Rate the race: 2013 Belgian Grand Prix

2013 Belgian Grand Prix

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What did you think of the today’s race? Share your verdict on the Belgian Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

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Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2013 Belgian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (3%)
  • 9 (3%)
  • 8 (8%)
  • 7 (19%)
  • 6 (24%)
  • 5 (17%)
  • 4 (11%)
  • 3 (6%)
  • 2 (3%)
  • 1 (4%)

Total Voters: 603

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2013 Belgian Grand Prix

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Image © Lotus/LAT

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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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188 comments on “Rate the race: 2013 Belgian Grand Prix”

  1. Quite boring race for Spa.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th August 2013, 14:34

      yep, happy though

      1. You should be. I’m not though.

        1. Why why why why do we put up with the abomination that is DRS in our sport?? This race would have been 100x better without it. Look at the “highlights”: lap 4 – Alonso motorway passes Button, lap 6 – Alonso motorway passes Rosberg, lap 40 – Massa motorway passes Grosjean etc etc.

          Did any of these moves get anyone’s heart beating? Anyone remember Hakkinnen, Schumacher, Zonta in 2000? With DRS you’re never going to see this kind of genuine excitement ever again. :(

          1. DRS may be a terrible thing for our excitement but then again so was the famous Trulli-trains. Yes we saw some amazing overtaking sometimes but people seem to forget that we also saw the most boring formula one seasons, cause except for those few stunning moments. U could predict the outcome of the sunday race on saturday with 90% accuracy. I could watch all the excitement from those years in a 30 minute or less summary and not miss a single exciting moment.

            The problem with formula one since atleast a decade has been that slipstreaming like the old days is close to impossible. The speed difference gained from a proper slipstream is too small. And actually to get close enough to use such a slipstream would mean risking losing traction in corners result in actually losing time instead of gaining. The result was races where people’s best hope for overtaking was using the pitstops. Talk about a curse for the sport, modern aerodynamics of a formula one car is just too good and efficiënt.

          2. Because F1 without DRS is….BORING BORING BORING!!!!

            I challenge ANYONE to watch F1 races from 2000 to 2008 without falling asleep! It was utter crap!

            Like Zanquis said above, there were a FEW great overtakes, but 98% of the time it was a crap, boring, mindless procession!!

    2. I think McLaren cocked things up yet again! Why the hell did they pit Button?

      As Brindled said, if they pit they were guaranteed to come out in 6th place. If they stayed out I reckon they would have done much better!

      Not sure Button would have kept Hamilton at bay, but I reckon 4th was on the cards!

      DAMN IT!

      1. I think he would have been 6th either way. The mercs and Webber were only just behind him and on fresher tyres. 6th is the best he could have hoped for I reckon.

        1. Mr win or lose
          25th August 2013, 18:10

          But at least they could have tried to steal that podium finish. Even in the worst-case scenario they would have been 6th, so I didn’t understand that late pitstop either.

          1. Worst case scenario was the pirellis exploding. They’d have ended up with zilch.

          2. Mr win or lose
            25th August 2013, 19:59

            These exploding tyres were caused by debris on the track. Btw, Perez managed to limp back home in 11th with 26-lap-old tyres.

    3. Qualifying was more entertaining than the race.

      1. Absolutely!!!:):)

      2. What makes this race really bad is that my mate John was going to watch a F1 race for the first time (he doesn’t like it that much) and I think this race may have put him off for life.

        1. @eggry

          Quite boring race for Spa.

          Ever seen Spa 2002 or Spa 2007? This race was quite decent by comparison.

          1. for me 2007 was much boring than 2002.

    4. For Spa – yes, I was expecting more. DRS must be forbidden on that track, but the conservative tire choice made it even more worse.

      1. DRS should not be forbidden but maybe in a different spot to create a different overtaking moment where the current DRS zone’s normally already give a good change for overtaking.

        DRS is needed in formula one to prevent it from becoming as boring as 10 years ago. cause YES we saw some great overtaking moves, but you can sum up a entire season of great moments and racing in less then 30 minutes.

        I was frustated with DRS also as I would have loved to see how much of a fight van der Garde (and the marussia’s) could have given to faster cars behind them. The Marussia’s moved to the back faster then Alonso could move to the front. But van der Garde actually put up a fight for them.

  2. Now that was a boring race…

    1. No Kimi = boring race

  3. Where was the rain? One of, if not the worst race of the year. 2.

  4. 6 – DRS was wholly unnecessary as Vettel proved on lap one but there were still a fair few battles besides for the top 2 positions (although I’d have liked 3-4-5 to be closer).

    Dominant though from Vettel – he was completely untouchable and that clearly wasn’t all the car as Webber proved.

    1. 6 purely because I rate races based on 5 as a start point, then take away for races I actively didn’t like.

      1. @vettel1 Do you actually believe that is different than a scale of 10?

        1. @psynrg yes, because some (@hohum does this I know) start from 1 and work up from there – I start right in the middle.

          Basically, I’m just pointing out it takes something spectacular for me to dislike a race (like tyre blowouts in Silverstone or that horrible team order in Germany 2010), so anything below 5 would be unusual for me but not for some others.

