Rate the race: 2011 Belgian Grand Prix

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What did you think of the Belgian Grand Prix? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (6%)
  • 9 (23%)
  • 8 (37%)
  • 7 (23%)
  • 6 (5%)
  • 5 (3%)
  • 4 (1%)
  • 3 (1%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 372

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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170 comments on “Rate the race: 2011 Belgian Grand Prix”

  1. 8/10

    Great race. Even in the dry, Spa is always superb.

    As a McLaren fan I’m disappointed by Lewis’ bad luck but Button’s absolutely awesome performance countered that easily. Driver of the day? Almost. That’d be Schumacher.

    I’m also quite gutted about Senna’s bad race (lack of experience I reckon), and both Toro Rossos retiring through no fault of their own.

    1. Good race. Seven

      1. No one say it was predictable, because a Red Bull one-two was quite unexpected. Interesting race. 8/10. Ps, DRS robs us of entertaining battles.

        1. Agreed, DRS made this race FAR, FAR less exciting than it should have been.

          So many overtakes made effortlessly, with absolutely no opportunity for the leading driver to defend. Very sad.

        2. Exactly the same, would have been a 9 probably if DRS hadn’t meant drivers could breeze past each other.

      2. 8, Michael still fast. Will surely get an 8th WDC with a winning car! Fernando again made a great drive but harder tire doesn’t help. nice race for MSC and Jenson.

        1. Id give it an 8. Great drive from michael and jenson

          Crazy strategy from ferrari. as soon as alonso didnt pit under sc i said he wouldnt finish on the podium…..

          how can we see this at home and not them?

          it blew the tyre advantage they had. gave a free pit stop to red bull. and meant he had to do more laps on the slower harder tyre than they needed to. they had to do like 13laps on it instead of perhaps 5 if they pitted under SC.

          its too easy for seb when the other teams cant work out the basic strategy. They need to hire someone in the pat symonds style. as currently their strategist are clearly very shortsighted. not playing the long game lost the the race today. and the title last year.

          also mark should of run softs for final run. would of won him the race. but that would of meant threatening seb…

        2. Your right if his tyres were mediums in his last stop i am sure he would have been on the podium.

          1. sorry should have said softs.

    2. 5/10

      I’m so angry with the DRS!!! I said it on thusday, I’d get rid of the damn thing altogether.

      We’ve seen plenty of action at Spa, we really didn’t need the DRS allowing everyone to go through. Imagine how long Rosberg would’ve been on the lead without the DRS giving everyone behind a chance to pass.

      They need to find out a way to test this. Otherwise it’s always the same story… I rather watch them being blocked than allowed to overtake easily. And it’s not like they are not going to have a chance either, we’ve seen loads of overtaking moves outside the DRS zone.

      The lenght of it was enormous for a place like Spa, with the inmense run out to Eau Rouge and the long straight afterwards.

      Stupid! FIA, what a bunch of clowns!!!!!!

      1. +1 with the current tyres there is no need for DRS. the best bits of racing today were without DRS, final chicane and the corners where fernando, massa and lewis battled.

      2. Agree.

      3. +1 here too. Drs for the kemmel straight was just total overkill and took all skill away from passing. Some (tilke tracks) tracks need the drs but some good tracks like spa simply don’t.

        The race would have been so much better without drs.

      4. +1.
        Fantastic race (9), but predictable overtaking.

        Button and Schumi just incredible. Vettel (lots of overtakings ;) great too.

        And Hamilton being Hamilton.

        1. Yes, the race an 8 less 2 points for DRS but plus 2 points for such a great track.

      5. Completely agree. DRS ruined the race for me. It is not working properly when it is possible to just breeze past cars on the straight. We would have had proper wheel-to-wheel racing without it!

      6. I’ve said it before: just keep DRS for Barcelona, Monaco, Hungaroring etc. But today it was an insult to this magnificant track!
        Luckily we got Webber vs Alonso at Eau Rouge and Vettel vs Rosberg at Blanchimont… MAN!!!

        1. Rosberg should be Alonso as well…

        2. Pass of the Year..Vettel on Rosberg through Blanchimont!!!

          Where is the “Vettel Cant Overtake” brigade now?

          1. + 1

            webbers move was fantastic too. fair play to fernando it takes two to make a great move possible.

      7. And you know what happens without DRS? People complained about a lack of over-taking! At least the FIA are responding, even if you don’t agree with their methods try respect their motives.

        1. Exactly. Plus there were many drivers stuck behind others. Schumacher took quite a few laps to be able to pass Rosberg.

          Even with DRS you still need quite an advantage to make a pass.

          1. well how do you explain all the overtakes outside the DRS zone then?

            DRS would of worked with the bridgestones. but the pirellis are allowing overtaking where the bridgestones never could.

            but fair play to the FIA for trying it. They werent to know exactly how the pirellis were going to perform. If the pirellis had be just like the bridgestones then DRS would of been very much needed.

            It shows FIA/pirelli finally got an idea right….just too many right ideas at once!

            tho 2 DRS zones for monza is silly. only if the guy just passed can pass back at 2nd. but like canada im sure they not smart enough to do that.

        2. I think there might be less overtaking when EBDs are banned. They blow off-throttle, giving aerodynamic grip that is not lessened (I assume) by the dirty air from the car in front. Similarly to ground-affects I thought it would allow cars to follow more closely in the corners.

    3. 8/10
      The first half made me predict a thrilling race and I was wondering on what score I would’ve given it, but although the second half wasn’t a drop-off I think it wasn’t as entertaining.

  2. You have to wonder where Schumacher would have finished if it had not been for his wheel coming off during qualifying…

    1. +1! 5 places up the grid, it could all be changed..

      1. MSC still fast no doubt.

      2. He would have not beaten RBRs, Mclarens and Alonso’s Ferrari anyway because of their superior race pace over Mercedes.

    2. Michael Schumacher still fast and drove a great race, driver of the day in my opinion alongside with Button, but i doubt he would have finished any higher than 5th because that’s about as a high as a Mercedes can finish.

      1. Probably. With that inferior machine.

      2. Hopefully Merc can bring a quicker car next year eh?

    3. Somehow the further people start from the back, the better they finish. Schumacher is an example this race, but also remember Alguersuaris incredible points finishes from 18th. I guess they are a little bit bolder with strategy, and being different seems to be key.

    4. Maybe at the first corner.

  3. 10/10. Definitely, the best race this year.

  4. DRS ruined the race.. was shaping up to be awesome, but ended up being quite mediocre. 7/10

    but boring? seriously? geez, kids these days.. that race would’ve been one of the best of 09..

    but aaargh DRS.. i’m so angry!

    1. I think after this year, once the FIA have had a chance to see the effect of DRS (especially with examples like Turkey and now Spa in there), they can re-evaluate the length/position of the DRS activation zone.

      Hopefully that will help in future.

      1. Mika Salo said that he spoke with Charlie Whiting, and the FIA will most likely change the 1 second rule to 4 tenths in the future.

        1. Interesting.

          I think it would be far better though if they just let everyone use it everywhere all the time.

    2. It wasn’t that bad was it? There was a lot of drivers that couldn’t pass.

      1. yeah, the race wasn’t half bad.. but the DRS was too much.. i didn’t see one car getting held up for the entire race..

    3. Not yet decided, I think it might have been a 10/10 if not for DRS. As it was we saw even Alonso not even bothering to try defending there.

      I will give it a bit of time to sink in before i Vote, but it will be somewhere around 7 as well for me.

      1. In the end I voted an 8/10 as we have seen 3 great overtakes, the superb start by Rosberg, some lovely driving from Schumacher as well.

        But DRS really took the experience down quite a lot, as it was inevitable that Vettel would get past Rosberg, then past Button and Button past Alonso as well as Schu past Rosberg to name the most important ones.

  5. 7. Absolutely epic up to the SC, which ruined the race as it allowed Vettel to pit for new tyres. From there on it was rather dull.

    1. You just can’t fight the luck he’s having. Oh well, next year might be more exciting

      1. The championship I mean, been thoroughly enjoying the races

        1. even with the SC, if fernando had pitted then he would of beaten seb. cos they would of been on same new tyres and fernandos last alot longer so he would of jumped him quite easily.

          instead fernando started 2nd part of race with old tyres and seb was gone. they then pitted at same time for hards.

          so where did ferrari think he was going to catch him on that strategy? madness lol

  6. 9-could have been a 10 if not for DRS; honestly, that thing has got to go.

  7. Only 7
    Despite the very good first part of the race. DRSwas overused again and made it too easy for the front runners.

  8. 8/10

    -1 point for Senna dropping out of contention at the first corner.

    -1 point for Alguersuari’s retirement.

    -1 point for early promise failing to produce a terrific result.

    +1 point for Webber’s move on Alonso through Eau Rouge; easily the pass of the year.

    1. eternal newbie
      28th August 2011, 14:41

      cool tyres, too easy

      1. That and Alonso was about as defensive as a garden gnome all day. Good pass for sure, but it would have been better if Alonso was actually fighting for it.

        1. If Alonso was fighting for it like you want him to it wouldn’t have been a pass as much as it would have been a huge accident.

          Great camera angle too, I have to say.

    2. Pass of the yer all right, that took massive cajones!

    3. You’re just rating the race on how certain drivers performed, which Keith does not want you to do.

      1. You want an elabroation? Fine. Senna and Alguersuari were out of the running and out of the race at the first corner. This was in spite of their excellent qualifying performances, which combined with the blistering tyres, had the potential to produce an unexpected result and an instant classic of a race. By dropping out of the running and failing to live up to their potential, they removed one part of the equation.

        And as for Webber passing Alonso, I’m not giving the race extra points because because Alonso was passed. I’m giving extra points because they went side-by-side through Eau Rouge. When was the last time you saw someone do that? More over, when was the last time that happened and Fernando Alonso was the defending driver? That one single moment of two cars going side-by-side through Eau Rouge was more exciting than entire races that we’ve had this year.

        1. Okay I understand, sorry for the accusations.

        2. Even as someone who dislikes Webber, I admit that was a great pass at Eau Rouge. Thrilling stuff. And I loved Vettel’s outside pass on Fernando too.

          1. Was that the one through Blanchimont? There’s a really scary camera angle there that gets me every time – it’s right at the tightest part of the bend, looking back up towards Stavelot. It always looks like the cars coming through it have collided.

          2. Even as someone who dislikes Webber, I admit that was a great pass at Eau Rouge.

            May I ask why you dislike Webber?

          3. Although I can usually understand it, his “saying it as it is” attitude sometimes rubs me up the wrong way. At Fuji 2007, while the accident was not his fault, I naturally didn’t like the idea of him swearing at someone who was already visibly upset at what happened. That only goes on top of my interest in seeing his current teammate win over him.

        3. I think the pass by Button on both Petrov AND Perez at once in La Source was really worth another point!
          But I would substract points for how DRS was so powerfull defending from it was utterly senseless.

    4. Agreed about Webber on Alonso for pass of the year. It was so commanding.

  9. Good race, 7/10. Kobayashi and the safety car ruined it though

    1. Its an absolute disgrace that the Bernie’s old men of the FIA didn’t punish Kobayashi for his reckless move on Lewis…can’t help that decision would have been different had it a driver other than Lewis involved.

      1. Well I dont know about that, personally it doesnt matter for me if Kobayashi should have received a penalty or not, what bothered me was that it was his fault, it put Lewis out of the race – who could have finished well in this race and could have fought for further positions – and it also brought in the safety car, which then played into lucky Vettel’s hands.

      2. Not being funny but if you watch the replay Hamilton moves out so really his fault

        1. Yes, and if you look at all the other drivers at that point, they all do the same thing; move onto the race line into the chicane…he was doing what is normal, nothing more, of didn’t he would have missed the turning point! The onus is on the car behind…

          The FIA decision is incomprehensible, but understandable when look back to the history of their decisions regarding Lewis Hamilton…they’re sending out the signal to other drivers that its effectively ok to take Lewis out!

          1. Definitely Hamilton’s fault, no doubt about it.

          2. My immediate thought was that Lewis had been driven into again (like the Maldonado incident for which I think Maldonado should have been excluded from the race).

            However, the replay shows that Hamilton made a defensive move to the right which shows that he knew Kobayashi was attacking, he then moved left wrongly assuming Kobayashi would have given up the move.

