Rate the race: 2015 Belgian Grand Prix

2015 Belgian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

What did you think of 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.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (4%)
  • 8 (17%)
  • 7 (35%)
  • 6 (20%)
  • 5 (11%)
  • 4 (4%)
  • 3 (4%)
  • 2 (1%)
  • 1 (2%)

Total Voters: 591

 Loading ...

1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

You need an F1 Fanatic account to vote. Register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

See the results for past seasons here:

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

141 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 Belgian Grand Prix”

  1. I know I’m in no position to be judging, but can someone please show Hamilton how to take Eau Rouge on the first lap? That’s three years in a row now he’s been overtaken at the top of the hill.

    P.S. I gave the race a rating of 8/10. Just your average F1 race, but the last two laps at the end added a +1 for ‘spectacular’ unpredictability.

    1. Well, nearly overtaken this year. Tyres may have been cooler due to the extra formation lap. This year.

      1. @scalextric He did get overtaken by Perez, even if momentarily.

        1. I see. I guess interpretations can vary. I was thinking that the pass wasn’t completed so he wasn’t overtaken.

          1. At the end of sector one on the first lap, the computer timing actually had Perez ahead of Hamilton. Surely a second or two of bliss for Checo!

    2. Errrrmm…he wasn’t “overtaken” last year. To claim so is a bit of a stretch.

      1. @kbdavies Like I said, he was overtaken at the end of the straight, even if momentarily.

        1. No. This is what you said –

          “That’s three years in a row now he’s been overtaken at the top of the hill”

          But this did not happen last year; hence your claim is incorrect. This is not difficult to understand this…is it?

          1. @kbdavies Hamilton was passed momentarily by Vettel before Vettel ran wide into the Les Combes, but the whole point of what I was saying in the original comment was that at the end of the straight, he was passed. Sure, Hamilton made it back past into the braking zone, but Vettel did out-drag him.

    3. That’s a very strange comment my friend. Perez did not overtake Hamilton this years, in 2013 he actually had a good get away but Red Bull was just too much for him to hold and last year Lewis actually kept Nico behind.

      Maybe you should try to tell Nico how to get a good start at Spa because it was the second year in a row he was jumped by cars behind.

    4. Lol, yeah Lewis definitely has a blind spot about Eau Rouge for some reason. But I failed to resist a snigger at his comment about who was alongside him at Les Combes, and at how he but not Nico made the adjustment for a hot clutch on the second start.

      Decent race I thought, I gave it 7. Bitty coverage as too often, made it hard to follow, and a shame there were so many car failures. One I’ll watch again tho.

    5. I was really surprised the stewards did nothing about the track limits in this race. About 5 cars went off at the exit of eau rouge (cutting the corner by a foot or so) including Hamilton. Almost all drivers exceeded track limits at some point in the race at various places and not one penalty. I’m much more annoyed at that than DRS. Either redraw the lines or enforce the rules. As for DRS it was definitely excessive here. Gave the race a 6.

      1. As far as I know, they are allowed to exceed track limits in the beginning of the first lap for safety reasons.

  2. So much for the “unpredictable” starts. Seemed pretty normal to me…

    1. Rosberg suffered and Alonso gained although I think the latter was because he got the inside line.
      I agree though it wasn’t the chaos people were suggesting but maybe it will matter more when there’s a longer start straight.

      1. The line didn’t matter. Alonso and Button simply started flawlessly, while Kimi, for instance, was sleeping.

        1. They had very good starts but it looked to me like they gained later – alonso went tight through the hairpin while everyone else bunched up round the outside. That’s only from a brief replay though I could be wrong. @slava

        2. Alonso: “I finished the race 40 seconds ahead of my teammate, almost a second faster per lap with the same equipment, when he won here a few years ago. The car performed well.”

          Hehehe. Can’t help himself.

          1. Guess he didn’t hear that Button didn’t have any ERS. It’s amazing that Button was only so little behind.

          2. Paul, @patrickl: The real worry must be that Alonso’s ERS only gave him one second per lap advantage over Button’s car with highly intermittent ERS. The ERS system should be providing 160bhp (actually 4 megajoules per lap) but it doesn’t sound like it was working well in this case. Maybe both of the McLarens were suffering from some ERS trouble?

          3. Paul, @patrickl: Please disregard my “4 megajoules per lap” statement. In fact the electrical system can provide 4 megajoules of energy but not usually every lap, as only 2MJ can be harvested from the MGU-K per lap. I don’t think anyone has a MGU-H providing anything like 2MJ per lap to make up the difference. It’s why drivers have to do at least one “charge” lap before unleashing 100% of the DRS boost in quali.

          4. Still, they said that ERS could easily give a 1.5s per lap advantage. Button had some still, but none going onto Kemmel. I wouldn;t be surprised if Button was actually faster when corrected for his technical issues.

      2. @glynh I agree, had this exact start happend at Monza Vettel woud have been second and Rosberg 10th.

  3. 8/10, not as great as Hungary or Silverstone but still good.

  4. Another pretty average race IMO, which is way better than what we’ve in the vast majority of races this year.
    It’s a shame that it was just average though.

  5. was a decent race, VSC managed to actually take away from the race than help because it messed up strategies, before that there was some great racing, and in the end there was some great racing just a little dull in the middle

  6. 2/10 utterly boring DRS-fest.

    Was there even a non-DRS proper overtake all race?

    1. Verstappen through Blanchimont seems to be the only one.

    2. Verstappen’s overtakes

      1. @duchess what overtakes were those?

        i saw nothing but boring drs bs.

        1. Verstappen overtaking (Nasr I think it was) around the outside of Blanchimont was one, Rosberg on Bottas at the same spot was another

          1. the verstappen one wasn’t really that great as nasr came into the pits so braked earlier at the bus stop to let verstappen go. he also didn’t even get the pass done at blanchmont, he actually lost ground & was off the track.

            dont remember seeing rosberg pass anyone there.

            still even if those 2 were good it doesn’t redeem all the stupidly boring drs bs!

          2. …and Verstappen overtaking Alonso on the opposite side in Blanchimont.

    3. Yes. Not that low a grade for me, but average race ruined by that gimmick.

    4. DRS-helped easy passes were killing. No need to fight to keep your position, you can do nothing to defend.
      So this is the thing fans wanted when they cried constantly “Races are boring”? I feel that there are boring races with DRS and KERS, too. So what’s the point of this ridiculous thing?

    5. I gave it a 4 was so boring.I’ve watched F1 for 50yrs now and the races are getting worse. Not as glued to the tv as i once was. Don’t even bother watching all the practices like i used to.

    6. I gave it a 4, but I am surprised that people are rating it around 7. Personally I agree, it was quite dull. Little drama apart from a few small moments.

  7. Good race, strategy made it interesting, Spa made it even better, DRS made it worthless.

    1. +1. I can’t get excited about DRS passes and in fact I find that they take away from my enjoyment of the race.

      1. how many passes did you see before the DRS was allowed? diddly squat…
        at least the race came alive once DRS was allowed,
        ive watch F1 for 50 odd years and DRS adds action, people obviously dont remember the how boring it was,

        1. Exactly.

          The DRS overtakes weren’t that easy either. Even with fresher faster tyres and uncanny car control, Verstappen still had to fight the car a lot getting it to slow down enough after the passes.

          The fans actually asked for DRS to help overtaking in the 2010 questionnaire. But then they also asked for more technological innovations and when they get it they want to go back to WWII engine technology.

  8. 8. Alot of good overtakes. A new driver, this year, on the podium and a close finish. It was a shame for vettel but you can’t blame Pirelli when someone goes over their advice.

    1. where were these good overtakes?

      i saw nothing but utterly boring drs highway passes!

      1. Plenty of outbraking and going side by side after Drs helping them get close
        Verstappen at blanchimant was amazing.

