After last year's results, he never thought he would have such a competitive Ferrari in his first year in Maranello. Sebastian Vettel, winner of the last Formula 1 Grand Prix in Hungary, is full of praise for the work carried out by the Maranello team's mechanics.
"No team has made as much progress as Ferrari in 2015. In general, the current project is very promising and I have great confidence in the future. The first half of the season has been phenomenal: if you look at the car's performance last season, everything is better than expected. I think Ferrari has made the biggest improvement of all the teams and I don't understand why some people find it so hard to understand. In the team, we're really proud and happy with what we've achieved in all areas".
Vettel also talks about a Formula 1 that is completely different from the past.
"The relationships between the riders have changed a lot compared to 30 or 40 years ago, when everything was more spontaneous and they did a lot of things together, people were closer and there was a real group. It's sad. Now everyone thinks about themselves, and that's also because we're more and more busy during race weekends. If you look at each rider's programme for a Grand Prix, you'll see that there's no time to be together, and everyone puts their own interests above everything else. It's normal not to get on with everyone. We're like a class and it's inevitable that you like some guys more than others, but that doesn't mean we can't have a relationship, at the end of the day we have a great passion in common. F1 has changed a lot, for the better in some ways, but unfortunately for the worse in others".
He's fifth in the standings with 76 points, just one behind Valtteri Bottas' Williams, but Kimi Raikkonen is ready to confirm his progress at Spa, Belgium, where the circus returns after the summer break. The Finnish Ferrari driver is keen to redeem himself after his forced retirement in Hungary three weeks ago, and Spa is the perfect opportunity to do so. Kimi has won here four times in his career and it will also be a special moment for Ferrari as it will be their 900th race in the World Championship.
"I like racing here, it's really nice and it has the charm of the tracks of the past. It's usually a very exciting race, with lots of overtaking, but it depends on the weather and the tyre compounds available".
Räikkönen has won in Belgium twice with McLaren (in 2004 and 2005) and twice with Ferrari (in 2007 and 2009), but it's the last one that he remembers with the greatest pleasure.
"That year we didn't have a really fast car, but thanks to a good start we managed to get a great result".
For Kimi, it's also a chance to distance himself from the market rumours that see him far away from Maranello next year. The Finn's results have been inconsistent so far, but he's also been unlucky. In Belgium, he's ready to fight anyone to confirm his feelings on this beautiful track. Moreover, on Wednesday 19 August 2015, Kimi Räikkönen renewed his contract with Ferrari for next year, despite suggestions that he was leaving the team and his relationship with team principal Maurizio Arrivabene being a little too strained. This has finally silenced the voices of Bottas coming in to take his compatriot's place. Ferrari's announcement comes on the eve of the Belgian Grand Prix.
"Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has renewed its technical and racing agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The driver line-up for next season will continue to consist of the Finn and Sebastian Vettel".
Räikkönen's first words after the announcement of the extension are these:
"What can I say... Being able to have another season with Ferrari means that the dream continues. As I've always said, the Scuderia is like a family to me and it's with this team that I want to finish my career. I'm more motivated than ever and very grateful to those who have given me this opportunity. A big thank you also goes to all the fans who have always supported me".
And Maurizio Arrivabene adds:
"We believe that Kimi's confirmation for next season will help to give even more stability to the team, a principle on which we base ourselves, also counting on the good relationship between Kimi and Seb (Vettel, ed.). For our part, it's a great gesture of trust that we expect to be well rewarded".
More than the results, it was the lack of real alternatives, the desire for stability at Ferrari and the feeling with his team-mate Vettel that contributed to this decision. A painful confirmation, of course, because many names had been mentioned as potential replacements, from his compatriot Bottas to the German Hulkenberg, from the experienced Button to the up-and-coming Ricciardo, and even the less likely Perez and Grosjean, but none of them fully convinced Ferrari and, ultimately, Arrivabene, the team principal, with the blessing of president Marchionne, decided to opt for continuity in order to strengthen a project that started this year and has already produced good results (two victories and Vettel only 42 points behind Hamilton), which should hopefully allow Ferrari to fight for the championship next year. Räikkönen is staying, the next season will be his sixth with Ferrari, two blocks of three years with the rally exile and the two years with Lotus in between, and he's obviously glowing. His wish has come true, as the next one will probably be his last. The hope, as Arrivabene underlines when he talks about the trust they expect to be repaid, is that the Finn will be able to rediscover the brilliance that made him a champion in 2007 in the latter part of this season and in 2016. Räikkönen certainly hasn't been brilliant this year and has only finished on the podium once, in Bahrain. He'll be looking for immediate results, podiums and a helping hand in Vettel's impossible dream of closing the gap on Hamilton after his triumph in Hungary. After all, the German was one of Raikkonen's main sponsors. He didn't want to have to deal with Ricciardo again (after the strong contrasts at Red Bull) and Ferrari were reluctant to choose Hülkenberg and have two German drivers or pay a hefty fine to steal Bottas (managed by Wolff, Mercedes' team principal) from Williams. Arrivabene opted for the easiest solution and now dreams that the cold Kimi will thank him on the track. Kimi Räikkönen has just signed a new contract with Ferrari, and he has the chance to celebrate it with a brilliant performance at the Belgian Grand Prix, on a track that suits him particularly well. The Finn doesn't hide his satisfaction:
"I'm happy. Especially this year, when Ferrari has improved a lot compared to last season, and the results prove it. The atmosphere in the group is better and the feeling for the future is great. I feel at home here and I'm happy to be able to continue with the Scuderia. I hope to achieve great results and to win, starting from here".
There are no clouds on the horizon that could spoil his relationship with team-mate Vettel:
"I know Seb very well, I think a lot of him and he thinks a lot of me, there's a good feeling and respect between us. We work well together and that makes things easier. I'm sure we'll be even stronger next year".
It's the 900th Grand Prix for Ferrari, the 81st for Kimi driving the Maranello car:
"It's a special moment. It was special when I won the World Championship, when I won other races and on many other occasions. Going on track after the contract extension doesn't change anything... My approach will be the same as in other races and the goal is to get the maximum out of the car throughout the weekend, hoping we don't have any problems".
Spa is one of the Finnish driver's favourite circuits, where he has won four times:
"Winning with Ferrari in 2009 was clearly one of the best moments of my career, along with winning the championship. It's a beautiful track, although I'm disappointed that they've changed the bus stop chicane, which used to be softer and now breaks the rhythm a little".
Alongside Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas was the leading candidate to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari in 2016. However, the Williams driver didn't seem particularly surprised to hear that the Finn has been confirmed for next season:
"I wasn't surprised by Ferrari's announcement. It puts an end to all the rumours that have been circulating in recent months, and it also confirms that I never had a pre-contract with Ferrari. I expected this to happen and it makes everyone's job easier. As a driver, the sooner you know what is going to happen next season, the better. I'm happy to be at Williams and I hope to be here in 2016”.
The man to beat is still Lewis Hamilton:
"The team's efforts encourage me to believe that this can be our year. We just have to stay focused and do what we have to do. I don't feel any particular pressure. We don't go into every race knowing that we're better than the others. We have to work to win at Spa".
Like Raikkonen, Hamilton would like to return to the old version of the bus stop chicane:
"It seems more fun, even though I've never tried it, I've only seen it in video games”.
Finally, he responds to those who criticise his off-track lifestyle:
"I don't think I have a superstar lifestyle or that it's particularly stressful. Things are going well at the moment and I don't know what to worry about".
Sergio Perez could have been a Ferrari driver, but the decision not to wait another year to stay with Sauber, as team principal Stefano Domenicali had asked at the time, and to accept McLaren's offer ultimately changed his career.
"At that point (in 2013, editor's note) Stefano (Domenicali) told me to stay with Sauber for another year and then go to Ferrari, but then the opportunity came up with McLaren”.
A difficult year at Woking and being sacked after just one season tarnished his reputation. But Perez has no regrets.
"No, at that time McLaren had been winning for a couple of years, so it was the team to go to. But then I realised it wasn't right for me and when a big team like that gets rid of you after one year, it damages your reputation. Thanks to my results last year and this year, I hope I still have the chance to go back to a top team. The relationship with Ferrari is still good. In the past I was very close to driving for the team and in F1 you never know what will happen".
A lot of pragmatism, but just as much a desire to fight, to try and undermine the confidence of a team like Mercedes, who seem to be a step ahead of everyone else this season. It's with this attitude that Sebastian Vettel arrives at Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix, strengthened by his victory in Hungary before the summer break from the Formula One circus.
"It's difficult to say what our chances are compared to our rivals here in Belgium, but of course you can't think about the results of the last race. We have to take a different approach to each Grand Prix weekend. Having said that, we'll do our best".
The conversation then turns to his team-mate Kimi Räikkönen's renewal for next year.
"I think he's a great driver, I have a good relationship with Kimi and I think it's good for the team because he provides stability. That way we can continue to work together for Ferrari and try to do our best. Of course, everyone races for themselves, but I don't think either of us has such an ego that it becomes a problem for the team. I wasn't directly involved in the decisions regarding his contract, but it's no secret that we get on really well. We both tend not to waste energy on things that aren't worth it, we try to concentrate on what we need to do to get back to the top".
The German driver then goes back to talking about the fight for the title.
"As far as the championship is concerned, for me it's still mathematically possible to win, but we're realistic and we know that it's very difficult, given the gap we still have to our rivals. When we have the chance to change things, like in Hungary, we'll certainly have to do our best. So far, we've had the chance twice and it's gone very well. When it hasn't, we've done our best to be right behind them, but of course Mercedes' advantage is still there and won't go away. There will be new rules for the starting procedure here, but I don't think it will change things much. There will be less radio help from the garages, less chance to adjust the clutch at the start, but I think in two or three races we'll know how to act".
Fernando Alonso swears:
"The relationship with Ferrari was getting sadder every day. It wasn't possible to win, we were always second and I had had enough. I don't regret my decision, on the contrary, I should have left earlier, I stayed one or two years too long".
Words spoken from a pedestal that could make you think that his life is completely different, no more humiliating, with that pointless chase of Mercedes and the rare podiums of last season, but beautiful and victorious, a brilliant ride with his new creature, the impetuous McLaren with that uncertain debut Honda engine. So Alonso is happy, it has worked out well for him, unlike Vettel, who left Red Bull for Ferrari and had to settle for two meagre victories in the first ten races. Irony aside, Alonso must be in agony. He's no longer second, but he's not third or fourth either, he's limping along on the sidelines, and the only thing he can be happy about is the huge salary, 30.000.000 euros a season for the next three years.
The Spanish rider is a supporting actor and he risks being one at Spa, even though Honda will have a new engine on Sunday, developed to the maximum, with no chips left to use. How can the Spanish rider say such things? How can he be so eager to recant his past? You could say, in the Italian that the driver knows so well - including slang terms - that he is sta rosicando di brutto (he is bloody jealous), thinking instead of how well Vettel is doing with Ferrari. There is a clear resentment in his demeanour.
"If I had left Maranello earlier, I could have won more, I wouldn't have just two world championships. The car wasn't competitive in the last few seasons, I tried to do my best, but in the end I couldn't. I don't want to give up on winning, I want to go for the maximum and keep the dream alive. In 2014, with the dominance of Mercedes, I realised that Ferrari would never close the gap and it was better to throw myself into a new project, even if it was risky".
The problem is that Alonso disappeared for good. He scored only 11 points in ten races, ten of them at the last race in Hungary. His manager insists that he will be fighting for the championship next year, but it doesn't look likely. Perhaps it was the wrong decision and the Spaniard's real desire was something else, hoping to join Mercedes and replace Hamilton. In that case, all the vitriol directed at Ferrari might have been understandable, if unfair. Now it isn't. Because Alonso doesn't stop at technical considerations:
"At McLaren, we lose and we win together, we're a real team. With Ferrari, some wins and losses depended on the mood of the group".
A group that will probably like him less now and will be attracted to Vettel, who blessed Räikkönen's confirmation and made it clear that he intends to beat Mercedes again, as he did in Budapest. As for Hamilton, he doesn't seem to be in complete harmony with Rosberg, who has criticised his frivolous lifestyle. His response is blunt:
"I win and I do what I deserve".
For this Grand Prix, Mercedes are introducing a new low-downforce rear wing for Spa, with a spoon-shaped design similar to that of the McLaren MP4-21 in 2006. The aim was to find a balance between low downforce for the long straights of the Spa circuit and sufficient downforce for the more twisty second sector of the track. Red Bull, meanwhile, tested two different rear wings during Friday's free practice sessions. While Daniel Ricciardo ran with a very low downforce wing, Daniil Kvyat tested a more Spa-specific set-up, which was ultimately used by both drivers in qualifying and the race to prevent tyre degradation. McLaren arrived at Spa with a new specification power unit, hoping that the changes would bring them up to the same level as Ferrari. However, the team's race director, Éric Boullier, warned that it might take until Singapore to see the benefits and anticipated a difficult Belgian Grand Prix. In keeping with the new power unit, the team also introduced a new engine cover. Other updates to the McLaren MP4-30 included an unprecedented front floor tray design, lower side pods and a new position for the radiator that cools the electronic recovery system. In the first practice session on Friday morning, Nico Rosberg was quickest, a quarter of a second ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, after initial problems with his power unit. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) was third, just five-hundredths of a second slower than Hamilton, with Kimi Raikkonen another tenth off the pace in fourth. Fifty minutes into the session, a red flag was waved when Pastor Maldonado lost traction on the rear of his Lotus E23 Hybrid coming out of the Les Combes corner and hit the tyre barriers, damaging the front right of his car. The session was stopped for ten minutes to allow the track marshals to repair the barriers. Speaking about his crash, Maldonado said:
"It was very unlucky because I almost saved the car. But it happened anyway. This track is always very difficult when you have a moment or whatever, especially at that point where the second sector is quite narrow. But these things can happen. We can't change that now. We have to look forward”.
In the second Lotus, Romain Grosjean was again replaced by Jolyon Palmer, who finished the session in 17th place. Friday afternoon's second practice session was marred by another accident when Nico Rosberg's Mercedes suffered a rear tyre blowout, causing him to spin in the run-up to the Blanchimont corner. Rosberg managed to avoid hitting the tyre barriers, but the session was still red-flagged to clear the track of the car. Prior to the incident, Rosberg had set the fastest time of the session with a 1:49.687, three tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Hamilton in second. Ricciardo was again third, a further 0.4 seconds down, ahead of fellow Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat, one second behind Rosberg. The Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were 14th and 16th respectively, ahead of the two McLaren drivers, who were only faster than the two Manor Marussia cars. Rosberg's tyre failure was later determined to be the result of an external cut, ruling out the possibility of structural integrity issues. However, Rosberg remained concerned about the reliability of the tyres for Sunday's race, saying:
"The problem is that we don't really understand it. There are theories, but there's no real evidence, so it's a bit worrying".
Undoubtedly satisfied with his best time, Nico Rosberg, speaking to journalists at the end of free practice, still seemed dazed by the dangerous off-track incident.
"There were no warning signs, that's why it was quite shocking. It's not nice to lose control of your car at 306 km/h. Luckily I didn't hit the wall, but it was scary. We don't know what happened. Maybe you could see on TV at the beginning of the lap that the tyre broke a bit, but we need to analyse what happened before we can talk about it. Anyway, it went well today. I was fast and this is a good start to the weekend".
Speed and trembling, hopes and problems, an eventful Friday for Nico Rosberg, who was the absolute protagonist of the first practice session at Spa, the most fascinating circuit in the world championship, the university of driving, the track that doesn't forgive: if you make a mistake here, you hit the wall. Nico Rosberg looks at the times at the end of the two practice sessions and feels satisfied, he's the best and he's beaten his rival Lewis Hamilton. But then he thinks about the right rear tyre that blew out at 306 km/h at the end of the Blanchimont corner, he thinks about the shocking spin, about the corners that he managed so well to avoid hitting the barriers:
"I was scared, it was shocking, it's no fun to lose control of the car at such speed. I was sure I was going to hit the wall, luckily it went well and I didn't hurt myself. It's only fair that the team investigates what happened together with Pirelli, because the images show that the tyre started to deflate at the beginning of the lap. I didn't notice anything, but it's not normal. Let's hope it was just a puncture”.
That's what Mercedes said. A misfortune that can happen, even if it would be best not to experience such blows to the heart at a speed of 300 kph. Pirelli have promised to carry out a detailed analysis, at this stage they have ruled out any structural failure, but they still haven't found the external factor that caused the puncture. It's better to focus on the fact that Rosberg took his silver car for a spin without damaging it. Parking the car in the run-off area will allow him to once again attack the throne of Lewis Hamilton, whom he's criticised more than once in recent days.
Rosberg is 21 points behind in the standings and in Budapest he missed a golden opportunity with the wrong tyre decision, so he knows he can't make any more mistakes. During the evening, Hamilton admitted that he needed to find a bit more speed to contrast with his opponent, but also said that he didn't have any problems with the car. Rosberg, eager for a comeback, is banking on the new starting procedure: no more electronic help from the garage, it's all up to the driver. There will be more mistakes, the drivers will have to find the right balance between releasing the clutch and the grip of the tarmac to avoid slow starts or spins, and Rosberg believes he's better than Hamilton in that one area. Vettel, disappointed with his Ferrari, feels the same:
"Spa is not Budapest, but we have to do better".
Qualifying, with the new engine, will show whether Ferrari can be competitive here or not. And above all, whether Raikkonen, the King of Spa, who has triumphed here four times, can do it. And his seemingly innocent look makes everyone hope that he will. Meanwhile, there's the big penalty for the two McLaren-Honda drivers for the Belgian Grand Prix. At Spa, the Anglo-Japanese team announced that they'd be running a seventh and an eighth engine this weekend. It was therefore impossible for the stewards not to penalise Fernando Alondo and Jenson Button. The Spanish driver was docked 30 places on the grid, while the Englishman only received a 25-place penalty. The Woking team's strategy was to accumulate penalties at Spa, where they couldn't hope for a good result anyway, so that they would be more relaxed for the following weekends. World champion Lewis Hamilton recovered in the third session on Saturday morning, setting the fastest time, almost half a second faster than Rosberg. In an uneventful session, the two Ferrari drivers finished third and fourth, with Vettel leading Räikkönen. Meanwhile, Force India's Sergio Pérez and Nico Hulkenberg finished the session in fifth and eighth respectively, separated by the Red Bull drivers. The only hiccup in the third practice session came when Romain Grosjean nearly spun while trying to overtake Kimi Raikkonen in turn 16, complaining to his team that it was a very, very dangerous manoeuvre. A few hours later, Valtteri Bottas was the first and last out on track in the first part of qualifying (Q1), starting the lap that saved him from elimination in the final moments of the session. Both Manor Marussia cars, both McLaren drivers and Sauber's Felipe Nasr were excluded from further participation. Max Verstappen managed to qualify for Q2 despite complaining of a loss of power on his car. In the second part of qualifying, Kimi Räikkönen came to a halt on the track due to a loss of oil pressure. The session was briefly red-flagged to clear the track and when it resumed, both Mercedes drivers decided not to go out again as their first times were good enough to progress to Q3.
Max Verstappen did not start Q2 at all due to problems with his car, leaving him in provisional 14th place on the grid (excluding his penalty) and Raikkonen in 15th. The other three drivers to drop out were Marcus Ericsson for Sauber, Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg. Hülkenberg's time was just three-tenths of a second slower than tenth-placed Sebastian Vettel's and he was the only Mercedes driver not to start on pole. Lewis Hamilton was the first Mercedes driver to set a timed lap in Q3, almost half a second faster than Rosberg in Q2. While Rosberg also managed to improve his times, he finished 0.458s behind his team-mate and second on the grid. It was Lewis Hamilton's tenth pole position in eleven races and means he has secured the FIA Pole Position Trophy at this early stage of the season. The next fastest car, Valtteri Bottas for Williams, was 1.3 seconds behind Hamilton's time of 1:47.197. Fourth fastest was Grosjean. Sergio Pérez also put in a surprising performance to finish fifth for Force India. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel, who won the previous race in Hungary, was only ninth fastest after a mistake in the final chicane. Once again, he's out in front. He is the king of pole positions, the tenth of the season in Belgium and the sixth in a row, a record previously held only by Hakkinen (McLaren, 1999) and Schumacher (Ferrari, 2000). He stunned his rivals, moving from the carnival of Barbados, where he was with his new flame Rihanna before arriving at Spa, to the carnival of speed with ease. On a track that doesn't forgive, where every mistake is fatal, his ability allowed him to gain huge gaps on his rivals.
More than four tenths from his unfortunate partner Nico Rosberg, who had the illusion of beating him on Friday, and almost 1.5 seconds or a few tenths more from the rest of the world. From a surprising Valtteri Bottas, third in his Williams, from Romain Grosjean (who will start from the fifth row due to a gearbox change on his Lotus), from Sergio Perez's Force India, from Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull, from Felipe Massa's Williams, from Pastor Maldonado's Williams and from Sebastian Vettel's terrible Ferrari. The German was the last of the supporting cast at the Unbeatable's banquet with an embarrassing ninth place, which will become eighth on the grid (because of Grosjean's penalty) and will force him to make a demanding comeback if he wants to finish on the podium, a goal he says is still within his grasp. Hamilton may exaggerate with his frivolous and unconventional life, he may even be too glamorous, as some detractors claim, but on the track he's a real fury. On Saturday, after the crowning, he was beaming:
"Because my car is amazing, the team did a great job, in the last two attempts I managed to find the speed I was lacking and then the others couldn't do anything".
They all had to get down on their knees, especially a very disappointed Rosberg, who looked rather distraught at the end of the session:
"I didn't do anything wrong and yet I'm second, with a big gap. Anyway, nothing is lost, anything can happen at the start and the Eau Rouge is the ideal place to overtake".
It's there, on one of the most mythical corners of the world championship, that Rosberg will challenge his rival. A showdown that could be decisive in the fight for the title, with Rosberg already 21 points behind. But first there is the new starting procedure, where the drivers have to do everything themselves. In England (Massa took advantage) and Hungary (Vettel took advantage) Hamilton had disastrous starts and his rivals are dreaming of worse this time. He doesn't seem too worried:
"Nico has spent a lot of time on the simulator, the team has worked a lot on this aspect, so I don't see why I should be worried".
