#Singapore GP 2010

[umseb]

sebastian vettel, p2, in the cool down room after the race, singapore - september 26, 2010

#sebastian vettel #f1 #formula 1 #singapore gp 2010 #flashback fic ref #flashback fic ref 2010 #singapore #singapore 2010 #singapore 2010 sunday #tw flashing #tw transphobe

[umlewis]

singapore, p19 // september 26, 2010

#lewis hamilton #f1 #formula 1 #singapore gp 2010 #flashback fic ref 2010 #singapore #singapore 2010 #singapore 2010 sunday #tw crash

[vetteldixon]

It's funny how everyone wants to question me about my relationship with Mark Webber. Well, I'm gradually getting into the routine of saying what I think. Namely, that we actually don't have a relationship at all, because everyone does their own thing.

Sebastian Vettel, in his website’s diary entry for Thursday of the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix

#yeah absolutely hilarious... #christ's sake #sebastian vettel #f1 #singapore gp 2010 #red bull seb #martian #dear diary #you can do anything at sebastianvettel dot de

[f1cars]

🏎️ Sebastian Vettel drives Red Bull Racing's RB6 during the Singapore Grand Prix

📍Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore

🗓️ 26 September 2010

📸 Mark Thompson

#F1 #Sebastian Vettel #Red Bull Racing #RB6 #Mark Thompson #Singapore GP 2010 #Race #2010 #Marina Bay

[skitskatdacat63]

Cannot stop thinking about how Fernando was the first one to hug Seb after Monza 2008:

#two men who are not afraid to hug with both arms sjfklfl #but seriously fernando especially is always going full in on hugs(rather than the typical one handed) and i respect it #BUT GODDDDDD THAT HE WAS THE FIRST!!!!!! LITERALLY MURDERED ME #ive literally watched this race before and i didnt even notice #i think i wanted to see if there were pics of them from before 2009 and came across this and was so OH????? #fun fact if you look at my gallery from during the past gp + #its literally a mix of sad reaction pics and vettonso pics. what singapore does to a man. :') #but god i feel so abnormal about this hug. its just veru sweet to me okay!!! #vettonso is fun bcs theres not as much content so every little bit is very precious and important to me <3 #likeeeeee how close they hug each other and the way theyre still close when they pull back to look at each other!!! #i wonder what theyd be like if they hadnt been rivals. but tbh on the other hand their animosity is why I like them ! #but ofc very sweet to see them when the slate was blank bcs then im like hmmm how long until 'fuck you my boy' happens #well! you guys know theyre my brainrot nowadays :D #watching 2010 will be fun bcs its literally primetime for all my ships #f1 #formula 1 #sebastian vettel #fernando alonso #vettonso #we do a little bit of f1 #2008 italian gp

[f1-official]

this race is like getting a glimpse into an alternate universe where this season was actually good

#f1 #singapore gp 2023 #imagine if ferrari mclaren Red Bull and mercedes were evenly matched #it would have been like 2010

[lizablackthorn]

everybody moved on i stayed there

my comfort races..

#the gifs aren’t mine #only the sao paulo one is mine #charles leclerc #f1 #f1blr #f1edit #f1 fandom #f1 ferrari #sebastian vettel #lewis hamilton #monza 2019 #brazil 2021 #abu dhabi gp 2010 #singapore 2019 #turkey 2020 #bahrain 2022 #sv5 #cl16 #lh44

[mwebber]

what are your favourite martian moments? 😺

thank u for asking eve i'm so glad i get to talk about two of my favourite people on god's green earth <3 in no particular order just off the top of my head...

#1: ABU DHABI 2022 i cannot state just how much brain damage this moment did to me. like i vividly remember freaking the fuck out about the martian interview on sky and talking to the besties and barbi @brawn-gp was like omg another moment do u want me to clip. and i was like YEAH YES. PLEASE. I LOVE YOU (i love you <3) and then i saw it and blacked out and when i awoke it was to this. unparalleled brainrot Truly there will never ever be another

#2. MARRIAGE QUOTE do i need to say anything else. when i saw this for the first time i think i nearly had an aneurysm

#3. SINGAPORE 2008 their first real red bull date.......... i think about them sitting on that couples rickshaw every monday giggling with each other generally being blushy messes sharing secretive smiles like they're the only ones in on a joke. also mark pretending to push seb off a building only to catch him STOP my heart is melting

(tumblr is being dumb and won't credit the gifs properly but they're from thnx-mate-blog)

#4. VLAD RYS GEORGIA K MOMENT this is unironically my favourite pic of seb to ever seb. and of course he's looking at mark. no further comments

#4.5 THE OTHER VLAD RYS GEORGIA K MOMENT. this photo is still so mind-boggling like why the fuck are you looking at each other like that. hi. hello?

#5. MONACO 2010 HUG.

