Max Verstappen dominated race day around Spa to take his third win in a row at the circuit. He quickly made up ground passing his teammate to make it a 1-2 for the team.
Charles Leclerc brought home a much needed podium for Ferrari in 3rd while Hamilton took 4th and the fastest lap after a late stop.
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The Red Bulls got off to a fantastic start as Verstappen rose to 4th while Perez made the all important move on the Ferrari out in front.
The useful ‘F1 Insights’ that provide data throughout the race showed that Leclerc was quicker off the line, yet he was still no match for the Red Bulls mighty acceleration.
McLaren’s hard work on Saturday was undone in a heartbeat. Piastri got caught up at Turn 1 and sustained critical damage to the car. It was a racing incident if anything but he will feel that a bit more aggression may have kept him in the race. Carlos Sainz, who suffered damage himself, had space on his outside but was unwilling to use it.
It wasn’t much better for Lando Norris who – after a slow pit stop – found himself running in 16th.
The teams had no high fuel dry runs in the build up to race day. This meant they were all learning on the fly in terms of stint length and degradation.
Despite this, the Red Bull seemed as lightning quick as ever. Verstappen soon cleared Leclerc making it a Red Bull 1-2 after 15 laps. He then went past his teammate with ease and normality had resumed. Then, in typical Spa fashion, the rain arrived.
The rain stays away
The threat of rain has been imminent all weekend. There was disruption on Friday and Saturday adding a bit of drama to an already congested sprint weekend. It was no surprise that the pit wall soon started to tell the drivers that another shower was on the way.
The clouds cleared without much making much of an impact other than lowering the track temperature slightly. A shame as a dash for the intermediates would’ve spiced things up for the second half of the race.
Nonetheless the early DNFs of some of the front runners had given each team a sniff of some world championship points.
The likes of Williams and Alpha Tauri were running well on the fringes while drivers questioned whether to go for a 2 for 3 stop strategy. Hamilton bolted on the soft tyre on lap 28 causing Leclerc to follow suit a lap later.
Tyre troubles and dominant displays
Going into the last 10 laps concerns about tyre wear were becoming clear. Verstappen was urged to slow down on his softs. Something he didn’t agree with, even suggesting he could open up a gap to his teammate which would allow him to pit again instead. That’s confidence for you.
It turned out to be a valid option wit the Dutchman pulling out over 20 seconds even after being asked not to push. A dominant win and a crushing blow for Perez who, once again, looked unable to compete with his teammate in what is still the best car.
Charles Leclerc took a deserved podium on a positive weekend for the Scuderia. Fred Vasseur will be relieved to see some of their hard work pay off before the summer break despite Sainz’s troubles.
Lewis Hamilton ensured the spoils would be shared nipping the fastest lap after switching to the medium tyre at the end. His teammate making the one stop work to get himself up to 6th. The pace is clearly there for George although his qualifying execution in recent weeks hasn’t been up to scratch. The blame doesn’t lie solely with him for that.
The Aston Martins showed good pace at an important time for the team. Those podium finishes seem like a distant memory. They will need to keep scoring well with the resurgence of McLaren and other teams development paths. Alonso took 5th – a result he won’t be ecstatic about after his early season form. Lance Stroll has consistently finished behind Alonso this year. Surely he will need to start outperforming the elder statesman soon. Still, 9th brings home a few points for the team after getting nothing on Saturday.
After all the drama in the opening stint, Norris miraculously claimed 7th to salvage an otherwise disappointing day for the team.
Yuki Tsunoda is my driver of the day claiming 10th place. The pressure he’s been under to perform with Ricciaro’s heroic return to F1 must be immense. Often the nearly man this season, today he delivered. He did a great job defensively as well holding off Pierre Gasly. The Alpine driver failed to make it a double points finish after Ocon came home in 8th.
A long break now before we go to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix on the 27th August.
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