2014 Belgian GP (Spa-Francorchamps) - August 24th

darkmarlin16 said:Starting P2 at the Embassy of Belgium definitely gives you an edge.

If you nail Eau Rouge, you can just blast past whoever's sitting in the lead on the Kemmel straight. Honestly, it’s like you didn't even watch the race last year when Sebastian Vettel pulled that exact same move on Lewis Hamilton.

Ahem.

And yet, once again, it turns out the guy tucked right behind going into Eau Rouge is actually the one with the advantage to overtake the leader. ☕

cosmiccyclist8 said:It doesn't matter who overtakes who, it's just how you guys are always hunting for some outside excuse for why Alonso's placement sucks...

Who's hunting?

stormybadger8 said:Honestly, I don't know how they can show their faces after this 🤣🤣:ro fl:
man, what an absolute joke :fac epalm:

I mean, I wasn't exactly shocked he’d lose those 20 seconds, because let's be real, even a 5 sec 😍 wouldn't have been enough to pull him ahead of Fernando Alonso 😁

Fernando Alonso would've just taken a drive through if these new rules weren't in place this season.
But a DSQ? Come on, man, get a grip 😉

Kevin Magnussen's penalty was totally justified; you could tell from a mile away he was getting nailed.

Sebastian Vettel should've at least gotten a warning for that move at Les Combes

stormybadger8 said:This is just painful 😢
http://macofan.com/en/index.php?page...&gp=927&graf=3

Fresh soft tires versus mediums that were already 17 laps old... and the lap time difference is barely a measly 0.050 sec...
All in all, this was a race where Ricciardo was way better than Vettel.

season

stormybadger8 said:Over at Williams, they found out Felipe Massa had picked up chunks of Lewis Hamilton's tire, which explains why he was crawling in S2...
And since Vettel was right behind Hamilton, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if his car was also littered with rubber scraps (especially given that inexplicably slow S2), plus there's a good chance Fernando Alonso picked some up too since he was tucked right behind Vettel at the time...

Bottom line is, the FIA completely blew it today on every single level.

First off, Fernando Alonso should have been hit with a DSQ right before the start or slapped with a massive penalty, even though it's not even his fault,
but look, the driver and the crew win together and they lose together, so if the crew screws up that badly, the driver unfortunately has to pay the price.

Second, a SC really should have come out given the sheer amount of debris and pieces of Rosberg's wing scattered all over the track...

Third, there's no way Kevin Magnussen deserved a 20 second penalty if Fernando—or rather, Ferrari—only got 5 sec for that total mess 🙄
Honestly, this last bit might actually be the absolute worst part of this whole mess if you ask me 🙂

Yeah 😂 🤣 🤦

Roger Wright94 said:Ferrari fans

This is Kimi's best finish all year! I’m really hoping it wasn't just some one-off fluke.

And honestly, Fernando Alonso is still the only driver who’s managed to score points in every single one of the 12 races this season, IMO. That says a lot about the car, sure, but it definitely says even more about the driver.

It was about damn time Raikkonen finally had a decent showing, so I'm stoked about it. Maybe this will actually give the Maestro's performance a little boost.

http://vimeo.com/104788858

Look, if Kevin Magnussen actually deserves a penalty for this, then Lewis Hamilton definitely does too. 🤣
And seriously, if we're blaming Rosberg, why aren't we pointing the finger at Fernando Alonso for doing the exact same thing? 😁

Man, the situation is basically identical...
The only difference is that Alonso got spooked and veered off track, whereas Rosberg just gritted his teeth and stayed put, which is exactly why they collided.

stormybadger8 said:Man, the situation is pretty much identical...

Almost. 🙂

stormybadger8 said:http://vimeo.com/104788858

So if we're saying Kevin Magnussen really deserved that penalty, then honestly, Lewis Hamilton deserved one too 🤣
Plus, if we're blaming Nico Rosberg, then why on earth aren't we holding Fernando Alonso responsible for the exact same thing? 😁

Man, the situation is pretty much identical...
except for the fact that Fernando Alonso got spooked and veered off the track, whereas Rosberg just gritted his teeth and stayed on course, which is ultimately what led to the collision...

There's also a slight difference because Rosberg and Hamilton were right in the middle of the turn, while Kevin Magnussen was out on the straight. He initially jerked toward the button, but once he realized there was no room left there, he started blocking Fernando Alonso. Besides, the FIA's official written explanation actually points out the specific spot where he picked up the penalty:
"The incident occurred on the penultimate lap of the 44-lap contest as Magnussen, trying to defend fifth place from Alonso on the approach to Les Combes, edged the Spaniard onto the grass."

If you take a look at the GIF, it looks like Rosberg initially veered left to try and dodge the contact—which was smart enough—but then he likely thought he could slide back into the slipstream. He just seems to have misjudged the gap and ended up clipping the tire. Honestly, it just looks like your run-of-the-mill racing incident.

jadeseal7 said:Looking at the GIF, it seems like Rosberg first veered left just to dodge the contact—probably trying to be smart—and then he likely thought he could slide right back into the slipstream. He clearly misjudged the gap, though, and ended up clipping the tire. Just your run-of-the-mill racing incident.

Look, this was settled ages ago—honestly, I have no idea why people are still dragging this out in debate.

It’s a racing incident, sure, but that doesn't mean neither of the drivers involved in this racing incident is at fault.

jadeseal7 said:Nico Rosberg swerved left first to avoid contact

No. He veered left because there was a millimeter of rear-end slip. It’s barely visible.