#6. MAKE LOVE TO EACH OTHER / ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR FIRST TIME. it's literally so fucking funny to me that red bull saw everybody's martian brainrot and was like. wouldn't it be so fucked up if we dropped that mark buttered seb's muffin after china 2009. twirls hair. haha wouldn't it be soooo random. if we did that

#7. WHATEVER THE FUCK THIS IMAGE IS. i can't even look at it for too long i start feeling funny in my tummy

#8. SEB'S LONGING STARE. i ccant believe i forgot this one it should be higher up perhaps

#9. AUSTRALIA 2016/2017. their podiums are SSOOOOOOO.

#10. MATCHING PORSCHES. is it hot in here? do you feel feverish? i feel feverish

#11. RIGHT ONE'S HEAVIER. monaco 2021 when mark casually revealed how much he knows seb still after all this time that seb was like ".. yeah!" like he himself was pleasantly surprised that mark still cares and oh god. somebody hold me

#12. NEARLY SKINNY DIPPING AU CANADA. caliss de tabarnak attache ta tuque mark nhabille pas des sous vetements criss de tabarnak de caliss d'esti de sacrament de

(from thnx-mate-blog)

13. VERY GOOD. i just know they had a Conversation after mark retired that was soo insightful and healing that they still reference to this day. they're very good with each other. btw. if u didn't know.

14. LOVER'S TIFFS. i can't. i can't think about them anymore i think i need to be put in a straightjacket and locked up

#15. 2013 PRIZE GIVING. the way they look at each other...... i'd write 5 million words of rpf too

there's literally so many more moments i want to include on here like mark's "i hope when i'm 70 they're not still asking if i love sebastian" or top gear when mark was like "my dad always said you shouldn't hit boys mate" or when seb and mark were at hangar 7 post 2010 and he went for the wettest limpest high five hand hold known to man or when mark massaged seb's shoulder in australia 2009 or their 1-2 podiums in 2009 or in 2020 when mark was like i've moved on from ferrari for u or "seb didnt expect sex in monaco" or china 2010 when they were bitching with each other or when seb was like i don't understand what he's saying half the time or when seb was on mark's shoulders for a red bull stunt or when they played cricket in australia 2012 or when mark was like we're very well-suited to each other both very handsome in that one magazine or when mark addressed their relationship in like 2014 and said we wished each other well in austria as you do or after multi 21 when seb was like i was racing i was faster i passed him i won and mark was like a cheetah never changes its spots we'll be fine or early on when mark was like we'll get hot chocolate together and i'll be going on about smth that happened before seb was born and he'll roll his eyes or when seb was like i learned a lot from mark or when seb said he'd give mark free hotel toiletries for his bday or when they copied each other trying to put stickers on their car or when someone changed seb's wikipedia page to say he's dating mark or when they did their pepe jeans butt ad or turkey 2011 when they all but caressed each other in 4k or the brazil 2011 cheek cradle or their websites i haven't even talked about their websites yet [I AM FORCIBLY DRAGGED AWAY]

#im not putting this under a read more. martian favs be upon ye #inbox #martian

[sebinwhite]

Sebastian Vettel in his pre-race interview with Martin Brundle at the 2010 Singapore GP

watch here

#sebastian vettel #f1 #formula 1

[hungriestheidi]

ao3: holidayblues

i think we're kindred spirits (so don't you dare walk away) (4.1k) - sebchal. ambiguous relationship. pwp / porn with feelings.

never complain, never explain (on-going, 2/4 chapters out) - galex. royal au. seemingly unrequited love. pining.

of other people's love (1.9k) - lewis x sebastian x hanna. ambiguous relationship. set before Austin GP 2023.

the house by the sea (on-going) - sebchal. bodyguard x prince au.

kinktober 2023 - three complete works, each under 2k.

romance by the fractures (43k) - sebchal. established relationship, not racing drivers au.

in your car, i'm a star (and i'm burnin' through you) (5k) - sebchal. secret relationship. set after Miami GP 2023.

he chose me (as his burial ground) (8k) - oscarmark. dead dove do not eat. non-con/dub-con, prostitution, corruption.

died all the way back to the root (now i grow again) (6k) - sebchal. written for sebchal secret santa 2022. secret relatiionship, fluff and angst. set in the 2022 F1 season.

in beds of flame, how often was i tried (2k) - sebchal. unhealthy coping mechanisms. set in the 2022 season (between Singapore and Japan).

monachopsis (43k) - sebchal. teacher au, infidelity, age gap.

real gods require blood (3k) - sebmark/martian. cover up for a murder. set after the Turkish GP 2010.

stick by me, close by me (1.3k) - sewis. casual sex. set after the French GP 2022.

you could kill me (and you should) (1.6k) - sebmark/martian. mildly dubious consent. hate sex.

