With F1’s summer break over, it was time to return to action and Spa was the venue. Lewis Hamilton won with ease from Nico Rosberg with Roman Grosjean managing to grab a great result for him and his Lotus team by finishing 3rd. Here are five things we learnt from the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix:
McLaren’s woes are far from over
With the introduction of a new engine package from Honda, it was thought that McLaren would show sort progress at Spa. However, it was to be a familiar story for Mclaren as they only finished ahead of the massively under competitive Manor’s. Although their massive penalties for engine changes resulted in them starting at the back of the grid, more was expected to have been shown from a team hugely under performing.
Ferrari’s gamble doesn’t pay off
After a great result in Hungary, Ferrari were incredibly keen to match that in Belgium and with Vettel just about managing to fend Roman Grosjean off behind him, all looked well with just 2 laps to go. However, due to Ferrari keeping him on a 1 stop strategy it meant at the end of the race his tyres were incredibly worn and old which led to his right rear failing and handing his 3rd place to Roman Grosjean.
A little investment can go a long way
It’s widely known in the Formula One world that Lotus are operating under a huge financial disadvantage compared to their rivals, hence why there has been so little development on their car throughout the season. However, money has been found in order to develop a new front wing to put on Roman Grosjean’s car worked wonders allowing Lotus to achieve their best result of the season and giving Lotus some incredibly valuable points in the Constructors Championship.
When the luck is not with you, it’s really not with you
With Pastor Maldonado, you can normally guarantee a racing incident with either him crashing into a stationary object or another car. However, after a recent run of bad results he would have been hoping for a decent result to help repay his team for all of their hard work. However, a retirement on lap two thanks to a catastrophic system failure on his car meant that the results at the end of the race look familiar once again ‘Maldonado-Retired’. However, this one was not his fault.
The future is bright at Red Bull
With murmurings all season about Red Bull’s future in F1, the potential of Danii Kyvat is plain for all to see. His 4th place came after a 2nd place at the Hungaroring and after Daniel Riccardo’s retirement today, it also means that he is ahead of his more experienced but still young teammate in the driver’s standings. If Red Bull can find a decent engine to put in their car, then they will be competing for Championship title’s once more.