          1. No Max, I also start @5, 5= an average race, 6-9=better than average, 10=the perfect race, lead changing every lap, top 6 drivers all leading at some stage, lots of action also in mid and back field, podium covered by less than a tenth at finish. 4-2= unexciting to boring, 1= terrible, procession constantly interrupted by safety car, all passes happen in the pits or under DRS and everyone is nursing their tyres, could only be worse by being on an oval.@vettel1

          2. @hohum ah I see, my mistake ;)

    2. Mostly the car though, as it is for anyone. I expect it would be a similar result with the other top 2 drivers on the grid (Alo, Ham).

      1. I agree with Brundle – it looked like had he needed to he could’ve extended that gap by another 5/10 seconds easily.

        1. I agree too, but I also agree either of those two could too, and probably Kimi as well.

    3. Webber is hardly a good barometer though. TO consistently go backwards at the start of races is mind boggling.

      1. @trublu after that though he really didn’t look like he was going to make much of a recovery. Mark’s a good driver but he was nowhere near Vettel today (and it wasn’t on a “car park” circuit so he can’t use that excuse).

        1. Absolutely. He spent 30 laps behind Nico and couldn’t overtake. Obviously driving on the front gives an extra advantage but still, Mark should have at least created Nico if the car was so much faster.

      2. Mark is well past his best, it’s actually the first time I’m glad he’ll be gone next year so that we can see how Vettel compares with someone else.

    4. New hair style paid off for him…….

    5. Terrible race my lowest mark of the year surely. It’s a fantastic venue, my ‘home’ race as I’m only 200km from the circuit, it’s a magestic event but the racing we had this afternoon was poor. DRS spoiled the first part of the race and most of the few overtakes were ‘dirty’. Even the winner yawned, he surely could have extended his lead by another 5 to 10 seconds in the race.

      I like the race but ‘not that much’ as would say Räikkönen. A low and kind mark, 6.

    6. @vettel1 Webber’s start was compromised by the ‘grated’ track ////

      1. @noob by that logic, so was everyone’s down to 11th! I think he just generally made a bad start as he can always be relied upon to do.

        1. @vettel1 Sir, in the interview on Sky he did seem to mention that his practise starts on the “grated” //// tracks was a problem..

        2. @noob I don’t think unduly so – nobody else really seemed to have such a big problem in the top 11 bar Di Resta. I seem to recall he was having bite point issues as per.

  5. We did see some great stuff from Sutil, great start from Alonso and Vettel as good as he gets… so not a total fail.

    1. Yeah as unlikable a personality as Sutil is, he’s respectable as a driver. He definitely deserves teh drive he’s got.

      1. @bazza-spock Sutil is one of the nicest guys on the product. Why unlikeable?

    2. Yes, Sutil was great, yesterday and better than DiResta, again.

  6. 6: The race had its slight moments but the race overall was pretty dull especially for Spa

  7. great quali, boring race

  8. 4/10

    Winner never looked in doubt after the end of the first lap.

    Not a huge amount of action outside of the DRS zones apart from some decent overtaking moves. There was some drama with the penalties and the crash, but we could’ve really done with a Safety Car intervention or rain to actually add some drama to the occasion.

    1. @magnificent-geoffrey I was surprised by your comment, usually your comments are fair in my eyes.

      To be honest, I enjoyed the race, it was a throw back to when F1 was simpler and the driver and machine that was best on the day, deservedly won the race and with a bit of distance as well.

      F1 in my eyes is to find out who has the best car/driver out there for an entire season, not about entertainment… Although I did have a chuckle when Pastor took out Sutil, I’m still undecided about that particular incident, whether MAL dived for the pitlane or was pushed out in front of Sutil, either way, it ended Sutil’s race quite comprehensively.

  9. 9 – Soooo much overtaking some some of the best overtakes of the year!

    1. 9 for an Alonso fan perhaps ;)

      1. Well 8 overtakes from Alonso alone.

        1. Unbelievable……………Remember DRS?

    2. Wowzers.

      Many of those overtakes were DRS passes, you realise that, right?

      Stats can be extremely misleading. I felt DRS really put a massive blemish on this race. I can’t believe they still haven’t learned that the entire Kemmel straight is far, far too long for a DRS zone.

      Secondly, I have a theory in regards to the FIA’s view on DRS:

      I think the FIA are keeping the long DRS zones to ensure drivers try to make more DRS passes than normal passes. The reason being, that these DRS passes are much safer, as the defending driver is helpless 9/10 times, and generally allows the DRS car through.

      It works two-fold for the FIA. In their view, the crowd leaves happy that there have been some ‘overtakes’, but it also means less wheel to wheel action, meaning less risk.

      1. @ecwdanselby I hear what you’re saying about DRS, except we saw some pretty great manouvres by Kimi at the corner with no name and the Bruxelles corner, as well as a couple of people going up the inside at the Bus Stop. This whole “DRS” is ruining F1, is getting a little old, because its an even playing field for all. It doesn’t favour any one driver/team, so as far as I’m concerned its apart of F1 like chicanes. Sometimes they’re implemented greatly, other times they’re off the mark, but as long as its the same for all, then its at least fair.

        1. @dragoll, LH passing before the DRS zone only to be passed back in the DRS zone (Massa I think), next time round he nearly took the bait again but backed off and did the job in the DRS zone. Fair !? maybe, good racing !? no way.

  10. Exciting first half of the grand prix, with some good battles, and not knowing the strategies which were going to play out. However, it kind of fizzled out towards the end, especially once Button converted to a two stop, which I’m still not sure why they did that, considering the worst they were going to finish was 6th anyway. I’ll give it a 7.

    1. Pirellis deciding to explode, anyone ?

  11. 4 – typical vettel win, not battle for the lead, overall really boring.

    quite sad to see the qualifying being more exciting than the actual race itself.

  12. Sorry Spa, but honestly after the half-way point I got distracted easily (being on my PC and watching on a live stream) and, whilst leaving the window open on one side of the screen, I did everyhting else I could rather than watch the race.
    When Kimi retired there was so little to watch that they showed him enter the pits, stop the car, get out, chat with his engineers and leave! Seriously, who cares? But maybe today that was the most interesting thing to see…
    4/10 for the horribly dull DRS overtakes, for the certainty of the result much before the chequered flag, for nothing unexpected happening.

    1. Actually couldn’t agree more!! Shame the stewards gave stupid penalties also.

    2. Agree. DRS = FAIL

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        26th August 2013, 1:48

        DRS at Spa = Fail.

        It is needed at other circuits though.

  13. 6 it is folks. Excellent driving by Vettel and Alonso. VET, the man will be hard to stop. Button should have stayed out and made the Mercs work for the final podium.

  14. Solid 9. Plenty of action. -1 for RAI retirement and absence of action upfront

    1. So, it would have been a 10 out of 10 if Raikkonen hadn’t retired?

      I’d love to see your scores for the previous races this season! 20/10?

      Sorry, don’t mean to sound awful here, but really?! We were watching the same race?

      It just worries me. Maybe it’s more just a ‘me’ thing. The reason I get upset is because the FIA will listen to people giving these races the thumbs up and continue to dish out fake overtakes.

      If DRS stays for a couple more seasons, I honestly think i’ll move on from F1. I already feel some slight detachment. I became very distracted throughout the race.

      Glad some are easily pleased though, I guess. I just think, as the consumer, you at least deserve a fair fight?

  15. 2/10 purely because of the ridiculous gimmick known as DRS.

    How many more races does that stupid thing have to completely destroy before its finally banned?
    Its just getting stupid now this year as its been far too effective all year as the massive increase in # of DRS highway passes shows.

    Boring, artificial gimmick thats the killer of racing & real, exciting, hard fought overtaking!

    #banDRS

    1. Don’t agree with the rating but absolutely agree over banning DRS – there were several occasions where drivers didn’t overtake at certain places because the DRS zones followed. Maybe it works on some tracks, but it was absolutely pointless here.

      1. Second time this year Hamilton slowed down to use DRS on Alonso too. It didnt work, so I hope Hamilton changes strategies, because this is a pretty bad one.

        1. JP (@jonathanproc)
          25th August 2013, 16:39

          @austus Alonso would have easily got past him on the straight with DRS though. So if anything staying behind at the hairpin kept him closer to Alonso than if he let Alonso get DRS.

          1. @jonathanproc, I agree, Hamilton would have been a sitting duck on the straight, so this was the best try. I’d like to see their onboard graphics of the overtake. Was Alonso able to hit the rev limiter simply by emptying his KERS? Did Hamilton empty his KERS in addition to the DRS, or didn’t he think it would be necessary? Was Hamilton’s top speed too low because of the rev limiter?

            In any case, I found it very strange that Hamilton wasn’t able to get ahead of Alonso, as he seemed to have a near-perfect run on him. Would anyone have been able to overtake Fernando on the straight?

  16. All in all not very exciting but a solid race with a few good battles. DRS zone was too long though.

  17. Vettel showing why overtaking at first turn before DRS enabled is key to win.

    1. Hamilton had such low top speed on the long Kemmel that he never had any defense against Vettel even without DRS.

      Then he tried to trick Alonso by letting him past in La Source hoping to get back past with DRS on Kemmel. Hamilton’s Mercedes wasn’t faster at all than the Ferrari even when Hamilton had the benefit of DRS. They simply had too much wing on.

    2. @patrickl I don’t think it was that bad – the main reason why Vettel made such huge gains on Hamilton was he saved all his KERS (used none at the start) then got a really good run through Eau Rouge to pick up the slipstream instantly.

      1. They are not allowed to use KERS at the start and Hamilton was well ahead after the first meters. They both had the same mount of KERS.

        Hamilton did make a slight mistake in Eau rouge though, so yeah that didn’t help him.

        1. @patrickl ehm, yes they are? In fact that is one of it’s main uses?

          1. No they aren’t. Probably because of too much risk for traction control solutions. Only when they are above a certain speed it’s allowed.

            They have too much power available already, so it would be completely pointless heaping KERS on top of engine power then anyway.

          2. @patrickl they don’t use it in first gear because it would be stupid. They can use it after that though as they please, so yes they can use KERS at the start.

          3. Well, that’s not “AT the start”. They can use it quickly after yes, but in this case that would be stupid because, as I explained already, there is no run to the first corner for KERS to be of any use and Hamilton was well ahead already.