        1. Joao Pitol (@)
          23rd August 2015, 17:40

          +1

        2. @glynh

          Problem is, while it looked impressive and VES certainly is a no fear kind of driver, the pass itself wasn’t really a pass, he had to leave the track completely and then use that position to pass on the inside into the bus stop. Kind of like Grosjean in Budapest ’13 at turn 4, amazing to watch, the only difference is, Grosjean got a penalty for leaving track and gaining an advantage. Hamilton did the same move last year but managed to keep all 4 on the track.

          I think that had this been another driver and not VES then people would be calling fool alot more than they are.

          VES is exciting to watch though.

          1. @woodyd91 fair point and his attempts have gone wrong in the past.

            I should have said brave attempt since although it lined him up for the actual overtake it probably didn’t help much

  9. 6/10 for me, slightly above average thanks to Grojean but some great overtakes balanced out by overly advantageous DRM enabled ones

  10. 5/10: a very average and typically dull race. The grid was nicely mixed after qualifying and start, but after ten or so laps and all those DRS “overtakes” (seriously… why can’t they ever try a race without it?), the race got very stale. The last few laps were exciting, but not enough to save this race.

    Oh, and I rather watched men’s 100m final midrace than follow cars going round. That’s telling something.

  11. Mercedes dominance, DRS show and on top of that, completely unacceptable tyre failure on Vettel’s car. I don’t know how you can give it an 8. Even 2.

    1. 0/10 for CATASTROPHIC tyre failure!!!! Totally UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

      1. I don’t wanna see exploding tyres. BIG FAT ZERO!!!

  12. 4/10 from me.

    DRS was far too powerful & I just get zero enjoyment or excitement from watching the sort of push of a button pass which we saw constantly through today’s race.

    1. @stefmeister Yup, same feelings for me. I can’t understand for the life of me why FIA/FOM have their heads stuck in the sand with regards to DRS. It has been overpowered in Spa since it was introduced in 2011. It’s disheartening to think that the rule makers think that such a long DRS zone in a natural overtaking spot is just about right…

      1. I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again – DRS is killing our sport.

  13. Entertaining race throughout, but DRS was madly overpowered and frankly they could replace a great corner like Les Combes with a kink now, because it has no use with DRS. Only drivers that had to extend their DRS overtakes into Les Combes were Max Verstappen on Raikkonene and Kvyat on Massa, which is sad for a corner that has given us many interesting overtakes through the years.

    Rated it a 7/10 as I enjoyed watching, but after Silverstone, Hungary and the media hyping the new starts, I can understand if people vote lower.

  14. Only came for midfield

  15. 4-10 fro me, How long must we be stuck with this hideous gimmick called drs?

    I just don’t see how anyone can seriously say DRS add’s anything to the racing especially when the passing it generates is so ridiculously boring to watch & so stupidly easy.

    1. @gt-racer, I agree (although I gave it 6, average +) about the DRS, it even cancelled out the Renault power deficit, but if we get rid of DRS and keep these fragile tyres there will be no passing on track, we need tyres that can endure a lot of side-slip to allow attacking drivers to tailgate the car ahead and pounce on any errors. Get rid of DRS and Pirelli.

  16. I feel the FOM’s TV coverage took away from how good the race really was imo, there was many battles where we didnt get to really engage with. I feel they tried to cram in too much that was not really necessary, slightly dissapointed in that sense.

    1. We didn’t get to engage because DRS killed them straightaway not FOM.

  17. Honestly, pretty boring – especially for Spa. Clearly Hungary was a bit of a blip.

    No fight for the lead at all. What is going on with Rosberg? It’s like he’s perfectly fine to play number two. As a demonstration of technical dominance and excellence it’s astounding to see both Mercs go round 1-2 all the time but as a viewer it’s pretty dull. Even a sluggish start from Rosberg didn’t change much.

    Most, if not all of the overtakes seemed to come from a stunningly powerful DRS which is disappointing to see. Apart from that it was a bit processional, really.

    The most excitement seemed to come from Vettel’s exploding tyre and Bottas deciding to pick and mix. Bordering between average-boring to be honest. Not excited for Monza.

  18. 7. It was good, but I do agree that DRS was too strong this race.

