PODIUM.  Nigel Mansell -

After last week’s supremely successful campaign to bring back the Mansell Moustache … good news folks!  Thanks to a certain online price comparison (click here to see MoneySupermarket) website, the former British champion’s facial hair is back in all its glory.  Happy times.

PITS.  Jaime Alguersuari -

The Italian Force India driver was promoted to a points position in the Belgian grand prix after Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari was handed a 20 second post-race penalty in lieu of a drive through.  Alguersuari cut the Bus Stop chicane with only 3 laps to go, and somewhat aptly was demoted to ‘unlucky’ 13th in the final results. 
So really, it’s a Podium for Liuzzi, and a Pits for Alguersuari!

PODIUM.  South Korea -

It’s under 50 days until the inaugural Korean grand prix, and POP has uncovered what is possibly the best grand prix track preview ever!  The heavy metal backing music makes it sound more like F1 crossed with Guitar Hero, but somehow it works.  The circuit is another Tilke-track, which some may argue is a bad thing. 
But if it’s anything like Turkey’s circuit then we’re in for a treat, not a Turkey.

PODIUM.  F1 Sponsors -

POP is going to put on its business hat for a moment, because a huge shift in F1 sponsorship is gradually beginning to happen.  After seeing the success of FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) and its triumph over the FIA in the breakaway series debacle, the multitude of F1 sponsors have joined forces to form a similar association: the Formula 100. 
Collectively they will be able to lobby the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone, and CVC Partners who own the rights to Formula 1.

In a sign of Ecclestone’s sheer terror at the prospect of the sponsors all working together, he has openly called the Formula 100 “silly”.  People getting along and working together like adults ?  In Formula 1?  Madness!

PODIUM.  Roma Roma Roma!

Watch out Monza, you’ve got competition!  The ancient city of Rome in Italy is pushing to host a street circuit grand prix as early as 2012.  The only stumbling blocks are apparently the city council, and the Romans (that is, the inhabitants of Rome).  POP is currently lobbying London Mayor Boris Johnson for a London street track, but currently to no avail.

What Londoner wouldn’t want an F1 car whistling down the Mall, through Piccadilly Circus and over Tower Bridge?  But POP will settle for Rome.  Ciao!

PODIUM. Austin Track Design

We’re giving Tilke the benefit of the doubt, because from this first 3D layout of the new USA GP track, it looks to be a great one, complete with plenty of elevation changes, seemingly Spa-inspired and a set of corners that looks remarkably similar to Istanbul Park’s (Turkey – another Tilke-drome) awesome ‘turn 8′

The title contending Red Bull driver is taking time out from his preparations for the Italian Grand Prix to help raise funds for 24 year-old van der Drift’s rehab. The New Zealand-born driver survived a terrifying shunt at last month’s Superleague round at Brands Hatch, suffering a broken ankle, cracked ribs and broken fingers in the process.

van der Drift someone escaped a horrific accident at Brands last month. © Danny Dzenis - www.dd-photography.co.uk

And in aide of the injured Kiwi a charity karting event at the Daytona indoor track in Milton Keynes will take place next Tuesday (September 7th). Webber will wave the race off, and though he won’t be competing- fair enough being as he has a rather important grand prix to contest the following Sunday- Hispania’s Karun Chandhok and Lotus test driver Fairuz Fauzy will both be on track.

Along with the current Formula One men there are also some seriously talented junior series drivers who may well be F1-bound in the next few years, with Red Bull protégées Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne and rising British stars Alexander Sims and Oliver Webb all set to take to the track.

Members of the public have the opportunity to bid to race as a teammate to some of the drivers (see below for details), with the chance to join Ricciardo and Vergne’s team looking particularly tempting. Both are Red Bull lads, and both have enjoyed dazzling success in their junior careers. We’d put good money on at least one of them making it to F1 in the next few years, so if you want to be brag that you once teamed up with a Formula One driver get bidding!

In addition to karting the event will also feature a number of professional race simulators, allowing attendees to test their skills against real racing drivers.

“It’s really humbling to see so many good friends from within the industry support me through this difficult period,” said van der Drift, who claimed the International Formula Master title in 2008. “I am really looking forward to the kart fundraiser. I am sure it will be a fantastic event and I really cannot thank everyone enough for their efforts.”

