Belgium Grand Prix results and analysis

Jenson Button has won the Belgium Grand Prix by leading the race from start to finish. Sebastian Vettel finished in second place while Kimi Raikkonen got another third place to his name.

Here are the full results at the end of the race:

Team By Team Analysis:

Mclaren:

A brilliant drive from Jenson Button from start to finish saw him take victory in the Belgium grand prix. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand retired at the start of the race after getting boxed out on the grass by Grosjean.

Analysing Jenson’s Race Pace:

The beginning of the race saw Jenson race away into distance from Kimi Raikkonen and the gap that Jenson built during the first stint remained for rest of the race.

During the first stint while all other drivers were involved in various battles, Jenson put the hammer down and put in some really fast laps to get away from Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen.The lap times of Jenson were pretty consistent through the first stint and was even able to lap competitively during the latter stages of the first stint when his tyres had reached the peak.

During the second stint on the harder compund tyres, the lap times were a bit slower but still enough to keep Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel behind.

Strategy Analysis of Mclaren team:

The Mclaren team went for one stop strategy and ran medium compound tyres during the first stint while harder compounds during the second stint.The fact that Jenson was not involved in battles with various cars meant that he could conserve his tyres better and keep out of the dirty air coming out of the exhausts of the cars ahead.

Tyre usage:

Jenson Button:

1.First Stint:Medium Tyre2.Second Stint:Hard Tyre

Red-Bull:

Sebastian Vettel put in a mighty effort from P13 on the grid to finish second with one stop strategy. Mark Webber was ahead of Sebastian Vettel at the end of first lap but an early stop for tyres meant that he got caught out in traffic and couldn’t quite make up places as Sebastian did.

Strategy analysis of Red Bull: Red Bull split the strategy among its drivers with Sebastian going for one stop and Webber going for two. In the end, Sebastian’s strategy proved to be a right one.

Tyre Usage :

Mark Webber:

1.First stint: Medium Tyre2.Second stint:Hard Tyre3.Third stint:Medium Tyre

Sebastian Vettel:

1.First Stint:Medium tyre2.Second Stint:Harder tyre.

Lotus:

Kimi Raikkonen drove a very strong race to finish up on the podium considering the top speed disadvantage that he had to cope up with during the race.

Romain Grosjean seems to be becoming the new F1 crash kid as he boxed Lewis Hamilton on the grass which led to very horrific first corner accident. All the drivers involved were lucky enough to come out without any injuries. Fernando Alonso had to take most of the brunt of the impact and was taken to the F1 Hospital for checkup. Fortunately, everything is okay for Alonso and he will be back for the Italian Grand Prix.

Strategy Analysis: Considering the high downforce setup that Lotus had opted for, a good strategy was needed to get a Kimi onto the podium. The team brought Kimi in for first pitstop on lap 11 and clear track after the first pitstop meant that Raikkonen could hammer in some fast laps and still be in Second place after first round of pitstops.

Unfortunately they couldn’t keep Sebastian Vettel behind as he was on one stop strategy. Overall the Lotus E20 was consistent throughout the race and the lotus leave Belgium with a decent haul of points.

Tyre Usage:

Kimi Raikkonen:

1.First stint:Medium Tyre.2.Second stint:Harder tyre.3.Third stint:Medium tyre.

Force India:

Nico Hulkenberg drove a superb race to finish in fourth place. The last stint by Hulkenberg was very impressive as he managed to defend his fourth place from Felipe Massa and Mark Webber. Considering the competiveness of Force India, Nico drove a great race as the Ferrari and the Red Bull are clearly superior than the Force India in terms of race pace.

Paul Di Resta on the other hand didn’t have a competitive race as he fell back many positions during his first stint and finally ended up finishing 10th.

Overall, it was a good race for Force India with both the cars picking up points.

Strategy Analysis:

The Force India team followed the startegy used by Raikkonen and Webber and was able to get Hulkenberb ahead of Webber during second round of pitstops. Earlier, Force India were looking for three stop strategy which in the end wasn’t used by any team so a change of strategy midway during the race proved to be a good call.

For Paul Di Resta an early stop for tyres meant that he had to struggle with the tyre grip for the later half of the race and was lucky to finish in points.

Tyre Usage:

Nico Hulkenberg:

First stint:Hard tyreSecond stint:Medium TyreThird stint:Medium tyre

Ferrari:

Fernando Alonso was involved in first corner shunt and his race was over by the first corner.Judging by the visuals it looked like Fernando got tailgated from behind by Grosjean and Hamilton.

Felipe Massa drove a strong race to finish fifth ahead of Mark Webber.

Strategy Analysis:

Felipe Massa followed the strategy used by Raikkonen,Webber and Hulkenberg and did a good recovery after second round of pitstops to finish in fifth place.

Tyre Usage:

Felipe Massa:1.First stint:Medium tyre.2.Second stint:hard tyre.3.Third stint:Medium tyre

Mercedes:

Michael Schumacher drove a fiesty race on his 300th grand prix but ran out of tyres and had gearbox problems at the end of race which meant he could only finish seventh.Speaking just after the race the seven time world champion said he was happy with the race as he enjoyed some nice battles but was dissapointed not to finish higher.

Nico Rosberg had a tough race as he started 23rd on the grid but was upto 13th by the end of first lap.Sadly,his mercedes didn’t seem to have the pace shown by Schumacher and he ended up finishing out of the points in 11th place.

Rosberg’s form has dwindled down from British Grand Prix as he has finished 10th and 11th two times in the last four races.

Strategy Analysis:

Mercedes team had earlier opted a one stop strategy for both their drivers but neither Michael nor Nico could make the tyres last and had to pit for the second time.

Tyre Usage:Michael Schumacher:1.First stint:Medium tyre2.Second Stint:Hard tyre.3.Third stint:Medium tyre.

Nico Rosberg:

1.First stint:Hard Tyre2.Second stint:Medium tyre.3.Third stint:Medium Tyre

Toro Rosso:

For the First time since Malaysia Toro Rosso have looked to challenge for points.Both of the Toro Rosso drivers benefited from first lap shunt and were upto 6th and and seventh place by the end of first lap.Good strategy by the team meant that both of their drivers finished in the points in 8th and 9th places respectively for Jean Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo.

Strategy analysis:

Both of the Toro Rosso’s struggled for pace during first stint and the team brought them early for first pitstop which meant they could put in some fast laps in clear air.In the latter stages of the race both of the drivers had fresher tyres and were able to overtake Nico Rosberg and Bruno senna to score some important championship points which they very well deserve after a very tough couple of races.

That completes the top 10 finishers.Stay tuned for more stats and analysis from Belgium Grand Prix.

Sectorwise Speed Analysis:

Track and Weather Condition during the race: