Kobayashi has been demoted on the grid for not going to the weighing scales yesterday, when requested

Clean start for everyone.
Vettel storms away and pulls Alonso with him.

Webber therefore slots into third.

Massa takes third briefly but Webber takes it back easily.

Alonso actually noses ahead of Vettel in the strait up to turn one, but Vettel has the line and the inside of turn one and easily stays in the lead.

Alguersuari's engine blows....and they haven't even gone two laps.

Kobayashi's up to i6th from 23rd by the end of the first lap.

Petrov gets the jump on Hamilton, but he can't get his tyres working quickly enough and Hamilton takes the place back without much trouble.

Schumacher passes several cars by the time they reach the first corner.

Debris on track - Yellow flag - A Force India has just pitted for a new nose.

Safety Car deployed

Loads of people pile into the pits.

Collision in the pit lane.

A few didn't pit and have apparent good positions Webber leading from Vettel

Incident in pit lane between Kubica and Sutil to be investigated.

Safety Car is now in.

Webber storming away and so is Vettel.

Order:-

Webber
Vettel
Alonso
Hamilton
Massa

Kubica gets 10 second stop and go penaly for the pit lane incident.

Hamilton has to retire from 4th - transmission problem.

Vettel under investigation for possibly being too far behind the Safety Car.

Vettel gets drive through penalty.

Schumacher and Rosberg are to be investigated after the race.

Vettel pits for his penalty and comes out between Alonso and Massa - P3

Webber now 20.5 seconds ahead of Alonso, so should be able to pit and still come out ahead of Alonso.

Vettel is almost on top of Alonso. There's still 27 laps to go. There's a good chance that Vettel will pass Alonso soon.

Webber will be pitting soon as he is coming up to the tail enders.

Webber pits smoothly and easily exits well ahead of Alonso.
The gap between them is reduced to 5 seconds, but quickly increases.

Vettel is  still 0.2 to 0.4 seconds behind Alonso. They're coming up to tail enders. This could be good or bad news for each of them.

Barrichello pits and hands 10th place to Schumacher and drops to 11th himself.

Webber laps Schumacher in 10th place.

Webber pits smoothly and easily exits well ahead of Alonso.
The gap between them is reduced to 5 seconds, but quickly increases.

Vettel is  still 0.2 to 0.4 seconds behind Alonso. They're coming up to tail enders. This could be good or bad news for each of them.

Barrichello pits and hands 10th place to Schumacher and drops to 11th himself.

Webber laps Schumacher in 10th place.

Schumacher and Barrichello having a tussle for 10th place,

Kobayashi started in 23rd....he's now 9th.

Barrichello passes Schumacher, who almost shoves Barrichello into the wall, but Barrichello survives and is back in the points. Schunacher is to be investigated for that manoeuver.

Webber well out in front, but Vettel still stuck behind Alonso.

Barrichello storming away fron Schumacher and is closing on Kobayashi, but as they are on the last lap now it's unlikely that there'll be any change in positions.

Webber 1st
Alonso 2nd
Vettel 3rd
Massa 4th

All 6 cars of the 3 new teams have, for the first time, finished the race.

Final Result:-

1. Webber
2. Alonso
3. Vettel
4. Massa
5. Petrov
6. Hulkenberg
7. De La Rosa
8. Button
9. Kobayashi
10. Barrichello
11. Schumacher
12. Buemi
13. Liuzzi
14. Kovalainen
15. Trulli
16. Glock
17. Senna
18. di Grassi
19. Yamamoto
20. Hamilton
21. Kubica
22. Rosberg
23. Sutil
24. Alguersuari

Belgian Grand Prix

Spa-Francorchamps, 27-29 August 2010

Fri 27 Aug: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430

Sat 28 Aug: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300

Sun 29 Aug: Race 1300

I am on holiday (away from home) and not able to give the usual report. Did manage to see the last few minutes of qualifying, so know the top four.

1. Webber
2. Hamilton
3. Kubica
4. Vettel

As the rest qualified:-
5. Button
6. Massa
7. Barrichello
8. Sutil
9. Hulkenberg
10. Alonso
11. Schumacher - (demoted to 21st on grid)
12. Rosberg - (Demoted to 17th on grid)
13. Alguersuari
14. Liuzzi
15. Buemi
16. Kovalainen
17. Glock
18. Trulli
19. Kobayashi
20. Senna
21. Yamamoto
22. De La Rosa
23. di Grassi
24. Petrov

It is forecast for rain for tomorrow's race - not really surprising for Spa.

Sorry there's no proper race report.

They all started on slicks. Webber had a poor start and lost several places right away.
It started raining right away and several went off track. Tyres were changed several times throughout the course of the race.
Vettel made a series of mistakes and mishaps. One put Button out and resulted in a drive through penalty for him. (Vettel)
The safety car was deployed after Alonso crashed on the 37th or 38th lap.

Result:-

1. Hamilton
2. Webber
3. Kubica
4. Massa
5. Sutil
6. Rosberg
7. Schumacher
8. Kobayashi
9. Petrov
10. Liuzzi
11. De La Rosa
12. Buemi
13. Alguersuari
14. Hulkenberg
15. Vettel
16. Kovalainem
17. di Grassi
18. Glock
19. Trulli
20. Yamamoto
21. Alonso - Crash
22. Button - retired
23. Senna - retired
24. Barrichello - retired

(All times UK)

Italian Grand Prix

Monza, 10-12 September 2010

Fri 10 Sep: Practice 1 0900-1030; Practice 2 1300-1430

Sat 11 Sep: Practice 3 1000-1100; Qualifying 1300

Sun 12 Sep: Race 1300

 

Q1

Glock's the first on track.

Petrov leaps out of the pits just in front of Glock who was about to start his flying lap, but is forced to back off. Apenalty for Petrov surely?

Not surprisingly Glock's time is now P16.

Current Q1 drop zone:_
di Grassi
Senna
Yamamoto
Glock
Vettel
Kubica
Sutil

The bottom seven are changing a lot just now.

Vettel goes to P8 so Kovalainenis now in the drop zone

Glock,Sutil and Kubica all improve, dropping Trulli, Liuzzi and the hapless Glock to the drop zone.

Current Q1 drop zone:-
Liuzzi
Glock
Trulli
Kovalainen
di Grassi
Senna
Tamamoto

Some of the bottom seven have improved their times, but are still in the bottom seven.

Schumacher in P13 is sandwiched between the two Torro Rossos.

Final Q1 drop zone:-
18. Trulli
19. Kovalainen
20. Liuzzi
21. Glock
22. di Grassi
23. Senna
24. Yamamoto

Q2

Alonso is one of the first out.

All drivers are on hard tyres except Hamilton - Looks like he wants to start the race on hards.

Hamilton, Alonso, Button, top 3.

Current Q2 drop zone:-
Buemi
Vettel
Barrichello
Massa
Schumacher
Rosberg
De La Rosa

However the last three have still to put in a time.

Q2 drop zone now:-
Buemi
Kobayashi
Petrov
Alguersuari
De La Rosa
Schumacher
Rosberg

Rosberg shoots to P8 and drops Sutil to P11. Vettel P9 and Webber P7.

Alonso and Hamilton are P1 and P2.

Schumacher gets up to P12

Vettel puts himself safe in P4.

Barrichello (P10) is in danger from Sutil (P11) who is running again. but there is still thee and a half minutes of the session left.

Sutil goes to P10, but Barrichello is also running and takes P10 back. Sutil manages another flying lap, but remains in P11.

Schumacher has another flying lap too, but fails to improve.

Final Q2 drop zone:-
11. Sutil
12. Schumacher
13. Kobayashi
14. Buemi
15. Petrov
16. Alguersuari
17. De La Rosa

On to Q3 now

Most of the cars go out right away.

Massa is the first to set a time.
Webber goes second.
Alonso now goes firstand Button to P2

Order:-
Alonso
Button
Massa
Webber

Hamilton now pops into 4th with Webber now 5th and Kubica in 6th.

Vettel now running and goes 6th, between Webber and Kubica. These are the only seven to have set a time - the others are leaving it a bit late.

Hulkenberg slips into 8th now.

Barrichello now on track. He's only assured of one flying lap, but might just manage a second if he hurries. He only makes P9 and misses out on a second flyer.

Rosberg finally puts in an appearance, but can only make P10.

A final flying lap by Webber pops him into 4th....and Hamilton, who's also on a final flying lap, has no response.

Result:-

1. Alonso
2. Button
3. Massa
4. Webber
5. Hamilton
6. Vettel
7. Rosberg
8. Hulkenberg
9. Kubica
10. Barrichello
11. Sutil
12. Schumacher
13. Kobayashi
14. Buemi
15. Petrov
16. Alguersuari
17. De La Rosa
18. Trulli
19. Kovalainen
20. Liuzzi
21. Glock
22. di Grassi
23. Senna
24. Yamamoto

Petrov is demoted to 20th on the grid and Glock to 24th for a gearbox change.

Kobayashi now has gearbox problems, so instead of starting 13th hewill be last and starting from the pit lane.

Formation lap underway. Not long to go now!

Button makes a good start, Alonso not so good. He moves across to try and squeeze button, but Button prevails. As Alonso backs off from Button Massa sees an opportunity to challenge Alonso for second place, but doesn't manage to pass him. Meanwhile Hamilton is now behind Massa and doesn't anticipate Massa backing off from Alonso and they touch wheels Hamilton is out and they haven't even completed one lap.

Webber makes a poor start again and loses several places. The midfield bunches up a bit and several cars have to cut the first corner, resulting in lots of positional changes.

Button has had a small shunt to the rear and has lost a bit of his rear diffuser, but is managing to hang on to the lead, courtesy of superior downforce.

Kobayashi. who started from the pit lane, also did not manage to complete the first lap.

Senna has retired now too.
15 laps in and we've already lost three.
Is this going to be a high attrition race?

Order:-

Button
Alonso
Massa
Rosberg
Kubica
Hulkenberg
Vettel
Webber
Schumacher
Buemi
Barrichello

Vettel was one of those forced to cut the first corner, hence why he is only 7th now.

Alguersuari has picked up a drive-through penalty for gaining a position because of cutting a corner.

Vettel Has an engine problem!

Webber has passed him and Schumacher is looming into his rear vision.

Massa sets the fastest lap and is now coming up to lap a tail-ender.

Vettel's problem seems to have resolved itself for now.

Halfway through and only seven have made a pit stop.
Button sets fastest lap now.

Alguersuari has served his drive-through penalty which has put him down to P17 and amongst the next group of cars to be lapped.

Webber now closing up to Hulkenberg for 6th.

Massa sets fastest lap again.

Sutil pits from 13th....and exits still in 13th.

Button makes a slight error and Alonso closes on him, but makes a slight error himself now and the gap opens again.

Looks like the top drivers will all be pitting soon, so there may be some fast and furious positional changes soon

Webber and Rosberg are pitting.

Button in now and rejoins in P3