The 2014 Belgian GP Practice round took place yesterday, seeing Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set a blistering pace as he topped second practice and led the field by over 0.6 seconds; teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg was second behind him.
It was known as the F1 circus prepared to go to Spa-Francorchamps and enter the second half of the season that Lewis was more focused than ever for the Drivers’ World Championship dogfight. Belgium hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Briton- although he won there in 2010, he has suffered three retirements and saw his race win stripped off him in 2008, due to his cutting a chicane and being given a 25-second penalty. Although practice means nothing in terms of the actual race result, there’s no better way to start a race weekend than topping the field on Friday.
Since we aren’t Sky F1, I’d better get away from Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso somewhat surprisingly got third behind Hamilton and Rosberg, considering Alonso entered the race expecting Belgium and Italy to be all about damage limitation. However, Ferrari’s qualifying performances have tended to be much weaker than their practice performances this season, so it remains to be seen as to whether they can build on Friday’s performance. The Williams drivers- who were expected to be strong at Spa, seeing as the track suits the cars’ main strengths; power and drag- finished fourth and sixth respectively, with Felipe Massa bettering his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Jenson Button finished fifth, with teammate Kevin Magnussen getting ninth. Daniil Kvyat managed a surprising seventh; Daniel Ricciardo got eighth and Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten.
Perhaps the biggest news of the day was Sebastian Vettel’s no-show. The defending World Champion had to have his engine changed once again, meaning that he will almost certainly receive a ten place penalty at some point during the season for using more than the five engines permitted. Scratch that, the biggest news of the day: PASTOR MALDONADO CRASHED. No, really. The session had to be stopped after he lost control coming out of the Liege corner, crashing in the process. He was taken to hospital to check that everything was ok, and he’s none the worse and ready for his next crash, I mean session of racing.
The race was stopped not only for Pastor Maldonado, but for Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, who spun at Blanchimont at 180mph. He blamed the gearbox for his misdemeanour, saying: “It’s the gearbox. I turned in and something completely braked the car.”
Going into qualifying, what can be expected? Naturally, the two Mercedes drivers will remain favourites, but it seems that Williams and possibly even Ferrari will be able to push them for pole. Although Vettel’s engine problems remain, Red Bull and in particular Daniel Ricciardo may be able to challenge. With a bit of luck there could be a huge battle at least for the final podium place between the Williams, Ferrari and Red bull drivers, and who knows, if the F1 weather gods decide to have some fun, or some dodgy pit stops and any other excuse for some sections of Lewis Hamilton’s fans to cry “sabotage”, the non-Mercedes drivers might just have a chance to record their third win.
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