What a fantastic race! I was slightly terrified after that carnage in the first corner, but I'm glad everyone involved was okay! I was so glad to see the Force Indias 3rd and 4th after that first lap unfolded and extremely happy they both managed to stay in the points especially Hulkenberg with what I think is a career-best 4th place! :cheer:

 

Non-stop overtaking and action, and that is why we love Spa! Bring on Monza! :D

 

EDIT: Here's a LQ video of the crash:

 

Edited September 2, 201212 yr by Ryan741

Can't believe that Raikkonen's managed 4 podiums in the last 5 races :o definitely wouldn't rule him out of the championship yet. Today was a huge result for Vettel, Alonso can't cruise and collect with that lead and it's nice to see Massa and Schumacher moving up the table (10th & 11th), hopefully both of them can end the championship in the top 10! (I can see them being 9th & 10th actually, with Perez 11th.)

Romain Grosjean has received a one-race ban and fined €50,000 following his part in the first corner crash which took out Hamilton, Alonso and Perez and also wrecked Kobayashi's race.

 

Grosjean misses next week's Italian GP and Lotus have test driver former Virgin racer Jerome D'Ambrosio as an reserve driver. Whether he'll race in Italy or not is down to Lotus. Grosjean is the first driver to receive a race ban since Felipe Massa in 2002 who missed the US Grand Prix following a crash in the Italian GP during his debut season at Sauber. Heinz-Harald Frentzen took his place for that race.

 

 

Grosjean really needs to calm down a bit. But not as much as Maldonado who jumped the start and was involved in a collison with Glock. As a result Maldonado will have a 10-place grid penalty for his actions.

 

Great result for Button. Brillant drive from him.

 

Caterham were given a €10,000 fine for a unsafe release in the pit lane following the incident with Kovalainen making contact with HRT's Karthikeyan.

 

 

So quite an eventful race. Who do you want to take Grosjean's place for the Italian GP? Is Grosjean's ban fair? and also do you think Maldonado will ever calm down?

 

Edited September 2, 201212 yr by kenukcsfant2012

Lotus have today confirmed that Jerome d'Ambrosio will replace Romain Grosjean for the Italian GP on Sunday.

 

How do you think d'Ambrosio will do? I think it would asking a lot for him to match the pace of Raikkonen. Possibly might get a points finish.

It will definitely be interesting! At times last year he was matching Glock if not beating him in the Marussia, so now we will get to see how good he really is! Obviously, he won't be right at the top of his game as he hasn't had hardly any car time during the GP practices but we'll still get a good idea!

I think the one race ban is absolutely absurd/ridiculous/moronic/unjust etc.

 

 

Hamilton should have yielded! It's outrageous that Roman gets a ban given that Maldonado causes at least 9 crashes at each race weekend and gets off ban free! (I admit that throwing Hamilton into the wall on my Birthday gives him some leniency but that ain't limitless)

The ban is completely fair and just, if anything too lenient. There's no way it was Hamilton's fault at all, that's just complete and utter bias coming through there. What's ridiculous is that it's the first race ban since 1994. There's no way it's the worst thing that anyone has done in the last 18 years and some of the things other drivers have done should certainly have warranted it, Maldonado certainly, Schumacher and Hamilton too in recent seasons.

 

There's a good article on it here: http://willthef1journo.wordpress.com/2012/...rds-and-safety/

Following from the article from above:

 

Here is the Conor Daly GP3 crash where Daly received a ten-place grid penalty in the next race at Monte Carlo this year. When Russia's Dmitry Suranovich didn't even allow him to overtake when he had no rear wing. This is the kind of drivers we want in F1? Awful crash from Daly. What was Suranovich doing?

 

 

And in Race 2 a scary-looking flip right at the start:

 

Here also was Robert Cregan's GP3 crash in Spa

 

 

 

 

Any other driving standards from GP2 and GP3 this year that have had you think why are they allowed to race?

 

 

:offtopic:

But well done to former Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams driver Alex Zanardi who won gold today at the H4 Handbike Time Trial at the Paralympics. What a day for him! Fantastic to see him win a gold medal after the scary-looking 2001 crash where he lost both of his legs.

Edited September 5, 201212 yr by kenukcsfant2012

So we move to Italy at Monza for the Grand Prix this weekend where news is about:

 

News:

Where Lewis Hamilton will be in 2013? Eddie Jordan said that Hamilton had signed a deal with Mercedes for 2013 possibly replacing Schumacher however Mercedes and Hamilton's representives have denied this rumour. Where do you think Hamilton will drive for? McLaren or another team. Schumacher although has again denied any talk of retirement.