          4. @patrickl I’ve never heard of the start being defined as solely the first 20m haha! The start usually at least defines to the first corner…

          5. I didn’t say 20 meters. Anbd then you make up some bs definition of your own? Start is the start. When the lights go. There is no distance. At best you could say it’s until they cross the line, but that’s for rolling starts.

            Just stop making up nonsense trying to prove a point that was made up nonsese to begin with. Vettel did NOT overtake Hamilton because he was the only one to keep his kers.

            It’s just nonsense. Knock. It. Off.

        2. Only if you only call the first 20 meters the start. F1 cars are traction limited when accelerating from a standstill so KERS would hurt, not help. Once the downforce increases, they can use their full power including KERS.

        3. Yes, they are absolutely allowed to use KERS at the start. Most drivers do.

      2. JP (@jonathanproc)
        25th August 2013, 16:42

        @vettel1 Hamilton used the majority of his KERS to defend as well. He only stopped using it after Vettel had passed him to keep it for later in the lap. So that’s definitely not “the main reason” Vettel gained on him.

  18. 5, quite boring race.
    Great drives from the top 3 (as usual), especially Vettel.
    Alonso and Hamilton also took everything out of the car.
    Nice to see the top 3 drivers on the podium, and nice to see Hamilton and Vettel being friendly after the race.

    1. Yeah, I noticed that they really seemed chatty in the dressing room and on the podium. Alonso seemed pretty downbeat though.

  19. better than some and some great battles. Should have been 3 laps shorter as nothing happened in the end. so 6.
    +1 for classic podium for 3 of the best drivers of current era.

  20. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
    25th August 2013, 14:40

    5. Boring.

  21. Good to see Ferrari gaining some pace. But a very dominant performance by Vettel in a dominant car. Unfortunate that Webber was stuck behind Rosberg.

    Just thinking that had Vettel not got past Hamilton in that first lap, it would have been the same case with him too. From where did he find that speed in the middle of the lap is confusing.

    Massa driving a solid race to end 7th while disappointed for Kimi to have his point scoring run ended in a disappointing manner. Alonso will look to win Monza to close the gap to Vettel but a lot more is required from Ferrari to challenge RB.

    1. Rated 7. Always good to see the Red cars go fast. Maldonado got mad again and provided some entertainment although it was unwarranted.

  22. 5/10. The race that promised lot but delivered nothing. The most memorable thing was the stupid protest, which will probably make me laugh for years to come.

  23. DRS really needs to be banned, how anyone can find any of the DRS passes anything other than totally & utterly boring & dull is beyond me!

    There is literally nothing even remotely exciting or interesting about any of the DRS passes, There all far too easy, very uneventful & ridiculously boring to watch occur.

    I want to see some real overtaking again, Not this stupid push of a button motorway drive-by artificial rubbish passing!

  24. What makes Spa is the unpredictability of the wet. 5

  25. Gave it a 4. Very boring race.

  26. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    25th August 2013, 14:45

    6

    Not a bad race, but not great either.
    Firstly, Perez did NOT deserve that penalty.

    I’m not convinced that Mark and Seb are driving equal machinery. Seb is better than Mark, but not 32 seconds better. Not to take anything away from Seb, he drove very well, and controlled the race for 99% of the 308 kilometres.

  27. Eight. At least on par with the best races of the year, all it needed was some rain with ten laps to go to see the ferrari and mercs use their extra downforce to make a race for the lead, and it would have been perfect. Love spa! Can’t believe people saying it was boring! Loved it, and that’s from a ferrari man. Top drive from vettel, nice and smooth and controlled. Excellent from Alonso, some ballsy overtakes and very great race craft and start as usual.

  28. Qualification promised so much, but the race came up very short. Dull, dull, dull 3/10.

  29. Sky just said booing was because of protesters and not Vettel? What a …

    1. it’s true. that’s why coulthard didn’t want to mention it in the interviews, to give them no coverage.

    2. The Been also confirmed it was for the protesters, and refused to name them or their purpose, as was correct.

    3. Yes it was Greenpeace protestors trying to get on podium, they were protesting against Shell’s determined drive to drill for oil in the Arctic. A worthy cause but they have gone about it all wrong and shot themselves in the foot.

  30. Gave it a 7.

    Battle for the lead was non-existent and the race was pretty boring but there were at least some interesting battles in the midfield.

  31. What a snooze-fest! Vettel overtakes for the lead 30 seconds in before escaping into the distance never to be challenged, classic GP2-ish driving from Grosjean and Maldonado, massive disappointment for Raikkonen too.

    Great drive from Alonso though. Spa got a 4 from me – and that’s being kind.

    1. @nathanbellows when did grosjean show gp2-ish driving?? he had a solid race!

  32. 7/10, a bit generous but I my eyes glued to the screen. Lotus have zero performance in cool conditions though a bit disappointed

    1. * my eyes were

  33. Maldonado – a bit harsh, don’t you think?

    1. No. He tried to dive for the pit while two cars were still passing. Utterly idiotic move from him. Again!

      Although Gutierez’ driving which caused the damage to Maldonado’s car (which consequently prompted Maldonado to go for the pits) was a bit ridiculous also.