Webber himself is no stranger to nasty injuries, having suffered a broken leg in a bicycle accident late in 2008. Badger would like to express mighty respect for Mark, Karun, Fairuz and all of the drivers and organisers involves in this event, and also wish Chris van der Drift a very speedy recovery from his injuries.

And if you’re going do be sure to drop Badger a line and let us how how it went.

© Craig Boon / Octane Photos

Event details:

The Milton Keynes based event will be open to a limited crowd of the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at a cost of £10 per person. Each of the successful auction winners will be given three free spectator tickets to the event.

• Date: Tuesday 7 September 2010
• Location: Daytona Karting, Milton Keynes, UK
• Time: 17:30 (race start 18:30)

There are two spots open on each of the following three teams. To bid for the chance to race alongside the young drivers simply copy and paste the corresponding codes in to ebay’s search box.

TEAM RICCIARDO AND VERGNE – eBay auction search id’s: 320583514270 & 320583515943

TEAM SIMS AND HARTLEY - eBay auction search id’s: 320583510196 & 320583512183

TEAM WEBB AND BLOMQVIST – eBay auction search id’s: 320583517872 & 320583519676

It’s time for part two of Badger’s look at pay drivers, with the best of the bunch under the microscope today. If you missed yesterday’s look at the worst ride buyers check that out here.

The teams that require pay drivers aren’t usually the type you’d expect to regularly achieve wins, podiums or even points. They’re looking for solid drivers, with backing, to keep the dream alive for another year before moving them on to pastures new. The best drivers are the ones that do their job in such a way that they look like more than just piggy banks with a Super License. Ukyo Katayama and Pedro Diniz were the two ever presents on the grid in the 1990s that managed to live up to this criteria.

Back in the days when it wasn’t a cardinal sin to advertise cigarettes on the side of an F1 car Ukyo Katayama’s career was primarily funded by Japan Tobacco. Wherever Ukyo went the Mild Seven branding followed. The first of his three teams was the perennial strugglers Larrousse who in 1992 were about as reliable as a chocolate fireguard and directed all their meager resources towards the half French, half Belgian man-mental Bertrand Gachot. While Gachot managed a sixth place finish at Monaco that season, Katayama could only secure a clutch of ninth place finishes, more down to reliability woes than any lack of talent.

Katayama-san enjoyed a disproportionate speed-to-popularity ration. © LAT/Autosport

That didn’t stop Katayama’s skill from shining through though and in 1993 Ken Tyrrell was persuaded by his backers take a chance on him. Unfortunately for both team and driver performance was lacking and the season was a write off. In 1994 things began to look up for the Tokyo native. He secured a career best haul of five points and only through bad luck did he fail to add to that substantially. Retirements and collisions with other drivers, most of which weren’t actually his fault, saw him retire in 12 of the 16 races.

Ukyo’s stock had gone through the roof. In the off season he was offered a drive from, in his own words, a “top team” for the following year but once again fate dealt a cruel blow to his hopes. He had been diagnosed with back cancer which, while not fatal, was painful. He turned down the drive and stuck with the now fading Tyrrell team. Katayama was solid throughout 1995 and 1996 but failed to score another point. He rounded off his career in 1997 with Minardi, where he struggled with the unresponsive M197 but still managed to cling to his reputation of being extremely capable and very well funded.

Unlike Ukyo, Pedro Diniz didn’t have to broker sponsorship deals to get his foot in the door; he just had to ask his Dad. Diniz Sr. was one of the richest men in Brazil and did all he could to keep his son in race seats until the final race of 2000.

Wherever Diniz went so did a large chuck of sponsorship cash from Parmalat. © LAT/Autosport

Pedro got his first Grand Prix seat in 1995 with Forti but quickly became fed up at how uncompetitive the car was. A decision was made to jump to Ligier for 1996. Diniz was solid but his performances were overshadowed by those of team mate Olivier Panis, who managed to secure a famous win at a wet Monte Carlo.

In the off season the call came from Tom Walkinshaw, asking the Brazilian if he’d bring his money to Arrows and pay the wages of World Champion Damon Hill. Unsurprisingly he accepted, but the performances of the A18 weren’t anything to write home about. To his credit he stuck with the team through 1998 after Hill had left and put in some decent performances. Diniz was no longer a stranger to the occasional points finish.

Diniz seemed to fancy his chances at a team with higher aspirations than simply keeping the bailiffs from the door and in 1999 joined Sauber alongside wizened Frenchman Jean Alesi. Any pretentions that Diniz would play second fiddle to his more experienced team mate were washed away as he indulged on a season of point’s finishes or bust. Until the final Grand Prix of the year in Japan when he limped home in 11th he either retired or finished in the top 6. In 2000 his performances dropped off, maybe because Diniz was now looking towards team ownership after buying a stake in the Prost team, or maybe because his luck had ran out. Who knows, but while Diniz will always be known as the man who kept Damon Hill at Arrows if you look a bit closer he wasn’t a bad driver.

Pedro had a few memorable shunts in his career. Here he is rolling his Sauber at the 1999 European GP. © LAT/Autosport

Getting into the sport via the money route doesn’t automatically consign you to a life of whoring yourself about to teams in need of cash. Some of the world’s best have helped along their cause with a healthy deposit. Earlier in his career Michael Schumacher was backed by Mercedes, who paid Jordan $150,000 which allowed him to take the seat of Bernard Gachot at Spa in 1991. It would’ve been a good deal for the team at half the price, although Jordan’s inability to tie Schumacher down to a written contract when they realised what a prospect he was saw them lose out big time when he buggered off to Benetton for the next race.

More recently Fernando Alonso made his breakthrough at Paul Stoddart’s Minardi thanks to a financial leg up. His team mate, the expendable Tarso Marques was shunted out in favour of Alex Yoong, who showed how rare of a commodity a talent driver with money can be.

Alonso, like many drivers, got his break by stumping up the cash to drive a Minardi. © LAT/Autosport

Can any of F1’s current crop of ‘pay drivers’ do a Schumacher or an Alonso? Probably not. Renault’s Vitaly Petrov has been comprehensively spanked by his team mate Robert Kubica, the original pairing at HRT are in a car so abject it’s difficult to tell their true worth but Yamamoto has still managed to plumb the depths in the same vehicle. With no great white hope on the horizon but new teams still scraping for cash the chances are somewhere down the line we’ll get another Deletraz rather than Diniz.

But that’s not true of all sixteen year-olds.

Take for example Nabil Jeffri, who is a sixteen year-old Malaysian racing driver. Like any budding F1 star he’s got the commitment and drive to give up the life of a normal sixteen year-old and put all his energy in to a racing career. And he’s got a sensible haircut.

But Nabil even manages to standout from the average junior racing driver. Because whereas the sixteen year-old versions of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and the rest were still learning their trade in karts Nabil has already progressed to cars.

In fact, today he’s testing for the Lotus Formula One team for the first time, carrying out straight-line aerodynamic work at Duxford aerodrome, Cambridgeshire. Thus, he becomes the youngest person ever drive a Formula One car, beating the record previously held by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, who first tested for Williams at the age of 17.

Photo courtesy of Fairuz Fauzy.

We think you’ll agree that this is quite incredible- a sixteen year-old behind the wheel of Formula One machinery. Sure, it’s ‘only’ straightline testing, but it’s still a huge responsibility to give to someone who was just one year-old when Michael Schumacher took his first world championship.

“It’s an exciting day for all of us in the Lotus Racing team,” said team boss Tony Fernandes. ”Being able to give bright young talent like Nabil the chance to play an integral role in the development of our team is a recognition of his burgeoning talent, and shows that there is a clear route to the top rung of the motorsport ladder, no matter how old you are or where you are racing.”

With Fernandes keen to promote racing talent from his native Malaysia it’s likely that Nabil’s affiliation with the team will continue long beyond this test. If his career in the junior categories shows promise there will be more testing, more responsibility, and perhaps, one day, a race drive with the team.

There’s still a long time before that’s on the cards- right now he’s got a Formula BMW Pacific campaign to complete. But with time and an F1 team on his side Nabil’s got a real chance of one day graduating to F1.

Badger guest writer Matt Briggs is back for more, and having recently looked at the sport’s best and worst number two drivers he’s now delved in to the history of pay drivers. Like them or not they’ve been around since day one, and with teams shorter on cash nowadays they won’t be going anywhere any time soon. In part one it’s the worst who are being put under the microscope, as Badger investigates pay drivers.

In 1994 Jean-Denis Deletraz was a relatively unknown Swiss Formula 3000 driver with a wad of sponsorship money and Larrousse were a team staring into the financial abyss. Naturally an agreement was reached and dependable Erik Comas was replaced with Deletraz for the final race in Australia.

"Deletraz tackles Adelaide street circuit in a Larrousse" Isn't a sentence that inspires a whole lot of confidence. © 8W/FORIX

From the off it looked like Larrousse had been short changed. The Geneva native was almost three seconds behind his team mate and fellow pay driver Hideki Noda. During the race, while the eyes of the world were watching Michael Schumacher run Damon Hill of the road, Jean-Denis did his best impression of a moving chicane, albeit an incredibly slow one. He was dropping two seconds a lap on his team mate, three times that on the leaders and by the time he retired he’d been lapped ten times. His drive was so abject that it provoked an outburst from Jonathan Palmer that James Hunt would’ve been proud of.

The end of the story? Not quite. In 1995 season Pacific were in need of funds and Deletraz was once again there to save the day. In Friday qualifying at Estoril he was going so slowly he somehow managed to stall the car on the racing line, earning him a slap on the wrist from the FIA and on Saturday he qualified dead last.

During the race he managed to haemorrhage roughly 13 seconds a lap on the leader David Coulthard. After little more than half a dozen laps he retired with cramp in his left arm, this on a track which is known for being tough on the right side of a driver’s body. At the next race at the Nurburgring he was slightly more nippy but not enough to salvage his reputation. While he managed to stave off any physical ailments long enough to finish he did so dead last. Fortunately this was to be Deletraz’s last race, not because the F1 Gods decided to save him from any further embarrassment but because his money had ran out.

Around the same time Jean-Denis was stinking up F1 an Italian was doing a mighty fine job of mirroring his form. Giovanni Lavaggi, or Jonny Carwash as he was unaffectionately known, was an Italian who, despite his prestigious family background, had worked hard to be able to afford a race seat.

Lavaggi's spins were about the only time it was seen fit to photograph him. © FORIX

His chance came at the same Pacific team that Deletraz made his home, in the same car, during the same season. His worst performances came in qualifying, as he never made it far enough into the four races he took part in to embarrass himself. Bar a wet session at Spa where he jumped the pay driver’s pay driver Pedro Diniz he started every race at the back of the grid and almost always ten seconds plus down on the top drivers.

Like Deletraz his story didn’t stop after a handful of laughable performances. In 1996 he was back, this time with his compatriots at Minardi, who managed to find it in their heart to give him the final six races.

Just as he did in 1995 he made his return in Germany, but this time he didn’t even qualify. At the next race in Hungary he was classified tenth after spinning out with 8 laps to go. At Spa he again failed to qualify and at Monza his car coughed itself out on lap 6. Arguably his most notable contribution to the sport of F1 was at the next race in Estoril when he found himself in a tussle between Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, allowing the Canadian to pass the Ferrari driver at the Parabolica and, not entirely unlike Deletraz, invoking the wrath of Jonathan Palmer. In Japan he once again failed to qualify, ending his F1 career. The only crumb of comfort Lavaggi can take from his sporadic appearances in F1 is that according to journalist Nigel Roebuck he wasn’t as bad as Deletraz.

Minardi was often a great place to launch a career- see Alonso, Webber et al- but Lavaggi had little to launch. © Rainer Nyberg/FORIX

While there’s an air of tragedy about the experiences of Deletraz and Lavaggi there’s something extremely Benny Hill about Taki Inoue’s stint in F1. He debuted for Simtek in 1994 at a sodden Suzuka but found the gravel after only three laps. Money saw him get a race seat for the next year with Footwork Arrows but thanks to the sheer expense and enormous embarrassment he probably wished he never bothered.

For most pay drivers derision is heaped on their speed, but Inoue had an innate ability to get caught up in the ridiculous even when his machine had ground to a halt. In practice on the streets of Monaco he went off one of the few escape roads and stalled. Rather than be lifted to safety and miss qualifying he asked for a tow, which arrived and began to take him back to the pits. Unfortunately for Taki the safety car was on an exploratory lap around the circuit and clobbered both driver and car so hard the FA16 flipped onto its roof.

