MorrisF1

From a betting perspective the race was red. However, it did provide (being entirely dry) a very nice illustration of how the cars fare on a circuit with high speed corners on race pace. I’ll go into this more below, but the podium spots of Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton perfectly reflect how good the driver-car combinations are on a circuit dominated by high speed corners. The start was a dream for Vettel and nightmare for Hamilton. Before the lap ended (but not right off the line) Vettel passed Hamilton and then zoomed off into the sunset. I think the manner of Vettel’s victories (predominantly driving off in first rather than fighting through the field) may be one reason why he’s not held in as high regard as other top drivers by some. Webber forgot to take the handbrake off and went backwards, and Alonso got a very good start (as is quite common). Di Resta had a bit of a shocker too. Fairly early on Alonso passed Hamilton on-track, and from there on the three top spot...

As predicted, qualifying was wetter than a mermaid in the shower, but I got almost all of my other forecasts wrong (just as well I didn’t offer a tip). It was also a staggeringly entertaining qualifying hour. Q1 was the most interesting of the year by a mile. It was raining, so all went out on intermediate tyres, but towards the end it dried up. Caterham and Marussia bravely opted for the slicks, which looked like the wrong choice until the last lap or so which saw Van Der Garde, Bianchi and Chilton all make it to Q2 (Pic must feel a bit disappointed not to have joined them). Terrible day for both Toro Rosso and Williams, as all four of their cars fell at this first hurdle. Gutierrez will also be disappointed to only be 21 out of 22 cars. Q2 was slightly less dramatic as it was, essentially, dry. The 3 intruders on Q2 all left at this stage, with Van Der Garde getting a good 14th. Hulkenberg, Sutil and Perez made up 11-13. Q3 was a fantastic session. It started off raini...

The tyres this weekend are medium and hard. The Lotus seems like it may run the double-DRS, finally. This is basically a device to reduce drag on straights, enabling the team to run more downforce generally (the rear wing gets stalled by air flow that enters via two slots either side of the main air intake above the driver’s head when there’s low pressure under the front wing. I think). Showery, wet-dry weather is expected throughout the weekend. Whilst lower downforce will ease overtaking in the race it will also make a car suffer more from the slippery conditions if the track becomes wet. P1 began with the track mostly wet but partly dry. Running was limited and on intermediates. The track half-dried out, enough for hard tyres to be used but not enough for times to be considered representative of pace. Alonso as fastest, ahead of Di Resta, Sutil, Perez, Rosberg, Vettel, Gutierrez, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, with Bottas rounding out the top 10. Commentary suggested...

Feels like bloody ages since the last race (4 weeks, as it happens). Anyway, at least we’re going to a proper circuit. Spa’s one of the very best on the calendar, and it’ll be interesting (and perhaps critical for the title race) to see how Mercedes fare. Unlike Hungary, the Belgian circuit is festooned with fast corners. If the Silver Arrows can handle their tyres on such a circuit then Vettel may face a serious challenge from Hamilton. Ferrari need to sort themselves out. They’re being out-qualified and are now fourth on race pace. If this persists Alonso will not only fail to take the championship, he’ll not even finish in the top 3. My season bets are ropier this year than last (in common with the race bets). However, one I made a little while ago was laying Alonso to be top 3 at 1.5. Barring some freak incident Vettel’s practically guaranteed a top 3 spot. Raikkonen’s super reliable and so’s his car, and Hamilton has had a storming few races. If he keeps that up the S...