    2. No – he clearly turned into Di Resta.

    3. @rankx22 agreed – drive through maybe but I viewed it that Sutil didn’t leave enough space and the collision with Di Resta was an inevitability after that.

      1. @vettel1 – You’ve viewed it wrong, I’m afraid. Have a look again and you’ll see that Maldonado’s collision with Sutil was caused by Maldonado making a swerve for the pit lane. He then made a second move for the pits and totally wiped out di Resta. Taking two cars — two cars you’re not even realistically racing — out on your way to the pits? Not acceptable. Maldonado fully deserved a stop go penalty.

    4. No. He tried to dive for the pit while two cars were still passing. Utterly stupid move from him. Again!

      Although Gutierez’ driving which caused the damage to Maldonado’s car (which consequently prompted Maldonado to go for the pits) was a bit ridiculous also

    5. Valid points and I think what this raises is the idiotic placement of the pit entry. I recall Vettel nearly being hit by Schumacher for similar reasons last year – the pit entry should be before the bus stop.

  34. Fell Asleep and I’m pretty sure Vettel and Alonso were close to falling asleep as well.

    1. You must do a lot of racing mate, to say something like that…

  35. 6/10 seems fair for me. Even the mighty Spa can’t have repeats of ’98, ’00, ’08, ’09 and so on every single year it’s on the calendar.

    That said, it wasn’t totally devoid of excitement. But it wasn’t an instant classic either. The battles lower in the grid weren’t insanely dramatic, but there were great drives for some drivers – Alonso and Ricciardo in particular, got great results from terrible grid places. The pile up was dramatic, but not a race-changing event. Derek Warwick and the stewards were throwing out penalties like crazy.

  36. 7. It was quite boring in the top 5, but there were exciting battles in the lower part of the top 10.
    I still think that the DRS in Kemmel straight is too much, though.

  37. 7/10, but this in my view is low… Boring because of DRS overtakes, made it too easy… Not just to Lewis… Although that was expected… But on the others, it was just too much… Vettel’s win did make the race boring, but that to me was pretty obvious given RB’s pace in the dry… It was boring, not much action occurred… Until Maldonado’s collision but… It was boring, but I don’t put this down to Vettel just leading… MAINLY: DRS, just get rid of it, or either balance it out… Overtaking last year was even “more overtakes” compared to “DRS overtakes”… The first half was good… Even though I am a hard Lewis fan I expected that he was going to struggle because Mercedes went for a WET WEATHER setup… But, really… DRS is just making things BORING… I was live timing as well…

  38. 4.
    Oh rain whereforth art thou?

  39. /10, but this in my view is low… Dull because of DRS overtakes, made it too easy… Not just to Lewis… Although that was expected… But on the others, it was just too much… Vettel’s win did make the race boring, but that to me was pretty obvious given RB’s pace in the dry… It was boring, not much action occurred… Until Maldonado’s collision but… It was boring, but I don’t put this down to Vettel just leading… MAINLY: DRS, just get rid of it, or either balance it out… Overtaking last year was even “more overtakes” compared to “DRS overtakes”… The first half was good… Even though I am a hard Lewis fan I expected that he was going to struggle because Mercedes went for a WET WEATHER setup… But, really… DRS is just making things BORING… I was live timing as well…

    1. 7 actually sorry about that

  40. Nigelstash (@)
    25th August 2013, 15:14

    Felt like a 3 but thinking about it there was quite a lot of interest away from the front, the was another stunning Alonso drive, and sadly for DiResta fairly dramatic prang at the bus stop.
    A 6 from me then.
    Shame that Vettel seems to be just to far ahead to be caught now. Without reliability issues he just had to keep finishing to win the title. Alonso and Hamilton will close the gap but not by enough to pressure Red Bull into making mistakes. The battle between ALO and HAM for second looks like being the interesting point for the rest of the season. I think they will both take wins over Vettel but in taking points of each other they will ultimately make his title victory easier.

  41. 6/10.
    * Great drive from Vettel and Alonso but…
    * Predictably brainless use of DRS ruining the beauty of Spa.
    * Good battles further down, but at the front it might just as well be a time trial due to said DRS. When will this turd of a system end?

  42. 4 – Struggled to keep watching for most of the race.
    First two laps were ok, a couple of interesting laps after the first pit stop but the rest of the race was boring and even a multi-car crash couldn’t bring any excitement to what was one of the worst GP’s I’ve ever watched.

    Stewards deserve a special mention for being consistently poor.

  43. I’m starting to think that Spa is very similar to Monaco. Both are extraordinary places to watch a Formula 1 car blast around the circuit, but both will rarely put on an exciting Grand Prix without the assistance of rain. Now that I think about it, I do struggle to recall the last time a dry Belgian Grand Prix was a thriller.

    I gave this race a 4/10. This race was very comparable with this year’s Canadian Grand Prix. I felt like I spent the whole race waiting for something to happen, and in the end, nothing did.

    1. 2009 Belgian GP was fully dry with Raikkonen and Fisichella battling it out lap after lap for the lead

      1. I don’t recall finding that race particularly thrilling, though. Once Raikkonen had KERS’d his way past Fisi on the restart, he just held him at arms length for the rest of the race. It never looked like Fisichella had much of a chance.

