Round 5 - 33e Grand Prix de Belgique [Mar 19th]

1.5 second behind the next car. Sheesh, considering I lost a lot more of that throughout the event, I could kick myself. But on the other hand, I finally had a car with which I could really work and race, which held up until the end though I didn't spare it for large chunks of the race, and I was having cars behind me. Not my best efforts ever, but a pretty good race, by my standards.

Working a late shift, I had to pass up Q today and thus was last on the grid. Maybe not the worst entry point to a race starting with a world famous righthand hairpin turn. In fact, I even considered starting from the pitlane, wouldn't have made much of a difference in position, but learning, the race was actually 43 laps and not 42 as I had on my mind, fuel was truly an issue. But I had something on my mind you wouldn't be allowed to exit the pits until the cars pass S1, and that is pretty late on this circuit, so I better lined up. Did a last second change on the setup, with 20 seconds to go, suddenly I'm in the pits? Did I slept off prestart? No, just some admin noticing the grid wasn't right, phew! Now I was really last, just as I should have been!

One Ligier stalled on prestart, and even though I did take a very careful start to the race, was able to pass another car right away, even though going very easy. I had a glimpse at La Source, but that would not have worked. Lap 1 was wild though, lots of yellows and cars left and right. I soon did away with Bruno in the Arrows, one Zakspeed, Jan in the first Osella and Alan in the first Minardi. I reckonned it to be a matter of time to fetch that lonesome AGS, but first, he put that second Minardi in my way. Wasn't much of a distress though, even though I drove with the lowest of boost for the first 85% of the race, I just went by on the straight. But a few metres later, I shifted down two gears into that nameless lefthander between Rivage and Pouhon and the car did a huge sidestep. Luckily, I got away with that and just lost some five seconds and a position, but I quickly had that back again. Then a slightly more interesting battle developed about what was 12th to 14th position between Giovanni in the AGS and Mark in the second Osella. I took quite some care because my car was clearly faster in some sections, but I also lacked traction in the first three gears, partly due to my gearing and being super cautious not to run into the limiter once the turbo spools up, and I probably chose a somewhat aggressive spring/damper setting. Car was pretty well on the brakes, also compared to some faster cars. Either way, more than once I chose not to force the issue. You better know who you got next to you when you attempt going side-by-side into Blanchimont, though I often was right in the spot when I arrivef there.. Having a box seat at the battle in front of me, I realised I'd better be careful. At some point, I got a really good run out of Stavelot, and had so much excess speed, I just had to make it stick. I got my nose in a good position, but that wasn't without resistance. The inside wheels on the dirt through Blanchimont, not exactly my idea of a good time, as was the brake battle towards bus stop. Could easily have gone wrong, but once I got past the Osella, I bettered my PB about 1.8 seconds within two laps. I was a little shocked about being already a minute down to the next cars and it was clear I did not have the speed to follow them. Being lapped, my tires getting a bit long in the tooth and Mark not giving up that easily soon got me in a useless fierce battle again, and as it was my plan from the beginning to pit at the end of lap 18, I went in a lap earlier. Back to 17th, in the middle of some traffic, but I quickly got a position through someone quitting the race, Bruno and the Minardis were also quickly dealt with, just lost a position to John in the Ligier.

Next job was to shorten the gap to the cars ahead of me, but I had to do some maths now, which is not that easy at 265 kph. I was 3 laps short of the full distance, but one lap down, but that pass took place in lap 16, though that had to happen two earlier to be the two laps down I anticipated. So, 2 laps short of fuel, I have to find some ... 9 litres, or 4.5 and have the leaders pass me earlier ... I better start some serious lifting and coasting now, but changing the rhythm after going 22 laps pretty hard at it, isn't a piece of cake, and I almost lost it two or three times. Nontheless, I could shorten the distance to Giovanni and Mark in front of me, and kind of keep the distance to John. Giovanni went back after his stop, Mark got extremely slow a little later, which confirmed my suspicion someone was either driving way over the cars potential or the fuel schedule. And finally, all that lifting and coasting payed off, and Juled did me the favour of lapping me the second time. And suddenly, I was a lap good on fuel, and just 11 seconds to John. Yee-haw! I gave my car the spurs and went after him, but it seems John was aware of the situation. Two laps and lowest boost and it did not change so much to the distance between us. Maybe use some of that extra fuel? Ah, that did a little better, but not enough, yet. Another click on the boost knob, and with my tyres also no longer in their best shape and the extra horses galloping, Blanchimont now became the monster it is known and feared to be. Last lap, last ditch effort, last click on the boost knob. I didn't dare to go flat through Eau Rouge, and the car was geared to short for that amount of power, and don't ask me how I survived Blanchimont in the last lap, but it was to late, even though I did five PBs in the last five laps. A bit annoying to lose out by that little, but I lost the time way earlier. Top 10 result, that is fine, and it was quite a satisfying feeling to have my hands on a car with a fair chance to finish the race and I got quite some nice battles, not just with my own car, but other drivers as well. These cars are quite a workout, no matter how slow or fast they are, I sure don't mind having finally finished another F1 race.

Qualifying was the usual attempt of being "best of the rest" behind the usual suspects. I started in 5th, as I did in Monaco. The issues at the start allowed me to move up a few places and I ran second behind Grant. Jules made his way through, Grant dropped back, but the lead was just out of reach.

A very inspired pit crew sent me back out quickly after a change from soft to super soft tyres. The gap now decreased significantly every lap. Each lap I was eating a second away and setting fastest lap in the process. I was slightly regretting I had started on softs, but I'd toasted those in 20 laps so I doubt super softs would have done better over the distance. 2 seconds was as close as I got, before the fuel light brought me back down to earth. There was supposedly just enough fuel to make it around the lap, but I ran out before Blanchimont so I coasted to the finish.

Second place is a good result, but it's slightly frustrating when it's a matter of seconds behind the winner, and in my home race. The same happened at Imola, for one of Ferrari's home races, so I'm not holding my breath for a win in our final home race at Monza.

On to Montreal now, and I really need to start winning things instead of finishing them while staring at a Lotus rear wing.