Max Verstappen was declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after the requisite two laps amidst a never-ending downpour at Spa.
After a spectacular qualifying session on Saturday, which saw George Russell very nearly snatch the unlikeliest of pole positions, fans waited for hours as the race was continuously delayed.
Eventually, with light fading fast and the rain showing no sign of dissipating, the drivers went out behind the safety car on what were – officially at least – reconnaissance laps, only for the race to be red flagged once again.
Around three and a half hours after the lights should have gone out, it was confirmed that the race would not restart and Verstappen was announced as the winner. That also meant a first ever podium for Russell in second and a 174th podium for Lewis Hamilton in third, with the field awarded half points.
A Bad Day for Formula 1
Image credit: Getty Images
Either side of the summer break, we went from one of the best races in years, to one of the worst ever.
If you can even call it a race.
The situation was clearly a very challenging one for all involved, but the way in which those in charge dealt with it left a lot to be desired. This is not simply a case of having the benefit of hindsight – it was clear to see at the time that many of the procedures were farcical.
Team strategists radioed Michael Masi, clueless of the situation, and received conflicting answers; the commentators did their best to inform the viewers but repeatedly found out that they were wrong.
This writer was just as confused as Martin Brundle upon discovering that the race had been shortened by one lap for each ‘delayed start’. Race start times have been changed in the past without it being classed as such. And then there was the debacle of the various clocks that may or may not have started, and were ultimately paused by the stewards anyway.
Image credit: XPB Images
It felt as though the rules were often being applied far too literally and that all common sense had been washed away by the biblical rain.
And finally came the laps that were classed as ‘the race’. As Hamilton stated in his post-race interview, they were sent out for “one reason and one reason only”: to ensure that there was an official result at the end of the day.
It is a result, however, that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. For most of the teams and drivers, for those watching at home, and particularly for those in the grandstands. It is particularly painful to read first-hand accounts such as this one of fans who had paid hundreds of pounds or euros to sit in the rain for hours and then, in theory, not receive a refund as – they officially at least – witnessed an ‘event’.
We can only hope that F1 will do something to reimburse them. And that it will learn from this shambles for the future.
The ‘Belgian Grand Prix’ in 30 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
What madness happens on the first lap this time? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Will Red Bull decide to get an almost inevitable engine penalty out of the way here? Nope.
Are we set for a typical wet and wild race in Spa with showers forecast all weekend? It was too wet and wild…to the point that there was no race.
Spa was originally a treacherous 14-kilometre track designed for speed, which used mainly local public roads
The fearsome Eau Rouge/Raidillon complex features an elevation change of 35 meters from its lowest to highest point
In 2019, Charles Leclerc became the first driver to score a maiden grand prix victory at Spa since Michael Schumacher did so in 1992
At 7.004 kilometres, Spa is the longest current F1 circuit, but it has one of the smaller spectator capacities with space for just 70,000 fans
The Weather
The Quotes
Valtteri Bottas | “There’s no news to share yet. Who knows? Maybe I know something, maybe I don’t, but like I said, there’s no news to share.”
George Russell | “Obviously in discussions over the summer break but there’s nothing to announce one way or another this weekend and probably not next weekend either, to be honest. It’s no problem. Do things right rather than quickly, let’s say.”
Max Verstappen | “For sure they will be quick here. This track hasn’t been the best for us because of the long straights – I know that we definitely did close the gap a bit in terms of top speed, but we are still not there.”
Lewis Hamilton | “The break was definitely much needed but it felt too long at the end. I was definitely excited to get back to work and missed working with the team and missed being in the car.”
The Friday Form
Practice 2 Top 5
1 | Max Verstappen | 1:44.472 | 12 Laps
2 | Valtteri Bottas | 1:44.513 | 14 Laps
3 | Lewis Hamilton | 1:44.544 | 13 Laps
4 | Fernando Alonso | 1:44.953 | 15 Laps
5 | Pierre Gasly | 1:44.965 | 17 Laps
Practice 1 Top 5
1 | Valtteri Bottas | 1:45.199 | 18 Laps
2 | Max Verstappen | 1:45.363 | 14 Laps
3 | Pierre Gasly | 1:45.699 | 20 Laps
4 | Charles Leclerc | 1:45.818 | 19 Laps
5 | Carlos Sainz | 1:45.935 | 20 Laps
Things appear very evenly matched between the two leading teams for the moment, with the usual Ham-Bot-Ver front three spending most of the Friday sessions separated by a matter of hundredths of a second.