Then in Hungary his engine failed and the incensed Inoue made a mad dash towards the rather laid back marshals who were meant to be in charge of extinguishing his smouldering Footwork. Unfortunately he didn’t heed the advice of Alvin Stardust and got mowed down by the slowly approaching marshal’s vehicle. He got a broken leg for his troubles but still managed to recover to see 1995 out. For 1996 Taki signed a contract with Minardi but his backers pulled out. To his credit he ‘fessed up and headed off into the motor racing wilderness.

It shouldn't happen to an F1 driver... © FORIX

We’ve ran out of space but honourable mentions must go to Alex Yoong, who almost literally won the lottery to buy his drive, Ricardo Rosset, who is proof Craig Pollock should never have been trusted to establish BAR and Adrian Campos, who finished just one race in his first season.

Catch back for part 2 of our look at pay drivers- where the best in the business will get a going over- tomorrow.

Because with Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, and Fernando Alonso all failing to score it could serve to turn the title battle in to a two horse race.

Lewis Hamilton now leads Mark Webber by an oh-so-slender 3 world championship points, one fewer than Webber led him by pre-Belgium. But the gap from Webber to third place Sebastian Vettel is 28 points, with Jenson Button a further 4 behind the man who ended his race- and perhaps his title challenge.

Vettel's tank-slapper in to Button's sidepod may have ended both men's title assaults. © LAT/Autosport

As fans we might not want the teams favouring one driver over the other until as late as possible, but for the teams themselves it’s all about putting the number one on their car for next year- so is it time for Red Bull and McLaren to back a winner?

Let’s look at McLaren first- should they throw everything behind Lewis?

Honestly, yes. Jenson’s had a good first year at Woking- two wins is more than many expected him to achieve at ‘Team Lewis’- but he’s been pretty well beaten for a while now.

Since Button’s victory in China there have been 9 races. In the five that both have finished Lewis has beaten Jenson every time; in the two Jenson retired from he was behind Lewis when he exited the race; and in the two Lewis failed to finish he was ahead of Jenson when he departed proceedings. Qualifying post-China is 8-1 to Hamilton. It’s pretty open and shut, really- Lewis represents McLaren’s best shot at the title and he needs to be the focus of their attention.

Lewis has been on top at McLaren since Button's brilliant win in China. © LAT/Autosport

But then there’s the in-team harmony. Jenson is the reigning world champion, and he’s not going to like playing second fiddle to Lewis. He won’t kick up a fuss or try to sabotage his teammate’s title attempt, but it will be a tough order for him to accept. No matter how much he says he supports Hamilton he wants to beat him in to the dirt at every opportunity- and visa versa. It’s the nature of the game.

But ultimately Jenson Button is a team player, and he is a mature, forward thinking guy. When that almost-inevitable call to back Lewis up comes he’ll do it without complaint.

Because he’s he knows that in 12 months the situation could well be reversed. If he’s leading Lewis next year and he needs the team’s full backing he needs to show he’s a team player now. It’s about seeing the bigger picture, knowing, for want of a better phrase, that you can’t win ‘em all.

So when should they sit Jenson down and suggest he backs Lewis? For harmony’s sake it’s got to be post-Monza. If Lewis outscores Jenson there the gap between them will be at around 40 points, a big number to make up over the remaining five grand prix when you consider Jenson hasn’t won a race since April. With the final five races being flyaways things have got to be done just right- mistakes and bad blood can’t be tolerated.

That said Jenson could take 25 points out of Lewis at the next race, and this whole discussion would be irrelevant. But the form book doesn’t suggest that will happen. If Hamilton finishes in Italy you’d expect him to be ahead of Jenson- and that should be the moment McLaren make him their number one. Privately, of course.

© Craig Boon

For Red Bull the decision to put the full weight of their title push behind Mark Webber any time soon will be a far tougher one- though Mark himself said yesterday that such a move “isn’t too far away”.

Because despite his recent troubles Sebastain Vettel is still capable of taking the title. In theory, he’s capable of winning every remaining race this season, something Button probably isn’t. Vettel has the quickest car on the grid, and of the remaining six races he’s a past winner at three. He’s been on pole 7 times this year, and you have to believe he will be again.

But then his head’s not in a great place at the moment, and if you wanted to back the driver in the best racing and psychological form you’d go with Mark- there’s no question there.