  44. 6/10 – basically as low as my scores go without Pirelli tyre blows.

    Lots of potential, because I think the grid was set up for loads of exciting battles. GP2 and GP3 this morning showed that a race at Spa without rain can be extremely exciting, but I often found myself in the position knowing that the battle would be decided by DRS in the end. Hamilton admitting he let Alonso pass to get DRS was basically the nail in the coffin.

    To be honest, I can look past a boring race: in the Schumacher era, I just loved watching the cars, hearing the sound, it just had a smell to it that I massively enjoyed. Formula 1 today feels way too clean, too scripted. Every aspect of it just looks coordinated, with the occasional Greenpeace protester adding a dash of unpredictability.

    On a positive note, Spa-Francorchamps is magnificent. Such a beautiful track and environment. Unfortunately there is way too much run-off area, for instance at Eau Rouge, Stavelot, the unnamed corner, Blanchimont, Pouhon and la Source. If you saw the Porsche race this morning, literally every driver cut the track at every corner, but no one got penalized. Why Gutierrez was the only F1 driver to get a penalty today for track limits is a complete mystery to me.

  45. Why did Raikonnen get 20 seconds behind Alonso after they’ve both did their first pitstop when he was 4 seconds behind him before the pitstop? What happened? The pitstop was not broadcasted.

    1. wondered that too…

    2. I think they did check his brakes.

      1. Wondered about this too. @vettel1 – Brake check was the only thing that made sense to me outside of a botched stop. Surprised it got no coverage since Raikkonen was in 5th place (I think) before the stop and came out around 16th.

        1. @bullmello yea it is slightly strange – I don’t even recall seeing a graphic indicating the pit stop time

        2. That said @bullmello @f1lauri his pit stop wasn’t much slower than average.

          28th: Kimi Raikkonen – Lotus
          Pit Stop Time: 23.744 Gap To Best: 1.300 Lap: 14

          That was his only pit-stop before retiring, so it obviously must’ve been something on-track. The total pit-lane time was almost completely ordinary.

          Blizzare he would’ve lost that much time – perhaps his brake problems coupled with low top speed and being stuck in traffic just lost him a heap of time?

          1. @vettel1 – Must have been bad timing and traffic on his stop because he lost 8 positions. On the lap charts Kimi went from 5th to 13th on laps 14 to 15. The average drop in positions for the first pit stops was closer to 5, even less for Alonso who only lost 2 spots on his first stop. I guess timing is everything.

    3. The reason is for once ferrari timed alonsos stop perfectly, he wasn’t dropped back into a lot of traffic in either of his stops. Plus the only traffic he had to deal with, he did so promptly, whilst kimi was having a hard time overtaking anyone. I think lotus were expecting rain, as even with drs open, kimis car never hit the limiter. But his response and corner speeds were both very good. Kimi was struggling to match felipe near the end there, he’d catch up to him in sector two, and then felipe would pull almost a full second in sector three, making it almost impossible for kimi to even get a chance to pass. The drs also seemed useless on kimis car, another product of high downforce setup for wet weather, as felipe was hitting the same speed on kemmel, even though kimi had drs and a tow, and felipe was in clean air. Sorry bout the big answer, but I hope that helped you understand kimis lack of performance.

  46. Spa always has the potential to provide a good race but seems to fail on the day. Just goes to prove that a straight race without incident, safety car, weather etc can only be called a procession of the top drivers and a slow caravan of the also rans. When the qualy times are so close in the top 12 drivers, how can the intervals be so dramatic after only a few laps, and then in the middle ratings, when a decent racing battle gets our attention the idiots with limited experience try too hard and take out a far superior driver. I was left sadly bored and unstisfied today.

  47. Gave it a 5. Pretty much a complete yawnfest and disappointing race to mark the start of the 2nd half of the season.

  48. Race was boring as it was spa n it didnt hav the Raikkonen factor in it…4

  49. After a very exciting qually, the race itself was very flat, however it is Spa so gets a bonus point – a 7 for me.

    1. Agreed, I upped my initial 6 to 8 — only so Bernie doesn’t get tempted to take Spa off the calendar.

  50. The race wasn’t that amazing, especially for the lead. It was interesting to follow the midfield and where the backmarkers were, considering their grid positions.

    Some good overtaking (Kimi on many people, Vergne vs. Hulkenberg, Alonso on Webber on lap 1), some bad (DRS is becoming increasingly tedious, Perez trying to force off Grosjean, Maldonado not using his mirrors) but I still enjoyed the first 2/3rds of it much more than most races of the 00’s. A 7 for me.

  51. 8/10
    I thought it was an excellent race; was no-one watching Sutils race??
    What’s with the really low rankings?

    1. 1 word, 6 letters, 197 points.

      1. This is rate the race though; not the championship so far.
        Therefore, you should only judge a race by what happens within the race; external factors should be ignored (the championship).