#hi this is for archival and easy linking access! #myfic

[umseb]

sebastian vettel, p2, celebrates on the podium, singapore - september 26, 2010

#sebastian vettel #f1 #formula 1 #singapore gp 2010 #flashback fic ref #flashback fic ref 2010 #singapore #singapore 2010 #singapore 2010 sunday #fernando alonso #tw flashing #tw transphobe

[renarots]

🏎️💨 THE FORMULA 1 TAG GAME! 🏎️💨:

tagged by @solaireverie

thanks pookie <3

1. Who or what got you into F1?

i grew up in a pretty big nascar family, my family would put it on the tv instead of watching the kids and natural progression i fell in love with motorsports. i do think a combination of seeing the tooned cartoon and me being fascinated by the engineering in the cars dragged me fully into f1.

2. Who was the very first F1 driver you supported? Do you support them now? Have your opinions on them differed or stayed the same since then?

for me it was fernando alonso and jenson button. although jenson is retired i still watch him in his other series like nascar. i still support fernando as well although i feel like it passed the torch on to lando when he was the reserve for mclaren and then later took the seat at mclaren. if you cant tell im a huge mclaren girl.

3. Who’s your current favourite F1 driver?

lando norris and yuki tsunoda, cant pick one but yeah theyre my ultimate pookies 🫶

4. Is there a driver pairing or pairings you support? What made you attracted to that pairing in the first place?

my biggest driver pairing right now is lando and oscar, i think their pairing is what lando needed and what oscar needed and theyve already shown they push eachother so i cant wait for this season. my ultimate that i think about is fernando and mark tho, theyre my roman empire. from them always misisng eachother as teammates and then the infamous abu dhabi 2010. i could go on an essay about them (as a treat i also love nando and jenson)

5. Do your parents, siblings or relatives have a favourite driver?

no but i did get my friends and their cats into it. one of them is a ferrari fan and the other is a mclaren girl more leaning towards op81 but im gonna make her an ln4 girl soon. her cats are both mclaren cats but one only loves lando, she legit gets disinterested when someone else is on screen. one time she literally followed landos car off screen and my friend didnt even know that was lando so she was surprised her cat caught on to him.

6. Do you have any favourite races? Are there any that stand out to you the most?

i know i mentioned it before but abu dhabi 2010 is definitely one i watch a lot. 2020 austrian gp as well, even tho lando got the podium cause of disqualification it still holds a special place in my heart. Runner ups are silverstone 2023 and Abu Dhabi 2023 where pookies lead the race for a period of time.

7. Do you have a favourite circuit? Can be from the past or from the current calendar.

singapore is lovely, silverstone because of this year with lando leading the gp just really put it up there, and i think interlagos always has me excited, even if mclaren has a bad track record with it (please get your shit together for quali guys)

8. Have you ever been to an F1 race in real life? Feel free to tell us your experience going to one if you like.

ive never been to one theyre too expensive in america to go to one but i have been to a couple nascar races and those were so lovely. im hoping to take my friends and i to the suzuka gp next year tho (its so much cheaper please f1 sort your shitty pricing please)

9. Have you ever met an F1 driver in real life?

no and id rather melt into the floor than meet one

10. Do you have a favourite F1 car? If so, what is it?

i think the rb19 (rocky) has to be my fave rn if you asked me a year ago i would say otherwise but from an engineering standpoint rocky is the most beautiful piece of machinery ive laid my eyes on (excluding my beautiful b&m rollercoasters of course (my first love fr))

11. Do you have a favourite one win wonder?

not really tbh

12. Do you have any favourite quotes from the F1 world? This can either be inspirational or hilarious.

"i nearly said i wouldnt want to be married to him but obviously i- im happily married to a lady but" -mark webber (🫵🏳️‍🌈❓)

"who is the blind guy in the alpha tauri?" -fernando alonso (even tho it was against yuki it was so funny from this years radios)

"soy lago" -lando norris (i miss carlando guys)

"fernando is faster than you" -rob smedley

realised thats a lot of fernando related quotes but oh well 🤷‍♀️

🏷️ <3

@dumbf1sketches @formulafics @disneyprincemuke @lovewithmary @piasstrisblog @bekaillustrates @honeyhobbs and anyone who would like to participate

#renas 🏷️ <3 #f1 #rena rambles

[ivettel]

2022 creator wrapup

this tag game is going around other circles of tumblr, so i figure i'll kick another chain off for f1blr! also tagged by @haydanakin -- thank you, shale <3 happy new year!

list your favourite and most popular creations from every month this year!

