BIGGEST LOSERS IN BELGIUM
- What Verstappened took a strong 1st place at Spa with 165 points. An incredible clutch of Pitlane Punt wins (see below) was backed up by, well, throwing everything else at the wall too. Good Track Points at the heart of it all.
- In 2nd place are Mancunian Badboy Racing, whose 127 points is largely attributable to a double Boost Button, but there was Punt success in there too.
- What Verstappened's sister team Strolling the ranks find themselves in 3rd place with 120 points. Similar story to their partner outfit: punts, punts, punts.
- In 4th place are League leaders Vladimir Mazepin. Their 108 points come from good Punting, if slightly let down by a poor Boost performance.
- Same for Nikita Putin, Vlad's sister team, who take 106 points and 5th position in Belgium.
- The double-boosted Double Daley just scraped 6th place, mainly thanks to a spot of Punt perfection.
This is the commentary page for the Belgian grand prix, featuring highlights of the Losers team action. For this race's full Losers team data featuring everyone's scores, see the data page.
Carry on reading this commentary.
TOP TRACK POINTS IN BELGIUM
Your drivers and constructor earn Track Points for your team, which can then be added to with Boosts, Punts and Forecasts, and improved with Ejector Seats. Here are the Losers teams that earned the most Track Points in this race.
- Ricciardo's exit from McLaren helped Alpine Fresh to a final tally of 47 Track Points, more than any other team in Belgium.
- It was Alfa Romeo's troubles that bumped up Camber Gamblers' Track Points, getting 46 overall.
- Their sister team It's a Trap Lando may have made it to the Podium of Shame (see below), but Spoiler Alert did very well to get 46 Track Points.
- They're last in the Losers League, but Ricciardo and Latifi did well for Cruther’s Junior and less well funded team B. They have 42 Track Points.
- Team Name somehow got 41 Track Points despite Stroll only scoring 2 Track Points in the last three races for them.
- What Verstappened were another team to get a Ricciardo bump, topping them up to 39 Track Points
This commentary page shows just the Losers team highlights for the Belgian grand prix. For the full Losers scores, see the data page.
PODIUM OF SHAME
In the scores for each race, we highlight the Losers teams that scored the least number of Track Points. Remember Eddie the Eagle Edwards? This lot are exactly like Eddie the Eagle Edwards except without skis. Or snow. Or any kind of cult following. Let's make them take out some automatic team actions.
- It's a Trap Lando finished joint second-from-last in terms of Track Points. Their 18 points means they'll be forced into an automatic Fast Forecast.
- Also scoring 18 Track Points are Your Answer. They will be sent to Balmoral to apologise to the Queen, and be made to play a Pitlane Punt along the way.
- With only 4 Track Points, パンダポップ have shamed themselves again. We will invoke the special seat option and make them play a 13th (!) Ejector Seat. Oh the humanity.
Teams featured in this Podium of Shame will have any resulting points losses waived. We will be in touch with more detail on your automatic team actions.
EJECTOR SEATS IN BELGIUM
If you Eject team members and at the next race, you earn more Track Points than the previous pre-Ejected race, you get a 5-point Ejector bribe.
- There were only two Ejector seats played for this race. Camber Gamblers and the auto-ejected Pierre Ghastly each get a 5-point bribe. That's it. Nothing else to say. Bring on the tumbleweed.
When oh when will Good Morning Britain have a debate about Ejector Seats? Be one of the cool kids and play an Ejector Seat now.
BOOST BUTTONS IN BELGIUM
Here are the teams that played Boost Buttons in Belgium.
- Best Boosts: Only one team boosted really well in this race. Camber Gamblers added 46 points to their tally, with an additional 5-point bribe to really sweeten their doughnuts.
- Okay Boosts: Bringing in an average boost performance, so no great loss, are What Verstappened with 39 extra points and Mancunian Badboy Racing who added 74 to their tally but based on a middling 37 Track Points..
- Bad Boosts: A load of teams boosted really badly. Sister teams Alfa Daley and Double Daley gained only 20 and 26 points each, sister teams Nikita Putin and Vladimir Mazepin scooped only a supplemental 20 and 21 points for their automatic boost. Henry's Motors hauled in an extra 23 and Cockpit Misfits added only 20 to their score. Messier than Edinburgh's bins.
FAST FORECASTS IN BELGIUM
It's 20 points for a perfect Fast Forecast prediction, 5 points if it's close (within two places for the grid and race predictions, or dropping at least one place on the opening lap), and minus-5 for any other guess. We now give a 'bribe' of 5 extra points to any team that makes two perfect or close guesses.