        1. Thank you, I agree. I gave it an 8 too. Sad how many people expect a different winner at every race, constant lead changes, and then complain that drs is too powerful, despite a lot of overtakes happening after a battle for a few laps. I think people rate the race based on outside factors, like you mentioned, the championship standings, and based on how their favourite driver/team went…

  52. Decent, but not a great race at Spa. Still, if I had a bucket list, going to an F1 race at Spa would be tops.

    There was some decent action in the mid-pack consistently. Some good battles higher up even if not for the lead. Biggest disappointment, Kimi’s retirement and the end of his streak. Glad his apparent brake failure didn’t end in a worse way.

    Good drives by Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. Red Bull certainly had the right aero strategy for this race, but Vettel still had to drive it home. Hope Alonso or Hamilton can challenge him and make it a points race to the end of the season.

  53. Lovely how Greenp(e)ace supports the Arktis by purchasing a Formula 1 paddock ticket

    1. Arctic*

  54. 7/10

    A pretty boring race..Once Vettel passed Lewis,it was a procession of his RBR..And with no rain to spice up things,it did not live up to the hype..

    And the DRS made overtaking a joke…!!!Everyone with DRS behind easily overtook the front ones..I like DRS, but at tracks like SPA,where it has wide layoffs and track which makes overtaking easy,I would recommend only 1 DRS zone..2 zones made it too easy..
    Because of this reason,the passes made in places where DRS zone was not there(Eg:- sector 2) seemed more entertaining than Sectors 1 and 3..
    I would have given this race an 8 , had Kimi not retired from the race..Now,vettel is running away with title,with one of his 3 main opponents having a bad day..All eyes on 2nd in Drivers’ championship now..

  55. DRS passes spoiled it for me. Seemed an ok race, but didn’t light any fires. Hoped drivers would be able to push harder, but that didn’t materialise. Still tyre saving and holding station. Not enpugh coverage of mid-grid backwards and their strategies, which would have been good to see drivers put out of position straightening themselves out.

  56. It was OK. Vettel was imperious and that always spells boredom for me. Some exciting wheel-to-wheel stuff with three cars going into eau rouge and four cars going into the bus stop together.

  57. Like most of 2013, Spa was: Boring-Yawn-Snooze. Reminds me of the 2002 and 2004 season. Painfully boring stuff.

  58. 1st time that i have posted here, been a long time reader though.

    i would rate it a 4-10 & one of the main reasons for this is the drs system which i have grown increasingly tired of.

    i was open minded about drs when it was brought in but over the past few seasons i have grown tired of how easy its made things.
    overtaking should be a core skill, thats one of the things that separates the great from the good & sadly i think the drs has lowered the skill required to overtake & therefore devalued the thrill of overtaking.

    in past seasons you saw drivers like lewis hamilton, juan montoya & others pull off thuly brilliant overtaking moves & that made races worth watching & you could always see the skill of overtaking.
    now all everyone has to do is get within 1 second, open there drs & they get driven past the car ahead with ease. you can no longer see the guys who are great overtakers do there thing because everyone is able to overtake more easily.

    you look at other series like gp2, you see some great racing & brilliant overtaking there & you know the driver doing the overtaking had to really work for it & you really appreciate the overtaking you see because there all very exciting to watch.

    in f1 with the drs now you see so much overtaking & so much of it is made very easy with drs that its not exciting to watch anymore, its all very tedious watching straght line overtakes with 1 car artificially made 10mph faster because they can drop drag while the lead car cannot.

    i have been a long time f1 fan since the 1970s but recently i find myself losing some interest & the drs is playing a big part of that sadly. if the drs remains i may find myself turning off for good because i am no longer enjoying the racing & sort of overtaking is is producing :(

    1. I agree unfortunately, if F1 continues like this I don’t see myself watching it in say five years’ time.

      1. Totally agree. Gave it a while now its come to a head and is quickly putting me off a sport that used to be everything to me!

  59. 9. This was a much less DRS-fest than 2011.

    I wonder how much rating this race would get if Hamilton won instead…

    1. @wsrgo I’m a Vettel fan and gave it a 6! The DRS was just unnecessary IMO – we saw drivers clearly had the pace to overtake without it on many occasions.

    2. This was a much less DRS-fest than 2011.

      There was more DRS-Generated passes today than there was in 2011/2012.

      So it was actually more of a DRS-fest than past years.

      1. Actually, that’s not what I meant. There were less simple overtakes using DRS in 2013. Anyway, we saw people passing down at Rivage and Leige corners too, not what you see every year at Spa.

  60. Terrible race for me. This season I have really fallen out of love with F1. After 20 years and plenty of live races I am just not remotely excited by the fake DRS racing we now have.

    I know I am not like a casual viewer so will be in the minority but I miss the chess like battles that build and eb and flow. The anticipation can be so exciting, edge of your seat wait/willing something to happen. Yes some races you had to will anything at all to happen but when races were good, they were really good and real! If a car was out of position he could try and hang on, sometimes unbelievably. Fat chance now. So many battles robbed by DRS. I think we have given it a fair crack but it is so obviously not the answer I think I will switch off before they switch it off.

    So sad that I feel im loosing something I love.

    1. Totally with you, sir.

      Glad to see there’s some people here trying to preserve the idea of racing.

      I mean, my God, I have given DRS a fair shot. What are we on, its third season now?

      I’ve had enough of it. They apparently use previous race’s data to determine the zones.

