Right here is our full textual content transcript from the 14th spherical of the 2024 Method 1 season, the Belgian Grand Prix:
Right here we go. Yet another race day earlier than the summer season break and this may very well be one other cracker. The solar is shining on Spa-Francorchamps, we now have a blended up grid, what’s to not love? A mix of unhealthy climate and a grid penalty for Max Verstappen has shuffled the grid for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, leaving it unclear as to who’s the favorite for victory in Spa.
Verstappen was very clearly the quickest driver in Saturday’s moist circumstances as he comfortably topped qualifying, however will begin from eleventh as he serves a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine allowance for the season.
In Friday’s dry operating, McLaren regarded nicely set to revenue from Verstappen’s penalty as Lando Norris topped second follow from team-mate Oscar Piastri, however F1’s in-form squad have been far much less comfy within the moist.
Norris finally salvaged fifth, a spot forward of Piastri, leaving the McLarens to begin fourth and fifth on the grid after gaining a place for Verstappen’s demotion. That leaves a high three on the grid of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Verstappen’s Pink Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The truth that Spa is without doubt one of the F1 calendar’s best tracks to overhaul on implies that beginning positions are much less essential than at different circuits, however it stays to be seen simply how simply Verstappen and the McLarens will be capable of come via the sphere.
Ferrari workforce principal Frederic Vasseur forward of the beginning of the race: “It’s solely on Sunday you rating factors! When you look in Budapest, McLaren received by 20 seconds which was lower than two tenths per lap. It’s been like this the final 10 races. We’ve to be environment friendly – win when we now have the very best automotive and rating factors once we don’t.”
Tyres and technique will probably be CRUCIAL immediately. Apparently, Pink Bull are the one front-running workforce to avoid wasting only one set of the exhausting tyres. With the new temperatures, the exhausting tyre is perhaps the very best compound, and the speak within the paddock is Pink Bull may very well be on the backfoot right here. Conversely, the Mercedes, Ferraris and McLarens all have two units of hards and one medium (aside from Charles Leclerc who has two mediums).
Regardless of the resurfaced observe, there may be nonetheless excessive tyre degradation because of the high-speed corners at Spa-Francorchamps. We don’t count on to see the gentle tyres as that was graining lots on Friday, when it was cooler then too. A mix of the mediums and hards is the way in which to go. The undercut will probably be very highly effective, identical to Hungary. The vast majority of the sphere are beginning on the medium tyre, with solely three exceptions. Carlos Sainz in P7 is on the exhausting, as is Zhou Guanyi in P19. Daniel Ricciardo, ranging from P13, is on the gentle.
Lap 1/44: Charles Leclerc will get away nicely, as does Lewis Hamilton, who jumps Sergio Perez for second. Sergio Perez tries to come back again on the run to Flip 5, however Hamilton makes use of all of his expertise to maintain the place. Lewis Hamilton did Charles Leclerc a giant favour there by stopping Sergio Perez from having the prospect to problem the Ferrari.
Lap 2/44: Lando Norris simply acquired previous Carlos Sainz for P6 however ran broad instantly after and needed to give the place again. That’s left him with Max Verstappen proper on his tail! As that transfer occurred, Max Verstappen overtakes Fernando Alonso on the Kemmel Straight and is already straight behind his most important championship rival.
Lap 3/44: Lewis Hamilton is within the lead! With DRS enabled, the seven-time world champion eases previous Charles Leclerc on the run as much as Flip 5. Has the Mercedes come to life on race day?
Lap 3/44: The Sauber of Zhou Guanyu is shifting very slowly, with the Chinese language driver reporting that he’s misplaced energy. He’s making an attempt to make it again to the pits.
Lap 4/44: Hamilton leads the way in which from CHarles Leclerc and everybody has DRS right down to Verstappen in eighth, aside from the race chief. That is fascinating.
Lap 4/44: Sauber have by some means managed to repair that Zhou problem. He by no means got here into the pits and is again on top of things, however is now greater than a minute again from Logan Sargeant forward of him. He may definitely do with a Security Automobile.