That’ll be tough though, because factions inside the Red Bull team favour Vettel. Whilst Christian Horner may want to treat his drivers equally it’s not his team- Dietrich Mateschitz pays the (massive) bills, and he’s getting his advice from Dr Helmut Marko, the man who ‘discovered’ Vettel and now acts as his biggest champion within the Red Bull team. If anyone suggests putting the team’s weight behind Webber Marko will blow a fuse, and he’ll quickly get Mateschitz on the case.

Marko is firmly behind Vettel. © Sutton/Autosport

Horner has, as you’d expect, rubbished talk of favouring Webber at this stage. “I think it is still too early to be contemplating supporting one driver,” he said after yesterday’s race. “With the way the points scoring is, the gaps can look deceptive because, while they look quite large, in reality they can reduce dramatically very, very quickly. There are still 150 points on the board.”

They could indeed. But in the last 5 races Mark has outscored Sebastian by 76 points to 61. Recent events only point towards that continuing.

But it’s inevitable Red Bull will wait longer than McLaren to back a winner. Even if Vettel fails to score and Webber wins in Monza they’ll still be supporting both in Singapore- and Horner will be telling us that there are still 125 points on the board. Marko won’t want Webber made sole focus until it’s mathematically impossible for Vettel to be champion; Mateschitz will yield before that, but not until a Vettel title looks all-but out of the question.

© Craig Boon

And you get the feeling that this might just work in McLaren’s favour. They’ll be quicker to make the call and ask Jenson to support Lewis, and in a world championship as tight as this one that could be the difference between having the glorious number one on your car next year and the shameful number three.

But things are still up in the air on this one. Far more will be clear after Monza- which just makes this year’s Italian Grand Prix all the more fascinating.

So folks, when- if at all- will it be right for these two teams to put all their eggs in one basket? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

A Felipe fan tells it like it is (c) Sutton

At number 1 it has to be the one and only, Spa.  It certainly lived up to its name yesterday as the rain intermittently drenched the famous Belgian circuit.  Emerging from the month-long August F1-holiday, you can always rely on the cold, wet, brilliant Spa circuit to product some pure racing “magic”, in the words of BBC pundit Eddie Jordan.

Sure, there were occasional lulls in the race, but the track itself is stunning, so who cares?  Plus it’s a handy moment for putting the kettle on.  It’s the longest circuit on the calendar, and therefore the least repetitive.  The many undulations and elevations in the track are what make Spa so good.  Television simply doesn’t do justice to this gem of a circuit.

Unfortunately, however, this provided BBC commentator Jonathan Legard the opportunity to come out with some of his favourite Legardisms: “Up the hill!” “Down the hill!”  Where’s the mute button when you need it?

The top step on the podium, and number 2 on the Badgerometer for Lewis Hamilton!  Despite all the odds, and 44 long laps, Lewis took a decisive win at Spa.  There aren’t many drivers who can retain the lead when the conditions are so changeable, the other cars are spinning and crashing around you, there are two safety cars, very little grip in the wet … and then end up leading the Drivers’ Championship.  Not bad for a day’s work.

"Don't mess with our Jense" - McLaren pit crew

At three it’s the McLaren pit crew!  Faultlessly-fast pit stops for the winning driver Lewis Hamilton, and an amusingly intimidating moment in the pit lane during Sebastian Vettel’s drive-through penalty.  As Vettel served his punishment the McLaren crew were waiting for him in the pit lane, arms crossed, lined up outside Jenson’s pit garage, just giving him the evils.

It serves as a reminder of the gravity of the consequences for Jenson Button, who was looking good for a 2nd place finish, but now walks away with ‘nil points’.

At four it’s Robert Kubica, or Bobby K as we fondly refer to him here at Badger.  A place on the podium after a so-so start, a solid drive, and a pit lane incident.  “I got distracted” Bobby said of the pit-stop mistake which saw him over-shooting the pit box.  With Kubica finishing 3rd, and Petrov 9th, perhaps it’s a Renault-Renaissance as we plough towards the end of the season?

Boy racers, eh?

At 5 it’s poor old Jenson Button.  A great opening lap despite Mark Webber’s slug-like start just ahead, and Button started to settle down into a slightly precarious 2nd place.  Then BAM!, CRASH!, out of nowhere comes Sebastian Vettel to dash all hope of a McLaren 1-2.  On the upside, the current World Champion’s vocabulary is suddenly burgeoning as his fortunes in this year’s championship begin to slide.