      Sorry, that’s utter cobblers. If they had, they would have halved the DRS zone on the Kemmel straight!

      1. Your are right, they cant be using last years data. My guess is they are too scared if they go too short it would mean no passes at all so air on the side of having mind numbingly boring DRS passes instead

    2. @adamf184 I agree with you entirely.

  61. Gave it a 5. Might have been a 6 if the misses didn’t decide to watch it with me and talk all through it.

  62. A 7 for me. While Vettel never looked under threat after passing Hamilton at the start there was still a lot to enjoy throughout the race for me. Alonso had another trademark battling drive that was highly entertaining, Button too was great to watch. Further down the midfield there was great racing from the likes of Grosjean, Perez, Hulkenberg and the two Force India cars. It was no classic, but still enjoyable.

  63. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    25th August 2013, 18:59

    A 6 for me – Vettel’s pass was too easy and reminiscent of the same situation in 2011 where Vettel went into a corner and had disappeared by the end of it. The way things are going Alonso may qualify 15th and have the optimal setup to win the race. Great performance by Alonso though especially with not letting Hamilton pass him.

    1. @freelittlebirds When Lewis passed people in Hungary, that was brilliant, but Vettel doing it

      was too easy and reminiscent of the same situation in 2011 where Vettel went into a corner and had disappeared by the end of it

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        26th August 2013, 14:13

        @F1_Noob Well, the car passed the pole sitter after eau rouge as if he had DRS enabled and then went on to build a 1.5 second lead in the 1st lap. If you watch in 2011 I was literally stupefied at the way the RB pulled away in a corner which Hobbs also mentioned.

        And in case anyone believes Mark Webber’s car is the same, it simply is not. It can’t disappear the way Vettel’s car does and build a 0.3 second lead over a single corner.

  64. 5.
    I have this ”weird” feeling Kimi won’t be back in F1 next year…
    Congrats to Red Bull Spa winner, even if grumpy Alonso on the podium was strange to see! Happy to see Vettel & Lewis getting along well, jokingly chatting & poking each other (Respect!)
    Mercedes better update & fix whatever went wrong in their car for Monza. Lotus just lost it today. I didn’t get McLaren strategy; Perez =no comment… Maldonado is really ‘stubborn’ so it would be fair if the stewards could give him some ‘harsh’ treatment next time (Grosjean has been a target, not always for the good)
    One month looking forward to this race but no rain to spice up things!? Yawn!

    1. About your feeling about Raikkonen, you aren’t alone in thinking it. I mentioned on here a few months ago I thought he might not return next year but it seemed more likely will all the drives he’s been linked with. We will see anyway.

      1. I think Kimi will be in F1 next season, just my gut feeling. Plus, he seems to be actively seeking a good seat for 2014. If Kimi is not in F1 next season, he will probably be the one least bothered by that outcome. He’ll find something to do that he enjoys.

  65. DRS ruined it again for me, Drivers admitted to slowing down before detection zones to stop other drivers passing them at the end of the straights.

    Shout out to Kimi for going from Hungary 2009 to Hungary 2013 without retiring from a race (Although with a 2 year F1 employment gap XD)

  66. I gave it a 5

    Very usual Vettel-style race and Hamilton vs Alonso was nothing special.But that was a great first race for the second half of the season (Sarcasm implied!)

    1. And by the way…….I could have given it a 3 if the Hamilton vs Alonso nothing special battle never happened.

  67. This race was so blandly uninteresting I can’t find anything worth complaining about.

  68. How dare a classic historical superior track like Spa produce a yawn fest?

    I fell asleep on my couch!

  69. I’m really astonished by these harsh comments here?

    I’ve seen some of the most beautiful overtakes of the year, especially on Eau Rouge. On the first lap, we’ve seen Webber and Alonso fighting each other at 290 kph at 20 cm of each other. Also Sutil did a great move on it. The 4-way battle Gutierrez-Maldonado-Sutil-di Resta was epic … until they collided :D Gutierrez, for the first this season, showed real pace for the first of this season. It would be great if he keeps improving like that and he can challenge Hulkenberg from time to time.

    I’ve seen only 2 minus points: Vettel was never chalenged and the second DRS zone was too strong ;)

  70. Gave it a 5; but actually think i’ve been a little harsh. drs was strong but not crazy with people who had setup their cars for straight line speed able to make big gains there but those that hadn’t actually couldn’t easily pass even with drs – eg kimi on anyone and ham on alonso.

    Sutil had 2 awesome if scary passes on entry into eau rouge and kimi found some great overtakes in unusual places, which he had to due to his weakness on drs. His pass on Di resta at bus stop was awesome.

    So actually i should probably given a 7…. i haven’t even mentioned the amusing 4 cars pile up!

  71. My favorite bit was the little robot protest signs.

  72. The GP2 and GP3 races were great this weekend, but I found myself a bit disappointed with the F1 race.

  73. 6 because the only exciting moments in the race were Sutil’s driving, Alonso’s defence at the end of the straight and the crash.

  74. Once again when Vettel leads after the first lap I never have any doubt that he won’t go on and win the race, which takes away a lot of the excitement for me.

    It wasn’t a great race but there was some action away from the front so I gave it a 7, which was more like a high 6 rounded up to a 7.

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