2012 Belgian Grand Prix Discussion Thread

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:07

Great pole from Button - incredible to think it's his first for McLaren. Almost certainly too late to save his season, I'd think, but perhaps he was given a bit of a wake-up call by all the talk the other day about him now having to be a back-up driver to Hamilton for the rest of the year? And where the hell did Kobayashi and Maldonado suddenly come from at the end there?

Very interesting indeed to see what happens tomorrow!

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:08

WHAT A LAP BY BUTTON!!!!!
KAMUI KOBAYASHI SECOND!!!!!!!!!
MALDONADO THIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
VETTEL 11TH!!!!!

According to sky first Japanese driver on the front row, but as AdrianSutil pointed out, Sato did it

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:09

And the mindblowing thing about this is that this is Button's first pole for McLaren.

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:12

I approve of this grid. There is always something about Spa.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:14

KOBAYASHI

KAMUI

FOR DA WIN!!!

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:26

Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:28

Klon wrote:Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

Seems an extraordinary thing to say!

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:34

Paul Hayes wrote:
Klon wrote:Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

Seems an extraordinary thing to say!

But then again, Maldonado can't quite be trusted to keep it on the road if he does find himself in the lead. I can easily see Maldonado'h crash when apping a backmarker for example.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:38

Paul Hayes wrote:
Klon wrote:Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

Seems an extraordinary thing to say!

Button is the favourite so far I'd say. His pace in Q2 and Q3 was astonishing!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:40

Klon wrote:Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

You must be mad if you think Button's not got a serious shot of winning. He had 3 tenths over everyone in Q2 and Q3 - I can see him easily pulling a Vettel in the race tomorrow.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:51

To me there is only one choice for a winner tomorrow:

KAMUI KOBAYASHI!!!!!!!!!!!!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Sep 2012, 13:59

pasta_maldonado wrote:
Paul Hayes wrote:
Klon wrote:Hmm, Maldonado and Räikkönen must be happy - if they can avoid crashing at the start, the race is theirs for the taking since neither Kobayashi nor Button can seriously can be considered candidates for a win.

Seems an extraordinary thing to say!

But then again, Maldonado can't quite be trusted to keep it on the road if he does find himself in the lead. I can easily see Maldonado'h crash when apping a backmarker for example.

So you reckon Barcelona was the exception then...

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 01 Sep 2012, 14:17

dr-baker wrote:
pasta_maldonado wrote:
Paul Hayes wrote:Seems an extraordinary thing to say!

But then again, Maldonado can't quite be trusted to keep it on the road if he does find himself in the lead. I can easily see Maldonado'h crash when apping a backmarker for example.

So you reckon Barcelona was the exception then...

At the moment it appears to be.... I'd love to be proved wrong, but at the moment, Maldonado appears to be crashing and being sloppy more than he did before his victory. But then again, he could shock us all again by controlling the race

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 01 Sep 2012, 14:21

Got my fingers crossed for Kobayashi tommorow. I'd like to see him give Sauber a long overdue win.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:30

Maldonado got a 3-place penalty. That means Kimi is up to third, Perez is fourth and Alonso is fifth.

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:33

Shizuka wrote:Maldonado got a 3-place penalty. That means Kimi is up to third, Perez is fourth and Alonso is fifth.

Pastor!

Post by **Londoner** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:39

A three-place penalty strikes me as strange. I thought the usual procedure was either a reprimand, or 5 places.

Still, what a bloody idiot. :evil:

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:39

Shizuka wrote:Maldonado got a 3-place penalty. That means Kimi is up to third, Perez is fourth and Alonso is fifth.

What for?

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:40

JeremyMcClean wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Maldonado got a 3-place penalty. That means Kimi is up to third, Perez is fourth and Alonso is fifth.

What for?

Blocked Hulkenberg in Q1.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:42

BlindCaveSalamander wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:
Shizuka wrote:Maldonado got a 3-place penalty. That means Kimi is up to third, Perez is fourth and Alonso is fifth.