  19. The comments so far again indicate that most F1 fans ARE the death of F1, and living in some alternate reality. Comments like “dull”, “very average”, etc indicate this. You have a race where drivers are dicing with each other throughout, performing amazing overtakes, ala Grojsean, Kyvyat, and Verstappen, errors abounding, ala Williams, and tyres exploding ala Ferrari – yet still it is considered NOT good enough??? Wow!!! What exactly are the looking for?? Engineered position changes every single lap?
    #GobSmacked.

    1. It’s the engineered position changes that are rather the problem, no?

    2. Yes, A right-rear tyre blow-out at 200mph is definitely a very good thing for a driver whose car is suffering it. You would certainly enjoy it even at fives times less speed.

    3. @kbdavies Maybe its because most fans don’t find DRS highway passes that exciting?

      Certainly for me the bits of good dicing & the 2-3 good overtakes were completely overshadowed by the vast majority of the other passes which were far too easy thanks to DRS & they were just not fun to watch.

      All of the recent poll’s on this website & the recent GPDA fan survey showed that the majority of fans simply do not like DRS, So when we have a race where 90-95% of the passes were done via an overpowered DRS it seems clear that most would vote it down as a result.

    4. What’s wrong with describing a race as average – over the course of a season, most races will be, by definition, of average or close to average quality for the fans. That’s precisely what makes that particular branch of mathmatics so useful and what makes the “rate the race” useful. If we all gave every race 10/10 because they are all “good enough” then this article becomes irrelevant and uninteresting.

    5. What exactly are the looking for?? Engineered position changes every single lap?

      That’s basically what DRS is though.

    6. People are allowed opinions of their own, you know. Hence the use of “discussion”, not “echo chamber”. If everyone thought the same as you, this would be a mighty dull place.

      I’m not sure who appointed you as the arbiter of what is right and what is wrong, but I would suggest they reconsider their choice.

    7. Thank you @kbdavies

      Was about to give it a 8 but chose to vote 9 instead. Really tired of this constant negativism.

      1. @kbdavies, @paeschli: +1
        And for those of us (including myself) who dislike DRS, it’s here and isn’t going away any time soon. So look for the upside – all the shifts in strategy and road craft to break/make 1 second gaps at specific points on the track.
        Although I enjoyed the race a lot, I would have been happier with just one DRS zone. But I don’t get to choose that. I can choose whether to watch or not.

    8. @kbdavies God forbid anyone have an opinion. I think people who found the race to be dull (myself included) simply don’t enjoy this atrocity that is DRS, especially when it defiles such a great track as Spa.

  20. Ferrari just blew vettel’s chance of podium, contrary to that red bull’s decision to pit Kvyat paid of nicely. Grosjean was terrific today, good race overall.

    1. It’s now 3 races Ferrari reliability-pit guys-strategy cost Vettel 3rd. LOL That’s unbelievable.

      1. Well pal, take reliability out of the equation and I reckon 3rd. was Ricciardo’s for the taking.

  21. @kbdavies
    DRS. We not likey.

    1. I wonder how much of DRS is down to poor defending? The DRS looked a bit easy, especially into the strong headwind, and Sky pointed this out quite a bit.

      Yet, Vettel was able to hold off Grojean lap after lap, even though Grojean had DRS. Vettel was certainly using his KERS wisely and seriously defending his position. But Grojean was in the faster car with much newer tires.

      Which gives rise to the original question. Are the drivers defending as well as they could?

      DRS also didn’t help the Perez/Massa/RAI battle with the 3 on similar tires.

      1. You are right imo. Sometimes drivers think ahead (or think about the guys further behind) and give up defending. But for the last 2 races we’ve seen brilliant defense from Vettel and he’s been always brilliant at that. But we don’t see that sort of driving very often. Actually, thinking back I can only remember that sort of driving from drivers like Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso for some time now.

  22. Would have been an amazing race without the 2 silver cars at the front. But as it was – 5/10. Mildly entertaining with a couple of great drives, but forgettable. And pretty much all of the overtakes happened in one place.

  23. 7/10. Not nad.

  24. 7, very interesting race. Good battles, differente strategies. Great job from Lewis, Grosjean and Vettel. Rosberg did well too and Kvyat very good again.
    Spa had seen a LOT of worst race than this one, but again, people have the urge to complaint every single time.

  25. 7/10 for me. One of the better races at Spa in the past 6 years.

  26. Anti climatic again. This year the races are often short of delivering something epic, this is another example, after the almost of Hungary to a definitive stale race. SPA is beautiful and for that reason 6. Awful DRS as usual, the loss of Hulk, Bottas, Maldonado and Ricciardo made the track empty.

  27. Mercedes 1-2 was boring but behind them it went Lotus, Red Bull, Force India, Williams, Ferrari then Toro Rosso.
    That’s about as far from a procession as you can get. 8/10
    (Extra points for Grosjeans podium, Verstappens overtake, Vettels tyre blowout and Kyvat’s charge. All very memorable)

  28. I gave it a 7. There was some good strategy and a few good overtakes, and a bit of a mixed field, but DRS was way too strong.

  29. Yihaaaa Grojean. Well deserved, even though I doubt he would have made the pass on Vettel. Would be fun to know how close he actually got on that last lap!
    So good to see him up there, and I enjoyed the interview by Coulthard. Hopefully Enstone will get an economic boost from this, and a bit more peace and quiet to work. Incredible, that they almost only updated the front wing al year, and then get this result. Hip hip hurray

  30. Not much I’ll remember in a few years, not a boring race. Better than the average one, a mild 7.

  31. 5/10 is definitely enough for this race. No real fighting for podiums, no great overtaking maneuvres, no drama like Magnussen vs. Alonso battle last season.

    I wish it would’ve rained.

  32. Only gave this a 6 today and that was due to the over effectiveness of the DRS. The only thing that kept it interesting was due to Perez and Grosjean

  33. gave it a 6 unfortunately. Passable race but if there’s one place I really hate DRS at it’s here. Such a great track yet most of the battles are dull to watch because of the gimmick. Really what’s wrong with the FIA? are they too dumb to understand that it’s way too powerful here. If they can’t remove it completely they should at least shorten the zone by half

  34. 4/10. Dull, dull, dull. Hamilton and Grosjean were superb, but it was a fairly forgettable race.

    Glad to see that Vettel managed to get out in one piece. That could have been a nasty incident.

    1. Mr win or lose
      23rd August 2015, 21:10

      Dull? This was one of the best races of the season! Nice track, nice battles, interesting strategies and different car set-ups. It’s not going to get much better than this I’m afraid.

  35. 6/10 Above Average for me.

    Nice to see some unusual faces running at the front and there were one or two decent battles but ultimately no real excitement due to DRS ensuring every overtake was a slam-dunk.

  36. 3. Best track on the planet and F1 calls this is entertainment ? !
    It’s getting like NBA games, watch the first and last two minutes.
    @Any race where there aren’t different teams fighting for the lead is average.

  37. 8/10 not bad.
    Rosberg having to fight his way back to P2 wasn’t bad, but on the other hand, it could’ve been more exciting had he not had a botched start and been able to challenge Lewis some more. He had the pace to do that, but it wasn’t meant to be.
    Vettel’s penultimate lap puncture wasn’t too bad, either, from an entertainment point of view. He and Ferrari took a gamble, and it was about to pay off when the tyre decided it couldn’t take any more punishment with the finish line almost in sight.
    Glad to see Romain Grosjean back on the podium, great job by him and a very deserved result.
    What I didn’t understand was why Race Control tolerated Botas’s stint on a mix of compounds. I think they should’ve waved the black and orange flag, ordering the team to correct their mistake a.s.a.p., then adding a penalty (in that case, 5 seconds would’ve done the job). Allowing the car to stay on the track although it clearly had an illegal configuration felt wrong to me, even taking into account that there was no advantage to be gained from it. It was a bit farcical, but I don’t know if that bothered anyone else, or if I’m just splitting hairs.

    1. For me @nase I don’t even know why they have that rule about not mixing tyres. Both versions are rated for the track so it’s not about safety is it – what’s it for? It looks like one of those that rule-makers put in for the pleasure of enforcing it.

      I thought it was a bad sign for Williams though.

    2. Mr win or lose
      23rd August 2015, 21:15

      I agree that forcing Williams to change the wrong tyre as soon as possible would have made more sense than issuing Bottas a drive-through penalty.

  38. Poor race..
    2/10

  39. ColdFly F1 (@)
    23rd August 2015, 15:39

    8/10 from me.
    I dislike DRS overtakes as much as the next person. But I saw great racing on a beautiful circuit as well. Also good to see the different tyre strategies (incl. failures) spicing up the overall event.

  40. 5/10. The only moment of true excitement was Verstappen’s pass around the outside, literally every other pass was a mirror image, car behind with DRS, ‘defending’ cars goes to the inside, DRS car breezes past before the corner. Boring.

  41. No need to overtake anywhere else on the track becuase you just wait until the DRS zone.

    It’s been this way for the last 5 years at Spa or whenever it was DRS was introduced. I truly despair at the stupidity of this gimmick and those behind its introduction and continued use.

    These are meant to be the most intelligent engineers in the world and yet they are completely devoid of common sense.

    1. @john-h It’s incredible how they never considered using DRS only on straights that are not usually overtaking spots, but long enough where it would have made a difference. But no, it would make too much sense for F1.

      With regards to “the most intelligent engineers in the world”… I think it was in 2012 when I completely lost respect for Paddy Lowe when he pushed for double DRS zones in every track and hailed the cursed thing as the holy grail of F1.

      1. @guilherme yes, I remember reading the Paddy Lowe comments with head in hands too.

  42. 3/10. I’d have rated it higher had it been at a rubbish Tilkedrome, but in the context of Spa that was utterly dire. If that is the best that F1 can do at classic circuit that almost always produces great racing in every category then F1 is in real trouble.

    Epic, last of the late brakers, overtakes into Les Combes are a thing of the past, DRS has completely destroyed that. And may as well remove Radillon and make it straight as barely saw a driver do anything but straight line it all race. What a joke.

  43. 7/10

    It was a good race, not as good as Hungary or Silverstone, but still good. Though Lewis’s lead was never in any danger, there were battle for rest of the position throughout the field.

    Great drive by Grosjean, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez and Kvyat. Shame for Vettel though, what could have been a very well fought 3rd position.

  44. 7/10. Drs zone too long. Still OK race.

  45. Massa was the only one incapable of overtaking with DRS in what was otherwise a DRS-fest. A little action here and there, namely Verstappen and Kvyat, but somehow insufficient despite a Lotus on the podium. 5.

  46. 8. It was a very good race with action everywhere, except for 1st place of course. Drama until the end. Surprise performances by drivers like Grosjean and Perez was nice to see.

  47. Entertaining enough race, but the DRS was far too powerful. Hell, Spa’s the perfect example of a track where DRS isn’t needed as, with momentum, you’re almost guaranteed to overtake someone down the long straight, not to mention the Bus Stop.

    1. This would be the easiest change to implement. DRS should only be implemented on tracks that need it (i.e. Barcelona, Hungary) but hey, common sense is something that doesn’t exist in F1 and hasn’t done for some time.

      The best implementation i have seen of DRS is at Austria where the longest straight is left alone with DRS zones either side of it to complement the racing rather than destroy it.

  48. 6/10 for me.
    All-in-all a solid race and it’s a pleasure to see Lotus on the podium. Some great action in the midfield as well, but with Lewis so dominant and Nico unable to put up much of a challenge it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the past two races.

  49. Garbage. I don’t wanna watch this! Guy’s tyre exploded out of nowhere! That is not acceptable. There’s no way to sugar coat it! This is not what I want to see!!!

  50. rated it 5, far too easy to pass with DRS, made drivers not attempt to pass on the rest of the track, no drama for the win either, Hamilton had it won by lap 1 – corner 5.

    At one point BBC commentator Ben Edwards recommended turning over to BBC2 to watch the 100m World Championship final, which i promptly did for 10 minutes, almost forgetting to go back to the F1, when i eventually did, i had missed nothing.