Lap 6/44: Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of breaking free from Charles Leclerc. The hole between them is hovering round a second. If Hamilton can get clearly out of DRS vary, he could possibly open a bit of little bit of a spot. Sergio Perez has fallen virtually two seconds again from Charles Leclerc and is beneath stress from Oscar Piastri. It’s maybe changing into a bit of bit tougher to observe because the stint goes on.
Lap 8/44: Nico Hulkenberg is the primary driver to make a pit cease as he places on the exhausting tyres. Carlos Sainz in sixth place, who began on the hards, is wanting good, so it’s a must to say the exhausting is the tyre to be on immediately. Bear in mind, Pink Bull solely have one set of the hards when the opposite leaders have two units.
Lap 10/44: We’ve our first stops from the leaders. George Russell is available in from P5 and Max Verstappen from P8. They emerge in thirteenth and 14th, respectively. Russell comes out behind Yuki Tsunoda however virtually instantly passes the RB for P12.
Lap 11/44: Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri swap to the exhausting tyres. Russell jumps Piastri and is behind Perez!
Lap 12/44: Charles Leclerc pits from the lead and comes out in second place, forward of a prepare led by Sergio Perez…
Lap 13/44: Oscar Piastri is flying! The McLaren appears to have come to life on the exhausting compound and Piastri eases previous in Sergio Perez within the DRS zone.
Lap 14/44: Carlos Sainz leads Lando Norris by three seconds. They’re each but to pit however Sainz is on the hards and Norris is on the mediums. Lewis Hamilton is the primary driver who hasn’t pitted, with Charles Leclerc 1.6 seconds behind.
Lap 14/44: Lewis Hamilton’s lead over Charles Leclerc is about the place it was earlier than the stops, simply above 1.5 seconds. Oscar Piastri is an extra couple of seconds again from Leclerc. Behind them, George Russell is in a Pink Bull sandwich, with Sergio Perez forward of him and Max Verstappen behind.
Lap 15/44: Norris lastly comes into the pits for a set of exhausting tyres. He’s six seconds behind seventh-placed Verstappen however with brisker rubber. Carlos Sainz is the one driver but to pit now.
Lap 16/44: Carlos Sainz makes a small mistake at Flip 15 and goes into the gravel. That’s price him a few seconds.
Lap 16/44: It’s not been an awesome afternoon to date for Sergio Perez. He’s misplaced three locations on the opening stint and is now inflicting Pink Bull an extra headache. He can’t break away from George Russell, which is giving the Mercedes driver the DRS assist he wants to remain forward of Perez’s team-mate Max Verstappen behind him.
Lap 18/44: Charles Leclerc is maintaining with Hamilton right here. The pair are matching one another, with Piastri three seconds behind the Ferrari driver.
Lap 19/44: Carlos Sainz is basically making his exhausting tyres final on the market. “Let’s wait a pair extra laps,” he tells his engineer over the radio as they talk about their choices from right here.
Is a one-stopper coming into play? His lead over Lewis Hamilton is down to three.5 seconds.
Lap 21/44: Carlos Sainz is available in on the finish of lap 20, a nice effort on these exhausting tyres. He comes out 4 seconds again from Lando Norris in P8. George Russell lastly will get by Sergio Perez on the Kemmel Straight and now the Mexican is holding up his Pink Bull team-mate Max Verstappen!
Lap 22/44: It regarded like Max Verstappen was about to cross his team-mate, however he doesn’t have to. Perez is available in for his second cease on the finish of lap 21. It stays to be seen whether or not these will take him to the tip. Verstappen nonetheless misplaced a whole lot of time behind Perez on that lap, so Norris is now inside one second of the championship chief within the battle for fifth.
Lap 24/44: Norris locks up going into the ultimate chicane, cuts it however loses time so can’t make a transfer on Verstappen once more. These small errors are hurting Norris immediately.
Lap 25/44: That’s an early closing cease for Charles Leclerc. Ferrari are going for the undercut. It’s a 3.4-second pit cease for Charles Leclerc, which isn’t that fast. He’s on one other set of hards however that gradual cease may cost a little him in opposition to Hamilton.
Lap 26/44: Mercedes determine to cowl off Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton is in and it’s a really strong 2.4s cease, which beneficial properties him a second on Charles Leclerc. Hamilton comes again out comfortably forward of Charles Leclerc, however operating in P6 total.
