Formula One Vault

This Grand Prix – Belgian

Hello welcome to This Belgian Grand Prix, can anyone stop Max Verstappen? It feels like writing these opening monologues after races I’m posing the same question why are Ferrari making mistakes and bad luck costing them results?

They could have equally shared the headlines on what had been an excellent recovery drive for Verstappen and title rival Charles Leclerc, but he was forced into an early pit stop by a visor tear-off getting stuck in his brake duct, only for Ferrari to pit him again with two laps remaining to try and get the fastest lap bonus point despite some uncertainty from Leclerc on the radio.

General News

Bernie Ecclestone has indicated a not guilty plea at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on fraud charges after an alleged failure to declare £400m of overseas assets to the government. He faces a charge of fraud by false representation between 13 July 2013 and 5 October 2016.

According to the charge, he allegedly claimed he had established a single trust in favour of his daughters. He is also alleged to have said that he was not the beneficiary of any other trust in or outside the UK. The former F1 driver and CEO is to allegedly made the misrepresentations “intending to make a gain, namely not stated, for yourself”.

The big news on Friday morning was the announcement that Audi has announced they will enter Formula One in 2026 when new engine regulations are introduced. The manufacturer has only announced they will be making engines, though they are expected to work with Sauber, currently racing under the  name Alfa Romeo.

I think as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “This is a major moment for our sport that highlights the huge strength we have as a global platform that continues to grow.” It’s a big win as we know these regulations had three aims, greener, cheaper and to attract new manufacturers. We could get two brands as we think Porsche is going to follow suit.

It means that parent company VW will have to fund two separate engine development programmes – which will be much most costly than them sharing designs and rebadging them. But, this is going to be a big challenge as Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and what will be Red Bull, will have a decades experience with this type of engines.

However, the car company believes that the way new rules have been framed, to give more freedom to new entrants, should allow it to catch up in time. Hoffmann added: “First of all, it is really a big challenge to get this work done [by] 2026. But I think we find some compromises with the rules that we are able to enter on [equal terms] with all the other competitors. And we love the challenge.

Weekend recap

FP1 saw Carlos Sainz lead a Ferrari one-two after going just under seven hundredths faster than teammate Charles Leclerc. He set his 46.538 on the soft tyre halfway through the session with Max Verstappen going third two-tenths behind in third almost a tenth and a half ahead of the Mercedes of George Russell. The Englishman was eight tenths off the outright pace and ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, while Alex Albon surprised putting his Williams sixth.0

FP2 saw Verstappen go fastest with a 45.507 ahead of Leclerc by eight and a half tenths with the two rivals set to start near the back of the grid because they have both taken new components on their power unit. Lando Norris went third just over two tenths behind Leclerc, and ahead of Lance Stroll who set his lap later in the session going fourth. Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari fifth, he will likely be the favourite for pole tomorrow, the Spaniard going a tenth and a half faster than Lewis Hamilton.

FP3 saw Perez top the times going fastest right at the end of the session with a 45.047, which put him a tenth ahead of teammate Verstappen and Sainz. Norris continued to deliver the pace going fourth, but with several drivers facing grid penalties, a mix-up grid was set.

Qualifying saw the two title rivals scrap it out to be fastest, but with grid penalties, Verstappen started sixteenth and Leclerc seventeenth. That means it would mean it would be their respective teammates Sergio Perez and Sainz, with the latter taking pole. It was quite a turnaround from Mercedes who were able to challenge for best of the rest with Hamilton fourth and Russell fifth on the grid ready to cause havoc.

Hamilton went into the race wanting to cause havoc, but not the sort he did cause when he crashed on the opening lap into Fernando Alonso. The race itself saw Verstappen take victory from the fifteenth after clearing the midfield early on and Leclerc’s race once again unravelling by a mixture of bad luck and poor decisions, only compounded further by a five-second penalty.

Perez’s second place moves him ahead of Leclerc by five points in the drivers and Red Bull increases its lead to ninety seven points over Ferrari in the constructors.

Mercedes

Following Friday’s practice session Lewis Hamilton says he thinks Mercedes are a “long way off” on a difficult first day of running at Spa. Following the summer break and George Russell’s pole position in Budapest, the team had been hoping for good opportunities this weekend.

