Spa was to be the race where McLaren get their 2014 campaign really going. It wasn’t quite to be. While the race pace was incredibly strong, the team came away with far fewer points than what they realistically needed to come away with. Just eight points does mean than McLaren moves ahead of Force India in the constructors’ championship, but only just. The team should have come away with almost double what they did.
Qualifying was held in torrid conditions. Despite this, McLaren managed to get both their cars into the top 10, which was a good effort given the pace of cars around them, including Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso. The race will be remembered for some superb attacking and defending by both McLaren drivers, including on each other, but also for a penalty which was arguably harshly given considering other events in the same race.
McLaren Belgian GP Review
No. 20 Kevin Magnussen (DEN)
Grid: P7
Race: P12 (P6 on the road but given a 20s time penalty for forcing Fernando Alonso off-track)
The ever-impressive young Dane was one of the stars of the show on both Saturday and Sunday, but left Spa pointless (bar two on his superlicense) after what was a pretty phenomenal drive. Having outqualified team mate Jenson Button by no less than a second, he held off Button, Alonso and Sebastian Vettel for a large number of laps in the closing stages of the race. That is seven world championships that Magnussen held off there. His efforts were all in vain though as he was subsequently awarded a 20-second time penalty (equivalent to a drive-through) for forcing Fernando Alonso onto the grass at over 200mph, and rightly so in my eyes. The guy has exceptional speed, but he needs to start putting a whole weekend together as he did in the first race of the season.
No. 22 Jenson Button (GBR)
Grid: P10
Race: P6
Button had a pretty decent race here. He was outqualified by Magnussen again but caught up later in the race. He went wheel-to-wheel with Magnussen as well as fellow champions Alonso and Vettel and Button finished in the middle of the three champs. Sixth is certainly not a bad result at all as the pressure continues to mount on McLaren to make a major announcement. With McLaren refusing now to make an announcement until the end of the season, results like this, especially finishing ahead of drivers like Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will certainly go a long way when it comes to McLaren making that crucial decision.
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