As ever, engine settings are an unknown – and particularly important around a track like Spa – but Mercedes seem to have an advantage on the straights with a lower downforce setup than their rivals currently.
Verstappen edged the second practice session but ended it in the wall with terminal damage to his Red Bull, after losing the car at Turn Six.
It was a fairly sedate race at the front. Hamilton had more than enough to cover anything his teammate threw at him – which was thoroughly demonstrated on Saturday with two stellar qualifying laps, more than half a second faster than Bottas – and Max Verstappen unable to challenge the mighty Mercedes on this occasion.
An early crash by Antonio Giovinazzi, that also collected the helpless George Russell, brought out the safety car on lap 10 and all the front-runners, bar Sergio Pérez and Pierre Gasly, took the opportunity for a cheap pit stop and ran to the end on a set of hard tyres. Whilst things started to get a little uncomfortable towards the end, and Hamilton’s mind clearly flashed back to that puncture in Silverstone, there were to be no late dramas this time and the Briton took his 89th victory – now just two short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record – again being denied a ‘grand chelem’ only by a fastest lap on the final lap.
He dedicated the win to Chadwick Boseman, best known for his starring role as Black Panther, who sadly passed away over the weekend at the age of just 43. “It’s been an emotional weekend, I want to dedicate this win to Chad and his family, he was such an inspiration and his legacy will live on.”
Renault Find Their Form
The aforementioned fastest lap was set by Daniel Ricciardo as he closed in on an unlikely podium, finishing just three seconds behind Verstappen in the end.
Image credit: XPB
Renault have been steadily improving as this quick-fire season has progressed, but this year’s black-and-yellow machine really came into its own with a low downforce setup at Spa. They were near the top of the timings all weekend; Ricciardo second in Practice Two and teammate Esteban Ocon in the same position in Practice Three.
Come race day, the Renaults fell back from the top three somewhat but, it would become apparent, were far kinder to their tyres and, with a few more laps, the Honey Badger may well have been designing a tattoo for Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul…
The 44 laps of the Belgian circuit were enough for Ocon, though, who held off the late charge of Lando Norris and successfully passed the Red Bull of Alexander Albon on the final lap for fifth place. 23 points for fourth, fifth and the fastest lap, is Renault’s best points haul at a single race ever. And things bode well for next week’s trip to Monza, where an even lower downforce setup could well see Abiteboul sweating once more.
An Emotional Weekend, Especially for Gasly
A minute’s silence was held before the race in memory of Anthoine Hubert, the F2 driver who was tragically killed at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Many of the young, French drivers grew up with Hubert but Gasly, in particular, considered the young Renault protégé one of his very best friends.
So, it was excellent to see the AlphaTauri driver continue his good form this weekend and come home with some more points in eighth place. He made up a number of positions in the opening laps, despite starting on the hard tyre, and showed incredible bravery as he passed Pérez into Raidillon, the Mexican squeezing him to a dangerous degree.
The safety car fell unkindly for Gasly and his counterstrategy, but he fought back through the field excellently, after switching to the medium compound on lap 26, and felt he had done enough to make his former roommate proud come the chequered flag. The fans voted him the Driver of the Day.
Thank you guys for electing me Driver of The Day on such a day. It was a tough weekend emotionnaly. Today was a very important race personnaly, and I gave everything I had. I wanted to do very well for Anthoine, and honored him the best possible way. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/w4RNUH66vj
Ferrari did not expect much coming into this weekend, but they may well have managed to underdeliver, nonetheless. The deficiencies of the SF1000 were brutally exposed and its lack of straight-line speed was particularly evident in the first and third sectors of the lap in Belgium.
There were fears that Ferrari would struggle to progress through Q1, after Practice Three left Charles Leclerc in 17th and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel plumb last. They did narrowly avoid that particular embarrassment, but 13th and 14th on the grid was a long way from locking out the front row before a maiden victory for Leclerc at the same circuit last year.