JANUARY • favourite: puma singapore 2010 appearance my beloved • most popular: aus 2011 cunt king moment - 510 notes

FEBRUARY • favourite: japan 2009 did you mean babygirl? • most popular: frank iero in the "blood" music video - 1011 notes

MARCH • favourite: hungary 2010 fuckboy press conference (took me ages to colour and match but literally on the list of all time favs) • most popular: lewis and seb mexico 2017 drivers' debrief bitchfest - 901 notes

APRIL • favourite: seb x adobe creative cloud suite edit • most popular: australia 2022 scooter - 2462 notes

MAY • favourite: grand theft auto miami 2022 edit • most popular: monaco 2022 red flag vogue - 1622 notes

JUNE • favourite: baku 2022 weekend wrapup edit • most popular: lewis @ seb "ur doing amazing sweetie" - 1772 notes

JULY • favourite: ferrari seb bleeding heart edit • most popular: 'i don't care about the legacy--HONK' encounter - 2328 notes

AUGUST • favourite: grill the grid finale edit • most popular: sebastian "i heard silly season was quite turbulent :)" vettel - 1249 notes

SEPTEMBER • favourite: abu dhabi 2010 x austin 2013 quote edit • most popular: mcrfirefly gerard way "these are the only legs on stage" - 7209 notes

OCTOBER • favourite: boyzone anakin charli xcx edit • most popular: frank iero singing along to "fake your death" - 2179 notes

NOVEMBER • favourite: luke skywalker's cv edit • most popular: seb abu dhabi instagram live - 771 notes

DECEMBER • favourite: seb's 2022 wrapup edit • most popular: luke and han in the empire strikes back - 1384 notes

no pressure tags! @josefnewgayden @maranello @crusaderkings3 @brawn-gp @toyotagazoo @princemick @andreagrimes @h-f-k @vetterrari @cedobols @kkmeeluqq @leqclerc @queerbenched

#tag games

[leclerced]

Hey! What are your fave seb races?

hey! i haven’t watched very many tbh, i watched his debut and the beginning of the 2010 season, but i have a list of races i want to watch before the next season! this one is seb specific. tbh i want to watch all of the past decade but i dont have the time for that.

credit for the list goes to devyani on tiktok bc i copied this list to my notes app after she posted it ! i couldn’t find the tiktok though sorry!!

1. Monza 2008

2. China 2009 Quali

3. Abu Dhabi 2010

4. Monza 2011

5. Abu Dhabi 2012

6. Brazil 2012

7. India 2013

8. Malaysia 2015

9. China 2016

10. Silverstone 2018

11. Germany 2019

12. Singapore 2019

13. Hungary 2021/USGP 2022/Japan 2022

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber

Japan 2007, Turkey 2010, British GP 2010, Malaysia 2013

Controversey

Mexico 2016, Azerbaijan 2017, Canada 2019

#ask #anon #races to watch

[skitskatdacat63]

oh and. omg i’m gonna be so annoying spamming ur ask box i’m sorry but don’t be shy drop those 2011 singapore photos bestieee

no worries you're not being annoying at all!! It's fun to be able to actually use my horrible F1 pic folder for something hehe, so ty for inciting me

In the tags I was referencing these pics specifically:

But please take all of these assorted pics as well:

*I forgot I made this gif lol

#their height difference when its seb in the middle makes me insane #LIKE LOOK HOW TINY SEB LOOKS AAAAAAAAAA #but seriously feel free to come and ask me abt any pictures i have way too many #some day youll see a gif post of this race but i have to get through 2009 and 2010 first lol #i like the pics of him and mark in the team pic bcs i feel like they didnt often sit directly next to each other so its sweet to me #catie.asks. #2011 singapore gp #mark webber #jenson button #sebastian vettel #sebson #martian #sebmark #f1 #formula 1

[vro0m]

vro0m’s rewatch - 159/310

2015 Belgian GP

Alright. We're back after the summer break, it's round 11, officially the second part of the season and we have minimal broadcast as always nowadays. NOPE FOUND IT.

I remember I hated 2014 Belgian GP because I started by writing I think I like Spa and then everything went to shit– OH RIGHT WAIT I'd already forgotten it was the season turning point with the Long Review, Jesus. I don't know what to hope for this time.

It fucken wimdy. To the point we have a full shot of just the Spa forest undulating to really Show Us.

A little bit of context. It's Ferrari's 900th GP. They celebrated by announcing Raikkonen's 1-year contract extension in the week prior. Merc came with a new low-downforce rear wing. RBR tried two different new rear wings. McLaren came with a new power unit and a new engine cover but warned that the gains might not be visible until Singapore + a tray design for the front of the floor, lower sidepods and a new radiator positioning to cool the ERS. 

New regs were also introduced : drivers are now only allowed to adjust one clutch level after leaving the pit for the starting grid. I'm unsure what it means. 

The Lotus team has had legal troubles with Pic that I think I mentioned in the 2015 context in the Australian GP review. He claimed some breach of contract or something. Because of the legal proceedings, there was a possibility that the Lotus cars would be impounded after the GP. In the end, Bernie stepped in "to ensure staff were paid" and the cars were returned, allowing the team to race in Italy after this GP. 

Verstappen managed to get through Q1 even though he complained of a loss of power. Raikkonen stopped on track during Q2 due to a loss of oil pressure, qualifying in 15th on the grid. Max did not take part in Q2 due to his car's issues and was ranked 14th. Lewis' first hot lap was almost half a second faster than Nico's, and that's about how they qualified. Valtteri was 3rd, 1.3 seconds behind Lewis. Then it was Grosjean in 4th and Perez in 5th. Seb was only 9th.

