Categories
Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Belgian GP

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

Daniel Ricciardo has enhanced his already soaring reputation after he won a dramatic Belgian Grand Prix. It’s Daniel’s third Formula 1 race victory and the first win by an Australian at the admired Spa circuit since Sir Jack Brabham won on the old 14km layout in 1960.

Mercedes was expected to dominate the race but a clumsy move by polesitter Nico Rosberg on Lewis Hamilton, who made a lightning start from P2 to claim the lead, threw the race result wide open. Rosberg clipped Hamilton’s left rear tyre leaving the Briton with a puncture and pouting bottom lip. Rosberg, too, lost momentum when his front wing had to be replaced and opened the door for Ricciardo who was good enough to capitalise on the glimmer of hope that came his way.

Hamilton’s undertray was damaged when he limped back to the pits and proceeded to whinge his way through the grand prix until he finally got his way and the team brought him in to retire with a handful of laps remaining.

Rosberg was able to work his way back to P2, finishing just a few seconds behind Ricciardo, but he wasn’t missed by a loud contingent of race fans who booed him during the post-race podium celebrations. A harsh reaction perhaps, although his own team has Rosberg in its sights. The contact with Hamilton was clearly Rosberg’s, fault but it was much closer to being a racing incident than any deliberate sabotage. Still, the end result saw Rosberg extend his championship lead by 18 points.

Valtteri Bottas drove a relatively quiet race to claim the final podium step, a position he’s made his own in recent times. Kimi Raikkonen showed outstanding pace at times on a track where he was won four times previously and finished P4.

The closing race scrap for positions P5–P8 was breathtaking, with four drivers mixing it wheel-to-wheel and regularly swapping positions. In the end the results fell to Sebastian Vettel, Kevin Magnussen, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat rounded out the top 10, not that either were able to attract much camera time. While Andre Lotterer’s F1 debut lasted just one lap.

Ricciardo’s win has cemented his third place position in the drivers’ championship, he’s now only 36 points behind Hamilton, who is 29 points behind Rosberg.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

UPDATE: Kevin Magnussen was handed a 20 second post-race penalty from the stewards after forcing Fernando Alonso off track. That pushes Magnussen fro P6 down to P12.

2014 Belgian Grand Prix final placings

  1. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing – 44 Laps (25 pts)
  2. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – +3.3 secs (18 pts)
  3. Valtteri Bottas Williams – +28.0 (15 pts)
  4. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari – +36.8 secs (12 pts)
  5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing – +52.1 secs (10 pts)
  6. Jenson Button McLaren – +54.5 secs (8 pts)
  7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – +61.1 secs (6 pts)
  8. Sergio Perez Force India – +64.2 secs (4 pts)
  9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso – +65.3 secs (2 pts)
  10. Nico Hulkenberg Force India – +65.6 secs (1 pt)
  11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso – +71.9 secs
  12. Kevin Magnussen McLaren – +74.2 secs
  13. Felipe Massa Williams – +75.9 secs
  14. Adrian Sutil Sauber – +82.4 secs
  15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber – +90.8 secs
  16. Max Chilton Marussia – +1 Lap
  17. Marcus Ericsson Caterham – +1 Lap
  18. Jules Bianchi Marussia – +5 Laps

Retired/Not classified
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – +6 Laps
Romain Grosjean Lotus – +11 Laps
Pastor Maldonado Lotus – +43 Laps
Andre Lotterer Caterham –  +43 Laps

Note: Magnussen originally finished sixth but had 20s added to race time for forcing another car off track.

Fastest Lap
Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – 1:50.511 (Lap 36)

2014 F1 world championship – Drivers (Top 10)

  1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – 220
  2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – 191
  3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull – 156
  4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – 121
  5. Valtteri Bottas Williams – 110
  6. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull – 98
  7. Nico Hulkenberg Force India – 70
  8. Jenson Button McLaren – 68
  9. Felipe Massa Williams – 40
  10. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari – 39

2014 F1 world championship – Constructors

  1. Mercedes – 411
  2. Red Bull Racing – 254
  3. Ferrari – 160
  4. Williams-Mercedes – 150
  5. McLaren-Mercedes – 105
  6. Force India-Mercedes – 103
  7. STR-Renault – 19
  8. Lotus-Renault – 8
  9. Marussia-Ferrari – 2
  10. Sauber-Ferrari – 0
  11. Caterham-Renault – 0

7 replies on “Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Belgian GP”

Great result for Daniel and Red Bull, and great publicity for Mercedes which managed to steal some of his thunder with Toto and Niki grabbing headlines which would otherwise have been the winner’s.

With all the reporting and mis-reporting about who said what and when about the incident between Nico and Lewis, it looks like a case of mis-judgement on Nico’s part. It’s far from the end of the world for Lewis, or Mercedes for that matter.

Agreed, but gee the press is going nuts focusing on the Nico v Lewis battle and the damage to the team etc. The constant media attention can only further inflame the issue.

And it is a shame a lot of that is at the expense of Daniel’s excellent drive.

Lets face it though, had Nico and Hamilton not had the incident, RIC wouldn’t have won the race… The RBR is 2nd best in the field and RIC is doing everything needed to pickup the scraps, but thats what last night was all about, picking up scraps in the aftermath of the Mercedes implosion…
Merc are going to have to step in at some point, they haven’t secured the championships just yet, and while it is hard to think that they’ll be beaten, I wouldn’t want to be Toto at the end of the season trying to explain how RBR pinched the drivers championship when 2014 is the year of the Merc

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…..Here is our next Australian F1 World Champion in the making. Mark Webber was great, Daniel is Better!
He has not yet hit the prime of his career, and when he does, we will see his brilliance in action every race.
Bottas is very underrated and if the Williams is the car it should be next year, he’ll be right amongst it too.

Webber was decent, but of the drivers of the last generation there’s no way he’s any better than any of the other second-tier drivers like Coulthard, Fisichella, Barrichello and Massa who would get the occasional win when they had the hottest chariot on the grid and all the cards fell their way with the top drivers dropping out for various reasons.

Is Ricciardo a second-tier driver like Webber or a top-tier driver like Alonso, Raikkonen and Rosberg? It looks good at the moment, but time will tell.

Here in Australia we tend to big up our sporting stars to ridiculous levels out of an irrational belief that #1 in Australia = #1 in the world. Look at the way lots of cricket fans still bang on about a fat doper being the greatest bowler ever, or the soccer fans who think Tim Cahill is the most underrated player in the world, or the tennis fans who still don’t have a worthy successor to Lleyton Hewitt.

Comments are closed.