My personal suspicion is that the team overly focussed on an especially downforce-heavy car for this season due to their superiority on the straights in 2019. But, once the engine rules had been clarified and severely hampered them, it was too late to dramatically change the philosophy of the 2020 design.
Whatever the reason for their shortcomings, it is probably a good thing that there will be no Tifosi at next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, as it will likely be the lowest downforce setup of the year and their problems will only multiply.
Nil points at Spa is humiliating, but nil points at Monza…
There is certainly a big hill to climb for those in red.
Image credit: Foto Colombo Images
The Belgian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Can anyone (well, Max Verstappen) challenge the Mercedes? They haven’t won here since 2017… Nope, they have now not won here since 2020…
Will a better result in Spain help motivate Sebastian Vettel? It must have been hard to find any motivation in this Ferrari at this track.
Or will Ferrari just struggle terribly around the power-sensitive Spa track? Yes.
Will the pressure increase further on Alexander Albon? It was another okay race and Helmut Marko has come out and backed him. For now, at least.
Could we have a wet and wild Spa weekend? *sigh* No.
Outright Lap Record: Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 2019 | 1:42.519
Most Driver Wins: Michael Schumacher | 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002
Most Constructor Wins: Ferrari | 1952, 1953, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2018
THE WEATHER
The Quotes
Lewis Hamilton | “If you take away Max’s DNF (retirement) in race one away, we would be very close in points. They have had very strong results. Maybe in qualifying we do have the edge. But in races we are a lot closer. We are not even halfway through the season. I absolutely keep my eye on them. They are absolutely still a title runner and we need to stay on our toes.”
Charles Leclerc | “Spa-Francorchamps has a special place in my heart. While it is here that I took my first win, it is also where we lost our friend Anthoine last year. He will be in our thoughts.”
Renault | “Beyond the decisions, the matters at issue were vital to the integrity of Formula 1, both during the current season and in the future. Reaching this strategic objective, in the context of the new Concorde Agreement, was our priority. The controversy of the start of this season should be put behind us, as we need to focus on the remainder of an intense and unique championship.”
Pierre Gasly | “Spa is my favourite track and racing through all those high-speed corners is a great thrill. I really enjoy driving it and have had great races there in the past. However, this year, returning to Belgium will also be a sad moment, because it is just one year ago that Anthoine lost his life after that terrible accident in the F2 race in Spa.
A poignant weekend with probably the right result.
Image credit: LAT Images
The 2019 Belgian Grand Prix came on a weekend where things were put very much in perspective. On Saturday, shortly after qualifying, F2 driver Anthoine Hubert tragically lost his life following a massive accident at the Raidillon swerves. The Frenchman, who was just 22, suffered a huge 170mph impact from the car of Juan Manuel Correa. Lewis Hamiltonsaw the incident live on TV whilst being interviewed and you can see in his face that he instantly knew it was not good. But these guys are racers. So come Sunday, they race. It’s all they can do.
Charles Leclerc was a childhood friend of Hubert – as were Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon – so it seems fitting that the next day he should take his maiden F1 victory. It was long overdue anyway.
Under such difficult circumstances, it was an incredibly mature performance. Leclerc got away well from pole position and – after a safety car period caused by a Max Verstappen crash – started to open up a gap as his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, struggled with his tyres. After the German pitted early, on lap 15, the race pace of the Mercedes cars became clear and Hamilton started to close on Leclerc. Whilst Ferrari had held a significant advantage over one lap throughout the weekend, their race pace had always looked less convincing. And so proved to be the case.
When the front two pitted, Vettel inherited the lead but was asked to move aside for the younger Ferrari driver. Credit to Ferrari that they have stuck by their mantra of team orders benefitting whichever driver requires them rather than solely their de facto number one. Whilst Vettel’s status as de facto number one is becoming increasingly under threat, he was still to play a crucial role in this race.
He held the rapid Hamilton behind him for around four laps, in which time Leclerc had stretched his advantage over the world champion to nearly seven seconds. It appeared for a few laps that they had reached something of a stalemate but then the Ferrari tyres began to fade fast and Hamilton was suddenly catching by more than a second a lap. Leclerc kept his head, negotiated back-markers, made no mistakes and narrowly held on for a well-deserved victory. Valtteri Bottas, after a fairly anonymous race, completed a sombre podium as Vettel pitted for new tyres to claim the fastest lap along with fourth position.