Lap 28/44: Max Verstappen is available in, and is again onto the medium tyre. Verstappen comes out a few seconds behind his team-mate Sergio Perez. That cease ought to allow to undercut George Russell.
Lap 29/44: And Carlos Sainz comes into the pits, so Hamilton is free to push on with Leclerc two seconds behind.
Lap 29/44: It’s now Lando Norris’ flip to cease. He emerges from the pit lane simply behind the Pink Bulls however comfortably forward of Carlos Sainz. Norris will now must attempt to cross Max Verstappen once more.
Lap 30/44: Oscar Piastri is available in to cease and goes lengthy on his pit field, which causes a really gradual 4.4s cease. Fortunately for him, he stays away from the Pink Bulls as he comes out the pits. That may dent any hopes he had of chasing down Hamilton and Leclerc forward of him.
Lap 31/44: Norris cruises previous Perez and is into sixth place. Can he catch and overtake Verstappen, who’s one second in entrance.
Lap 32/44: George Russell leads by seven seconds and hasn’t made a second pit cease. He’s requested whether or not he’s pleased with the tyres and to remain out. Russell says “sure”. Russell is on a courageous one-stopper.
Lap 32/44: Having eased previous one Pink Bull, Lando Norris is closing in on the opposite. He’s advised his exhausting tyres are “sturdy” and that he’s free to push on them, and is nicely inside DRS vary of his championship rival. We’ve seen all through this race that in the event you don’t get the cross carried out early, it turns into very difficult. The following few laps may very well be dynamite.
Lap 33/44: Lewis Hamilton has this beneath management for the time being. His hole to Charles Leclerc is at 2.5s. Does the seven-time world champion have the tyres to see this one via?
Lap 33/44: The quickest driver on observe proper now’s Oscar Piastri, who closes to 1.2 seconds behind Charles Leclerc within the struggle for second.
Lap 35/44: Charles Leclerc may earn some brownie factors from his future team-mate for that. Oscar Piastri tries to get Leclerc on the run up the hill, however the Ferrari defends boldly on the within and buys Hamilton one other lap to open a spot.
Lap 36/44: Oscar Piastri dances across the exterior of Charles Leclerc at Flip 5 to take second place. Nice racing from each drivers and Piastri will get the job carried out. His deficit to Lewis Hamilton is 5 seconds.
Lap 36/44: Charles Leclerc’s defence enabled Lewis Hamilton to open up a five-second hole to their battle. That effort from Leclerc might have been essential. Russell is unquestionably not pitting right here and he leads by three seconds from team-mate Hamilton. Will Mercedes ask for workforce orders? Will Russell pay attention if there’s a request? It’s like McLaren in Hungary this time final Sunday!
Lap 38/44: Within the battle for fifth, Norris has been inside one second of Verstappen for a number of laps now however simply can’t get shut sufficient to make a transfer. Verstappen is doing an awesome job to maintain Norris behind.
Lap 39/44: Carlos Sainz goes across the exterior of Sergio Perez to take seventh place. Perez is basically struggling on these exhausting tyres. He’s been on them for 17 laps, which is a very long time, except you might be George Russell who’s been on them for 28 laps!
Lap 40/44: With 5 laps to go, Lewis Hamilton is simply over a second again from his team-mate. This time subsequent lap, he’ll absolutely be inside DRS vary.
Lap 41/44: Piastri takes out seven tenths out of Hamilton and is 4 seconds behind now. The longer Russell retains Hamilton behind, the higher for Piastri. The Australian might be part of this struggle for the win.
Lap 42/44: Lewis Hamilton has a glance up the within however George Russell holds on. This isn’t coming as simply to Hamilton as he might have thought it might.
Lap 44/44: George Russell leads and Lewis Hamilton locks up into the ultimate nook. That is outstanding! That error prices Hamilton and Russell stays forward within the DRS zone. George Russell simply wants to carry on now!
Chequered flag: What a efficiency! George Russell has pulled off the one-stopper to win the Belgian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc holds onto fourth place from Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris in sixth. Carlos Sainz takes seventh and Sergio Perez is eighth.
Purchase official Ferrari F1 merchandise!
Let different Scuderia Followers learn about us