In the post-race BBC forum Jenson used the words “languishing”, and “forte”.  Who knew drivers could be so eloquent in the face of defeat?  How very British.

Somewhat predictably, I’m pretty miffed with Sebastian Vettel.  With an incident count of at least 3 during the race, it cannot be just coincidence and poor weather to blame.  Everyone in the paddock sees him as ‘boy wonder’, but perhaps that’s actually a bad thing?  Under pressure Vettel seems to revert to reckless childish driving. The lad’s got some growing up to do before he dashes anymore championship hopes.  “He’s still learning” admitted Red Bull boss Christian Horner, somewhat tellingly.

© McLaren Media

The first opening laps

The race started under dry conditions, Webber didn’t get away well, immediately giving up the lead to Hamilton into the first corner and Kubica slipped through too.  Before the end of the first lap, a few drops of rain fell which caused chaos near the bus-stop corner with cars running wide all over the place and Rubens Barrichello lost his braking point completely and ploughed into the side of Fernando Alonso – hardly a way to compete in your 300th grand prix, a massive shame for the Brazilian.

With Rubens’ car stuck out on the track, the safety car came out with Hamilton, Button, Kubica, Vettel and Webber out in front.  On the restart, Vettel jumped Kubica and the super quick Force India of Sutil was all over Massa.

My lap 6, Alonso was down in 20th but amazingly still continuing on regardless of Barrichello’s kamikaze style punt-age.   Schumacher was up to 12th after keeping his nose clean since his start in 21st.

Schumacher seemed to catch Rosberg, but couldn’t progress any further… until Petrov caught and drove past Rosberg who lifted so much that his teammate barged past too, damaging Rosberg’s front wing in the process, classy stuff.

The middle stint

Hamilton continued to lead, with Button in second and Vettel in third – by lap 14 many of the teams were looking to change tyres, but no one wanted to make any moves with the threat of a classic Spa rain shower looming and sure enough by lap 17, the rain came and Vettel made a massive error, under braking which ended with him taking out Jenson Button.  The young German, who has already been criticised for his overtaking skills (or lack of) this season was then handed a drive-thru penalty for causing an avoidable accident.

As if that wasn’t enough, Vettel who continued on after having a new nose and serving his penalty was then tussling with Liuzzi for 11th which resulted in a rear puncture and yet another pit stop.

The pit stops for the leaders all went smoothly and the order remained as Hamilton, Kubica, Webber and Massa.

The final 10 laps

The Belgian GP is always an epic race and today was no different, with 10 laps remaining and a fresh threat of rain on the horizon, it could have been anyone on the podium.

By lap 35, visibility was limited and Hamilton took a trip off into the gravel, but kept it going and kept the lead.  With the leaders struggling in the rapidly deteriorating conditions, the latter half of the pack took the chance to pit and the Mercedes drivers were banking on a huge downpour by switching to full wet tyres while most of the field took a cautious approach with intermediate tyres.

Hamilton, Kubica and Webber all dived in on lap 36, but Kubica dropped to 3rd after over-shooting his pit box and gifting 2nd to Webber.

With just six laps remaining, the safety car came out again after Alonso made a silly mistake and dropped his Ferrari into the barriers.

With just four laps left we were treated to a rolling start with Webber looking to make a run at Hamilton for another win on his 2010 victories tally, alas the front runners remained in position until the chequered flag, all except for Rosberg who used his marigolds to full effect to drive around his team mate for 6th.

What did you all think of the Belgian GP – live up to your expectations?

Just as drops of rain began to fall again in the Ardane forest, Vettel quickly changed direction and consequently lost control under braking before ploughing into the side of Jenson Button.  Vettel made it back to the pits for a new wing as Button caught a lift back to the pit lane.

After the incident, Jenson exclaimed what a hit this was for his championship hopes and how he was just minding his own business before Sebastian came from nowhere to take him out.

It’s not the first time Vettel’s overtaking skills have come under question this year – after many collisions as well as the massive one in Turkey with his own team mate, Webber.  Speaking of which, Vettel really hasn’t done himself any favours, with Webber looking to collect yet more points which could lead to Red Bull backing the Aussie for their title challenge.

