****The Official Belgian (Spa) Grand Prix thread 2015****

[Teppic]

Jasandjules said:

carinaman said:

T
I thought the Verstappen pass was very good.

I heard a rumour that his engineer shouted "now that's how to f***ng do it" over the radio to him.......

I think that one was confirmed on the Sky post race analysis.

[moanthebairns]

Smollet said:

Mermaid said:

deadslow said:

ash73 said:

Don't bother it was crap.

Twas a snoozefest

Required rain.

By far the worst Belgian GP for a very long time. Gave up watching it

I watched it when I got in, I fell asleep 3 times, I was shattered but I never even bothered rewinding the last 5 laps I missed.

Did I miss anything, I saw the tyre mix up, the one decent pass and a replay of a tyre blowing up....

[Mikey G]

Is it just me that enjoyed the race? There certainly has been worse races recently... If all you lot can do is moan about boring F1 races with such quotes as "an excuse for a sunday afternoon nap" then maybe its time for you to stop watching and start doing more interesting activities instead like flower arranging etc...

[RichB]

Mikey G said:

Is it just me that enjoyed the race? There certainly has been worse races recently... If all you lot can do is moan about boring F1 races with such quotes as "an excuse for a sunday afternoon nap" then maybe its time for you to stop watching and start doing more interesting activities instead like flower arranging etc...

It's become quite the fashionable thing on P'Heads to moan about the F1 race. Then say the motorbikes, NASCAR, BTCC, Stock Cars are more exciting.

[moanthebairns]

Mikey G said:

Is it just me that enjoyed the race? There certainly has been worse races recently... If all you lot can do is moan about boring F1 races with such quotes as "an excuse for a sunday afternoon nap" then maybe its time for you to stop watching and start doing more interesting activities instead like flower arranging etc...

Id been on a bike for 7 hours. Me falling asleep wasn't a reflection of the race. Me checking my phone every 5 minutes was.

[IainT]

Mikey G said:

Is it just me that enjoyed the race?

I enjoyed it, certainly wasn't the most eventful race ever but they can't all be. Maybe the issue is it wasn't what we hoped for from Spa and after a month of no F1.

Personally I think the sport is moving in the right direction with the technical rules that are coming - 5-6 seconds a lap faster than current? Yes please!

[coetzeeh]

RichB said:

Mikey G said:

Is it just me that enjoyed the race? There certainly has been worse races recently... If all you lot can do is moan about boring F1 races with such quotes as "an excuse for a sunday afternoon nap" then maybe its time for you to stop watching and start doing more interesting activities instead like flower arranging etc...

It's become quite the fashionable thing on P'Heads to moan about the F1 race. Then say the motorbikes, NASCAR, BTCC, Stock Cars are more exciting.

As much as I enjoy F1, MotoGP is by far more exciting and enjoyable. No contest I'm afraid.

[M3ax]

I enjoyed the race but then, I usually do as F1 is my favourite sport. I did briefly switch channels though to watch the 100m final from Beijing. Talk about boring. The same guy always wins. He's won 3 world championships in a row! They really should change the rules so someone else can win otherwise people will stop watching.

[marshall100]

Not the best of races in my opinion. I'm curios as to why Vettel is moaning about his tyre going pop when on the lap it went bang he'd just monstered the kerb coming out of eau rouge? If he'd been doing that the whole race on tyres being pushed to the limit of their life what was he expecting?

[KarlMac]

To be fair I did switch over to BTCC after the race.

It was awful.

'More action clearly equals 'driving into each other'. It was like watching a bunch of angry dads on the M25.

Matt Neal was in front, same as he was when I last watched BTCC 5 years ago.

[London424]

Pirelli are just an easy target for Seb and Ferrari to lash out at. Granted it's not a nice thing (and no doubt very scary) for tyres to explode on you but haven't we had more front nose failures this season than tyre explosions and I didn't hear the drivers attacking the teams for that.