- Grid Position Forecast: Well done if you picked Ocon for the grid guess. You didn't, of course, No-one did. With such a mixed-up grid, the Grid Position Forecast was about as much use as a candy floss kettle. Nine teams made eight predictions. They were all horribly wrong and lost points. Let's move on.
- Opening Lap Forecast: You all fluffed up this too. Steady Jordan got 5 points for picking Albon, but that's it. Four other teams lost points, and one got an automatic Forecast wrong. We would tell you Hamilton was the perfect guess for this, but you don't care. Look at you. Not caring. You make the League sick.
- Race Result Forecast: You all did brilliantly! Yay! We take back everything we said! Cockpit Misfits, Scrapyard 17, Strolling the ranks and What Verstappened each win 20 points for perfectly predicting Stroll. Camber Gamblers, Steady Jordan and Work Shop Boys each made close guesses. Just one team got it fully wrong. The League loves you all.
- Just Steady Jordan earned a 5-point bribe in Belgium.
Try your hand at predicting what will happen at the next race. Make a Fast Forecast now.
PITLANE PUNTS IN BELGIUM
- Daniel Riccardo got dropped by McLaren. The Badger Dispatcher Punt lands for every team that played it, a few with mere hours before deadline. 16 points to Mancunian Badboy Racing, Nikita Putin, Strolling the ranks, Vladimir Mazepin, What Verstappened and Work Shop Boys. We hope those 16 points were worth it, you ghouls.
- It was a marginal call (see our thoughts on Twitter^), but the Nicholas Nudge Punt worked out too. 18 points to Double Daley, Nikita Putin and Vladimir Mazepin, while 9 points go to Strolling the ranks and What Verstappened.
- Hamilton went flying^, and so did the points for the Top of the Crop Stop Punt. Well done to Nikita Putin, Strolling the ranks, Vladimir Mazepin and What Verstappened, who each get 16 points, while Scrapyard 17 scoop up 8 points.
- This wasn't Nicholas Latifi's day. He trailed over the finish line in last place, ensuring a successful Williams You Are Really Nothing Punt. An identical points distribution as the Crop Stop punt, with 16 points to Nikita Putin, Strolling the ranks, Vladimir Mazepin and What Verstappened, and 8 points to Scrapyard 17.
- The Seb Schlep Punt landed when Sebastian Vettel missed out on Q2 by two thousands of a second. That's got to hurt. 20 points to Work Shop Boys and It's a Trap Lando, the latter of which were made to play the punt automatically. 10 points to Strolling the ranks and What Verstappened.
- Another disappointing result for Mick Schumacher was good news for the Gloomy Schumi Punt. Henry's Motors, Scrapyard 17, Strolling the ranks and What Verstappened each pocket 10 points. Meanwhile, the punt holds for Alfa Daley, Nikita Putin and Vladimir Mazepin: these teams are hoping for a pay-out in the Netherlands next week.
- Seven teams have taken a risk on the Flexi Floor Flutter, with most pinning their hopes on Mercedes' performance dropping off over the next few races. We'll reveal the results at Monza in mid-September.
- And five teams are wishing on an invasion of locusts for the Wildlife Wager. The beastly wait continues...
We gave out over 400 points in Punt winnings at the Belgian grand prix. Points don't grow on trees, y'know. Greedy, that's what it is. Have your point and eat it – play a Pitlane Punt now.
MORE POINTS
Here are the driver and constructor Track Points in Belgium.
Here is the complete Losers team data for Belgium.
And here's how it's affected the standings.
Access your personal team page here.
WHAT'S NEXT?
We have a quick run of three races. Belgium, Netherlands then Monza. Have a look at the 2022 calendar. The countdown to the season finale is fast approaching.
We will bring out some new Pitlane Punts over the next few days. The Schu Shoo punt is already live.
We're delighted to announce that 18th September is Losers Loan Sunday. Every team will receive 13 points credit, to be "spent" before the end of the month. You can:
- Match it with Pitlane Punt stakes, so if you fail, you don't lose points.
- Match it with Fast Forecasts, so if you fail, you don't lose points.
- Buy a one-race micro-Boost (worth an extra one-third of your Track Points) for 8 points.
- Buy an extra Ejector Seat for 13 points, to be deployed immediately.
- A mixture of all of the above – but you only have 13 points to spend.
This will activate on 18th September, and the credit will disappear at the end of the month if not used.
