This weekend was a very tough one emotionally for the entire motorsport community. It would be physically impossible to write this without sparing a few words for Anthoine Hubert, the promising French F2 driver, who has been taken from us far too soon in a horrific crash at Spa on Saturday. It just proves that even though there have been major developments in safety, this sport is still risky and dangerous. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this very difficult time. I also have to spare a thought to Juan Manuel Correa – the other driver involved in the incident. I hope he has a swift recovery and sincerely wish he will recover fully from this – both physically and mentally.
Talking about the race itself, the winner was a very fitting one, considering the tragedy of the day prior. I’ve drafted some of the key talking points of the race here:
The Kimi and Max incident:
Spa usually has a thrilling start to its races, and this one was no exception. There were 2 incidents going through La Source – the main one being the crash between Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen. Going into the corner, Raikkonen was on the outside and couldn’t see Verstappen going into the corner, the pair touched and Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo was nearly tipped over, whilst Verstappen’s Red Bull suffered suspension damage and crashed into the tyre barrier at the top of Raidillion.
This incident caused a mild blockage, as all of the cars behind the top 4 slowed up massively. This caused another incident, between Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo, the former tagging the rear-right of the latter, leaving Ricciardo with damage to deal with for the rest of the race.
Contrast in starts for Mclaren:
Whilst one car managed to get up into P5 after the first 2 corners, the other struggled to get off the line. Lando Norris managed to get a great start from 11th on the grid, and managed to avoid the trouble around him to become the best of the rest car – where he stayed for the majority of the race. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for his teammate Carlos Sainz’s getaway, stalling on the grid and during his first lap pitstop. Sainz later retired due to his loss of power, which will be quite worrying for both McLaren and Renault as he already has exceeded the quota for power unit components – so they will hope there was just a minor fault that can be fixed in time for this weekend’s race in Monza.
Haas’ race pace:
As much as this has been a recurring theme throughout the season, it still puzzles me as to why the Haas cars struggle for race pace and tyre management. Most of the pictures at the start of the race were of Kevin Magnussen getting passed lap after lap at Les Combes. It is just baffling that the team which finished as the best of the rest last season is struggling so much, and cannot figure out the reasons why – and it is even more painful to see them going backwards again and again in every single race.
The undercut strategy:
The undercut proved to be very effective at the start of the race. It was used by Pierre Gasly, who managed to get ahead of drivers like Lance Stroll in the Racing Point, as well as his teammate Daniil Kvyat. Ferrari also used the undercut with Sebastian Vettel in order to maintain his position ahead of the 2 Mercedes cars. This tactic initially worked, and even got him ahead of race leader and teammate Charles Leclerc. However, this did not last too long. The ones who pitted early struggled with worn tyres despite the original speed advantage, and were on the defensive for the last few laps.
Mercedes race-pace advantage over Ferrari:
It was evident on Friday practice that Mercedes had a quicker race car than the Ferraris. To be honest, I was not expecting them to be as quick as they were, especially towards the end of the race – at one point they were nearly 2 seconds quicker in the second sector, which is absolutely insane. Despite them having a slower straight line speed than the Scuderia, they could manage their tyres better and therefore they received a significant pace advantage in the last 10 or so laps. If Sebastian Vettel wasn’t such a team player, Mercedes would have been extremely confident in catching Leclerc in the closing laps (exactly like in Hungary) – however it would not have been easy, if you look at the straight line advantage alongside the fight that Vettel was able to put up against a flying Hamilton, they might have struggled to get past at all.
Vettel – Number 1 teammate, number 2 driver?:
Imagine saying after Malaysia 2013 that Sebastian Vettel would be allowing a teammate past him for a victory, absolutely no-one would have believed it. It seems like a long time ago since the occurance of multi-21, and Sebastian has definitely matured as a driver and team player since then. During the team photo, everyone at Ferrari points to Seb and acknowledges that he basically helped them win the race. However, this race has left many people questioning the roles of the two drivers, as prior to the season Mattia Binotto said Vettel would be the number 1 driver, but Leclerc has now outqualified Vettel in the last 6 races and has won the first race for Ferrari since Kimi Raikkonen at the 2018 United States Grand Prix, so they will have to consider who gets priority for the second half of the season.
Albon’s storming drive:
It would be wrong to not shine light on a wonderful drive from Alexander Albon on his debut for Red Bull. Starting from P17, he stayed out of trouble on the opening lap, managed his tyres well to lap 23, and then made his way back through the field. His great overtake on Daniel Ricciardo at turn 11 was the only part that was actually broadcast live – which was a shame, even though there was a battle unravelling at the front. It will be great to see if he has any potential to match Max Verstappen over an entire race weekend, and how he can develop as a driver in the senior team there.
Bad luck for Norris:
Lando Norris had some bad luck on the final lap on the race; after being in P5 for the entirity of the race, he stopped on the main straight on his last lap, meaning he finished the race in P11 without any points. Despite McLaren not having high expectations for Spa, they were in a good position and unfortunately came away with nothing. The McLaren issues fit in with most of the week-end’s engine and power unit issues, but for them it was unluckily during the race.
A very fitting winner:
Charles Leclerc always seems to race well under tragic circumstances – you just have to look back to the F2 weekend in Azerbaijan back in 2017, a weekend where we nearly scored a double after his father’s death. This is a very similar thing, and I think it was just meant to be for Charles’ first win in Formula 1. He dedicated the win the his friend who he raced against, Anthoine Hubert and it is almost impossible to argue that he didn’t deserve it. Now it will be interesting to see if he (as well as Ferrari in general) can carry this momentum into their home grand prix in Italy.
Here are some of my key talking points from the Belgian Grand Prix. I’m going to leave this post by commending the motorsport community for their tributes for Hubert, especially those at the track with the applause on Lap 19, as it was incredibly loud even through the TV screen.
That Sport Blog 