Monaco’s first-ever race winner immediately dedicated the victory to Hubert. This is a young man that has already experienced so much tragedy in his 21 years: he lost his godfather and mentor, Jules Bianchi, in 2014; his father died a day before the 2017 Baku F2 race; and now long-term friend Hubert. The fact that he won both races a day after such losses shows the way Leclerc sees the world – he just wants to make them proud.
Yesterday, once again, he did so emphatically.
More Mixed Emotions at Red Bull
Image credit: Getty Images
Verstappen’s excellent run of results eventually came to an end with a race start more reminiscent of his early 2018 struggles. After another poor getaway, he went for a gap that was closing quickly and very reliant on Kimi Räikkönen, firstly, knowing he was there and, secondly, being pretty generous. One of those two requirements was not satisfied and the Red Bull pitched the Alfa Romeo up into the air. Verstappen continued but the damage done to his steering saw him go straight into the barriers at Eau Rouge.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, newly-promoted Alexander Albon was having a debut race to remember, for the right reasons. He was forced to start from the back of the grid as Honda trialled a new engine. This meant no ultimate qualifying lap to truly gauge how he was matching up to Verstappen but he appeared to be holding his own through the practice sessions and, on race day, would show why Red Bull have chosen to give him this chance.
After a steady first half of the race, making slower progress through the field than he would have liked, he suddenly came alive on the soft tyres. A cunning move around the outside of Daniel Ricciardo was followed by a piece of sheer bravery as Sergio Pérez forced him onto the grass down the Kemmel Straight at over 200mph on the final lap. He kept his foot in and took sixth place, which would become fifth after Lando Norris’s retirement.
From the back of the grid to fifth in his first race for Red Bull? I imagine he’ll take that. Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko will be very pleased with a performance that justifies their latest driver swap, or certainly goes along way to doing so in one race.
And More Bad Luck for the Luckless Lando
What does Lando Norris have to do to catch a break?!
At a weekend where it looked like McLaren were struggling – having never really been inside the top 10 during Friday or Saturday – Norris dealt with the first corner drama perfectly and found himself emerging from it in fifth. He then set about holding onto that position and did so expertly. Many watching – and Norris himself, he admitted after the race – were expecting those behind to close in on him. Especially once Pérez, armed with an in-form Racing Point, were up to sixth. But it never happened.
It was a drive that thoroughly deserved what would have been the best result of Norris’s career so far, but it wasn’t to be. Just one lap from the end, his Renault engine decided it was done for the day and Norris ground to a halt. To add salt to the wound, Leclerc finished the race just behind a gaggle of drivers that, if they had been lapped, would have been classifield below Norris and seen him eighth rather than 11th.
This is just the latest in a run of misfortune that has cost him countless points. A slow pit stop in Hungary; mechanical failures in Germany, France and Canada; a poorly-timed safety car in Britain. But the bad luck will surely end and the potential he has is clear to see. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him up in fifth place again before the end of the season…and this time at the chequered flag.
The Racing Point Update Seems to be On Point
Having somewhat disappointed – or at least been pretty anonymous – this season, the update for Racing Point that hinted at progress in Hungary, showed this weekend that it has certainly pushed them up the pecking order.
Pérez into Q3 and Lance Stroll into Q2 is better than they have generally managed, respectively, this year. And a solid double points finish on Sunday with a deserved sixth place for Pérez, who had to pass a fair few cars on his way, bodes well for the remainder of the season and for the future of what is a team starting afresh since Lawrence Stroll’s buy-out last year.
Answering the Burning Questions
How will Alexander Albon cope with his promotion to Red Bull? Very well, it turns out!
And how will Pierre Gasly do in the Toro Rosso? A solid run to ninth on what was an incredibly hard weekend for him.
Can Ferrari finally win a race? Yes!
Will we find out who gets the Mercedes seat for 2020? (And the Renault one potentially…) Yes and yes. All as expected with Bottas confirmed for Mercedes and Ocon moving to Renault.
Can F1 pick up where it left off with another excellent race? It was another good race, if a very sad weekend for the sport.
