Red Bull (Kvyat: #2, Ricciardo: #3):<\/strong> Red Bull had their best weekend of the 2015 season by a long way, securing 33 points and two podium positions. Daniil Kvyat managed his best ever race finish in F1 and first ever podium. His second place was also the highest finish for a Russian driver in the history of Formula 1. Daniel Ricciardo would have been elated if you\u2019d offered him third at the start of the race, but in the end would have been disappointed with the result. It looked like the Australian could have grabbed consecutive wins at the Hungaroring with four laps to go, but as he overtook Nico Rosberg into second place, the German damaged his front wing. His charge was halted as he was forced to pit, denying him the chance to hunt down ex-team mate Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n Toro Rosso (Verstappen: #4, Sainz Jr: #DNF):<\/strong> Max Verstappen came home fourth, which was the 17 year old\u2019s best result in his short career. It appears inevitable that the young Dutchman will get his first podium and race win in the not so distant future. The best point\u2019s haul that the Toro Rosso team had previously managed this year was in Malaysia, where 7th\u00a0and 8th\u00a0place from their drivers secured them 10 points- Verstappen\u2019s 12 points in Hungary beat that single handed. In contrast, Carlos Sainz Jnr suffered his third retirement in a row and is now firmly on the back foot in the inter-team battle.<\/p>\n McLaren (Alonso: #5, Button: #9):<\/strong> What a turnaround for the Woking based constructor! Both drivers managed to keep their heads down, have a consistent day and basically stay out of trouble whilst absolute pandemonium broke out around them. Fernando Alonso managed his and McLaren\u2019s best finish of the season by getting fifth place, and JB\u2019s ninth place gave the team a total of 12 points from Hungary- their best return of the season by a long way.<\/p>\n Mercedes (Hamilton: #6, Rosberg: #8):<\/strong> A weekend to forget for the Champions elect. Lewis Hamilton said on Saturday that his pole was the most dominant of his career, but as pundits and fans alike crowned Lewis the winner before the race began, you got the feeling that the sport was going to throw up a curveball and make everyone look silly. Hungary ended up being the first time since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix that any of the factory Mercedes cars failed to finish on the podium and the sixth and eighth places of Hamilton and Rosberg respectively were their worst finishes of the year. Despite his error ridden drive and poor get away, Hamilton somehow managed to extend his championship lead by 4 points after Rosberg\u2019s late puncture.<\/p>\n Lotus (Grosjean: #7, Maldonado: #14):<\/strong> Romain Grosjean continued his solid 2015 season with another strong point\u2019s finish, grabbing six more in Hungary for coming seventh, whilst Pastor Maldonado (pictured below) tried to break the record for the most amount of steward\u2019s enquiries in one race. The hapless Venezuelan managed three penalties in the end for speeding in the pit lane, speeding behind the safety car and for an incident with Sergio Perez on Lap 19, and unsurprisingly finished outside of the points in the end.<\/p>\n Sauber (Ericsson: #10, Nasr: #11): <\/strong>Marcus Ericsson managed to grab the last point in Hungary, whilst his team mate Felipe Nasr came 11th\u00a0and missed out just 4 seconds down the road. The Sauber\u2019s profited from the high profile retirements ahead of them, but have been very disappointing since Melbourne and regularly languish at the back, sitting above only pointless Manor and a resurgent McLaren.<\/p>\n Williams (Massa: #12, #Bottas: #13):<\/strong> If Mercedes thought they had a race to forget, then it was nothing on Williams\u2019s weekend. The pair came 12th\u00a0and 13th\u00a0respectively, collecting 0 points and losing huge ground on closest rivals Ferrari. It was hoped that their form was on the up after Britain, but they really came down with a bump in Hungary. Massa\u2019s race was ruined by missing his marks on the grid and getting a five second stop and go penalty, whereas Bottas suffered a puncture after the restart and could not climb back through the field.<\/p>\n Manor (Merhi: #15, Stevens: DNF):<\/strong> Manor spent the whole weekend at the back of the grid as usual, with Roberto Merhi finishing 15th\u00a0and Will Stevens retiring four laps before the end. Was a very tough weekend for the team who had to say goodbye to Jules Bianchi earlier on in the week.<\/p>\n Force India (Hulkenberg: DNF, Perez: DNF):<\/strong> Force India\u2019s main contribution to Hungary was the excitement caused by Nico Hulkenberg’s total front wing failure. Consequently he suffered a pretty heavy crash which he thankfully walked away from, but it was the resulting safety car that gave the race its late drama. Both Force India cars failed to last the race distance and the team would have been thoroughly disappointed at their showing in Hungary.<\/p>\n An outline of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps including named corners, by Will Pittenger<\/a><\/span> via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p>\n Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium is steeped in history and is simply one of the greatest tracks that Formula 1 has ever seen. It hosted its first non-Championship race all the way back in 1924 and the narrow street circuit was both extremely fast and incredibly long, measuring a phenomenal 14.9km in its original format. Spa\u2019s \u2018old circuit\u2019 was still 14km long when it staged its final Grand Prix in 1970, but when it was reintroduced in 1983, it had been markedly reduced. Its current layout still uses much of the original track and still lays claim to being the longest circuit on the calendar at just over 7km in length.<\/p>\n Of the current drivers, Kimi Raikonnen has been by far the most successful here, winning four times between 2004 and 2009. Last year he came fourth which was the first time he had finished around this track and not made it onto the podium, but it was his best result of the season. Although it has been six years since his last victory, who would bet against the Finn adding to his tally, fresh off the back of signing a new contract for 2016 with Ferrari?<\/p>\n Well, two times winner around Spa and Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel might have something to say about that after winning the last race, whilst Felipe Massa (2008), Lewis Hamilton (2010), Jenson Button (2012) and Daniel Ricciardo (2014) each have one victory at the classic venue to their name so far.<\/p>\n![\"max33\"](\"https:\/\/www.scuderiacarparts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/max33.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe Belgian Grand Prix<\/h3>\n
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