    Happy for Lotus though, good to have variety on the podium.

    1. That 100m race must have been 10s of your life wasted. The guy who dominates for 8 years or so won again, in the way he always does it: slowish from the starting block and then nailing it in the second half of the race. Totally predictable, no drama, 2/10…

  51. Mr win or lose
    23rd August 2015, 18:43

    I really enjoyed this race. I thought it was much better than the previous Belgian Grand Prixs.

    1. I dunno, 1998 was pretty unforgettable!

  52. I agree with many have said on this race. I gave it 7/10 but that was on the generous side.

    Some pretty good racing in mid-fiield and a good race by Grosjean and Lotus. Not competitive at the front though which takes away a fair bit of the excitement. Felt a bit sorry for Vettel as he had a good drive starting 9th.

    I heard the recommendation re the WC Mens 100m as well and turned over to watch it which does say something. Did not miss much as the race was a bit dull at that point.

    I have heard Button say that McLaren race was embarrassing. He’s right. What is going on there? Other engine suppliers have started from the same point albeit a season earlier. If I was McLaren I would be making a contingency plan for switching suppliers from 2017 if next year is anything like this.

  53. A race that needed a SC, it almost happened when RIC stopped at the start/finish straight only to be told to put the steering wheel back on. The race would have come alive considering the top half of the grid had crossed the pits and the other half would have made it before them.

  54. it’s a 7 for me. Max made som great/spectacular moves, tyre explotion at the end, and red bull fighting it’s way back made it a good solid race.

  55. Are the FIA still trying to “calibrate” DRS appropriately at each race? There used to be a lot more talk of changing the lengths etc. but if they do still tweak them they keep it a bit quieter.

    Anyway, DRS is spoiling the sport too much now. I can just about accept it at circuits where it’s historically difficult to overtake, but I don’t need it crapping up the circuits where you normally get a good race regardless and I can write most of those races down at the start of the season.

    1. Are the FIA still trying to “calibrate” DRS appropriately at each race? There used to be a lot more talk of changing the lengths etc. but if they do still tweak them they keep it a bit quieter.

      When there were year-to-year changes I made a point of documenting them. That seems to have stopped over the last 12 months. One of the most recent changes was at the Hungaroring last year:

      https://www.racefans.net/2014/07/23/drs-zone-shortened-hungaroring/

  56. It was a good race. I think FOM didn’t cover the period when Rosberg closed rapidly on Hamilton from 7s to 1.something at all, which would have been better. But there were good battles all around to cover. Great story of Grosjean and Perez. Spa is always gorgeous to watch, from the scenery to seeing the cars blasting though the trees from Pouhon to Blanchimont—it’s like the ideal image of road racing.

  57. A rate this race 6/10 because of DRS overtakings. I waited much more from Spa. Every year Spa brings more excitement than the other tracks except this year.

    I don’t wanna watch the DRS overtakings, this moves means nothing to me.

  58. A 7 for me…no challenge for the win, but plenty going on behind..without DRS there would have been very little overtaking…..and been waiting for the Honda upgrade for this track to put them nearer the front…..still waiting….

  59. Fine slipstreaming battles down Kemmel straight almost looked like the 70’s. Hamilton drove like Clark. Quite a nostalgic experience for a sunny Sunday afternoon. Nothing wrong with this race.

  60. Well done Grosjean!

  61. 7/10. The start of the race was great, I enjoyed the first 8 or so laps. The middle was a bit of a lull with the end being rather close.
    DRS overtakes into Les Combes are just a borefest. The overtake is done well before the end of the straight. The slipstream is strong enough to give cars a pull and then a test of a drivers skill is actually involved without DRS to secure an overtake.
    I just cannot get happy about Hamilton winning, and I love it when he doesn’t. I never felt like this when Vettel dominated with RBR in 2011/13. I felt really happy for Seb but never Lewis. You could tell by the end of the second lap it would be a Lewis-fest.

