Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Belgian Grand Prix
Photo by Sam Bloxham of Motorsport Images
Spa is one of my favorite race tracks, but that doesn’t change that this race was a teeny bit boring!
Regardless, here are the winners & losers from the weekend in Belgium.
Losers
5. Nicholas Latifi
Williams team boss Jost Capito said that it wasn’t a given that Latifi wouldn’t continue with the team next year.
Latifi responded to the faith given to him by being terribly outqualified and raced by his teammate Alex Albon.
Latifi is a nice guy and extremely likeable, but he simply doesn’t have a place in F1.
4. Haas F1 Team
I won’t lie.
I forgot Schumacher and Magnussen were even in the race.
That ain’t good!
3. Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo was having a really good race on the week it was announced McLaren bought out his contract.
And then it just…disappeared.
I couldn’t tell you why, exactly. He just simply dropped way down the order.
I hope he goes back to Alpine. I still think he can succeed.
2. Lewis Hamilton
That Mercedes car is nowhere near the Red Bull or the Ferrari, so it was extremely unlikely for Lewis to win the race.
But his teammate George Russell still finished 4th and could have gotten a lucky podium.
Lewis on the other hand made a mistake on the opening lap forcing him out of the race after he cut off Fernando Alonso while fighting for positions.
It was a wasted race, and it was all on Lewis.
1. Ferrari
The Red Bull is faster than the Ferrari.
We will discuss Red Bull a bit later, but the gist is how quickly the Red Bull blew through the field and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was actually doing very similarly.
And then they got a bit unlucky with a tear off affecting Leclerc’s brakes which forced him to pit under safety car.
And then, after confirming a one stop with Leclerc, they changed their mind and gave out loads of information of the radio needlessly before Leclerc pit again.
And THEN, the team decided to box Leclerc against his wishes for fastest lap, only he lost 5th position to Alonso due to a pit road speeding penalty and he didn’t even get the fastest lap.
Sometimes, I think people make too many jokes about Ferrari’s strategy.
This was not one of those times.
What a disaster…
Winners
5. Alex Albon
While Latifi had a terrible weekend in the Williams, Albon found himself with a Q3 appearance and a top 10 finish.
Albon had a great race, and will be crucial to Williams attempt to get back into the midfield.
4. Sebastian Vettel
Started in the points. Finished in the points.
I’m going to appreciate all of these last few races that still have Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1.
3. George Russell
Like I said earlier, that Mercedes car is miles behind Ferrari and Red Bull.
Still, Russell finished 4th and only 3 seconds behind Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari that finished 3rd.
He’s been easily the most consistent driver, and it’s showing in the standings.
2. Esteban Ocon
Ocon was one of the countless drivers who had tons of grid penalties affecting his starting spot, but that didn’t stop him as he waltzed his way up the grid of a P7 finish.
He had basically the same race as Leclerc did, but in a slower car.
Not too shabby!
1. Max Verstappen
There is a BBC documentary about the 2013 Formula 1 season on YouTube. I highly recommend looking it up.
But in that video, Lewis Hamilton mentions that he had belief Mercedes could close the gap on Red Bull in the summer break but when they returned in Belgium, Red Bull took a massive step forward and they couldn’t keep up.
Sound familiar?
Max Verstappen started in 14th place due to grid penalties, and Belgium is an overtaking track so I think many people assumed he’d make up loads of places and maybe even win the race.
And he did.
After 12 laps.
It took Verstappen 12 laps in a 44 lap race to go from 14th to 1st.
It was like he was playing a video game with how fast his car was.
That’s what this race reminded me of.
I said after Hungary that this was no longer a title battle and Max had it won, and even I may have undersold that.