What for?

Blocked Hulkenberg in Q1.

I should have figured as much. Oh well, at least Kobayashi isn't the prime target at the start of the race...

pasta_maldonado · Post by **pasta_maldonado** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:44

The way I see it, these blocking penalties are stupid. Yeah, so what someone got blocked, they should stop whigning about it and get on with it! It's the luck of the draw. Unless someone trundles around purposely getting in everyone's way, they didn't mean to block you. Did they hand out blocking penalties in the 90's?

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:46

JeremyMcClean wrote:I should have figured as much. Oh well, at least Kobayashi isn't the prime target at the start of the race...

True. I suppose that he might take off Alonso instead now and wind up closing the championship a bit. Because you just know now he's gonna overdrive the start to make up for that.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:47

JeremyMcClean wrote:I should have figured as much. Oh well, at least Kobayashi isn't the prime target at the start of the race...

Why do I sense that Alonso will be hit by Pastor at La Source?

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:53

pasta_maldonado wrote:
Wizzie wrote:Interesting fact: This weekend will be Michael Schumacher's 300th Grand Prix weekend. Woon't be his 300th start however, that'll be in Singapore.

What caused him to miss the starts? I don't think he's ever DNQd

One DNS, forget what race is it.

Post by **Londoner** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:54

I think we're getting Hamilton-Maldonado round 4 tomorrow, as Hamilton starts alongside the Reverend...

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 01 Sep 2012, 15:56

FMecha wrote:
pasta_maldonado wrote:
Wizzie wrote:Interesting fact: This weekend will be Michael Schumacher's 300th Grand Prix weekend. Woon't be his 300th start however, that'll be in Singapore.

What caused him to miss the starts? I don't think he's ever DNQd

One DNS, forget what race is it.

Two actually, France '96 (engine failed on formation lap) and Britain '99 (quite obvious really)

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 01 Sep 2012, 16:04

I offer this without comment.

Narain Karthikeyan wrote:I didn’t have a good qualifying session as I constantly ran into traffic. I was on my flying lap right at the end of the session but on turn 15 another car hindered me and I was unable to finish it.

Post by **tommykl** » 01 Sep 2012, 16:12

Narain Karthikeyan wrote:I didn’t have a good qualifying session as I constantly ran into traffic. I was on my flying lap right at the end of the session but on turn 15 another car hindered me and I was unable to finish it.

Well, Narain, it happens to the best of us.

Phoenix · Post by **Phoenix** » 01 Sep 2012, 16:20

A very interesting qualifying. Button must've done quite an impressive set-up job with the car, but Kobayashi was not that far off Button in 2nd and was a complete shocker. Will he be able to convert his excellent grid slot into a podium place tomorrow? I really hope so.

And you really have to facepalm for Maldonado, this level of disaster is of unprecedented levels in the sport for a single driver. A 3rd place on the grid partly gone down the drain for blocking, seriously? Oh God...

It was also surprising that none of the title contenders had a brilliant qualifying session. The best was Räikkönen with 4th (3rd), but Hamilton was very disappointing, even more so than Vettel.

And Caterham were pretty slow today, they were nearly two seconds off Rosberg in Q1. And Karthikeyan was 1.5 seconds slower than de la Rosa, that can't be justified solely by finding traffic. I hope HRT are looking for a faster pay-driver for next season.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 01 Sep 2012, 16:35

5th- Alonso
6th- The Reverend
7th- Hamilton

Prepare yourselves for the mother of all crashes at La Source tomorrow

SeedStriker · Post by **SeedStriker** » 01 Sep 2012, 16:36

East Londoner wrote:I think we're getting Hamilton-Maldonado round 4 tomorrow, as Hamilton starts alongside the Reverend...

