2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Who will win the Belgian Grand Prix?

Sebastian Vettel
4
20%
Kimi Raikkonen
7
35%
Fernando Alonso
0
No votes
Lewis Hamilton
6
30%
Mark Webber
0
No votes
Nico Rosberg
2
10%
Felipe Massa
0
No votes
Romain Grosjean
0
No votes
Jenson Button
0
No votes
Paul di Resta
0
No votes
Other
1
5%
 
Total votes: 20

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Vorull
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Vorull » 28 Aug 2013, 20:46

About wet conditions, I think both are at pretty much the same level, good. Hamilton is better imo.

btw, you should check this if you doubt, I know Renault was very fast that year, but it's still quite impressive.

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Eric_Cartman
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Eric_Cartman » 28 Aug 2013, 21:18

Vorull wrote:About wet conditions, I think both are at pretty much the same level, good. Hamilton is better imo.

btw, you should check this if you doubt, I know Renault was very fast that year, but it's still quite impressive.
yeah I forgot about Hungary 2006. That was probably Alonso's best rain performance. Although you have to say that the Michelin cars had quite an advantage in this race. But what I tried to say is that Alonso is often invisible in those conditions. Hungary 2006, Malaysia 2012 and probably Korea 2010 were superb. And that's it!. I probably forgot 1 or 2 races but Vettel still had more good rain races: Fuji 2007, China 2007, Monaco 2008, Monza 2008, China 2009, Korea 2010, Montreal 2011 (his mistake was under dry conditions!).

But i agree that Hamilton is a bit better in wet weather conditions!
FC BAYERN 7 - BARCELONA 0

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mikhailv
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by mikhailv » 28 Aug 2013, 22:42

Vettels only driven cars supreme in the wet. Its funny really because the amount of downforce rbr generate, even in the wet you cant determine whats driver and whats car. People forget Monza and Bourdais. He was quite close.

But this is the thing. Webber is closer to Vettel in the wet more often than not aswell.

Its always going to be tough to judge because of that reason.

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Vorull
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Vorull » 28 Aug 2013, 23:02

Bourdais was also good in Spa that year.

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Joey Zyla
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Joey Zyla » 28 Aug 2013, 23:37

Eric_Cartman wrote:I would also give Alonso a 10/10 for this race.

But I can also not understand why Vettel is underestimated by so many people. It's probably the frustration because he dominates F1 since 2010 and makes the championship boring. I would love to see Alonso and Vettel in the same team. Then we would all see how good he really is because I think it would be very close. Vettel has some advantages over Fernando: He is faster on a single lap (it's 12-0 in qualifying against Webber who was seen as a quali-specialist before Vettel changed to Red Bull), he is better in changeable conditions (apart from the 2012 performances where Ferrari was undoubtedly the fastest car in the rain, I haven't seen something special by Alonso in those conditions. Quite the opposite, Hamilton beat Alonso in the rain in his rookie year for example. Whereas Vettel has often shown how good he is in wet conditions) and Vettel is probably the hardest worker in F1. After his three titles he is still so ambitious and gives everything for F1. He tries to bring everything to perfection.

That's why I believe that Vettel could beat Alonso in the same car.
This, exactly. Newey deserves a lot of credit too, in fact if I could choose one I'd rather hire Newey to my team than Vettel, but Vettel really can't and doesn't need to do any more. There have been seasons (2010) where he was far from the best driver, but in 2012 and especially 2013 he's been really solid, consistent, and hasn't made many mistakes. Vettel is very good at taking the best car to victory consistently, whereas Alonso is very good at getting everything out of his car with his good overall "racecraft". It's not about having the best drive every race, it's about doing what you need to do to win championships, and that, ultimately, is what all drivers aim to achieve.

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2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by F1EA » 29 Aug 2013, 05:39

We've swayed away from the Belgian GP to something much more complicated.....

Vettel is good. No doubt about it. The three Belgian podium guys are pretty evenly matched top drivers... some slight differences here and there and specific strengths keep things interesting in different scenarios... only problem has been how strong the RB has been.

Vettel definitely deserves his titles, but without that beast RB, he'd have 1 or 2 WDC at best; which would be entirely reasonable given his shown abilities and weaknesses. Not the 4! he seems to have underway.

Like Schumacher... 4 were ok. Those 7 are misleading ;)

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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by phil1993 » 29 Aug 2013, 13:19

Just realised that where I stayed for Spa was actually closer to the Nurburgring - should have paid it a visit!

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donald29
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by donald29 » 29 Aug 2013, 13:36

Should have gone to the Schumacher Kart Centre too. :p

Hulkenberg after the race: "Jesus Christ. I don’t know about the car it was not together at all. The balance is so far apart, there’s understeer, oversteer. Car is all over the place. It’s so damn difficult."

Gutierrez's engineer after the race: "It’s also good for us because the car was good. It’s a morale boost, anyway."

Differing opinions there. :p

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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by mikhailv » 29 Aug 2013, 19:26

leaning towards Esteban as he will be staying at Sauber partnering that russian bloke, so not catering to Nico as he is on his way to either Enstone or Maranello?

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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by donald29 » 30 Aug 2013, 12:12

Regarding the Alonso moment...

Image

It was a mightily impressive save, but he was basically able to get away with it because of the tarmac run off.

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Vorull
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Vorull » 30 Aug 2013, 14:59

Race edit is up.

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Vlad-SRB
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Vlad-SRB » 31 Aug 2013, 11:50



Interesting to see how Vettel and Alonso didn't use KERS at all until they passed first corner. And Vettel's line through Eau Rouge was a perfection.
Image

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mikhailv
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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by mikhailv » 31 Aug 2013, 12:45

Because Smart.

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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by tderias » 31 Aug 2013, 15:20

The short run up to La Source isn't worth the bother really.

I agree Vlad. Vettel's run through Eau Rouge and Radillon is tremendous. The speed he carried through there with a full tank of fuel is just mega impressive.

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Re: 2013 Shell Belgian Grand Prix

Post by Vorull » 31 Aug 2013, 16:32

tderias wrote:The short run up to La Source isn't worth the bother really.

I agree Vlad. Vettel's run through Eau Rouge and Radillon is tremendous. The speed he carried through there with a full tank of fuel is just mega impressive.
Agree! But I think Hamilton took a weird line through there. Didn't quite clip the apex at Eau Rouge.

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