BUT WAIT because there were penalties. The McLarens had already been given exceptional permission to use an additional PU in 2015, using their 6th in Hungary, and then came back with completely revised 7th PUs on both their cars. It meant a 50 place grid penalty for Jenson and a 55 place grid penalty for Alonso. Yep. You read that right. Verstappen also received a 10 place grid penalty for a 6th PU. Grosjean and Raikkonen both received a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change. 

In the end, the top 10 at the start was Lewis, Nico, Valtteri, Perez, Daniel, Massa, Maldonado, Seb, Grosjean and Sainz. 

Lewis thus became the first driver to get on pole six consecutive times since Schumacher, who did so in-between the '00 and '01 season, while Mika Hakkinen was the last one to do it in one season in '99.

Alright now let's see what I missed in the build-up at the time I wrote this. 

Of his quali Lewis said the first lap was great, and he hoped it would be enough. He knew it put a lot of pressure on Nico for the next run. The next lap he did was one of the closest to perfect he thinks he's ever done. 

Ted has been filmed walking around a forest at night to tell the tale of the curse of Spa aka a recap of all the times Lewis got unlucky at this track. And yeah. That's a lot. In 2007, he was pushed wide by Alonso in Eau-Rouge. In 2008, he won but he was penalised after the race for cutting a chicane and lost the win. In 2009, Alguersuari crashed into him. (In 2010 he won so it's not mentioned.) In 2011, Ted says he was slow on track. I mean sure but more notably he spun and crashed and DNFd. Oh sorry, now he mentions it, I thought he was done talking lmao. In 2012, Grosjean managed to take 4 cars out with him in a crash, including Lewis. In 2013, he was on pole and got a good start but got overtaken by Seb, who won. And in 2014, of course, he was taken out by Nico. So that's 4 DNFs in 6 Belgian GPs. Well well well. 

Lewis and Nico are doing a joint side track interview again. He's very happy about the qualifying performance but he needs to translate it into race wins, he says. Johnny says to them they must have bad memories of last year, are they gonna stay as aggressive? Nico says of course, they're gonna keep battling. Johnny asks Lewis if he has plans for the start. Lewis jokes that if he did he wouldn't tell him.

Johnny says he seems to be the man of the moment and then stutters on the word momentum. Lewis makes fun of him. Then he says qualifying has been great as he said and he's happy they have a great crowd today and he hopes they'll put on a great show for them. Then Johnny says today's very important for Nico's claim on the title, how hungry is he? He says of course every race counts. 

Back to the broadcast, Simon says that was a bit earlier and Johnny is now lurking around behind the camera. "What were you doing?" he asks, "rapping?" They laugh. He shrugs with a smile. It happens. 

Well there really wasn't much in this broadcast but here you have it anyway. Let's get to the race. 

Formation lap. 

Hulkenberg is already reporting no power, he was already having issues during quali if I understand correctly. He's told to pit. Then he's told to take the start and not pit. 

They're all ready but Hulkenberg is waving in his cockpit. Aborted start.

Second formation lap. 

Hulkenberg left his box but then stopped. His team tells him they'll pull him back in the pits. Now it's Sainz saying he has no power. He's called into the pitlane as well. 

Both cars are into the garages and may or may not join the race at some point. 

The others are racing! 

It seems like a normal start but in the end, three cars are ahead of Nico into the first corner. That's weird. OH MY GOD AND PEREZ OVERTAKES LEWIS FOR THE LEAD A FEW CORNERS LATER WTF. No wait he didn't, he was shown as such on the graphics but he actually had to fall back phew. Seb also got a great start btw he's up in 6th. Lewis is now flying away and Nico overtakes Valtteri for P4. He attacks back but it's Seb getting ahead of him now. Maldonado has lost the engine and is very slow on track. He retires. Verstappen overtakes Ericsson for P10. Kvyat overtakes Massa for P8. Sainz came back out on the track from the garages but he's now also slow af. Lewis is setting fastest lap after fastest lap. Daniel pits from P3, they're trying to undercut I guess, but it seems early to do that. Grosjean overtakes Valtteri for P5. Perez pits from P2, and it worked for RBR as Ricciardo is ahead. Yellow flags blinked shortly as Kvyat went wide after a lock up. Massa is called in. 

It's lap 10. Lewis is 8.4 seconds in the lead ahead of Nico. Seb is not far behind in P3. Then it's currently Grosjean, then Kvyat and Massa and Verstappen all pit as I'm writing, then Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Perez. Raikkonen is called in from P4. Nico is called in as well, before Lewis. Crofty thinks it's because Daniel, who's currently P4, is really pressuring them. Nico is out ahead of him as well as Perez, but Perez attacks! He can't make it though. Lewis is called in, he stays in the lead. Oh. Valtteri gets a drive through for "incorrect tyres fitted"? Seb pits. Nico sets the fastest lap. Grosjean overtakes Ricciardo for P4. 

Lap 20. Lewis is leading by 3.1 after the pit stops, still ahead of Nico. Behind them Grosjean is attacking Perez for P3 and overtakes him easily. Daniel is P5 ahead of Seb, Kvyat, Massa who's being attacked by Raikkonen and Verstappen is P10. Oh! And Daniel was attacking for P4 but as we're watching his on-board, he locks up and then stops completely on the main straight! That's a bad place to stop too, just at the exit of the corner… DRS is disabled, VSC, the gaps are frozen. Of course a lot of people dive in the pits. Perez actually pitted as Daniel had his issue. Massa pits. Grosjean pits. Raikkonen pits. Lewis asks how Nico gained a second under VSC. It's a good question, but the VSC is over now and people are racing. Perez is told they need to make his tyres last to the end, that's 20 laps, not impossible. The sky is darkening. Are we gonna see rain? I'm kinda bored. Oh no Seb is having issues? He's told to change some things on the steering wheel and he answers a bit high pitched that it doesn't react. Kvyat pits. Seb, much calmer : "Think about an extra stop if that makes sense" and he's told they're looking into it.

It's lap 30. Kvyat overtakes Valtteri for P9. Lewis : "Track has changed, I think I need another half hole back in." It's about front wing specs. Kvyat sets the fastest lap. Lewis is called in. "My tyres are still good, can I do one more?" he asks. "Negative Lewis, this is the fastest race, Nico will take the stop otherwise." He obeys. He's out in P2. Nico is called in, and Lewis is back in the lead. 

10 laps to go. Nico sets the fastest lap. Behind the Mercs the order goes Seb, Grosjean, Perez currently under pressure from Massa, Raikkonen not far behind them, then Kvyat, Valtteri and Verstappen. Sainz finally retires. Kvyat overtakes Raikkonen. There's a four-way fight over P5. 

5 laps to go. Grosjean is told to go get Seb. He's indeed only half a second behind but come on I'd rather have a sewis podium please. To make up for the boring race. Kvyat is warned over track limits. Verstappen overtakes Valtteri for P9. Kvyat overtakes Massa for P6 and they almost make contact. And Kvyat overtakes Perez for P5. OH NO! SUDDEN PUNCTURE FOR SEB ohhh nooooooooo. There's just a lap and a half to go… Sucks. Verstappen overtakes Raikkonen for P7 but locks up, goes wide and drifts onto the run-off area. Back in P8. 

It's the end of the race. 

Lewis wins ahead of Nico for the Nth time this season. Grosjean P3. Welp it was an eventful start but actually kinda boring after that. 

The video glitches just as Nico and Lewis shake hands so I can't gif it lol. Grosjean seems baffled to be here. Nico and him talk in French, obvi. Nico says something about "ta caisse" (your car, but slang) and Grosjean says "incroyable, incroyable ! J'partais 9 en plus !" (incredible, incredible! I started 9th on top of that !) then it's drowned out by the hostesses applauding outside and then he says "j'étais derrière lui, derrière lui, derrière lui, pfiou" (I was behind him, behind him, behind him, phew) The merc representative says he's very lucky and Grosjean nods as he pours water into his mouth and all over himself like a toddler. Lewis is nowhere to be seen.

Bono is in the crowd looking very proud of his boy.

It's DC doing the interviews. It's Lewis' 39th win, his 80th podium, equalling Ayrton Senna. Lewis asks the crowd if they're good. They roar. He thanks them as usual. He says he's had a great weekend, "again, an amazing job done by the team." He's drowned out by the fans cheering and chanting his name. It's unbelievable! 

DC says the only time he thought Lewis could get concerned was after the virtual safety car when Nico somehow got closer. Anything else? He says Nico had obviously good pace but he was able to answer to him most of the time. The car was feeling great so he was relaxed and just mostly looking after the tyres, and especially at the end after he saw one tyre had exploded on another car he was really cautious, and that's why Nico was catching him at the end. But he felt really under control the whole time and great assistance from the team. 

Nico gets a lot of noise from the crowd too. As does Grosjean wow. 

DC asks Lewis if although it's still close with Nico he's starting to feel like he might get another title. He says it's definitely way too early for that. He says you just wanna get these pole positions and translate them into wins. 

