Hamilton half a second quicker than Rosberg after FP2.
Time for another mysterious car failure tomorrow?

Certainly gonna get tongues wagging if there is.


In other news, I see it's being reported that Hamilton's engine threw a wobbly in Hungary and it was costing him nearly a second a lap for the last half of the race.

What is up with Hamilton and qualifying? Very very untidy in Q3 and could have got pole without the 2 big errors. Almost seemed like Rosberg was carrying more wing or had a better balance in the car.

More wing will be bad news for tomorrow because he'll be mugged on the long straight (provided it's dry).

Was just going to comment on the same thing.

I guess Hamilton was getting in a "banker" and then going for it afterwards but he seems to struggle to find the razor's edge between "steady" and "wild".
Gotta hand it to Rosberg though. He really is a machine.
You're always wondering if Hamilton is going to stick it in the wall but you never get that feeling from Rosberg.

Hamilton was complaining that the car was pulling to one side but, assuming that's under braking, it was probably due to brake cooling so it's up to him to sort that out by doing a lap where he makes sure he doesn't get a lot of spay on one side.

The good thing is he's still on the front row and he still has a chance of winning the race.

Let us not forget Rosberg is himself prone to errors, especially when under pressure in close wheel-to-wheel combat. But make no mistake, he's got qualifying sorted at the moment.

And if anyone's going to crack first in the championship run-in, it'll be Lewis.

Hamilton claiming to have a glazed brake disc on one side of the car (although he didn't seem sure which side, even though he was sure it was a glazed disc) during the interview.

He really needs to start asking himself if sticking with the Brembo's is the best idea, given how many of his problems have been brake-related this year.
The difference in feel between the Brembo's and Rosberg's CP (?) discs must be enormous for Hamilton not to make the change.

In other news, fair play to Suzi Perry for manning-up and not acting like a fairy in the rain, like Coulthard and EJ did.

Unless p1 can get away quickly and get a gap in the first few corners they are a sitting duck down the straight.

Who is p1?

Don't know why I put P1, should have said pole, ie Rosberg

Hamilton should really be careful about making comments like that.

He's, effectively, just told Vettel, Rosberg and Alonso that he's got no intention of having a go at La Source at the start which, for Rosberg particularly, will probably be useful information.

Unless, of course, it's a double-bluff and he does intend to stuff it down the inside of Rosberg at turn 1 which, if all the front-runners are expecting a procession until Kemmel, could cause mayhem.

I was just commenting on how over the years 2nd place is sometimes an advantage but have just looked on the BBC and Lewis is saying he's happy at starting second.

I think you were looking for Carbon Industries as the other brake disk manufacturer. I was flicking around the coverage today between Sky and BBC and noticed that Suzi's hair looked a bit wet, I take it she got caught in that little shower before qualifying started?

The 3/1 I got on Rosberg for the championship before the start of the season is starting to look better and better. In equal machinery its going to be hard for Hamilton to keep coming up with the goods from behind come race day.

She did and in the process exposed DC as not much of a gentleman by not sharing the one remaining brolly with her when EJ lost his.

Lights out, away we go. He says that every time.

Aah game over Hamilton.

Lewis fecked

Interesting start to the race

Rosberg is a disgusting cheat.

I agree that it will almost certainly be a "racing incident" as far as the stewards are concerned.

Within the team may be another matter. I'd say idiotic and fairly inexcusable from Rosberg.

I think Mercedes will need to start enforcing team orders. The pair of them (more on Nico's part) can't be trusted to race other. And I have to say, Nico's attempted move was optimistic at best.

And should these cock-ups and errors continue, Ricciardo may have a decent shot at them in the championship.

Blimey!

Out of the pair of them, who would have thought Rosberg would be the first Merc' driver to have a clumsy collision with his team-mate?

I'm half-expecting Hamilton to allow himself to be lapped and then do something naughty as Rosberg comes up to lap him.
Hopefully, Hamilton will be a bit more honourable than that though.

The collision was silly and unnecessary. Both of their races have been compromised. As I said, I don't think Mercedes are doing a good enough job at managing both of their drivers. And as the championship heats up, silly collisions like this will only become more commonplace.

Wtf is that on Rosberg's car???

I've never known a four time world champion get consistently beaten by his new team mate like this ever.

Ricciardo putting serious manners on Vettel. He's been outstanding and maximising every opportunity. And this time, just like in Canada and Hungary, he was first to pounce when the Mercs hit problems.

Kinda reminds me of when Hamilton ran into Kobayashi at roughly the same point.
There's just no point in trying to go around the outside into Les Combes because, unless you can get all the way past, you're going to run out of road as the corner goes from right to left, as Vettel just demonstrated.

There has only been four of them so that will be part of the reason.