This is starting to look like the Ali vs Fraizer epic fights... Aside that, penalty for blocking Hulkenberg? Really, stewards? I expected that The Reverend blocked Alonso (conspiracy theories stand!), but for Bruce Banner not Hulk? Meh... The stewards seem to be desperate to win RotR.

Why do I sense that Alonso will be hit by Pastor at La Source?

We can hope, we can hope...

Post by **Ataxia** » 01 Sep 2012, 17:08

Phoenix wrote:A very interesting qualifying. Button must've done quite an impressive set-up job with the car, but Kobayashi was not that far off Button in 2nd and was a complete shocker. Will he be able to convert his excellent grid slot into a podium place tomorrow? I really hope so.

I'd dearly love something like that to happen tomorrow. As long as he gets a good start he might be ok...

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 01 Sep 2012, 17:19

Phoenix wrote:And you really have to facepalm for Maldonado, this level of disaster is of unprecedented levels in the sport for a single driver. A 3rd place on the grid partly gone down the drain for blocking, seriously? Oh God...

Well, it has happened to Nick Heidfeld once so this one is of course tough luck for Maldonado but not quite epic fail.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 01 Sep 2012, 17:54

I could all go off at La Source tomorrow. Kobayashi may get a bit over-excited, Maldonado is CLEARLY going to overdrive to make up for the penalty and we have Perez and Hamilton around him. Expect tears on lap 1.

cbbcisace · Post by **cbbcisace** » 01 Sep 2012, 18:01

Phoenix wrote:A very interesting qualifying. Button must've done quite an impressive set-up job with the car, but Kobayashi was not that far off Button in 2nd and was a complete shocker. Will he be able to convert his excellent grid slot into a podium place tomorrow? I really hope so.

And you really have to facepalm for Maldonado, this level of disaster is of unprecedented levels in the sport for a single driver. A 3rd place on the grid partly gone down the drain for blocking, seriously? Oh God...

It was also surprising that none of the title contenders had a brilliant qualifying session. The best was Räikkönen with 4th (3rd), but Hamilton was very disappointing, even more so than Vettel.

And Caterham were pretty slow today, they were nearly two seconds off Rosberg in Q1. And Karthikeyan was 1.5 seconds slower than de la Rosa, that can't be justified solely by finding traffic. I hope HRT are looking for a faster pay-driver for next season.

Karthikeyan was nearly 2s slower, which is poor, they need a better driver than him now, never mind next season.

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 01 Sep 2012, 18:18

Thanks FIA for helping alonso again in the title battle with reverend grid penalty :roll:

. Anyway, Reverend vs Hamilton in first lap, thats gonna be good. :twisted:

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 01 Sep 2012, 18:49

AdrianSutil wrote:I could all go off at La Source tomorrow. Kobayashi may get a bit over-excited, Maldonado is CLEARLY going to overdrive to make up for the penalty and we have Perez and Hamilton around him. Expect tears on lap 1.

Surrounded by the Anti-Maldonado crusade, shite is going down tomorrow.

koza · Post by **koza** » 01 Sep 2012, 18:57

AdrianSutil wrote:
pasta_maldonado wrote:
Wizzie wrote:Interesting fact: This weekend will be Michael Schumacher's 300th Grand Prix weekend. Won't be his 300th start however, that'll be in Singapore.

What caused him to miss the starts? I don't think he's ever DNQd

Britain 1999 must be one. Red flag on lap 1 and he crashed and broke his leg.

France 1996? Engine failure on formation lap.

Didn't he spin on the formation lap in Monaco one year? Wet race it was so maybe 1996.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 01 Sep 2012, 19:30

That was on lap 1.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 01 Sep 2012, 19:32

I have a f****** baptism ceremony tomorrow at 13:15 CET, plus a lunch after that, so I'm gonna miss the race. And I won't even be able to use my smartphone, because I could find out the result! I'll also need some luck -it's likely that some idiot will yell "Alonso has finished 3rd!" when the race ends.

:evil: