Perez slips to fifth after strong start

2015 Belgian Grand Prix lap charts

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[interactivecharts]Sergio Perez had his Force India in the lead for a few seconds at Spa-Francorchamps. Although he slipped back to fifth at the flag, that is still Force India’s best result of the season so far.

Perez got the jump on Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg at the start, but Lewis Hamilton resisted his attempt to take the lead as they sprinted towards Les Combes for the first time.

Hamilton quickly left the Force India behind – by lap six the gap was almost five seconds. Meanwhile Perez was coming under pressure from Ricciardo behind, and when the Red Bull driver pitted after half-a-dozen laps Force India responded.

They weren’t quick enough to stop Ricciardo getting ahead. But Perez took another set of softs while Ricciardo opted for mediums, and within three laps the Mercedes-powered cars straight-line speed and grip advantage got him back ahead.

Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes easily jumped him at this time. Perez’s pace on his second set of soft tyres also wasn’t enough to keep Grosjean behind: the Lotus driver quickly caught and passed him.

Perez had lost another place to Sebastian Vettel’s one-stopping Ferrari, but his late tyre failure promoted Perez one place. However by then he’d also been passed by Daniil Kvyat, who had switched to fresher tyres.

“Fifth place and ten points is a good result,” said Perez, “but we just lacked the pace to really fight for the podium today”.

“My start was very strong and I was close to taking the lead on lap one when I was alongside Lewis after Eau Rouge. I settled into a good rhythm, but we had very high degradation on the soft tyres in the first two stints.”

“It was a bit better on the medium, although we struggled in the middle sector with our low downforce set-up and that hurt my pace. We were racing some quick cars and it was hard to fight off Grosjean and Kvyat, so it’s clear we need to analyse our performance and see where we can improve.”

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2015 Belgian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

0123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869
Lewis Hamilton11111111111111111111111111111112111111111111
Nico Rosberg24444443222223322222222222222221222222222222
Valtteri Bottas35666666101288777911111111101011101010101091010101099999910101099
Sergio Perez42222222486544433333596666655555555555555655
Daniel Ricciardo533333351165455544455
Felipe Massa6988889979101099988888767777766666666666667766
Pastor Maldonado77
Sebastian Vettel86555554333332266666443333333333333333333312
Romain Grosjean98777777547766655544334444444444444444444433
Carlos Sainz Jnr101918181818181818181818181818181818181817171717171717171717171717
Nico Hulkenberg11
Daniil Kvyat121110999886799888777776555555710999888887776544
Marcus Ericsson131091011121212121113121212121212121212111110111111111111111111111111111111111111111010
Felipe Nasr1416151414141414131312161414141414131313121212121212121213131312121212121212121212121111
Will Stevens15181717171717171717171716161616161717171616161616161616161615161616161616161616161616
Kimi Raikkonen16131212121111119546101010109999878888887777777778888877
Roberto Merhi17171616161616161615161515151517171616161515151515151515151516151515151515151515151515
Max Verstappen181211111010101081011111111111110101010989999998888910101010101099988
Jenson Button19151415151515151514141417171715151515151414141414141414141414141414141414141414141414
Fernando Alonso20141313131313131416151313131313131414141313131313131313121212131313131313131313131313