However, both Hamilton and Russell struggled for pace in Friday’s cold and damp practice sessions. Hamilton ended the afternoon session in sixth place, more than 1.3 seconds behind the pace-setting Red Bull of Max Verstappen. Teammate Russell was two places further back, a further two-tenths adrift. He was struggling for answers saying they were “not very quick.”

He told reporters, “We’re going out and giving it everything we’ve got. It could be tyres, it could be tyre temps, it could be wing level. It could be a multitude of things. It doesn’t feel disastrous out there. It’s just we’re a long way off.” Reading between the lines this doesn’t look to be disastrous but not where we saw them in Budapest.

Hamilton and Russell, on Friday evening, had the feeling they could still salvage something this weekend. Hamilton added: “We’re just going to work hard tonight to analyse the data, and try to figure out where we can get with this car. It doesn’t feel the same as it did at the last track like in qualifying kind of time, but Friday and Saturday morning, it feels kind of similar to this now. So that gives me hope that we can turn it around.”

The team’s difficulties continued into qualifying, with Hamilton and Russell could only finish seventh and eighth, a distant 1.8 seconds off Max Verstappen’s fastest time in Q3.  Toto Wolff called the result “unacceptable” and labelled it as the worst qualifying session he had experienced in 10 years.

The grid penalties promoted them up the grid to fourth and fifth, but we have seen all year the car has a very narrow operating window, Spa I thought would be more difficult because hilly circuits have not been good for Mercedes, but the question is can they use the lessons from the first half to move forwards?

Last week it appear that relations between Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were easing up, but that all been undone by the first lap shunt. Following which Alonso calls him an “idiot” the Mercedes driver says he won’t speak to the Spaniard, while accepting it was his fault he said Alonso was in his blind spot.

He said “It was definitely my fault today, it’s unfortunate. I mean, it’s motor racing. I gave it everything I tried to overtake on the outside into Turn 5. I just didn’t leave quite enough space and I paid the price for it. So yeah, it wasn’t intentional. It just happened.”

When asked if he was going to talk to his former McLaren teammate, he said: “No. I would have until I heard what he said.”

The FIA race stewards also determined that Hamilton turned into Alonso, but as it was a first-lap incident they decided not to take any further action. But that’s to be expect for a turn one opening lap crash. Hamilton was also later warned for not attending the medical centre immediately after his accident, which was mandatory.

Red Bull

Going into the race where Max Verstappen started fifteenth the Belgian-Dutch driver Said it will be a “shame” if he doesn’t end up on the podium. Verstappen has been in excellent form all weekend and started the race sixteenth, but you have to say being seven-tenths clear on pace ahead of Sainz could be a warning for the rest of the season

After praising the form of his Red Bull, Verstappen said he had lofty ambitions for coming through the field in the race. Saying 0“We need to move forward/. I think especially with a car like this, it will be a shame not to be on the podium.”

Verstappen said Red Bull had hit the ground running in Belgium, and was delighted with how the RB18 was handling. Adding “It was an amazing qualifying, but I think already the whole weekend, we’ve been on it. The car has been working really well and just basically trying to fine tune it. And it all came together in qualifying.

That form continued into both qualifying where he was fastest, before going onto victory in the race getting near the front by lap ten, and passing Carlos Sainz for the net lead on lap eighteen.

He then went on to victory by eighteen seconds, he said “once we settled in after the safety car, the car was really on rails. I picked the right places to pass people and we could look after our tyres and that’s how we made our way forward. After that once we were in the lead, it was all about managing everything. But this whole weekend has been incredible.”

His first on-track win in the country of his birth was the result of a weekend so utterly dominant that he “couldn’t have imagined” it. He added, “Of course, it’s been a weekend I couldn’t imagine before. But I think we want more of them, so we keep on working hard.”

Perez, who was passed by Verstappen in the first stint despite starting 11 places ahead of his teammate, had to concede the reigning world champion was “on another planet” on Sunday.

Ferrari

Ferrari says it’s completely “wrong” to suggest that the manufacturer’s return to the front was down to it getting a head start with the new regulations. After two years of difficulties, the Italian manufacturer has emerged as the closest challenger to Red Bull, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz grabbing wins in the first half of the season.

They continue to insist that the progress the team has made this season is down to it doing a better job, as it had no more of a head start than anyone else, and was equally locked in an intense fight with McLaren last year that meant it could not abandon 2021 development early.