            I think the stewards were right, Hamilton was at fault but his own failure to finish was sufficient punishment. Kobayashi could have pulled out of the move and avoided it but why should he? Imagine if Schumacher had caused a crash when he forced Barrichello into the wall in Hungary last year – you wouldn’t have blamed Barrichello for not lifting to avoid the collision!

          3. Jersey F1 (can’t reply directly) – I actually kind of do blame Barrichello for not pulling out of that one. I accept it’s a minority view though!

      3. Race incident, if anyone should be penalized that would be Hamilton for that misjudgment, Kobayashi didn’t move a bit from the race line, Ham was who closed the door on him.

        1. Defiantly agree with you there

      4. Well, I’ve got to be one of the biggest Lewis sycophants on here but that one was all his own fault!
        I understand Kobayashi has a (deserved) reputation for coming back at the next opportunity but that still doesn’t explain Lewis’s positioning.
        It could be that Kobayashi braked a little later than he could have done but there was no need for Lewis to put himself in the way like that. Disappointing.

        1. Learn the rules, the car in front can take the racing line NOT the one coming from behind, see Monaco 2011 for LA’s two penalties in that.

          1. I think it is simply that Lewis expected that Kobayashi would brake at the same time he did and that he (LH) would still be clear ahead, costly misjudgement.

  10. 8 good overall race msc and button are highlights but drs made overtaking too easy

  11. Was entertained through most of the race – DRS kindda ruined it a little.

    Driver of the day: Jenson Button who earned a lot of positions outside of DRS zone.

  12. eternal newbie
    28th August 2011, 14:42

    Kobi best driver today

    1. you are an eternal newbie

  13. eternal newbie
    28th August 2011, 14:44

    1 for the race. Totally ruined by DRS. And a macca in the podium.

    1. Yes DRS ruined it a bit, but GO SCHUMI!!!! :)

      1. Yes Schumi did a great job.

  14. Such a shame for the Toro Rosso’s and Senna (although it was his fault). As a Mclaren fan I was dissapointed at Hamilton being crashed out, but Button made up for that. Yay for Schumi, what a comeback! 8/10

  15. 7. Start was terrific but the final part of the race was fairly dull. DRS zone was far too long which made some of the passes a bit easier than I would have liked.

    1. Agreed. That was a race that could have been just as good, if not better, without the DRS.

      1. “just as good”…?? Try 100 times better!

        DRS is an abomination which should be removed from our sport as soon as possible. I honestly think/hope that people in future years will look back on DRS with a mixture of horror and amusement. Can you imagine a greater sport destroying gimmick?

    2. I am just now watching an edit. The pass from Vettel on Alonso is great (after the SC, DRS not yet reactivated) and just about rigth.
      Fully agree that DRS did a lot to dampen the exitement today.

      1. Watching Webber on Alonso, Button on Alonso and Schu on Rosberg each behind each other, it really does feel like a just a DRS fest

        1. But don’t forget the Webber on Alonso through Eau Rouge, no DRS there.

  16. Good race but seriously starting to get sick of Eddie Jordan all he ever goes on about is Hamilton this Hamilton that never takes notice of Jenson Button who in my mind is a much better driver than Hamilton

    1. If you had waited for rest of the after race show, you would have gotten plenty of attention for the great drive by Button, admittedly also for others like 20 year guy MSC, and winner Vettel, but very much unlike the scathing review of Hamilton EJ gave for this race. Not sure where you are coming from.

  17. OK I guess the stewards have now declared open season on Hamilton.
    I struggled to understand why he got a reprimand when Maldonado ran over his front wing and now I’m astounded that there was no consequences for pushing him off the track. Not any form of investigation at all !!!
    I had hoped that having a driver on the stewards panel would bring more consistency to the decisions but it appears not.

  18. It could have been great, but it wasn’t. It started well, and Button, MSC, and Webber after his bad start, Alonso until the mediums showed great moves and racing. Vettel once again got lucky with that SC, and HAM being taken out, and then the win wasn’t in doubt anymore. Again. That really ****** me off, the way it faded at the front of the race.

    As said, the rest of the race behind was nicely going though, so I’ll give it an 8, a bit more than my feeling says it deserves.

