Official F1/Motorsport thread

[Bort]

F1 Belgian Grand Prix

Spa-Francorchamps, 27-29 August 2010
Fri 27 Aug: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430
Sat 28 Aug: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300
Sun 29 Aug: Race 1300


MotoGP Indy USA.

Saturday 28 August
Qualifying: 1750-2100, BBC Red Button and Online
18:55 - 19:55 for motoGP

Sunday 29 August
Race live: 1945-2100, BBC Three

[NW2013]

I looove Spa. Can't wait for the race this weekend. I'm off work too so can watch the practice. It's currently chucking it down in Belgium.

EDIT - Karun Chandhok is very good on the commentary, quite funny too.

[TheForce]

excellent qualy today at Spa, great job from Webber !
I'm really looking forward to tomorrows race, it could be a stunner, especially with the changing weather there tomorrow !!

Right after the qualifying session I booted up RacePro to race myself around Spa ! The urge to to play Spa was immense, I can only imagine this next season when I will be able to to this every race weekend with F1 2010 !!

[vanpeebles]

What a stupid German pig Vettel is.

[vanpeebles]

Haha he's buggered himself up now. Also written cross part of the track is sore loser in massive letters.

[MJ]

Well done Lulu!

[PeteJ]

Another great race, what a season this is shaping up to be!

Vettel is going down in my estimation with every race though. Still not quite sure what he was trying to do with Button.

[Senna]

Yeah another fantastic race, it's a really great season so far. This has (yet again) got me super-pumped for the F1 2010 game in four weeks time.

The drivers (most of them) definitely earned their money again. The mental stress on Hamilton and Webber for those last few laps must have been immense, less so for Kubica because he doesn't need to bank the points. It was a fantastic race from Hamilton, apart from going off (completely understandable breaking downhill into that right-hander) he drove a flawless drive. Kubica impresses more and more, and Monza should be a good race again for both Renault and McLaren. I feel very sorry for Button as well, although Hamilton was faster on pure pace, Button was nursing a slightly damaged car.

I'm very disappointed with Vettel, when the camera moved to Button and him coming into the Bus Stop I actually said to my friend 'he's going to crash' and lo and behold he did. The problem is that you have to remember he is still just 22 or 23, something crazy like that, BUT he doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes.

This goes all the way back to Fuji in 2007 when he crashed into Webber, and continues to this day 3 years later when he keeps on making self-inflicted mistakes, either through over-aggression or plain misjudgement of conditions. He will be world champion I am sure in future years because of his stunning pure pace, but his shocking conversion rate of poles to wins and these mistakes makes me feel he would be an unworthy champion this year.

My fingers are crossed for Webber because I believe that, similar to Button last year, this will be his best ever chance of becoming champion. He seems a great bloke as well which makes it easier to support him.

So, great race yet again, 6 races to go, still 3 drivers for me in it (Button and Alonso I just can't see coming back into the hunt), and the F1 2010 game to come in 4 weeks time - bring it on!

[PeteJ]

Nice summary, made me want f1 2010 even more too

While my estimation of Vettel is going down my respect for Webber is on the up. He looks set for the championship now, after Monza I think he'll run away with it. Been an unpredictable year though and I'm sure there are plenty of twists to come.

[TheForce]

I think Button would be a serious contender for the victory with all the changing weather conditions till that IDIOT Vettel crashed into him... Seems that when Vettel is faster then the guy in front he doesn't have the patience to wait for the right time to overtake, Buttons championship took a heavy blow because of this.
Hamilton drove a flawless race and really deserved to win, I was really glad to see Webber doing a good job as well, Kubica is showing again he is an incredible racer.
The race was great to watch again ! Already looking forward to see the next race !!

[Darwock]

Also written cross part of the track is sore loser in massive letters.

I noticed that too. What gives? Was it there all the time or did it appear mid race? It'd be surprising if someone leapt the barriers with a can of spray paint and wrote those massive letters without getting busted and/or hit by a car.

[Shez]

It was an entertaining race, as it always is at Spa

Hamilton drove a great race, even if he did do a wall of death through the gravel trap.

I was really impressed with Kubica, it might sound like a little thing, but the way he held off Webber after the first stop was the sign of a top quality driver.

Vettel mugged himself today, and was poor - Button although doing a Trulli train impression was robbed of good points. I don't think he had a win in him, but a podium was on.

Webber did all he had to do and I dont think anyone would begrudge him the title this season (other than red bull )

Alonso and Ferrari made some bad calls with tyres, and he eventually made a rookie error. On a side note, it was amazing to see that Ferrari take such a big shunt from Barrichello and keep going.

Monza is going to be a good race for so many reasons - I'm tipping force india to get into the mix to spice things up some more.

[Square]

From memory you want to take the Kintetsu line (a few minutes walk from Nagoya station) to Shiroko. From there you can walk for around 30 minutes to the circuit, or get in a LONG queue for a taxi.

Just seen this page here

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4325.html

According to this, I can get a train to Suzuka Circuit Ino with one transfer, and use my JR Pass for most of the journey. This would seem a better option to me, unless I'm missing something important...

[SaijoBob]

Yeah, that looks better to me - didn't even know there was a station closer to the cicuit than Shiroko! Maybe they didn't do it back when I went, I was going with a Nagoya local who I hope would have chosen the best route...

Two more bits of dodgy advice -

- Arrive early unless you have a grandstand ticket. All the best spots are rushed as soon as the gates open.

- If you're not in a rush for a good spot, play "Find the racequeen" around the entry area. Remember, it's not pervy - it's marketing!

[Square]

Yeah, that looks better to me - didn't even know there was a station closer to the cicuit than Shiroko! Maybe they didn't do it back when I went, I was going with a Nagoya local who I hope would have chosen the best route...

Two more bits of dodgy advice -

- Arrive early unless you have a grandstand ticket. All the best spots are rushed as soon as the gates open.

- If you're not in a rush for a good spot, play "Find the racequeen" around the entry area. Remember, it's not pervy - it's marketing!

Ha!, yes I'll certainly do that ^_^

Cheers for the advice ? I've actually got a grandstand tickets with allocated number, so should be quite leisurely. We have to travel in from Kyoto each day, since we couldn't find *any* free twin rooms in Nagoya ? anywhere!