[TheInternet]

KarlMac said:

To be fair I did switch over to BTCC after the race.

It was awful.

It is awful, but luckily the rest of the racing at those events is usually pretty good. Thanks, ITV4.

[Logie]

enjoyed the raced, but yea the middle of a lot of F1 races are kind of drab as people do different strats. But there were some good battles like Gro and Vet and 6th-9th.

Cant believe how bad the Honda was, how can it be harvesting around 1/6th of a lap?

Really impressed with RG - I hope he gets a good shot in a good car soon

[vxr8mate]

Jeez, that was a boring race. They were showing slow mo's by lap 27!

If it wasn't for the tyre stories the press would have nothing report.

[PhillipM]

I know they're arguing that the Ferrari's went too far on the tyre - but in a series where there's one make of tyre allowed only by regulation, there's no reason the carcass of the tyre couldn't be self supporting structurally so if there is a tread delamination it would hold up and allow at least some control over the car.
Mind, for tyres that are supposed to degrade, you'd expect they should have dropped off a cliff well beforehand.

Edited by PhillipM on Monday 24th August 12:45

[Derek Smith]

M3ax said:

I enjoyed the race but then, I usually do as F1 is my favourite sport. I did briefly switch channels though to watch the 100m final from Beijing. Talk about boring. The same guy always wins. He's won 3 world championships in a row! They really should change the rules so someone else can win otherwise people will stop watching.

Your point is well made.

It confuses me as to why people who complain about eventful races such as yesterday's Spa being boring bother to watch F1. There are tremendously exciting races and there are processions. Yesterday's event was neither and came above midpoint for me. The midfield battle had me on the edge of my seat at times, the Grosjean/Vettel battle especially. One wonders if SV was pushing it more than he wanted to on old tyres. He was sliding a lot on the exit to corners. It was a shame that it ended with a tyre failure.

But a good race: not a classic, but hardly a bore fest. Those who didn't enjoy it might do better to ask if F1 is the sport for them, and if not, whether it might be better for all concerned if they stayed off the race thread and started one for other like-minded people.

I used to watch rallying, getting up at 4am in below freezing temperatures in Welsh B&Bs with no central heating and a couple of times no hot water, to go and stand on icy hills, or else in torrential rain and force 8 gales. Not many overtakes there, but to suggest it was not exciting would be wrong.

As I say, a good point that is difficult to counter.

And a good race.

[Vaud]

I agree Derek. It wasn't outstanding, but a good 6or7 / 10 for me.

[ajprice]

So after the kerb at turn 4/Radillon was removed with an FIA warning about track limits, just about everybody cut across there. Only Kvyat had a warning, and there were no penalties. A case of the FIA giving up on enforcing anything and saying 'if everyone does it there's no advantage?'

Here's the link I didn't add but meant to: http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/did-formula-one-igno...

Edited by ajprice on Monday 24th August 13:14

[Scuffers]

PhillipM said:

I know they're arguing that the Ferrari's went too far on the tyre - but in a series where there's one make of tyre allowed only by regulation, there's no reason the carcass of the tyre couldn't be self supporting structurally so if there is a tread delamination it would hold up and allow at least some control over the car.
Mind, for tyres that are supposed to degrade, you'd expect they should have dropped off a cliff well beforehand.

Agreed,

Pirelli are just talking ste, how can they suggest a life of 40 laps and then have them explode at 28, and turn round and blame the team for running them too long?

if you wear a tyre out, then fair enough it runs out of grip - and in the extreme, you might see the carcase showing through, however, for the first sign of trouble is the tyre explodes, what is there to say?

Just how much longer is F1 gong to put up with this st?

it's supposed to be the showcase for the best in the world, this really is a poor joke.

[Vaud]

Genius. Maybe Mr Bolt should be more regulated - have shortened legs or have to carry a weight penalty? Maybe Ronnie Corbett in a rucksack? Or have his lane wetted first? It's all about the show...