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2018 Belgium Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: As expected, a whole lot happened over the summer break. And then some. Force India has new owners. And technically it's a new team. Fernando Alonso is leaving F1. Daniel Ricciardo signed with Renault kicking in what will likely be one of the wildest silly seasons ever. Red Bull will promote Pierre Gasly. Carlos Sainz signed with McLaren. And a whole lot of seats still to be accounted for. But still no new set of regulations.

TRACK: Spa is already great to watch. Add in all kinds of neat camera angles, and it got even more mind boggling.

EVENT: The Orange Invasion once again made this another fun affair.

QUALIFYING: A rain shower in Q3 spiced things up, enabling Hamilton to steal the pole from Vettel, Force India Racing Point to surprise the field, and Ferrari to screw Raikkonen.

RACE: For a race that didn't produce much after the first lap, it was still fun to watch.

START: Hulkenberg pulls a Grosjean sending Alonso flying over Leclerc and hitting Ricciardo who gives Raikkonen a flat, Bottas also brakes too late, and Vettel slipstreams by Hamilton with Ocon taking a look just before the Safety Car comes out.

VETTEL: Finally, Sebastian wins a race he's supposed to win.

RAIKKONEN: But Kimi once again gets the short end of the luck stick.

FERRARI: They finally cashed in with their superior power. Expect more of the same at Monza.

HAMILTON: Lewis not feeling so good without the best car on the grid.

BOTTAS: Sure, his car is much faster than Gasly's car. But that move Valtteri put on Pierre to pass on the outside of Eau Rouge and Raidillon, better car or not, took massive ones.

VERSTAPPEN: It wasn't that long ago we were all pounding on Max. Now, he's driving excellently.

RICCIARDO: Daniel can only shake his head.

RED BULL: Yes, the Honda is better than before, but we still don't see why Red Bull seems so happy to change to them next year.

PEREZ: Saved Force India with a gutsy move off the track. Gave them a great fifth place with a gutsy drive on the track.

OCON: Esteban had nothing to lose, so why not go for the lead with that move. At least he was smart enough to back off in time. It would be downright criminal if he is not in F1 next year.

FORCE INDIA: No points for you!

RACING POINT: They already passed Williams in just one race and are one point behind Sauber. They will easily catch McLaren soon as well.

GROSJEAN: A quiet but very effective drive.

MAGNUSSEN: Ditto.

HAAS: They were so lost on Friday, but figured it out when it counted.

GASLY: Pierre gave his bosses validation for their faith in him.

HARTLEY: Meanwhile, Brendon may end up keeping this drive simply because the Red Bull junior driving program doesn't provide them enough options.

TORO ROSSO: They will be collecting a lot of resumes in the next few weeks.

STROLL: Some fathers buy their kids a car. Lance's father bought him an entire Formula 1 team.

SAINZ: A step down going to McLaren next year.

HULKENBERG: While Nico didn't exactly convince everyone he should stay with the better seat.

VANDOORNE: Most likely gone.

ERICSSON: Could Marcus possibly be out of a ride next year despite his backers owning the team?

SIROTKIN: Still no points and possibly no ride.

KUBICA: Could he be on the cusp of a drive?

LECLERC: Where will Charles wind up? Right now, he's just happy to be okay.

ALONSO: Probably can't leave F1 fast enough...

WILLIAMS: At the bottom and losing Stroll's money.

MCLAREN: Could this be the most well funded worst performing team in the history of F1? Even more so than BAR? Well, at least at Spa their cars can fly...

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Halo.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 59 -- The number of points Force India no longer has because the original incarnation of that team technically no longer exists.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Ferrari has now won the Belgian GP 17 teams, more than anyone else (McLaren is second with 14). The first time Ferrari won was in 1952 by Alberto Ascari (who won it again the following year) from the pole. It was held on the 8.774-mile Spa configuration over 36 laps (315.864 miles) in 3:03:46.3 in the rain. He was followed by his teammate Nino Farina and then Robert Manzon in a Gordini. The podium finishers were the only cars on the lead lap.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Christian Horner enjoying Lewis Hamilton's despair: "...just to hear Lewis moaning about Ferrari, I nearly got my violin out!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Lewis Hamilton taken out of context when he said after the race about Ferrari, "They've got a few trick things going on in the car."

SCHEDULE: It might just be a three day turnaround, but that might be all it takes to see a bunch of driver movement, making the already printed programs obsolete.

Copyright © 2018 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Vettel 44
2. Hamilton 44
3. Verstappen 44
4. Bottas 44
5. Perez 44
6. Ocon 44
7. Grosjean 44
8. Magnussen 44
9. Gasly(R) 44
10. Ericsson 43
11. Sainz 43
12. Sirotkin(R) 43
13. Stroll 43
14. Hartley(R) 43
15. Vandoorne 43
NC Ricciardo 28
NC Raikkonen 8
NC Leclerc 0
NC Alonso 0
NC Hulkenberg 0

Time of Race
1:23:34.476

Margin of Victory
11.061 sec.

Safety Car
1 for 4 laps

Lead Changes
1 among 2 drivers

Lap Leaders
Sebastian Vettel

Fastest Race Lap
Valtteri Bottas

Pole Position
Lewis Hamilton

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 231
2. Vettel 214
3. Raikkonen 146
4. Bottas 144
5. Verstappen 120
6. Ricciardo 118
7. Hulkenberg 52
8. Magnussen 49
9. Alonso 44
10. Perez 40
11. Ocon 37
12. Sainz 30
13. Gasly(R) 28
14. Grosjean 27
15. Leclerc(R) 13
16. Vandoorne 8
17. Ericsson 6
18. Stroll 4
19. Hartley(R) 2

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 375
2. Ferrari 360
3. Red Bull 238
4. Renault 82
5. Haas 76
6. McLaren 52
7. Toro Rosso 30
8. Sauber 19
9. Racing Point 18
10. Williams 4
EX Force India (59)
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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