    1. Sorry for saying it so strongly by the way, I could probably have used different words (and would have missed the modestration :).

      It is just really annoying to see a race (such as Monaco too) loose a lot of potential due to a competitor like HAM being gone, and with it a SC that neutralises the race and, as usual his year, gives the advantage to the guy in front, Vettel.

      Well done by Vettel to be there, of course, he clearly is the man not to be beaten this year, but it so often ends with him not having a full on fight for the win, sigh.

      1. To me it started of superbly with Rosberg getting the lead. But it started to go wrong right after the DRS was switched to active with Vettel just flying past Rosberg.

        With the SC it was clear Vettel would win. We did see some great racing from Button, Hamilton, Alonso and Webber as well as Rosberg and Schumacher with some of the most memorable passes this season.
        But we also saw over a dozen desicive moves made far to easy, even making defending against them futile due to the far to powerfull DRS here.

  19. 9/10

    Tonnes of action, hardly a procession. We got to see Vettel actually race other cars.

  20. 6.

    Had potential but fizzled away into nothing. Story of the season, really.

    1. But the second half was still way more exciting than almost all of the races in 09, or 08, or 07…

      I think we’ve got a bit spoilt by the excitement the new regs have created. Some great racing, bit of a disappointment about the DRS though. 8 for me.

      1. Agreed Simon, the DRS needs a bit of a tweak for next year but in general the racing has been excellent this year.

        DRS is a work in progress that has had good and bad races this year. I hope they do not abandon it, but just shorten up the zones on a few tracks like Spa. 8/10!

        1. I like your view on DRS, it’s similar to mine. They need a full season to take a look at it. I’m not particularly bothered if it stays or not but I do like the fact the FIA tried to address peoples fears of a lack of over-taking.

          1. This is exactly what I’ve been thinking – DRS needs tweaking for shorter zones and a tighter activation period, but it’s also helped create some exceptionally exciting racing. I love how the same people who are complaining that it’s ruining the racing this year are the same ones who were griping about there not being enough overtaking in the previous ten or so years.

  21. 7 out of 10. Racing is always good at Spa but it was a bit of an anticlimax really as early on it looked like there would be a great battle for the win, but turns out Vettel and Red Bull had it all under control throughout.

    I wish Webber would get it off the line properly though! Every race he seems to lose places, like Barrichello in 09.

    His race pace looked just as good as Vettel’s today (mind Vettel was definitely within the limits of the car) but he keeps handicapping himself by giving Seb four or five place head start.

    Vettel, Button and Schumacher were all superb, Michael qualifies last through no fault of his own and comes in the top 5. That’s the Schumacher I used to know, hate and (grudgingly) admire in the early 2000’s.

    Rosberg was also really good, that car had no right fighting at the front in the early laps. Also gutted for Alguersuari, Senna seemed to be carrying 20mph more speed than the other cars into La Souruce, perhaps he had a brain fade and forgot the car was full of fuel :)

    1. Sorry La Source

  22. 7. Like many before me, I felt DRS was the only imperfection.

  23. I <3 Spa…

    Schumacher of old right there. That's what I like to see, To beat Rosberg from 24th. Brilliant.

  24. I voted 8/10 for the race dying down, but now I want to vote 7/10 because of DRS.

  25. Opening laps were worthy of a 10- plenty of action throughout the field, but after the safety car the race died down and was worthy of a 6. So 8 overall.

    Driver of the day- Schumacher for gaining 19 places.

    Driver of the weekend- can’t decide between Schumi and Vettel- who took on everyone, wheel to wheel this time- and beat them.

    1. I agree 100%. I hope people stop saying Vettel can’t overtake.

      Vettel did a great race today, he extracted the full potential of the car and used the safety car to great effect, while Schumacher was just on fire today – I wonder where would he have finished had he started 11th?

  26. I think Lewis was at fault the fact he could’ve easily left Kamui some space for the corner. No Lewis isn’t my favourite driver, by a long way.

    1. Respectfully disagree, Kamui at fault for me if anyone. Happy to leave it as a racing incident though.

    2. Lewis is my favourite driver and I 100% agree with you – he should have left him more space and not assumed the racing line. Only himself to blame.