After the race, Seb criticised Pirelli's tyres, pointing out that Nico also suffered a failure during practice. He deemed it unacceptable and said if Nico said he didn't go off track then he didn't, as he has no reason to lie and that he himself didn't go off track and the tyre exploded out of the blue. He saw it as a safety risk. Pirelli's director Paul Hembrey said he did not want to start a war of words with Seb but that they were concerned when they saw that the teams intended to do a big number of laps on one set of tyres, as nothing suggested to them that they would go for one-stop strategies but rather two or three stop strategies. Nico backed Seb saying this shouldn't happen and pointed out it also happened in other categories. He said they both were "so lucky" as if it had happened a bit earlier or later it would have caused bad crashes for them, something Seb also mentioned. He called for immediate action as the next GP was to be Monza, which is a very fast one. Pirelli reacted by asking for a maximum stint length for their tyres, something they'd already suggested at the end of 2013. They then announced that they'd found cuts on other team's tyres, especially the rear ones, and that they were investigating the cause. Seb reiterated that his team was not at fault and that their strategy wasn't risky. Ultimately, Pirelli's conclusion was that Seb's blowout was due to debris and not excessive tyre wear. 

Max was singled out for his overtake on Nasr in Blanchimont. He ultimately received an Action of the Year award from the FIA at the end of the year ceremony for it. 

I've found Lewis' interview with Will Buxton. He asked him how it felt to be back on the top step after the summer break. He says it feels amazing. "Sometimes you wonder if a good thing is followed by another good thing."

He says he had an amazing holiday and so he was wondering if the happiness would last and it has. He says qualifying was ridiculous, and he smiles, and it gets a chuckle out of the journalist amassed around him.

He's happy with his race, he didn't have to overpush or overdrive. The balance was really nice and he's very happy with the outcome. Will Buxton or whatever journalist says last year Nico got the pole trophy and this year nobody can seem to beat him and he's said he's been on top of sector 2 this weekend which he never was before. The question is how much does he feel that with each passing race he's becoming more and more complete. He hums. He says generally this year he's growing into his thirties, "the start of a new era for me", he thinks he's growing wiser and stronger, mentally also, with the pole positions he's getting and the results he's getting. "I think I'm growing generally as a man so that's reflecting in how I drive and the decisions that I take and a lot of things I do." He smiles. "How worrying is that for everyone else," he's told. "Hum… Hopefully it should be very worrying," he laughs.

I also found the BBC interview. The journalist tells him Niki said he absolutely raised his game. "You must agree with that," she says. He says it feels good and the weekend has definitely been fantastic.

He says he as always has to take his hat off to his team that's has done an incredible job again this weekend. From the ones building the cars to the engineers. "Me and Nico wouldn't have been able to do that without them." 

He says he's coming back from the best holiday he's ever had with such a facial expression that I'm wondering what happened there,

and that it gave him even more drive to get the pole positions and turn them into wins. He says he's really happy within himself because he drove his heart out. She asks if this is the strongest he's felt in his F1 career. "I think so, yeah." then he adds : "I mean… I felt good today, when I woke up, I was like 'yeah. I got this'".

He remembers it wasn't the case in the last race. "But definitely I feel… Not only the strongest just, but in general the happiest I've genuinely been in my life." He says he loves his job, he's grateful he gets to drive F1 cars every other weekend, it's the greatest job in the world and he has to seize it with both hands and enjoy, which he does, "and in my personal life enjoy it as much as I can!"

He's truly in a very good mood.

(This gif is just for me because I have a thing for intense staring, don’t mind me.)

She says when things are so good he's not wishing his days away to Monza, "you're in a great place at the moment." He says even when the days weren't good he wasn't wishing days to go by (it's a lie but it's okay, we all wanna forget about 2009) because he's "very very aware" that time flies by, "I'm already halfway through my career if not more"... Oh my god. Wait. I can't with this interview. "Erm in my formula 1 career, and it feels like it was only yesterday that I started in Melbourne so I really want to… I don't want it to go…”

“I'm not looking forward to the day that I hang my helmet up but erm…"

"There's room for a few more championships before then." – "I hope so, I hope so." 

(btw given this was 2015 so his 9th year, according to this interview he's stopping in 2024 lol, 2023 being his 17th year in F1.)

Anyway let's see the postrace content now that it’s been uploaded.

Hill says Lewis is watching Nico all the time, as he's been able to tell he gained 1 second under VSC. It shows how in control he is. 

Ted tells Niki they got a perfect result. It's unfortunate for the Ferraris but they score no points. Niki says they went very long, he has to say. But Lewis, Nico and the whole team did an incredible job. "Mercedes is back, I have to say, after Budapest so..." He just thanks everybody. Everybody involved is working hard. They were a bit depressed after Budapest but now it's fantastic, it's the way it should be. 

Let's hear from Lewis. (Again.) He says he'd definitely say this is a "so-so circuit" for him, he's not won a lot here and it's never been easy, but he's happy with this weekend's performance. Particularly qualifying. The race was managing what he had, the gap he had, the tyres… "Nico was exceptionally fast today, but I didn't really feel like I was incredibly under pressure, I was able to match when I needed to so erm… Super happy." He says he was 5 years old when he started watching Ayrton, and he doesn't know what age he was when he wanted to emulate him, but thinking he has the same amount of podiums doesn't feel real.

