Ten of the best pictures which tell the story of the 2015 Belgian Grand Prix weekend.
Fans' Jules Bianchi tribute
It wasn’t just the fans who carried Jules Bianchi in their memories at Spa – teams and drivers continued to bear messages for the driver who passed away before the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Kimi Raikkonen, Maurizio Arrivabene and Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari marked their 900th grand prix but it proved a frustrating event. Kimi Raikkonen was hampered by technical trouble in qualifying and finished seventh, while Sebastian Vettel’s tyre blow-out on the penultimate lap cost him a podium finish.
Jenson Button
McLaren had a new Honda hybrid motor in their cars but they remained hopelessly out-gunned at a power track like Spa. Jenson Button’s task on race day was made even more difficult by his ERS periodically cutting out.
Daniel Ricciardo
The five fastest cars in qualifying were all Mercedes-powered: Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull was next. In the race a sudden loss of electrical power put him out.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas kicks up sparks as he ascends Eau Rouge.
Start
Despite starting on the back row of the grid the McLaren pair got away well, leading Max Verstappen, Felipe Nasr, Will Stevens, Kimi Raikkonen and Roberto Merhi up the hill from Eau Rouge.
Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez wrested the lead of the race from Lewis Hamilton on lap one, but only for a few metres.
Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean
Despite being bumped back from fourth on the grid to ninth by a gearbox change penalty, Romain Grosjean fought back and inherited the final podium position when Vettel dropped out.
Lewis Hamilton
The Mercedes crew applaud Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg following the team’s seventh one-two of the season.
Romain Grosjean
The champagne may never have tasted sweeter for Romain Grosjean: Not only was this his and Lotus’s first podium for more than a year, it came on a weekend when bailiffs arrived at the teams following a financial dispute with former driver Charles Pic.
mickey18 (@mickey18)
27th August 2015, 13:40
Some great photos once again Keith.
This was probably my fav from the weekend.
You always hear about Eau Rouge being steeper then it looks on the TV. Not sure whether that photo is any more representative but he’s damn near sideways!
pal
27th August 2015, 14:25
That’s a nice one. Also the start picture here is nice. I think it shows how bad the broadcast is that we don’t see these sort of images during the race. Lacks the depth. Literally.
Kevin (@kmccauley)
29th August 2015, 0:31
Yeah — something I’ve started to notice — in the broadcast, all the tracks look the same. They do a very poor job showing the differences in tracks, and the different challenges each track offers. If they ever showed Eau Rouge from an in-car camera during this year’s race broadcast, I must have blinked, because I missed it! F1 wonders why it isn’t gaining popularity, and meanwhile every shot during a GP is a looooonng zoom from a mile away with no sense of speed and terrible audio. The value of educating the fans about what makes each track unique, and showing it from a driver’s perspective would go a long way towards “spicing up the show.”
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
27th August 2015, 16:47
@mickey18 I always felt it looked like a proper hill, but when you walk it on track it’s a proper steep climb that exhausts the unfit men.
MattyPF1 (@mattypf1)
27th August 2015, 23:58
@xtwl looks like I need to go to gym then XD
Willem Cecchi (@)
27th August 2015, 14:50
Ferrari photo needs to be included in the caption competition.
RB (@frogmankouki)
27th August 2015, 16:43
I agree, we need to venture into what Kimi is thinking. I’m sure someone can nail the caption.
nehir
27th August 2015, 17:46
There should be a separate Kimi – Sebastian caption competition imo.
lale
27th August 2015, 19:53
Hehe :)
Bradley Downton (@bradley13)
27th August 2015, 21:29
The looks on the three Ferrari guy’s faces are all totally different.
Kimi is: ‘Look, 900 races, yay… (I don’t care)’
Arrivabene is: ‘LOOK, 900 RACES. LOOK DAMMIT!’
Seb is: ‘Look, 900 races, yay, ohmygod, I’m part of Ferrari history!’
mann
27th August 2015, 22:03
LOL You are right about Seb. Looks like he’s the happiest guy to be in Ferrari :D
Alex de Brito (@corix)
28th August 2015, 3:41
exactly!
Aw
28th August 2015, 13:49
Haha, and we have a winner! :)))
rick
28th August 2015, 13:54
Kimi: ‘Its a car!!!’
Maurizio: ‘Thats where the Marlboro logo used to be’
Sebastian: ‘Well i wont need this finger for anything else this weekend’