The question, was it right for Vettel to be penalised for his move on Button?  To us here at Badger, it simply looked like he had a go and was caught out by the weather – for which a drive-thru’ penalty seems a little harsh…

Let us know what you think about it all in the comments below…

Note, since going to press, Vettel has had another incident while overtaking Liuzzi and suffered from a puncture – not a good day!

The Aussie overcame showers in Q1 and the threat of elimination in Q2 to finish the top-ten shootout quickest, with his closest title rival Lewis Hamilton grabbing second place late in the session.

© Octane Photos

Of the three sessions it was Q1 that provided the most excitement, the session beginning with the whole field headed out in search of a banker lap. With rain imminent this was going to be key.

But Vitaly Petrov soon threw everyone’s plans in to disary. The Renault driver somehow managed to find a wet patch on a largely dry circuit and dropped his car. He made contact with the wall, stalled the engine, and thus brought about a red flag. Badger’s own Benson Jamichello was watching the action near where Petrov had his off, and sent reports that the Russian ’sped off on a moped, waving to the crowd like the Queen’.

When the track went green again everyone once again made their way on to the circuit. But by now it was raining heavily around Stavelot, causing total chaos when the cars hit it at speed for the first time. Several drivers ran wide in to the gravel whilst Lucas di Grassi and Jarno Trulli collided, leaving the Brazilian sitting in the middle of the track.

At this point several big hitters- including Sebastian Vettel- looked vulnerable, but as the track dried a little they were able to put quicker laps in and ensure safe passage to Q2.

But there were some casualties in Q1. Petrov will start last after his error, and he was joined in the knockout zone by both Saubers. Kamui Kobayahsi and Pedro de la Rosa both ended up in the gravel within seconds of eachother, and finished the session 19th and 22nd quickest respectively. Along with these three Jarno Trulli, Lucas di Grassi and the Hispanias of Senna and Yamamoto fell in Q1.

The poor fortunes of Petrov and the Saubers created an opportunity for the new teams to sneak a car out of Q1, and Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen capitalised on it. They both progress to Q2 for the first time since Malaysia- well done to both Lotus and Virgin.

© LAT/Autosport

Q2 also started busily, but with no more rain falling things were far less chaotic. The drying tarmac meant that times came down as the session progressed, resulting in a dash for the top ten positions in the closing minutes.

Both McLarens and Ferraris made it through comfortably, as did Sebastian Vettel. Mark Webber was teetering on the bring of elimination late on, but pulled out a solid lap to join his fellow frontrunners in the top-ten shootout. Robert Kubica and Adrian Sutil also progressed without too much fuss.

That left two spots up for grabs, and there was quite a scrap over them, with the Mercedes and Williams pairings and even Jaime Alguersuari in the hunt.

In the end both Williams drivers produced quick laps in the dying moments to sneak in to Q3, leaving the Mercedes cars of Schumacher and Rosberg 11th and 12th. Schumacher had shown decent pace in this session, but missed out to countryman Hulkenberg by 5 hundredths of a second. He’ll start 21st thanks to his ten place grid penalty.

Also eliminated were Alguersuari, Tonio Liuzzi, Sebastien Buemi and Q2 gatecrashers Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock, Heikki winning the battle to be quickest of the new teams’ runners.

© Sutton/Autosport

Finally Q3, which looked set to be a battle between the the Red Bulls and Lewis Hamilton. Things were posied for a real scrap.

But it never really happened. Webber went quickest on his first run, with Robert Kubica second and Hamilton third. Meanwhile Fernando Alonso had a poor lap in his Ferrari, and found himself down in tenth as the cars prepared for a second run. But rain in and around the pit area made improving a tall order. Alonso was nowhere near moving up the grid, and ended the session slowest. He’ll start a very disappointing 10th.

Both McLarens managed to improve though, with Button going 5th and Hamilton snatching a place on the front row. He’ll start second to Webber, whose time was good enough to seal him pole. Teammate Vettel starts 4th, alongside the Renault of Robert Kubica, with Massa 6th, Barrichello 7th, Sutil 8th and Hulkenberg 9th.

So Mark Webber, has a sixth career pole, and will tomorrow look to extend his title lead. But with Hamilton alongside him it’ll be far from easy. We could be set for a belter of a race- not that we’d expect any different from Spa-Francochamps.

© LAT/Autosport