Asked if he felt it unfair some had claimed Ferrari’s early strong form was down to a head start, Binotto told Motorsport.com: “I don’t think it’s unfair, I think it’s wrong. The reason why is, first, we all started exactly the same time to develop the 2022 car. That was January 2021, when finally it was possible to start simulating and going into wind tunnels with new cars. Before that, we could not do it.”

Ferrari I think are trying to put a little bit of spin on this, we know in 2020 development freeze was in place, but we know you can’t stop people thinking. There felt like a change of tone last year as it seemed the team were focused on this year. Binotto is adamant that the target heading into 2022 was never simply winning the championship.

Current F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali who won the teams last drivers in 2007 and constructors championship in 2008, said the team’s comeback in 2007 acts as proof Ferrari should “never say never” in this year’s title fight.

While he admitted that the eighty-point gap was “a lot” for Leclerc and Ferrari to make up, Domenicali reflected on Raikkonen’s title win in 2007, where a seventeen-point deficit was overturned with 20 available to beat McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to the title.

Carlos Sainz continued on that theme after being Verstappen was fastest in qualifying, despite starting from pole he was six tenths off on a weekend which has been on pace been dominated by Red Bull. He said, “Happy to be starting on pole obviously.”

“Not so happy to see the gap to Max this weekend and the gap that Red Bull has on us. We need to keep digging to see why Red Bull is so fast around this track. But to start from pole is a good place to start and we will try and win from there tomorrow.”

Ferrari is facing the question again about strategy calls, this time the decision to pit Leclerc with two laps to go. Although Leclerc overtook Fernando Alonso while exiting the pits, Alonso passed him back down the Kemmel Straight, compromising Leclerc going onto the final lap.

Leclerc lapped six tenths of a second slower than Verstappen’s benchmark, and while he recovered P5 from Alonso using DRS, the Ferrari driver received five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane at the final stop that dropped him back to sixth.

Leclerc denied feeling any frustration with Ferrari over the late decision to pit and took full blame for the penalty, saying it was “nothing to do with the team.” Leclerc said. “At the end, it’s more frustrating to see the delta of pace there was between Red Bull and us, which is the thing we need to work on.”

I wonder if Ferrari is really learning, are we about to witness the story we have seen in the last decade of their seasons falling a part in the second half.  Do they need to maybe write this off as a learning year and come back stronger in 2023? Leclerc, who admitted the championship was “definitely looking extremely difficult now” for Ferrari.

McLaren

Daniel Ricciardo continues to face questions about his future, in an interview published on Monday, he says the turn around Sergio Perez’s career serves as proof of how quickly things can change in Formula One. Pressure on the Australian has been growing since McLaren CEO Zak Brown said earlier in the year he had ‘failed to meet expectation,’ and looks set to replace him with Oscar Piastri.

Ricciardo maybe trying to take control of his future and put the case out not just to McLaren but to potentially other teams to say ‘I can still deliver results.” On Wednesday, however, it was announced he will leave McLaren by ‘mutual consent’ at the end of the season. The team and the Australian had “mutually agreed” to the split, but McLaren admitted they had precipitated the move.

The announcement is expected to be followed by confirmation that McLaren has signed Oscar Piastri 2021 F2 champion and Alpine reserve. McLaren said they would confirm their 2023 driver line-up “in due course”. The team already have Lando Norris under contract until the end of 2025.

Giving his reaction teammate Lando Norris said he has no sympathy for Ricciardo’s struggles this year. The Englishman explaining that this year’s machine initially didn’t suit him either, and he has had to change his driving style in order to perform at a high level.

He accepted that saying that would probably see him criticised, adding “It’s difficult, because I never know if I might encounter that in the future, with this car or with a different team, or whatever. So I never want to contradict myself going into the future. I’ve just got to focus on my driving, and my job. It’s not my job to focus on someone else.”

Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll and Norris all made a good start to their second home race, in FP2 the half-Belgian drivers were all in the top four. Norris described his Friday as reasonable but not incredible, he told reporters “We’ve still got a lot of work to try and smooth out, let’s say, some problems and issues and difficulties, but not bad in terms of pace today. But the Aston’s only half a tenth behind me, which we shouldn’t be happy with. So we should work hard tonight and try and take a step forward tomorrow.”