Certainly, Ferrari won't have to be at the 900th Grand Prix in their history, after a very poor Saturday. Räikkönen's engine, before it stopped and forced him to park, made a disturbing noise. The reason: the gears in the oil pump had broken, resulting in an inevitable loss of pressure. This happened during the second lap and resulted in a fourteenth-place finish, which could even see him start from the ninth row in the event of a gearbox change. Kimi Räikkönen whispers:
"We will try to achieve a miracle. We'll have our race, but tomorrow will be complicated. Unfortunately there's nothing we can do, we can only keep fighting and do our best. I lost a bit of power and had to stop, now the team will analyse the problem. There's a reliability problem. I think in the first part of the season we were very consistent, then I had some problems in the last races and that's cost us a lot. We need to improve, but I think it was just an unfortunate episode".
But it's a complicated business. And Vettel's race is in danger of being complicated too. There's no excuse for his ninth place:
"It's my fault, I did everything wrong in the last corner. I went in badly and came out slowly. I lost three tenths and maybe third place as well".
Because all the others are very close. But Vettel still has faith:
"We are fast on the straights and have a good rhythm, on a track where you can overtake and anything can happen. There's no reason to panic, we still have a chance. And if it rains...".
Spa's famous rain. It hasn't come yet.
"If you look at the result, we can't be happy because we lost a car and I wasn't able to do well. But we did well in free practice and I don't think we should panic. The fight was very close and we can't be happy with the grid positions, but tomorrow we can do better. The pace is there, but other cars like Force India and Lotus did well and that was a surprise compared to the last race. The fight was very close and anyone could finish third or sixth, seventh, I finished ninth because we didn't manage to make a step forward from Q2 and the others did".
On Sunday 23rd August 2015, Nico Hulkenberg returned to the garage before the start of the race after reporting a loss of power on his Force India, but eventually made it to the grid. His problem returned during the formation lap and when his car stalled on the grid, the start was abandoned and another formation lap started. Carlos Sainz Jr. experienced a similar problem during the second formation lap and was called to the pit lane. He was eventually sent out after the start of the race. The race was therefore shortened to 43 laps. At the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg did not get off to a good start, dropping back to fifth behind Pérez, Ricciardo and Bottas, who he overtook for fourth by the end of the lap. Fernando Alonso also got off to a good start for McLaren, moving up to twelfth, while Lewis Hamilton maintained his lead, pulling clear of Pérez's Force India early on. On the second lap, Pastor Maldonado became the second retiree of the race when he stopped his car due to a power failure. On the sixth lap, Daniil Kvyat took eighth place from Felipe Massa, while Romain Grosjean also had a quick start, overtaking Bottas' second Williams to move up to sixth on the eighth lap. An early pit stop by Ricciardo on lap eight forced the hand of Force India, who brought in Pérez a lap later, but Pérez still came out behind the Red Bull. Over the next few laps, several more drivers came in, including Bottas and Grosjean, with the Williams regaining its position during the stops, only to be overtaken again on lap ten. Bottas also received a penalty for running two different tyre compounds at the same time. He would later serve a drive-through penalty. On the eleventh lap, Max Verstappen made a daring move to overtake Nasr on the outside of Blanchimont to move up to eleventh place. After these first pit stops, the order at the front was Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen and Ricciardo, with the first four still to pit.
Rosberg was the first to pit on lap 13, just ahead of Pérez, who had overtaken Ricciardo a lap earlier. Pérez carried his momentum into Eau Rouge and as far as Turn Seven, but was ultimately unable to overtake the Mercedes. Hamilton and Vettel pitted for new tyres on laps 14 and 15 respectively. Over the next few laps, Rosberg steadily closed on Hamilton at the front, but was unable to catch his team-mate. On lap 18, Romain Grosjean gained another position at Ricciardo's expense, moving up to fourth. Just two laps later, he passed Pérez to move up to third. On lap 21, Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull suddenly stopped at the exit of the Bus Stop chicane, leading to a Virtual Safety Car period during which many drivers pitted for new tyres, including Grosjean, Massa and Verstappen. By lap 29, Kvyat had made a pit stop for new soft tyres and was able to run fast until the end of the race, while Vettel decided to try and finish the race without making a second pit stop for new tyres. Kvyat's new tyres allowed him to overtake Bottas, Raikkonen, Massa and Pérez to finish fourth. Sainz Jr. finally retired on lap 34. Vettel's strategy, however, was not working. On lap 42, with less than two laps to go, his right rear tyre exploded on the Kemmel straight, handing Grosjean the final podium position. Vettel finished his race in the pit lane, but was classified twelfth. Unchallenged by his team-mate in second, Lewis Hamilton finished the race to take his 39th Grand Prix victory. It's hard to believe at this stage that anyone could take the title away from Lewis Hamilton. He swears it's not true:
"No claim, there's still a fight, seven races, an eternity".
But he has a massive 28-point lead over his team-mate Nico Rosberg, not to mention a 67-point lead over Sebastian Vettel, the tenacious German who is no longer hoping for a miracle. Super Lewis is unstoppable. And he proved it again at Spa, taking his 39th career victory, the sixth of the season (out of eleven races so far) and the second in Belgium. He stuttered a bit at the start, just long enough to give Perez's Force India a bit of nobility, but then he sorted it out at the mythical Eau Rouge and from there it was easy going until the end. Thanks to the car.
"Amazing, my team really gave me a dream weekend, with all the people in the stands chanting my name".
The skill of Mercedes. But also the skill of this outstanding driver. In the end, Rosberg was wearing himself out trying to catch up, he said he did a dozen qualifying laps, but Hamilton didn't lose his composure:
"He gained a few tenths, nothing to worry about, he couldn't have caught me".
It's true. With that rocket and the way he drives it, he's never looked more untouchable than in Belgium.
"I had a great rhythm and perfect balance, I felt that the car was improving every lap. I was never nervous or worried. In the end, I even saved the tyres".
Winning by a tenth is the same as winning by ten seconds. This happy ending is one that Rosberg cannot turn around.
"I made a mistake at the start, which was annoying because we were both on the limit. The car was fantastic, thanks to the team. Lewis was great and deserved to win. Now I'm leaving, I'm about to have my first child and it could happen at any moment. I'm really excited”.
Scared. Excited. Angry. Disappointed. There are plenty of words to describe the wild Sebastian Vettel as he gets out of the car, his left tyre blown and the podium long gone. The German has never looked like this, without the innocent child's smile he usually wears. He looks bluntly at Paul Hembrey, the Pirelli manager on the track, and says:
"You put my life in danger, on Friday you didn't listen to Rosberg".
They take him away. They tell him he's in front of the cameras now. And he says, a little calmer:
"It wasn't a puncture, the tyre burst. It was a big mess that shouldn't have happened. There was no warning. I'm happy to be here. To be able to talk about it. Any explanation from Pirelli? It's better if I don't say anything...".
He was third with just over ten kilometres to go.
"We deserved the podium, to be knocked out like this is unacceptable. If it had happened 200 metres before, I would have crashed into the Eau Rouge barriers at 300 km/h. On Friday, with Rosberg, there was a warning and it was underestimated. They were talking about debris, all nonsense. There's no explanation for what happened to me, safety must come first”.
It's clear that he's lost all control. Even in the moments that follow. He forgets to go to the weigh-in after the race. The FIA reprimands him, they warn him when he's already in the Ferrari motorhome, without his racing suit, in civilian clothes. He couldn't be weighed like that, he had to go back to being a driver, back to wearing his red suit. He goes to the scales, they accompany him, and he avoids punishment. Then he runs away without saying a word. The pieces he left on the ground, apart from the shattered tyre, were many. His words were fiery and the dispute between Ferrari and Pirelli was inevitable. The head of state tried to soften the tone a little: Hembrey, the Pirelli representative, overlooks the accusations made by Vettel in the heat of the moment, while Arrivabene defends Ferrari's strategy:
"I don't want to hear people say it was wrong, we don't put our riders' lives at risk, the strategy is not based on crazy things, but on the data we have, carefully studied by the engineers".
But he doesn't attack the tyre supplier outright. It was only during the night that the Maranello team gave a definitive explanation of the burst tyre. Just before the explosion, the tread hadn't deteriorated, the tyre wasn't suffering from wear, and it could have taken Vettel to the finish, according to a plan that envisaged (Pirelli admitted it, unofficially, but talking about a possible target) 40 laps as the maximum duration of the medium. Vettel had pitted at the start of lap 15, the problem happened on lap 42 and to finish on the podium he would have had to last a total of 29 laps. This was the way Ferrari had decided to compensate for Saturday's problems. One less pit stop (the only team to try this strategy), a gamble that didn't pay off. Pirelli are sorry, but they deny the accusations. The reason for Nico Rosberg's problem was a puncture, and in this case too, says Hembrey:
"We can't talk about a structural failure, it was excessive wear".
They point out that none of the teams were pushing so hard (even Perez with Force India only did 23 laps on one set of tyres), that the proposal was for two or three pit stops, not one, and that the run-off areas were full of pieces of carbon from the many crashes in the feeder series. They don't attack, they defend. And the poison spreads anyway. The heated and somewhat ugly scuffle between Ferrari and Pirelli that broke out at the end of the Belgian Grand Prix creates a situation that actually hides some elements. Sorting them out can be a good way of trying to understand who's right and who's wrong between the managers of the two Italian brands in Formula One. Ferrari was the fourth car in terms of performance at the start of the race at Spa. No controversy: Maurizio Arrivabene himself admitted it. In front of Ferrari were Mercedes, Lotus and Red Bull. This means that in a normal race, Vettel would have finished fifth, if at all. The Spa circuit, and this was already known after the race, puts the tyres to the test. So much so that Pirelli had proposed two different strategies: either two pit stops (the main one) or three pit stops. The one-stop strategy hadn't even been considered by the Italian team. The Maranello team tried a long shot with a risky strategy. It turned out to be a losing and dangerous strategy. The data available to the Maranello team, which led them to consider the one-stop strategy, wasn't complete, as the free practice sessions on Friday were interrupted more than once due to red flags. The most certain element, based on the information available so far, on which the Maranello engineers based their strategy was that the tyre life would be around 40 laps, as announced by Pirelli. An element that was confirmed on television by an overly talkative Technical Director, Paul Hembrey. Well, as approximate as this data may have been, it's rather embarrassing to see that the tyre didn't last more than 29 laps. More importantly, instead of degrading and affecting the car's performance, it blew out. Late in the evening, Pirelli tried to rectify the situation with a press release that pointed an accusing finger at the teams:
"Two years ago, our request for an official limit on the number of laps per set of tyres fell on deaf ears".
But on closer inspection, it's actually a glaring own goal: if the lap limit was so central to Pirelli's thinking, why were the tyre's maximum duration figures so approximate? As we have seen, neither Ferrari nor Pirelli are free from blame. Ferrari tried a genius move and it didn't pay off, Pirelli was a bit approximate in its communication, first with the teams and then with everyone else. It seems that the issue hasn't been resolved and the atmosphere in Monza will be quite heated. The picture of Vettel's Ferrari on the track at Spa with a burst tyre is circulating around the world, as is the dangerous and embarrassing exchange of blame for the explosion between Ferrari and Pirelli. Flavio Briatore, who is right, Ferrari blaming Pirelli for the quality of the tyres or Pirelli pointing the finger at Ferrari's strategy?
"Look, it's very simple. Pirelli tells you before the race how many pit stops you need and you have to stick to that”.
Is he saying it's Ferrari's fault?
"Tyres are a fundamental part of this sport. If those who make them tell you that your strategy requires two or three pit stops, it means that if you only stop once, you do so at your own risk. Then it might pay off and you are a genius. But if it goes wrong, you can't blame the manufacturer”.
Was the strategy wrong?
"Yes, I think it was. When I saw that Seb only stopped once, I told myself that he was going to finish the race with very slow laps. But the team knew exactly what they were doing”.
How does he explain the fact that even Vettel, an experienced driver, attacked Pirelli like that?
"When the drivers talk after the races, they're full of adrenaline... Anyway, I wouldn't make such a big deal out of it. All this noise is good for F1".
Is he sure?
"Yes, of course. At least the media are talking about the sport. If it was for the races, no one would pay any attention to it, because it is so boring”.
But isn't it damaging for two glorious brands like Pirelli and Ferrari?
"Let's not exaggerate... This kind of controversy is welcome. I'll say it again, at least we have the chance to talk a bit about F1, otherwise we'd be here saying that Hamilton has won again”.
OK, let's talk about F1 then. Does he like this Ferrari? What does he think of Arrivabene?
"I have known him for 25 years. He's a great manager. And like all managers, he'll be judged on the results. Let's give him time”.
A lot of people say they are similar in terms of style.
"I don't know... What is my style? Anyway, if he's like me, he should start winning some World Championships".
He's always been critical of this kind of hybrid F1. Does he still feel that way?
"F1 is a spectacle. Like a film: if the actors and directors talk badly about it, what do you expect? Half the teams go bankrupt, the other half watch Mercedes win".
Speaking of which, Mercedes helped Ferrari understand a bit more about these hybrid engines. Have they basically given them some of the technology?
"It wasn't really a big help. Otherwise they would have risked too much".
And why did they do that?
"To have a competitor. If I were Mercedes, I'd be in a hurry to give my engines to Red Bull. To win, you need someone to fight with. What F1 lacks are the races. The first goal of a team like Mercedes is to get back into racing. The second is to win”.
The anger and disappointment of the Belgian Grand Prix have not yet subsided, but on Thursday 25 August 2015, Sebastian Vettel insisted in another press release that there had been no problems with the Maranello team.
"Just to be clear, the team and I decided the strategy for the race together. I support the team and the team supports me. And that is what makes us a team. Our strategy was never risky. And the team has no responsibility".