  62. 7/10.
    So happy for Romain Grosjean and Lotus – a long time coming for them. Ricciardo was unlucky, he would’ve been in the shout for P3 as well I think. A shame for Vettel, but that was a long stint. Verstappen is amazing, love his aggression, that pass on Nasr through Blanchimont I wont forget for a while.
    A pretty ominous showing from Hamilton, he’s proving just too good this year, fair play to him.
    It was good to see some different set-ups up and down the grid, made for some good viewing but DRS was too easy.

  63. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    24th August 2015, 2:25

    I think DRS should be renamed Defensive Reduction System, because it was way too powerful today. The defending driver had zero chance to defend and just had to sit on the side and watch the faster car just stream past. It ruined a lot of the battles that could’ve been.

    DRS is necessary at some circuits, but Spa is not one of them.

    Having said that, I thought the race race pretty decent. 6/10.
    Verstappen was just sensational, and Grosjean on the podium was awesome to see!

  64. 5/10 on my favorite track of the year. Thank goodness for Verstappen.

  65. Decent race, mixed grid, stirred a bit at the start too. Highlights were Perez and Verstappen, we saw some really nice racing at times from Kvyat as well. Coverage could have been better, they have several great camera angles showing off the speed of the cars but fail to use them enough.

    DRS really took the flavour out of several battles, it was far too easy to get by for most cars.

  66. 2/10.

    I’ve seen worse but practically every overtake was identical thanks to the WWE/DRS rules. Back in the 90’s my favourite races would be those where one could overtake, nowadays it’s the other way around; Monaco, Hungary etc. During my time F1 has improved in many areas, such as qualifying which is much more TV friendly, particularly in countries where adverts need to be part of the broadcast. As for the engines they haven’t quite got it right yet but they needed to go in the green direction so I don’t want to be too critical other than they let costs go completely out of control. I’ll still give them time to get this right.

    For me DRS is the worst thing that’s happened on a sporting level. I understand why it appeared and I salute the bravery in implementing such a fundamental rule change but, for me, it’s been a disaster.

    In summary; get rid of DRS, put me in charge and give the F1 gaming licence back to Geoff Crammond because everybody needs Grand Prix 5!!!

    1. Mr win or lose
      24th August 2015, 14:47

      I’d love to see Grand Prix 5! Come on Geoff!

      1. Option 1: Kill DRS
        Option 2: Grand Prix 5

        Vote now…

        I vote for killing DRS because there’s still GP4, not that I have the time to play anymore!!!

  67. 7/10

    I think the new starts were exactly what the sport needed. I have been watching some of the “classic races” on SkyF1 and the starts seem more random, this year they haven’t. The mixed positions from the start created overtaking opportunities we haven’t seen too often this season.

  68. 6/10 for me. A race not without incident but fairly short on action, Verstappen’s overtake being the memorable positive incident. Like many others I’m frustrated about drivers exceeding track limits and the stewards not taking a tougher stance. Vettel constantly put gravel on the track by doing so at one corner yet nothing was done.

  69. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    24th August 2015, 12:33

    7. What if Pérez would have enough power to overtake Hamilton…But otherwise, extremely upset when Vettel’s tyre punctured, but on the other side it’s good for Grosjean. However, no much drama…again.

  70. Gave it a 7/10, it would have been a higher score had Nico succeeded in his race start.

  71. I thought it was a good race, and rated it a 7.4. I felt it was more than a 7 but not quite an eight and if my rating was any higher than 7.4 it would have been round up to an 8.

    With Hamilton making a good start and retaining the lead after the first lap there was never really any threat to him winning but there was plenty of action further down the field which made up for the lack of a battle for the victory.

    One thing that did annoy me over the weekend was that most drivers seemed to be routinely cutting the kerb and going of track to gain an advantage at Raidillon and yet nothing was done. It may be the case that they cannot put big kerbs there to stop this because of safety concerns but I think something should be done.

    After the race when Vettel was speaking about his tyre failure he said that he didn’t go off track, and yet I seem to recall seeing footage showing that he was one of those who regularly had all four wheels outside of the white line, do the drivers not consider that as going off track anymore?

Comments are closed.