    3. Lewis is my favourite, I still agree with you though, bad error of judgement from him, but no penalty was required, he made a mistake and got punished suitably.

  27. I am disgusted by some of the comments some people are attempting to post on here.

    For the benefit of those of you who have not read the Comment Policy, insulting other users is not allowed and your comments will be deleted.

    1. This used to be a really good site with lots of interesting and incisive comments but it now seems to be backsliding into pro and anti driver factions. Any incident seems to be viewed more from the strength of the posters like or dislike of a particular driver than a logical assessment of the available information.
      Disappointed

      1. It’s still better than the comments pretty much all other F1 sites (did you ever look at 606!). I just don’t understand why some people get so worked up. I love Formula 1 as much as it’s healthy to do (maybe slightly more in the month before the season starts!) and there are some drivers (such as Button) that I like to do well. If they don’t or they get taken out I’m briefly disappointed but then start looking forward to the next race – it doesn’t ruin my day. I also hate Vettel’s dominance this season – but I don’t hate Vettel.

        Following a sport should be fun. If something’s getting you so worked up that you feel angry enough to make some of the comments we see then it’s probably worth taking a step back for a bit. Maybe only check F1 Fanatic once a day!

        (I’ve put other comments on here as ‘Simon’, changed the name I use because I think there are a few of us on this site)

    2. I am sad about people doing that and sorry for you to have to deal with those comments Keith.

    3. who are they talking about? a driver?

  28. Pastor Maldonado calling Lewis Hamilton a friend, comparing the Kobayashi incident to his own from qualifying, openly admitting to Coulthard that the incident yesterday was a personal thing between him and Hamilton…

    I really dislike this guy a lot.

    1. But he was 10th…But LH needs to adjust his mirrors and get a MRI after being knocked out.

    2. Actually I was really glad for that question from DC. And the answer does show he realises how wrong he was as well. Just he does not want to say that out loud.

      Actually keeping his nose clean and getting into the points might be the turnaround for him in F1.

  29. safety car just made race compromise for ferrari and benefited bulls

    1. They missed SC pit stop

  30. 10 – I was entertained the whole race again. I have loved every race this year. I have favourite drivers and ones I dislike. This year I haven’t minded who wins as much because the races are brilliant,

  31. I felt very sorry for Lewis, but it wasn’t Koba’s fault. Lewis didn’t know where Koba was and turned into his path.
    Wittmarsh to Button after the race: “Now maybe You understand why we called You in somewhat early in Q2 yesterday!”
    Schumi clearly driver of the day, but also fantastic drives by Button and Webber after his usual lousy start. Vettel was – it turned out – controlling the race superbly – like an old experienced Champion.

  32. I don’t know if KOB or HAM or anyone was at fault for that incident, and I don’t think I needed to see KOB get a penalty for it, he anyway had to pit to get his nose fixed I think. I am just really annoyed that it helped kill much of the fight at the front.

    And then the Ferrari turns out to still lack pace on mediums, and their reaction shows they already feared as much. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them concentrate on next year now.

    1. I don’t under stand why the teams must use the harder tires ,this race could have been a ten if they could stay on soft tires.

      1. I hope Ferrari start pushing to abolish that rule, if they have any of that supposed Veto power with FIA, please let them use it for this :-p

      2. what I don get it is why Ferrari didnt follow vettel’s strategy. You just cant win making this kind of mistake.

      3. @dj, did you not notice Webbers performance, all but 4 laps on primes, usual lousy start, finished 2nd.

        1. yes I did notice and did you notice Ferrari’s can’t get the power down ,with the wrong tire. Massa was going backwards

  33. A great race weakened spoiled a little by all the stupid errors from rookies who clearly aren’t in proper control of their cars; Senna, Maldonado, Kobyashi…

    1. Only one rookie there

  34. Good race but again how can we give 7 and 8 and 10 when the pole sitter wins, really not helping the championship exicitement either.

    1. not so much .Alonso was struggling with the tyres.
      why any of you haven’t talked about alonso’s passes on rosberg,massa,webber and your boy hamilton among others at the beggining of the race,with the same tyres under the same conditions? button’s pass on alonso were due to tires, alonso struggling on hards while button on softs.

