresh tyres.

Grosjean was the last of the stoppers on lap 22. He was looking to finish the race with just one stop.

After 22 laps, it was Vettel in the lead by over 8 seconds from Alonso. Hamilton was a further 4.1 seconds behind and it looked like he was saving his tyres for later.  Behind them it was Rosberg having a good battle with Webber. Button put his McLaren in 6th ahead of Massa in 7th with Raikkonen right on his tail.  The two Force India’s were in 9th and 10th. At the back of the pack, Charles Pic retired with technical issues.

On lap 25, Kimi Raikkonen brought his car into the pits and was pulled into the garage with what looked like brake issues. This brought an end to his record of 27 consecutive points finishes. 

Three laps later, William’s driver Pastor Maldonado had a tangle with Force India’s Di Resta at the final chicane. This took out Di Resta while Maldonado continued after coming into the pits. Maldonado’s car also touched the other Force India of Sutil. Not a good day for Di Resta after starting from 5th. Maldonado was later handed a 10-second Stop/Go penalty for the incident.

After the second set of pit stops, it was still Vettel ahead of Alonso with Button in 3rd ahead of Hamilton. Vettel was told that he has to finish the race on those tyres and was warned about possible rain. He was still consistently quicker than everybody else.

Webber was pulling in quickly on Rosberg’s Mercedes and was ahead of Button, who made his second stop on lap 35. While Vettel increased his lead to over ten seconds on Alonso.

Ricciardo made a late race charge after breezing past Perez for 10th. Elsewhere Esteban Gutierrez was handed a drive-through penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

After a long 44 lap race, Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag to take his 31st Grand Prix victory to equal Nigel Mansell’s record. Alonso finished in 2nd after a brilliant drive. Hamilton finished in 3rd.

Vettel finished the race almost 17 seconds ahead of Alonso, which is quite amazing looking at the pace others had this weekend. After the race everybody, including Vettel himself, were surprised by the pace they had. 

Rosberg took 4th after managing to stay ahead of Webber. Button finished in 6th with Massa, Grosjean, Sutil and Ricciardo closing out the top 10. Perez finished in 11th ahead of Vergne, Hulkenburg, Gutierrez, Bottas, Van der Garde and Maldonado. Bianchi and Chilton took the last two spots.

Results:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull
6. Jenson Button, McLaren
7. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
8. Romain Grosjean, Lotus
9. Adrian Sutil, Force India
10. Daniel Ricciardo, Torro Rosso
11. Sergio Perez, McLaren
12. Jean Eric Vergne, Torro Rosso
13. Nico Hulkenburg, Sauber
14. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
15. Valtteri Bottas, Williams
16. Giedo Van der Garde, Caterham
17. Pastor Maldonado, Williams 
18. Jules Bianchi, Marussia 
19. Max Chilton, Marussia

Ret Paul di Resta, Force India

Ret Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus

Ret Charles Pic, Caterham

This now helps Vettel  retain his top spot on the championship ladder with 197 points, 46 ahead of Alonso. Lewis hamilton is in 3rd with 139 and Raikkonen has dropped back to 4th with 134 points in the championship.

Red Bull lead the championship with 312 points and lead Mercedes by 77 points with 8 races left. Ferrari are a further 17 points behind in 3rd. 

The next race is the fast and racy Italian Grand Prix in under two weeks time at the Monza circuit in Monza, Italy. Will the Ferrari magic come back to stop the Bulls or will Mercedes come back stronger? We will find out soon. 

2013 Belgian Grand Prix Preview

After a long 4 week break, the Formula 1 world is buzzing with activity. From deciding races for next season to signing drivers for next year, the Summer Break saw it all. Now its back to what the drivers love doing, Racing for the Championship. This weekend it is time for the 11th out of the 19 race calender and what better track to welcome the paddock back to the racing scene, the famous Circuit de Spa Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. Lets take a look at various talking points heading into the weekend.

Red Bull heading to fourth straight title? 

Red Bull Racing entered the season looking to claim their 4th consecutive Drivers and Constructors Championship and now, 10 races down the line Sebastian Vettel has a firm lead of 38 points and Red Bull have a lead of 69 points with 9 races remaining. This kind of a lead is amazing and with many teams shifting focus on next year's car, it looks like Red Bull will once again come out on top. However Lotus, Mercedes and Ferrari are right up there and they will try to come back stronger than ever. Mercedes are their closest rivals and this will continue to be until the end of the year. We will have to wait and watch if Vettel manages to clinch the title with ease or his rivals give him tough competition. 

Vettel's teammate for 2014

One big seat available for 2014 is alongside Vettel at the Championship winning team of Red Bull. With speculation doing the rounds ever since Webber announced his retirement from F1 to switch to WEC, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo looked probable  candidates. As per recent reports Raikkonen's manager has said that the talks with Red Bull were over sometime ago and Raikkonen will not race for the team. This leaves Ricciardo as their only option. Red Bull driver adviser Helmut Marko has said " We won't say anything before Spa- that's all I can say".  All will be revealed this weekend at Spa.

Circuit Map:

No explanation needed for the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit. One of the fastest and best circuits that fans and drivers love. It has the really fast downhill-uphill section, sweeping corners and also some slow turns. All in all it is the best circuit to race on. 

This 7 km circuit is one of the longest and has two proper straights. One is the Start/Finish Straight and the next is the Kemmel Straight. The two DRS zones this weekend will be on these two straights and will enable drivers to boost speeds and help in overtaking. Another overtaking point will be Bus Stop chicane just before the pit entry. Eau Rouge will a place to watch as always, the strongest of drivers will make a move on their rivals and it will be a treat to watch. 

Sunday's race will be run over 44 laps and the weather looks gloomy with rain expected during the weekend. Rain sure does increase the excitement at Spa and this weekend will be no different.

Last year's pole sitter and  race winner Jenson Button has ruled out a win this time. All the McLaren team need to do is to consistently improve and be on par at the beginning of next year. 

Will Vettel extend his lead or will Mercedes and Lotus spring a surprise? Could this finally be Ferrari's lucky weekend? We will have to wait and find out.