Well that was certainly a Belgian Grand Prix, wasn’t it? Rain and everything.

The Good

• It started very well, with an action-packed first lap. It was almost too much to take on board, so I’m not sure I retained any of it. Breathless.
• The relative strengths of different cars were nicely highlighted. Some of the best examples were between Liuzzi in the Force India, which loves the straights, and Vettel’s Red Bull Racing, which delights in the fast corners. Vettel first took Liuzzi, then Liuzzi took the place back. Great stuff.
• Lewis Hamilton was pretty excellent, particularly when he went into the gravel on slick tyres as the rain started to come down late in the race, but managed to keep it moving and out of the tyre barrier. A well deserved victory.

The Bad

• Very bad luck for Rubens Barrichello, celebrating his 300th race, who got caught out by a spot of rain early on and took himself out of the race when he smacked into Alonso.
• Fernando Alonso had better luck, coming away from that virtually unscathed. He was less fortunate in the rain later though, spinning out of the race all on his own.
• Jenson Button was another man to suffer in the wet conditions, but through no fault of his own: it was Vettel who lost control trying to overtake Button, but it was Button who went out of the race.
• It was Sebastian Vettel’s fault, but I think it’s harsh to say that he was dangerous or stupid. He was just impetuous: which Martin Brundle agreed with in the commentary not long after I tweeted words to that effect. But he’s been impetuous too many times – and his puncture later on from hitting Liuzzi while trying to overtake was probably another case – and he’s throwing away the championship.
• So three title contenders not scoring points. I can’t decide whether that’s a bad thing or not for the championship. It’s still close, and that’s the main thing.

The Ugly

• It wasn’t pleasant watching Nico Hulkenberg trying to keep his car on the track on slick tyres when the rain started bucketing down. It was a gamble, and a gamble that didn’t pay off.
• Mercedes GP was as grey as ever, though slightly less ugly when being overtaken by the colourful Force India.