  35. What is with people rating races like this 9 or 10 out of 10? Is this the only motor race you’ve ever seen? Because there have been many, many races in F1 history, and even just this year, that were better than this race. Giving a race 10/10 means that that race was an absolute timeless classic, a race that will be talked about for years to come. This was not one of them. 6/10 at best.

    1. Agree…having to go to the harder tire was a real let down,this is more of a problem then DRS

    2. I don’t think we should take the rating thing too seriously. If you really, really enjoyed it, give it a 10. Maybe the people who did that enjoyed it more than races you or I or anyone else would call a classic. Anyway people should be consistent with what they gave the earlier races. Maybe an end of season rating of all the races where you rank them 1-19 would be a good way to see people’s relative opinion of the races (I know the season’s not over but I have a pretty good idea which will be bottom of my list – clue, it’s in Spain)

      Are great races recognised as ‘absolute classics’ straight away anyway? Title deciders (e.g. Brazil 08) can be but for others I’m honestly not sure – any thoughts anyone?

  36. Not bad but DRS ruins yet more potential exciting battles. It’s not F1 and it saddens me everytime I see it used.

    7.

  37. Meh, gave it a 6, nothing really going on at the sharp end, pity it wasn’t a wettish race.
    @ Lewis just can’t stay out of trouble…..

  38. 8/10 for me, because it was a thrilling battle from the begging with no clue of who was going to take the win untill about half distance, which is pretty good in F1 standards!
    The DRS was far too long BUT those pesemistic people out there need to realise its there first year of DRS, and the FIA will learn from waht works and what does not. I have always said DRS is good because if the overtaken driver can’t reovertake, he is obviously not a fast enough driver!
    Shame about lewis Hamilton!

  39. Rate the race at 9, but DRS showed no mercy once again. Spa has always been fantastic and the best for racing.

    Good race from many drivers, will be hard to pick driver of the day.
    Vettel deserved the win but many will not agree as he took advantaged during the safety car period. Nando must have be gutted with the mediums, should he have done three options and finished off with mediums. Webber is a happy man today.

  40. 9/10. The race it self probably wasn’t worth it, but for the scenery Spa provides it just makes up for it easily. And with some scary passes, Webber on Alonso through Eau Rouge and Vettel on the outside of Alonso through Blanchemont. Great stuff!

    1. 8/10 for me. It’s funny that any pass on Alonso is like the overtake of the year. It’s a joke, my respect for Webber and Vettel. I think that Alonso drove a great race. At the first part of the race he was really fast and aggresive. He overtook Hamilton (no DRS) and he fought with Massa to the limit. Ferrari was awful on the hards…and Ferrari was awful with the strategy.

  41. 8 For me & i said this to myself before Clicking on this Article.A Great Race,Spa never disappoints but what ruined it for me today was DRS and Lewis crashing out but nevertheless,A Great Race overall a lot of Racing which comes with Crashes,Scraps & Overtakes,which was made a bit too easy by DRS

  42. I had very high expectations for this race : the promise of an exciting race, with good battles, maybe changing weather conditions, and the opportunity for McLaren to beat Red Bull, and get closer in the championship.

    Unfortunately, the race didn’t happen that way. The race was dry. McLaren completely missed a chance to shine (though the podium for Button is a consolation). The Sauber drivers (whom I like), and Senna didn’t performed very well. And Red Bull scored a 1-2, killing further any suspense for the championship.

    The race itself is a a disappointment. Yes, there were a lot of battles, but they were anticlimactic. One thing to blame : the DRS, and where it was put. Overtaking at the straight was way too easy. Only a couple of drivers managed to defend their position a the Combes chicane. And a steady weather didn’t help. The promise of interesting pitstop strategies wasn’t kept. The result : the faster men were in front, and the slow drivers couldn’t really shine. I think Button matched Red Bull’s pace, but due to his low starting position, he couldn’t challenge the leader.

    But even if this race is a major disappointment, the race wasn’t dull : there were some very good moment. Webber’s overtaking of Alonso inside Eau Rouge will probably go into my top 3 overtakings of the year.

    Final mark : 7/10

    1. Very insightful.

  43. It was a great race, but we really needed some rain. Second-best of the year, with Canada first.

  44. 7/10.

