Five Formula 1 Winners & Losers: Belgian Grand Prix

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The Belgian Grand Prix usually doesn’t disappoint.

This time around, unfortunately, it did.

Well, actually, the sprint race on Saturday was very good.

The Sunday race I didn’t fully watch because I was seeing Oppenheimer.

Great movie. Very much worth the watch.

But let’s go over the winners and losers from Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Losers

5. Lando Norris

Lando finished 7th, which is actually a good finish! A solid haul of points.

So, why is he in the losers section?

Because Lando himself sure seemed to hate his Sunday.

Hey, if he thinks it was dreadful, who am I to disagree?

4. Alexander Albon

The first part of the race sure made it seem like Albon would end up with a points finish, but the end result had him in 14th.

A missed opportunity at a track that suits the Williams.

3. Nico Hulkenberg

Bad qualifying strategy.

Bad race strategy.

Just bad. No good. No bueno.

2. Oscar Piastri

I swear, this man is just trying to make me look stupid.

I said he’s having a bad rookie season for his expectations, and he strings together 3 fantastic performances.

I praise his fantastic performances, and he hits Sainz and the inside wall on the first corner completely ruining his race.

Is this some sort of sick joke, Oscar?

What did I do to you?

1. Carlos Sainz

I guess it’s not entirely your fault, Oscar.

After all, it was Carlos Sainz who locked up into the first corner and then squeezed you completely ruining both of your races.

What can you do, eh?

Winners

5. Pierre Gasly

Gasly did not get points on Sunday, but a great strategy call got him 3rd in the sprint race on a tumultuous weekend for Alpine which saw pretty much all major senior members out of a job.

It was a nice little boost for a rough weekend overall.

4. Charles Leclerc

A podium is always nice for Charles, who overall has had a challenging season.

3. Yuki Tsunoda

A week after Daniel Ricciardo jumped off his couch and finished higher than his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, it was crucial that Yuki responded back with a good result of his own.

And he did, getting just the 3rd point of the year for Alpha Tauri with a 10th place finish while Ricciardo had a struggling Sunday.

2. Sergio Perez

Another good result for Perez, who is starting to get his groove back and do his job for Red Bull in securing a 1-2 finish.

1. Max Verstappen

And, more importantly, not beating Max.

Not that anybody could right now.

Not only is Max getting pole position by almost an entire second over 2nd place, he’s now decided to give himself extra challenges by arguing with his race engineer and wanting to make extra pit stops for “pit stop practice.”

The man can’t turn up the difficulty on real life, so he’s trying to do it in different ways.

Formula 1 always has dominant eras, and this until 2026 is the Max Era.