 

Pastor Maldonado has said that he needs to change his driving style. I'm glad that he has admitted that needs to curb his aggressive driving. Hopefully he'll be back in the points soon. Still hasn't scored a point since winning the Spanish Grand Prix back in May. He has had 7 penalties for driving infridgements in 12 races.

 

Kobayashi thinks that Romain Grosjean got away lightly with a one-race driving ban and believes that he should have banned for more than one race. Interesting quote from Kobayashi about Maldonado and Grosjean

 

Why do these guys want to finish in Turn One, or take so much risk in the beginning?

 

Here is Grosjean's opening lap crashes

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19509199

 

 

 

 

Good win for Vettel in Singapore after Hamilton retired from the race due to a box of neutals. Button second and Alonso third. Alonso still with that advantage following consistently being in the points.

 

Edit:

Vettel and Button have been summoned to see the stewards following the incident at the safety car period where Button nearly made contact with Vettel. When Vettel swerved and braked when warming his tyres up. We'll see what happens here.

Edited September 23, 201212 yr by kenukcsfant2012

At the beginning of the race I could tell it was building up to be an amazing one and then from the Karthikeyan crash and the first safety car it was a fantastic race! So happy for Di Resta with a career-best 4th place finish! :cheer:

That was for me most boring race this season, nor those crashes didn't been that excited :lol:

 

So sad coz of Lewis this is his 4th DNF :(

Lewis to Mercedes. Perez to McLaren

Bad move Lewis - what have Mercedes achieved on track - one win in 3 years.

 

Who do you think will take the now vacant Souber seat. I think it will be Guttierez as he's currently their reserve driver. I then think British GP2 driver James Collado should then become their reserve driver.

I would have thought about Max Chilton but he's now Marrussia's reserve driver.

 

What happens to Schumacher now - permanent retirement hopefully :w00t:

Edited September 28, 201212 yr by euro music

How do people think Lewis will do at Mercedes and also Perez at Sauber. I was surprised about Perez joining McLaren as it looked like he might replace Massa at Ferrari. But I'm glad Perez has got a top drive now at McLaren. Hopefully he and Jenson will equal rights to race against each other. More money for Lewis then joining Mercedes. Guess he'll be first driver and Rosberg as second driver.

Perez moving to McClaren probably indicates one more season for Massa before Vettel joins when his contract is up.

 

I'd quite like Heikki to move up the field a bit.

Button has a five-place grid penalty in Japan due to a gearbox change.

 

Live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday. Just an idea for people who like to watch the BBC highlights. Maybe it could be an idea to put any results of race/qualifying as spoiler tags until after the BBC highlights have been shown. What do you think?

Vettel becomes the first driver in 2012 to win back to back races by winning in Japan which takes him to 4 points behind leader Alonso. After Alonso retired on the first lap due to a puncture caused by Kimi Raikkonen. Mark Webber had to fight back from last place to 9th place from being hit by the first corner crash man, Romain Grosjean. For the 8th time this season, Grosjean has being involved in a first lap incident. What now for Romain? Was a 10 second stop go penalty enough for him? Clearly that one-race ban wasn't enough in my opinion. Surely after that one-race ban you would have thought that Romain would have learned his lesson but clearly he hasn't.

 

 

Fantastic podium for Felipe Massa in second place for Ferrari which should secure his drive for next season. Massa's first podium since the 2010 Korean GP. Also delight for Japanese fans as local hero Kamui Kobayashi scored his first ever podium in F1 with a third place and managing to hold off McLaren's Jenson Button.

 

What did people think of the race?

 

Korea next weekend live on BBC and Sky Sports F1

 

 

Skip to 04:23 for Mark Webber's interview and hear him call Grosjean a 'first-lap nutcase'

Stewards decision regarding Vettel's qualifying stoppage in Abu Dhabi today expected within 15 minutes. Vettel, Horner and the Renault mechanics have been back and forth to the stewards at least a couple of times this afternoon, but we still aren't sure whether this suspected fuel issue is the same as Hamilton's 'issue' in Spain (which got him demoted to the back of the grid) or some other technical fault.

 

The decision either way will have a massive effect on who will win this year's championship! :o

Edited November 3, 201212 yr by Ryan741

Vettel is starting last tmrrw! Good news for championship!!