She asks about the start because in the last race he apparently said having to do a second start it affected his clutch. He says he wasn't nervous, you can't allow yourself to get nervous for the start anyway, but he did the restart and was focused on keeping his car cooled and when he did the restart he did the appropriate sequence to make sure he wasn't overheating it and it turned out "relatively good". He says he did get wheelspin, like Nico did, but he managed to control a bit better and maintain the lead. She asks if he was surprised to see Perez alongside him. He says he was generally happy, and starts laughing, that it wasn't Nico.

He says Sergio was great, he says he thinks if it had been Nico it might have been a different outcome. (He says both ‘obviously’ and ‘probably’ in the sentence, you interpret that as you want lol) He's really glad the day went the way it did. She reminds him of the WDC standings and asks at what point he allows himself to think of a third world title. He says you really have to take it one race at a time. At no point you can get overly excited and think you've got it. But he's very happy with the car, so as long as he continues doing what he's doing and stays focused and healthy, he feels good about it, he finally admits.

Later, he says he's had such a good break and feels super refreshed. He has to interrupt himself to wave to the fans that are yelling. He says they can't imagine how at peace he feels in his heart after coming out of this great break, getting pole and it translating into a win. Brundle says it just seemed easy, he seemed in the groove. He says you don't always get the car where you want it but he did this weekend and same in the last race. He says he and his engineers are gelling more than ever and are working better than they've ever worked together. Together they've put a really good package and the car was feeling beautiful.

Brundle asks him about his position on the tyres given Seb and Nico's comments. He asks for clarifications. Brundle says Seb especially has been very punchy. Lewis says "yeah I'm sure, I'm sure." with an empathetic tone. He says both of them had "fairly big incidents" and that it was just lucky that both of them happened at a stage when it wasn't too detrimental or unsafe. They never ever want that to happen. They always want to be able to go out there with confidence that there won't be any problems. However he says he's heard that for Seb, they went too long on the tyres. So it's not necessarily fully down to the tyres. But if it had happened just a bit before it would have been in Eau Rouge which could have been "quite nasty". He says the FIA and the teams work closely with Pirelli and Pirelli will learn from this weekend.

Simon says he's had a fair share of bad luck in Spa. He nods with a smile. He asks if it's nice to have the perfect weekend here. Lewis says it's a very difficult track. For some reason there are tracks that really suit you and tracks you struggle at more. This is one of those tracks he's struggled at a little bit more (full emphasis on a little bit). He says he's had good results when it was raining, "it makes it easier for me" he half-jokes, but this weekend he thinks he did the best and extracted the most he could out of what's a weaker circuit for him.

Brundle asks what about Perez breathing alongside him in the first lap. Lewis smiles and tilts his head. They're all chuckling a bit like it's really really weird that he did such a thing.

Lewis echoes his earlier answer to that. "Well, better him than anyone else." He says again Perez was very fair. He tried to keep everybody behind but he followed him aaall the way. Brundle says he went wide a little bit. Lewis says he went in there nailing it then the back end bottomed a little bit and slid and he still kept it going, "I was like 'I'm NOT lifting'!"

And Perez slowly caught him but as long as he covered the inside, that's all he could do, and then he fortunately outbraked him. He's grateful for the way it came out because it made the race much easier, he chuckles. Brundle says the only other break in his serene afternoon was the VSC, he thought Nico might have gained on him? Lewis says what happens is you hear beep beeps and the screen changes and you have to brake very heavily to slow down to hit the delta. When you're driving at some point you see the other driver behind you appear so you know what the gap is. And when the VSC started he was maybe four seconds behind but during it he was closer than ever so he thought surely he'll have to fall back for the restart which he never did. Which is why he wondered. Because he did not make a mistake so there was no reason for him to be that much closer. He says he needs to go figure out where he lost that second but dismisses it saying it wasn't a big problem anyway.

Simon says he's 28 points ahead in the WDC standings so one DNF clear and asks if that's something in his mind, wanting to keep it above that. Lewis says he doesn't look at it that way because naturally as a team you never want a DNF. Simon insists that it gives him leeway though. He says for sure, but last year he crashed in this race and was 29 points behind when he came out of Spa. So it's been way more positive up until now. His goal coming back from this great holiday (seriously what did he do?) into this part of this season was to translate the great laps he does in quali into results and wins. And hopefully today was the start of it. Brundle asks if he's got on top of Nico, does he think mentally Nico realises he can't beat him? (way to put him in a tough spot) He says he thinks as a driver you never– it's very rare you see a driver fall to that belief. They still believe that they're better and all that, "whether it's true or not". He says he remembers when he was driving with Alonso. "Fernando could never believe why sometimes I was quicker, he was like 'there must be something wrong with the car cause I'm the best'. That's what he would say. To himself, I know. For sure." He says Nico's very strong, he's gonna come back and keep fighting, he knows that he still has that belief in himself, which is fine by him, no problem. 

For some reason they start talking about Notting Hill carnival and twerking. I'm at a loss. 

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2015 #2015 belgian gp