Norris however will join Verstappen, Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher at the back of the grid on Sunday after taking on new Mercedes power unit elements, the McLaren driver was cautious on his chances of making his way up the order.

“Usually,” replied Norris, when asked if overtaking was possible here. “I think it’s still going to be a little bit different this weekend. I think there’s been a bit of a trend that some tracks have been harder to race on and some tracks much easier – like we saw Budapest was a lot easier this year than what it’s been in previous years.

Alpine

Fernando Alonso told his side of the story ahead of this weekend, saying there was “always a strange feeling” in his contract talks with Alpine for 2023 before Aston Martin’s approach made him feel more wanted. Those shockwaves continued with Ricciardo announcing he would leave McLaren on Wednesday.

Explaining how events unfolded in Budapest and the following days, the two-time champion revealed he was contacted by Aston Martin shortly after Vettel’s retirement plan was announced. The contract was signed on the Monday after the race before the team “decided to announce quite quickly before any leak.”

Alonso reiterated that his intention was to stay at Alpine before Aston Martin’s approach, but that talks were “not moving forward for a couple of months already.” adding, “It was a logical move to me because Aston was very willing to have me and trust on my abilities on the track and off track as well to develop the project.”

One of the allegations made against Alonso and hid and his manager, former team principal of Alpine’s predecessors Benetton and Renault until resigning after the Crashgate scandal in 2009, Flavio Briatore. He dined those allegations saying that Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer “probably didn’t know”, he  did tell everyone who had been involved in talks that he was leaving prior to the announcement.

Alpha Tauri

Pierre Gasly believes his Alpha Tauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda “probably took Formula One a bit more seriously” through his second season, allowing him to provide better feedback to push the team forward. Tsunoda has cut out a lot of the mistakes we saw last year and by his own admission “he knows what he is doing now.”

But because the team aren’t able to show the same results as we know the midfield is a lot tighter and they have not managed to score points since Baku. Gasly told Motorsport.com, “I think now he took probably Formula 1 a bit more seriously, which was the right approach to have. From what he says, I did have an impact on that side to show him the sort of dedication and commitment that this sport required.”

Later in the week the Frenchman said it was too early to think about his future as he’s set to take control of his own destiny after 2023. Before Red Bull resigned Sergio Perez on a two-year deal in May, the Frenchman spoke about possibly returning to Red Bull, while the Frenchman relished the opportunity to have his future in his own hands, he said it is too early to start mulling over his next move.

He added “Yeah, yeah. I’m way more complete. I think it’s a sport where, personally, I feel way more complete than I was when I arrived in the sport because it’s a complex sport. It’s not only about driving.”

Aston Martin

Lance Stroll was one of the drivers who stood out in FP2, a rare fifth in what has been a difficult season for the team. That put him ahead of both a Ferrari and Mercedes, however Spa since the team was founded as Jordan in 1991 has always gone well here, and Stroll has always gone well in the past.

Asked if he expected qualifying to be wet, meanwhile, Stroll – who famously took his maiden career pole in treacherous conditions at Istanbul in 2020 – replied: “I heard it’s going to be dry tomorrow. That’s what it looks like anyway, but you never know around here.”

Williams

Williams believes a “cheap upgrade” for the weekend helped Alex Albon land the best grid position since his return to the sport, he qualified tenth to start sixth thanks to grid penalties. That marks the top Saturday return of his Williams and Toro Rosso career, the ex-Red Bull driver clocking his best-ever grid slot of fourth in the 2020 Austrian, Tuscany, Turkey and Bahrain.

According to Williams head of performance Dave Robson, the turn of speed was the result of a “cheap” circuit-specific upgrade to the FW44 that has maintained the car’s efficiency.

He managed to retain that position in the race holding off several cars with a two seconds advantage over several midfield cars.

Haas

Mick Schumacher believes that people should take more time before dishing out criticism, especially if they don’t have all the facts. The German came under pressure following a messy start to the season, including big crashes in Jeddah which saw him miss the race and Monaco, as well as a collision with Sebastian Vettel in Miami.

Schumacher has managed to turn it around with strong results from Montreal onwards and believes his crashes do not reflect the actual facts. He says, “People are kind of focused on building headlines, in a way.” I think this is almost like his first chance where he has a car and a teammate who challenges him, he is improving but we are also looking in from the outside.

Results Summary

Championship Standings