2015 Belgian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2015drivercolours.csv

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869
Lewis Hamilton0000000000000000000000000000006.084000000000000
Nico Rosberg3.8484.5554.835.4686.4286.8557.4018.5778.3317.5277.28811.35118.1524.1023.4283.4133.193.2843.4973.4823.1972.2792.6253.2784.1574.8475.0475.4025.5291.36905.7015.1825.0944.8874.654.4324.4194.14.0913.9423.2772.058
Valtteri Bottas4.0496.3697.1458.64410.32912.30914.48722.68136.58336.28135.95135.44330.32217.90223.75133.30535.13636.67637.59339.02853.70654.98154.29755.35656.46156.69856.72557.11657.98252.56245.92241.12843.01945.45747.80149.89451.09852.46555.88357.24358.33760.29661.04
Sergio Perez1.4431.6012.0612.6873.7194.8916.10912.26326.57325.84626.16125.3520.9118.66610.11711.74913.64916.11818.28626.27250.6938.95538.43439.11139.93740.75640.9941.54741.49936.53130.68826.35328.52931.05633.80936.95438.80240.87442.91745.16348.56152.21653.997
Daniel Ricciardo2.5292.7533.1653.8364.5185.58111.125.22725.52624.89325.63426.72322.49110.52812.74414.39615.98319.23620.752
Felipe Massa5.8337.8688.81910.4512.66315.61417.7820.73227.22840.95140.3639.55334.48322.17223.33424.7326.27328.5529.73930.64242.38442.69941.46241.52742.14742.75542.74143.37343.43637.94331.86427.02629.32632.00234.59737.61639.66341.90243.62946.96449.22252.82155.283
Pastor Maldonado4.869
Sebastian Vettel4.4995.5665.9377.0227.9638.9789.4510.67411.41311.77612.42613.5710.0023.97517.65919.10820.43121.61222.48623.08327.76923.12423.19123.90425.39726.61227.58828.69629.16824.36818.26113.72716.03619.29322.41125.37427.1228.84331.12532.94334.837103.592
Romain Grosjean5.3756.9247.7619.21610.97812.73414.92816.68422.51534.43533.85732.4527.14614.31515.35816.19216.72217.71318.78318.80124.74228.36627.99328.39629.49530.67631.10732.29233.06528.76122.41617.48219.59322.09324.6627.22328.22829.65231.71633.535.58937.04437.988
Nico Hulkenberg
Daniil Kvyat7.2129.089.76911.50713.35314.1615.72119.34125.90639.72639.26238.47733.16920.93322.29123.86925.77927.49828.5129.69238.63731.86332.85934.92937.36539.12244.87157.46755.65549.16741.68235.53935.91537.19138.23139.69940.16942.42544.1745.58945.33246.10745.692
Marcus Ericsson6.4168.5511.08314.03617.54420.43623.01426.75533.79150.15350.97551.95548.64937.42239.99943.00946.60249.31951.34853.58866.59554.79357.44759.89662.96865.61567.68374.91791.30885.00778.31573.11474.40976.69279.05681.84583.05584.60785.93587.27888.57990.16591.234
Felipe Nasr10.37315.25217.23421.31924.98728.64231.76635.62640.45149.02164.34264.15759.3347.40650.09453.25256.04458.6861.03468.18577.16965.44567.33769.70973.04375.7282.60895.76194.90889.15582.10676.76378.38981.26484.0787.39789.50390.95191.90594.01996.71499.44102.311
Will Stevens13.38318.29823.73929.0134.05739.13844.01149.56755.10960.05465.39670.23170.45663.31670.74482.556101.35105.464109.504131.174126.042118.237122.21126.985132136.748141.168148.12153.215158.366170.909170.149175.111181.054186.676192.302196.997203.364209.32214.023219.178223.398
Kimi Raikkonen8.910.32712.27414.45516.06417.74319.24721.74124.12124.0629.53941.10136.26223.57724.44925.75727.14329.16830.31631.44643.37843.90443.11743.8744.12544.7845.02145.77246.12340.31733.9629.04630.67533.44436.30439.08341.81443.88945.66348.12450.28353.41855.703
Roberto Merhi11.3416.98722.24627.4232.19837.28841.8947.36652.30956.90261.91567.0667.57760.56672.2391.11295.664100.38104.809125.174121.296112.424118.471122.93127.982132.844137.3142.052152.812166.352163.717161.914167.952174.07179.595185.027189.477193.7197.835202.055208.441212.447
Max Verstappen8.3849.52611.71412.58314.29816.32818.23421.22127.91144.22744.23443.07538.22625.41326.5227.66929.43731.01532.18533.22644.60644.94944.45845.11446.01946.97947.44348.32549.19344.36938.45138.50651.59552.51653.13953.66753.35353.1154.00853.95153.60553.75656.076
Jenson Button10.10614.87719.65824.63528.98133.86238.01242.8547.51252.17760.6976.54474.0863.93667.70771.4175.76779.85383.957101.18111.73599.942101.64104.638108.005111.02114.967117.978123.761121.452118.193117.89123.646130.218140.864157.685159.78161.34163.218165.329169.438172.793
Fernando Alonso9.66713.23816.41720.12224.25127.87731.02339.05554.26156.13657.98259.46156.60945.95949.1752.64956.80960.47863.56775.44591.18278.0179.01881.05183.5885.96887.55889.69491.87988.5985.03786.663104.678105.866109.443114.522116.786119.356120.972123.685126.866128.875

NB. Carlos Sainz Jnr’s data not shown due to his first lap delay.

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

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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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9 comments on “Perez slips to fifth after strong start”

  1. Max pass 8 cars in the first 4 laps!
    Ant really exited about Max in this video.

    1. I don’t know if I read this right, but it’s looks like Max on lap 33-42 were matching Mercedes pace.

      1. If only STR pitted Verstappen 2 laps earlier for softs, he would have been able to finish 5th. Just look at Kvyat’s pace until the end. Expensive ‘blooper’ on STR side.

      2. Yes the speed of Max was close but between the 12th and 16th laps he was closing the gap ! as did quiet a few drivers and the only inconstancies are Kimi loss of position and the shape of the leader profile , a straight line ! then at the 16th lap all change and pull away again ! tactics !

    2. Ease up on stats like that. Those 8 are not all they seem to be.
      Hulkenberg didn’t start
      Sainz pitted before start
      Maldonado dropped out with engine problem
      Stevens and Merhi – wow what an achievement.
      That leaves us with Kimi who got blocked out of turn 1 and Nasr and Ericsson.

      1. He actually overtook 6 cars on track on the first lap after he lost two places to the fast-starting McLarens.

  2. Thank you so much mr. Arai for such a performance boost…
    On par with Ferrari as we can see, Fernando finishing just behind Vettel, what a result!

    1. I think he meant last year’s Ferrari…

  3. The midfield was incredibly compact.

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