Belgian GP: Race - Re-Cap & Results

Belgian GP Results:

Once again, another fantastic race for the 2014 season. Be assured, it was filled with wheel-to-wheel racing and drama. And that drama started before the first lap. Fernando Alonso had mechanics around his car, on the starting grid after the 15 second mark. When the officials call the 15 second mark, all staff, media and team engineers and workers must be off the grid. But due to some issues with Alonso's car, the mechanics ran off at the very last moment. Due to this, the Spaniard was given a 5-second-stop-go-penalty during the first few laps.

On lap 2, the two Mercedes AMG Petronas drivers made pretty bad contact when Rosberg's front wing clipped Hamilton's rear tyre, which caused a puncture and forced him to pit early. Rosberg pitted early as well, needing a new front wing. Of course, this caused much drama afterwards and both drivers aren't really wanting to comment on the situation. Unfortunately for Lewis Hamilton, more damage was sustained to his car than originally thought and both he and the team decided to safe the car and engine by retiring from the race.

Both Pastor Maldonado & Andre Lotterer were unable to complete the first few laps when both had to stop and retire due to failures in the car. Andre, who was debuting his first F1 race with Caterham, in place of Kamui Kobayashi for the Belgian GP, said he noticed a loss of power right at the start. Pastor Maldonado, saw smoke coming from his Lotus right before he retired. Pastor's team-mate, Romain Grosjean ended up retiring later on in the race due to damage to his car from debris. 

Ricciardo was quick to jump into the lead after the drama with the Mercedes drivers. Another finding himself in a good position was Kimi Raikkonen, who has had a particularly rough start to his first season back with Ferrari. Valtteri Bottas, was eager to get up into the front rows as well.

For Force India, they were already looking strong half-way through the race. Nico had jumped from 18th all the way to 12th. Sergio from 13th to 9th.

In the final laps, Alonso found himself in a cluster of cars, with Magnussen and Button surrounding him and Vettel behind. During this situation, Magnussen forced Alonso off the circuit while they were trying to pass eachother. While this wasn't on purpose, it was called to the FIA and Magnussen was given 20 seconds added to his final race time. So in end, he went from placing 7th to 12th. 

Vettel also made contact with Alonso, causing some debri to fly off of the cars. Both went on to finish the race, although maybe not in the positions they had hoped for. 

Someone who also didn't get the race he'd hoped for was Jules Bianchi who had to retire due to a gearbox issue, however, his team-mate, Max Chilton finished 16th. Max originally had sold his race seat for the weekend, to Alexander Rossi, but ended up stepping back in after Rossi drove in FP1. Much drama is still surrounding the situation. 

A good day for the Sauber team, who saw both of their drivers finish in the top 15. This means things are looking up after a tough first half of the season. They are currently 10th in the Championship but we know they have the power to score points before the end of the season.

In the end, Daniel Ricciardo took home his 3rd win of the season, with Rosberg finishing second and Bottas in 3rd. Rosberg was booed on the podium by what were said to be fans upset about the accident involving Hamilton early on in the race. 

Here are the final results from the race and please note that the standings did change after Magnussen's penalty, so we are giving you the standings post-penalty.

RACE RESULTS:

1. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia / + 25 Points

2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 18 Points

3. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / + 15 Points

4. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 12 Points

5. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / Germany / + 10 Points

6. Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 8 Points

7. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari-Ferrari / Spain / + 6 Points

8. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 4 Points

9. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Renault / + 2 Points

10. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / + 1 Point

11. Jean Eric Vergne / Toro Rosso-Renault / France / + 0 Points

12. Kevin Magnussen / McLaren-Mercedes / Denmark / + 0 Points

13. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 0 Points

14. Adrian Sutil / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany / + 0 Points

15. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber-Ferrari / Mexico / + 0 Points

16. Max Chilton / Marussia-Ferrari / Great Britain / + 0 Points

17. Marcus Ericsson / Caterham-Renault / Sweden / + 0 Points

RETIRED - Jules Bianchi / Marussia-Ferrari / France / Gearbox Failure

RETIRED - Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / Collision Damage

RETIRED - Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Renault / France / Debris Damage

RETIRED - André Lotterer / Caterham-Renault / Germany / Exhaust Failure

RETIRED - Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Renault / Venezuela / Power Unit Failure

Thank you all for joining us on Twitter for our live commentary for the Belgian GP weekend. We'll be preparing for Monza this week so look for our Circuit Schedule and Circuit Preview, where we'll also re-cap the 2013 Italian GP! You can follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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Belgian GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Lotus

Preview Quotes - Lotus 

Romain Grosjean - "I come back to the paddock refreshed and with energy restored for the next phase of the season. Despite the difficulties so far, I feel positive for the rest of the season to come. We have seen that there have been many issues since the start of the year and even before, but as with everything in life you have to look forward and this is exactly what I am doing. Since Monaco we have had a succession of really hard races where for many reasons we have not been in the position to claim any points. For Spa I am hoping that there will be some improvements so we can show the potential which has been seen on a few occasions, like at Barcelona. We have to reverse the problems that have held us back and I believe that if we get that then we can post more points on the board. Spa as we all know is one of the best tracks we go to, if not the best of them all. As a driver it is like a dream circuit with elevation change, quick corners, medium speed technical corners and some good straights for overtaking. It's a circuit with a soul."

Pastor Maldonado - "It has been a very hard season and one in which there have been lots of issues. But now that is behind us and we have to believe that we can get some points on the board and complete the season strongly. That way it will give some good momentum to start afresh in 2015 with a whole new exciting package. It would be difficult to give a clear aim other than improvement and fighting for points every race. We have seen flashes of big promise from the E22. If everything is running right and the team continues to push then we can get more points for sure. As a team we will stay together with a clear mission to achieve the maximum. If we can have a clean weekend technically, without any power unit or other issues, then we will be in a good position to challenge for points. Spa always throws up some variables with the weather being the obvious one. It would be nice to be higher up than the last few races. If we can achieve this and we have a good package then I believe we can come away with something very positive from Belgium."

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

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Quotes made by Drivers.

Belgian GP: Circuit Preview

(Photo belongs to: historicmotorsportonline.com - All credit belongs to the rightful owner)

Circuit Preview:

Now that F1 is heading into the 12th round of the 2014 season, it's time for us to take a look at the circuit used for the Belgian GP. Not only is this the longest circuit on the calendar, but Belgium is also homeland for GP2 driver and McLaren Tester - Stoffel Vandoorne.

The Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps is located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. The circuit was first created in the early 1920's and has a capacity of 70,000. This circuit runs Clockwise like most.

With a length of 4.352 Miles, the race only contains 44 laps. There is a total of 20 turns on the current version of the circuit. In the past, there was a varrying number of turns.

2013 Belgian GP Look-Back:

Last year we saw Lewis Hamilton start in Pole Position, but finish in 3rd. Fernando Alonso grabbed 2nd, but the win went to Sebastian Vettel, who was enjoying a winning streak in the 2013 season. The season he also grabbed his 4th Championship win.

Retirements Included: Charles Pic (Oil Leak), Paul Di Resta (Accident) & Kimi Raikkonen (Brake Failure).

For more information on the race, you can check out our 2013 Belgian GP Race Re-Cap & Results.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement.

Photo belongs to: historicmotorsportonline.con