Belgian GP: Another disappointing race for Williams F1

Qualifying for the forty four lap 2013 Belgian Grand Prix had seen the Williams F1 drivers finish in seventeenth and twentieth with Pastor Maldonado leading team-mate Valtteri Bottas. On pole was Hamilton from Vettel and Webber. Rosberg was in fourth followed by Di Resta, Button, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Alonso and Massa tenth. For the race Pirelli had brought their medium and hard compounds. On the weather front rain was forecast to come during the race adding another element to this race. There were only a handful of drivers who would start the race on the hard compound, Gutierrez, Ricciardo, Bianchi, and Chilton. Both Pastor and Valtteri were on the medium tyre. There were combinations of drivers using used and new medium tyres at the
start.

Hamilton would leave the grid for the parade lap and would return to the grid taking his pole spot and the field would form up and the lights would go out and it would be Hamilton leading from Vettel. Rosberg was third ad Vettel would pass Hamilton going down the Kemmel straight. Button was in fourth from Alonso, Webber, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Grosjean and Raikkonen. Pastor was running in fifteenth and Valtteri
nineteenth. Raikkonen had passed Grosjean for ninth while at the front Vettel was now leading by 1.4 seconds over Hamilton. Lap two and Vettel was leading by 2.8 seconds with DRS now enabled. Pastor had passed Van der Gar for fourteenth while on lap four Alonso would pass Button for fourth. Webber would pass Button for fifth
while Alonso would continue his move forward passing Rosberg for third on lap six. Valtteri had moved into eighteenth while Pastor was still fourteenth 2.3 seconds behind Sutil.

Di Resta was in seventh but had a large queue of cars forming up behind him. Perez would pass Grosjean for tenth while Raikkonen was attacking eighth placed Hulkenberg. He was pass the Sauber at Les Combes. Webber was now right behind fourth placed Rosberg while Vettel was now 4.1 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Hulkenberg and Massa would pit on lap ten with Massa on mediums and Hulkenberg hards. There may have been an issue with the release of Hulkenberg in the pit lane seeing the pair almost touch as they went down the pit lane. Di Resta and Vergne would pit on lap eleven. Pic had retired in his pit. Perez would get a penalty for what was judged as a passing move on Grosjean that forced another driver off the track. Hamilton, Sutil, and Pastor would all pit on lap twelve. Rosberg would pit from fifth on lap thirteen.

Hamilton would pass Grosjean for eighth at the chicane. But Grosjean would pass Hamilton using his DRS on the Kemmel straight. Alonso would pit on lap fourteen joined by Webber. Alonso stayed on the mediums and Webber hards. Alonso would come back out behind the Grosjean and Hamilton battle. Vettel would pit on lap fifteen taking on another set of medium tyres. Raikkonen would also pit while Valtteri would also come in. At the front it was now Button leading while Alonso had been able to pass Hamilton. Valtteri like Pastor had taken on hards at his stop as Vettel would pass Button for the lead at the final chicane. Ricciardo would pit from thirteenth on lap seventeen. Button would pit from fourth on lap eighteen taking on the hard tyre. Raikkonen would pass Gutierrez for ninth but the Sauber had yet to pit. Lap eighteen and Vettel was leading Alonso by 7.7 seconds with Hamilton 1.7 seconds behind Alonso.

Perez had pitted taking on the hard tyre followed the next lap by Gutierrez. The only driver yet to pit was Grosjean who was currently sixth. Grosjean would finally make his first and possibly only stop on lap twenty two taking on the hard tyre. Seventh placed Massa was being closely followed by Raikkonen but the straight-line speed made the Ferrari very hard to make a passing move on. Lap twenty five and Hulkenberg and Vergne would pit again. Hulkenberg would stay on the hard tyres while Vergne would swap to hards. Raikkonen would try and pass Massa at the chicane but he would run wide with what looked like a braking issue. He would find his way into the pit lane only to retire in his pit. Lap twenty seven and Hamilton would make his second stop taking on the hard compound tyre. Massa, Sutil, and Di Resta would also pit while for Williams Pastor was in twelfth and Valtteri seventeenth.

Pastor would get involved in a battle with Gutierrez, Sutil, and Di Resta. Coming into the chicane we would see Pastor running wide and coming back around the corner he would make contact with Di Resta. Di Resta would retire with damage to the rear of his car while Pastor was able to get back into the pits taking on a new nose and hard tyres. Replays had shown that Pastor had made contact with Sutil pushing Pastor into the path of Di Resta. Alonso would pit swapping to the hard tyre while Valtteri would pit on lap thirty as it was announced that the incident between Pastor and Di Resta was under investigation. Webber had also pitted switching back to the medium tyre while on the next lap Vettel would pit from the lead to take on hard tyres seeing him return still in the lead. Alonso was in second followed by Button, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, Grosjean, Massa, Ricciardo, and Perez tenth. Valtteri was now fifteenth and Pastor now sixteenth. Ricciardo would pit from eleventh on lap thirty four.

Webber was now right behind fifth placed Rosberg but both would benefit from the fact that Button would pit taking on more hard tyres, rejoining in sixth. Webber continued to attack Rosberg with Hamilton only 2.54 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Pastor would get a ten second stop & go penalty for his part on the incident with Di Resta. Ricciardo would pass Vergne for eleventh while for Williams Pastor would take his penalty on lap forty. Massa would pass Grosjean for seventh at Les Combes using his DRS as we had five laps remaining in the race. Ricciardo was now challenging Perez for tenth with the Torro Rosso getting past on the run up to Les Combes. Valtteri was still down in fifteenth and Pastor one lap down in seventeenth.

Vettel would start his final lap which he would complete to take victory in the Belgian Grand Prix. Second would be Alonso from Hamilton in third. The rest of the top ten was made up with Rosberg fourth followed by Webber, Button, Massa, Grosjean, Sutil, and Ricciardo tenth. For the Williams F1 team their race was another one of frustration not only with Pastor getting a penalty but also with their lack of pace during the race. Valtteri and Pastor would finish in fifteenth and seventeenth. Where Williams goes from here is difficult with the team still speaking of continued developments with the FW35. But has the team reached the point where they should now focus on 2014.