Belgium

Justin: I predicted before the race that, wet or dry, it would be a fantastic race. I theorised that if dry then the Ferrari of Alonso would pile forward as they are amongst the very fastest cars in warmer weather. Also, see Button in a much faster car a long way back! If wet, chaos would reign supreme.

What a race it was eh!!

Highlights for me and all F1 fans had to be the absolutely balls out overtake by Webber on Alonso side by side going into, and through, Eau Rouge. It was just insane. As Brundle pointed out, both are expert racers, but even Alonso had to yield on that one as Webber just said "I'm having this!"

Another highlight had to be Schumi coming through the field from last to claim a fantastic 5th on his 20th anniversary. It had looked like the wheel(s) came off his celebrations in quali yesterday, but he drove a fantastic race and even had a late squabble with Nico. The radio announcement to Nico was rather amusing "Ok Nico you are free to race but just be careful with each other". DC then interpreted that as "Michael's coming to get you!" Alas it wasn't much of a fight as Nico was on the harder rubber so Michael had more speed and grip on the soft tyres.

My co-blogger and I were texting throughout and even until very late on we couldnt predict a winner in this race at all. It was mighty interesting as different strategies played out....would Red Bull need one more stop than the rest, just when would Ferrari pit Alonso to change his first set of softs etc etc? In fact, the last I knew, both my colleague and I predicted either JB or FA for the win. Everyone looked strong at different stages and everyone from Vettel to Webber, Alonso to Button looked ripe for a win at some point. Even Lewis looked pretty handy until he shunted Koboyashi. From how it looked, I'd say he just thought he'd passed him when in fact the Sauber had pulled back alongside him and he just didnt look as he moved across to take the line into the corner. Ooopsss.

It has to be said that JB's drive was another mega highlight for me. How many overtakes did he do? Hasn't he done the most in F1 this year now? And people said he was boring compared to Lewis! At one point Jenson pulled a frankly stupendous move at the outside of La Source on a Force India and...Sabuer wasn't it??

From the start Webber got bogged down yet again and went backwards immediately.

It should be noted at this point that Red Bull tried to get a new set of tyres in use for the race, particularly for Vettel's car, as the quali set had blistered badly. It was found that it was the Red Bull car itself, the way it was setup, that had done a lot of the damage.

It was quite amusing seeing Vettel so...animated, talking to the tyre chief from Pirelli on the grid (snigger).

Anyway...from the start...

Rosberg got a flyer and drobe superbly, having to defend very well from Vettel and co.

As is usually the case there was chaos at La Source as people bumped into one another. Someone nerfed Alonso and he had to compensate by driving very wide at the exit. Button got nerfed from behind and a bit of rear wing broke off.

Hamilton also went quickly backwards as the Ferrari's swarmed all over him. At one point, when Alonso took Massa, Lewis also nabbed back 4th(?) from Massa. The Ferrari's, it has to be said, had a magnificent speed through Eau Rouge and you could visibly see how much faster they were than most others through there.

Vettel and Webber pitted quite early on. This left Webber in midfield, but on the harder rubber, which would benefit him later on.

During the safety car period, Vettel pitted whilst Alonso opted to stay out, hoping Vettel's tyre issues would continue. Webber had radio issues and didnt come in during the safety car period.

As it all settled down towards the end it was Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Button. Webber and Button quickly caught and passed Alonso as the Ferrari just doesnt perform well with harder rubber. For some reason, they struggle to get them up to temperature.

So, win number 7 for Vettel. It was amusing reading reports that because Hamilton crashed they say he is now out of the title race. Isn't everyone?!

Webber is the nearest challenger and he is 93 points behind Seb. As my mathmatically gifted colleague pointed out, he only need finish 4th in each race from now on to retain the title.

Onto Monza we go in 2 weeks!

(check out Martin Brundle's column here where he praises Webber somewhat for his overtake on Fernando, and too right frankly)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/14711653.stm

KIMI (this blog is named after him after all!)

Justin: I was reading Autosport yesterday and they had an article on Kimi Raikkonen.

I do rather miss his bluntness!

Quote: At Abu Dhabi (Ferrari sponsorship do on a big stage) in 2009 - "what do you think of this new track Kimi?"

"Well the first corners are quite good but the rest of it is shit."

Utter genius, honest stuff there!

Its a very good article on him if anyone fancies purchasing the magazine this week.

Also out this week is the new F1 Racing magazine which looks at Schumi's 20 year anniversary. There is also a fantastic interview with another, the original, flying finn - Mika!

No F1?!

Justin: A sterling job by my co-blogger on the Hungarian GP. I didn't watch it surrounded by Fernando fans in a Spanish bar as planned, but caught up with it on the BBC Iplayer when I returned from my holiday. What a race, Mclaren boys banging wheels and all!

There isnt much news to roundup really. I'm surprised my co-blogger didn't touch upon the BBC/Sky bastard hybrid deal from hell that will be here next season. Apparently Bernie was keen to keep the sport free to air, as were all the teams...though he happily didn't bother talking for long to ITV and C4 who were both interested in it. Not sure how I really feel about having ten races live on BBC and ten live on sky...I doubt I'll be able to afford sky so will have to settle for cobbled together highlights from the beeb....surely this is a step back to the 80's before coverage became huge?!

Anyway....no F1 for a while now.....bank holiday weekend is when it all kicks off once again at the magical Spa track in Belgium. I saw a rumour that even the owners of Spa were looking at running it once every 2 years in a share agreement with another track as the calendar becomes rather crowded. What a shame if this happens as Spa always conjures up a magical race.

I need a good F1 book to see me through this enforced F1-less period!

On the Button

Phil: Vettel might have qualified on pole, but almost from the off it was clear one of the McLarens would win the race. But for most of the race, it looked like it was going to be the other one.

In changeable conditions, Lewis Hamilton pounced on Vettel when he slid off the track in the early laps, and by the end of the first round of pitstops, when almost the whole field came in to change from inters to slicks, Jenson Button had also passed Vettel.

A few laps later, Nick Heidfeld added to his collection of spectacular exits from races (running over his own front wing in Canada, being shunted into a polystyrene advert by Buemi in Germany) when he had to leap from his burning Renault, which had caught fire by being held up in the pits with no air flow to cool it. There was then a small explosion from the sidepod (the Renault's exhaust comes out in front of the sidepod and is then channelled over and under it for aerodynamic reasons) and the remains of Heidfeld's car finally nearly collected the world champion, Vettel, as it was towed the wrong way up the pit lane.

Paradoxically, this triggered a rush for the pits as the teams feared the safety car would be called out, meaning that almost the entire field had to avoid Heidfeld's car in the pit lane exit. After this second round of pitstops, Hamilton was leading and on the option tyre, which meant he'd have to pit again, and Button was second and on the prime, which meant he probably wouldn't have to pit again.

It looked like a classic case of McLaren hedging their bets, ensuring they'd get a one-two whatever tyre strategy turned out to be right. Then it began to rain again. Hamilton, normally the class of the field in the rain, spun, then forced Paul di Resta on to the grass when rejoining the race. Button took the lead, then lost it to Hamilton on the same lap when he had an incident of his own. Hamilton, the first McLaren to pass the pit lane exit, came in for inters.

Then it stopped raining. Hamilton was now on the wrong tyres, and had to pit again. To really ruin his race, he got a drive through penalty for impeding di Resta after his spin. Button took the win, followed by Vettel who was the only other man on the right strategy. Button and Vettel pitted three times each, but Hamilton had to pit six times, if you include the penalty. He finished fourth, 48s behind Button, having done well to pass Webber and Massa in the dying laps.

It was Jenson's 200th race and came five years after his maiden win at the same track. But because of his two DNFs at Silverstone and the Nurburgring, he's still only 5th in the title chase. Importantly, despite having won only one of the last five races, Vettel finished ahead of his three closest title challengers and is now 85 points clear of his nearest rival, his teammate Webber, with 8 races to go. By my calculations, he need only finish third in each race for the rest of the season to be world champion again.

It might be more Jonathan Legard than Murray Walker, but there's my race summary done.