Belgian Grand Prix Tag

By FIA Max Verstappen scored his first Belgian Grand Prix victory after the race at the Spa-Francorchamps was red flagged after just three laps behind the safety car due to heavy rain that had delayed the race start for more than three hours. Williams’ George Russell took the first podium finish of his career with second place, while Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes. With downpours regularly falling across the Ardennes circuit throughout the morning, conditions in the build-up to the were extremely difficult. The treacherous nature of the track wereRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton further extended his Formula 1 Driver’s Championship with a dominant Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps as Valtteri Bottas took second place to wrap up Mercedes third 1-2 finish of the season. Max Verstappen took third place to score his sixth podium finish in a row. When the light went out at the start of the race Bottas made a good start from P2 on the grid and he seemed poised to challenge pole sitter Hamilton as they went through La Source, but Hamilton had a smallRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton set blistering pace to claim his sixth Belgian Grand Prix pole position and a new track record at Spa as he beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by more than half a second. In the opening session Verstappen emerged from the garage five minutes into running and immediately jumped to top spot with an opening time of 1:43.408. That was swiftly beaten by McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and then Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo took over in P1. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton then crossed theRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took top spot in the final practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, with the championship leader finishing two tenths of a second ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon. Lando Norris was third for McLaren. With light drizzle dampening the track there was little running in the opening portion of the hour, with just Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean testing the conditions as they attempted to make up for time lost yesterday due to engine issues with their cars. When they returned to the pit laneRead More

By FIA Max Verstappen set the pace in the second practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, though the Red Bull driver was just under five hundredths of a second ahead of surprise second-place man Daniel Ricciardo of Renault. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third ahead of the second Red Bull of Alex Albon. A damp track made for a quiet opening phase to the session but after 15 minutes Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, who had missed the morning session due to a power unit water leak, posted the firstRead More

By FIA Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the opening Formula 1 practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Bottas set his best time of 1:44.493s on soft tires to eclipse championship leader Hamilton by 0.069 seconds. Verstappen got close to the Mercedes pair on the longest circuit on the calendar and the Dutchman ended the session with a best time of 1:44.574, just 0.081 off Hamilton’s P1 time. Fourth and fifth places in the session went to RacingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer First seven rounds of the 2019 Formula One World Championship – underwhelming to the bordeom. Last seven rounds however – sheer utter chaos with minimal boredom. From the rise of Charles Leclerc at Spa and Monza to the beautiful rally by Max Verstappen at Hockenheim. There was a lot to digest during the second leg of the F1 campaign and it’s time to recap my seven most memorable moments. The Instant Classic That Was Hockenheim I’ve already said it awhile back, but the German Grand PrixRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc took an emotional first Formula One win at Spa-Francorchamps and immediately dedicated his maiden victory to childhood racing rival Anthoine Hubert who tragically lost his life in a crash in Saturday’s FIA Formula 2 race at the Ardennes circuit. “On the one hand I’ve got a dream since being as child that has been realised. But on the other hand it has been a very difficult weekend since yesterday,” he said after defying late pressure from championship leader to take the win. “We have lost aRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel by seven tenths of a second to claim pole position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix as Ferrari locked out the front row ahead of Mercedes at Spa-Francorchamps. Quickest across the first two qualifying segments, Leclerc stretched the gap back to his rivals in the final top-10 shoot-out to claim his third career pole with a lap of 1:42.519, a massive 0.748s ahead of Vettel who chiefly lost out to his young team-mate in the middle sector of the 7km circuit. Mercedes’s LewisRead More

By FIA Ferrari continued to set the pace in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc going quickest in FP3, almost half a second clear of team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton failed to finish the session, however. The Mercedes driver crashed heavily midway through the session, bringing out the red flags. With Ferrari dominating the session’s opening exchanges, Hamilton, then nine tenths of a second off the P1 pace Sebastian Vettel, was pushing for an improvement when he put a wheel on the outside kerb onRead More