    The first part of the race was really entertaining (and obviously mad, since Kobayashi was up to 3rd at one point), but was pretty tame in the second part.

    Just to add to the DRS-bashing, it robbed us of some brilliant battles. To add it to what is already one of the best overtaking spots of the year was madness. In my F1 DRS would not exist.

  45. 9, it just lacked that extra little super-memorable moment…

  46. Not the classic I was hoping for but a solid race non-the -less

    Great drives from Schumacher and Button but very disappointing for Alguersuari and Senna

    I have to agree that the DRS tainted today’s race, way too easy to overtake on Kemmel

  47. I was extatic with the first few laps with Rosberg leading, thought it was brilliant that he’d managed to do that, absolutely loved it even though i knew it wouldn’t last. Ah well, was fun.

    1. Like with Schumi in Canada, it’s great to see them up at the front but disheartening when you just know there’s nothing they can do against DRS.

  48. themagicofspeed (@)
    28th August 2011, 20:10

    gave it a low score, because as a Ferrari fan it annoys me to see alonso lose a promising chance of a win due to crappy strategy once again from Ferrari.

    On lap 24, the situation was that Vettel was struggling with his tyres, and Alonso was quite significantly quicker. Alonso’s tyres were only a couple of laps from blistering at this point, (on L26 his times dropped off and this co-incided with blisters forming on his front tyres) and had he pitted, he may well have got back ahead of Vettel when the latter pitted. But, Vettel pitted first, and Alonso waited until Lap 30 to pit, by which time he was slower than Vettel and had no chance of reclaiming the lead at Vettel’s stop as he had already pitted. Not only this, but it allowed Webber to close on him and ultimately pass him.

    As a result, he lost 2nd and 3rd places to drivers who had he pit earlier, would likely have been behind him.
    Who the hell writes Ferrari’s strategy?

    With 2 laps to go, i turned the channel over as it wasnt even worth watching anymore. Alonso had his race ruined by the team (in my opinion), and Massa spent the afternoon going for a gentle drive and waving through everyone and everyone who came along wanting to pass. He would have had nothing to lose by putting up a decent fight for it, after all its not like he’s in the WDC fight.

  49. Impressed by Schu, depressed by Vet, excited by But, exasperated by Ham, disappointed by Senna.
    Great race, though.

    1. I did initially feel disappointed about Senna, but after so long out of race conditions I can forgive him. He kept out of trouble after the first corner.

  50. 10/10 until the SC. 8/10 thereafter.

    I’m not complaining about the SC, it was needed. But it just all seemed a little less frantic afterwards. Though we did get that nice overtake from Vettel on Alonso on lap 18. That was nice.

    1. As many of the drivers changed their tyres at the same time which put everyone nearly on the same strategy.

      1. Thats a good point Wasif, it really did get a lot of them straigtened out where before there were different strategies on the book.

  51. 9, should have given it 10 but still there were some good racing spoiled by the DRS.I guess this circuit wouldn’t need one.50% move over DRS could have happened naturally & the other 50% would have been great to watch.I think they could have had shorted the length of the DRS by another 150 m.

  52. My heart missed a beat when it looked like Alonso and Webber were going to try and go through Eau Rouge side by side.

    1. You bet.The thing was both were experience to know what the other will do.I shouted like hell! It was one of the best move of the season thus far.

  53. Good race, voted 8. Not as good as China or Germany in my opinion, gave those 10’s. Still a great race anyway. I did however think the DRS was too powerful here, in fact I thought it was in the wrong place. It would have been more effective on the pit strait. I thought the cars needed a bit of extra help down there, but needed none on the run to Les Combes. There is talk of this race being shared with a revived French GP in years to come. I for one hope this doesn’t happen, give France its own individual slot. Spa is my favourite race of the year, what a shame it would be if we could not see the drivers tackling Eau Rouge every year…

  54. I am amazed that two (2) people voted the 2011 BGP as a “1”. What did/do they want? Armed conflict in the pits? Fire? Flood? Carnage? Lewis as the only finisher? Must be a buncha high school (drop-out) kids on this forum …

    BTW, if LH isn’t a loose cannon, exactly who is? Andre DeCeaseris (Spelling questionable) comes to mind …

  55. Good race, I gave it an 8.

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