Speed Is The New Black. Wednesday @ 8pm - 9pm (VelocityHD) replay
Garage Squad. Season 5 Ep2. Wednesday @ 9pm - 10pm (VelocityHD) new
Last week at Spa we had a lot of news break with drivers (both those with seats, those leaving seats and those needing a seat) and a wild run-up to Sunday's race with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez taking P3 and P4, respectively in Qualy, after it began raining at the end of Q2. Hams took the pole, seemingly out sniping Vettel for final drying lap runs as Kimi had to come back into the pits never to go back out. Ferrari still had the edge on pace and the race showed just that. The race started with a turn one incident eventually leading to five retirements; Ricciardo was rear-ended and put a front wing into the back of Kimi, damaging the iceman's RR tire and rear wing -- Kimi eventually retired after what appeared to be a DRS flap failure after a longish pitstop. Ricciardo's rear end damage lead to an emergency rear wing assembly swap which got him square again, but he was a lap down on everyone. Red Bull were gambling on a potential second safety car, that never came so they retired the car late to save the drivetrain. Meanwhile Alonso was rear ended a little further up ahead in the same turn one melee, by a surging Hulkenburg who could get on the brakes hard enough, which flipped Alonso over the top of LeClerc, all three retiring immediately afterwards. While all this was going on, Verstappen made hay, dispatching the two Point Force India cars as the first third of the GP unfolded. Vettel power slip-streamed Hamilton into the straight to Le Comb, after Hams got a great start, and took the lead never to relinquish it again. The halo on LeClerc's car did its job beautifully and no one was injured. The order settled a bit as the race unfolded, Hamilton seeming to settle into second rather than wear out his powertrain trying to chase Vettel down after they both made their first pit stop. With the checkered flag dropped, Vandoorne finished last (expectedly from back weekend performance) in his home GP, Red Bull rounded out the podium, the Haas boys followed up new-old Force India team who got their first points of the race season after the ownership change over. The Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Vettel (-17), Raikkonen (-85), Bottas (-87), Vertstappen (-111), Ricciardo (-113). The orange army cheered on Verstappen, finally getting a great result without bad luck for the first time; Hams looked worried about the power deficit to the latest Ferrari power unit upgrade heading into another power circuit, Monza, and Ferrari looks strong. Monza should be a season-impacting showdown.
