Hot on the heels of the Hungary Grand Prix, F1 is in Belgium at one of my favourite circuits. And it’s a sprint format weekend, so that should add to the excitement … weather permitting! It’s often wet at Spa
Alpine have announced that Otmar Szafnauer (team principal since February last year) and Alan Permane (sporting director) will leave the team after this race! [F1]
Sky Sports just put up a list of people who have left Alpine in the past 18 months:
- Marcin Budkowski (sporting director)
- Alain Prost (non-executive director) was unhappy with how Alpine handled it
- Oscar Piastri
- Fernando Alonso
- Laurent Rossi, CEO, seemed to be taking on all the management jobs
Last week Alpine announced Rossi “will focus on special projects” and Philippe Krief will replace him - Otmar and Alan
Alan has been with the team (through various ownership & names) for 34 years! - Pat Fry (chief technical officer, moving to Williams)
That’s got to be a concern for those who are still there.
In other news, Red Bull have put a new gearbox in VER’s car so he’ll have a 5-grid place penalty for the main race [F1]
Practice
It was wet and foggy – great for atmospheric photos but pretty horrible for driving
Qualifying (for race)
Race control: start of Quali delayed for 10 mins
Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
RUS and HAM are sitting at the end of the pit lane on intermediate tyres but there’s over 6mins before the start
A Mercedes mechanic has handed HAM a pair of gloves and he swaps over
Meanwhile an Alfa Romeo attached a missing panel to ZHO’s car
Green lights
Williams still have SAR’s car up on stands as the mechanics are rebuilding it
Idiot VER fans set off an orange smoke flare
HAM 2:02.280
NOR 2:01.874
SAI’s out lap is deleted which means his next lap (should have been his first flying lap) is also deleted
MAG’s lap time deleted too
RUS 2:01.485
Incident involving VER and ALB noted – impeding
PIA 2:01.438
NOR has a wobble, just touches the gravel but recovers; team suspect front wing damage
SAI 2:00.536
SAR is finally leaving the pits
Replay shows VER impeding ALB in the final turn
NOR pits; they take a close look at the rear of the McLaren and decide to push him into the garage
Radio for RUS telling him they’re tight on time for a fast, slow, fast; RUS says they should tell HAM to put his foot down
5mins left; bottom 5 are MAG, HUL, BOT, ZHO, SAR
SAI 1:59.844
SAR P16
VER 1:58.932
BOT P6, relegating ALB to P16
ZHO P7, OCO P16
HAM 1:58.841
OCO P5, RIC P16
Replay of MAG leaving his pit box and the indicator lights (telling him it’s ok to exit) catch the onboard camera
MAG P9, STR P16
ALB P11, TSU P16
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are TSU, STR, RIC, SAR, HUL
TSU P4, BOT P16
VER 1:58.515
BOT P7, ZHO P16
RIC P6, ALO P16
STR P10, LEC P16
RIC’s lap time is deleted so he drops back to P18
ALO P2, LEC P16
LEC 1:58.300, ALB P16
SAR P18
Back of the grid: ALB, ZHO, SAR, RIC, HUL
Replay of ALB rejoining just ahead of GAS after running wide
Qualifying session 2
Dry lines appearing but still a few damp sections
HAM 1:58.024
BOT 1:57.657
MAG 1:57.413
PIA 1:56.370
PER 1:55.982
VER 1:55.535
HAM runs wide to let RUS past but RUS remains behind
BOT is the first to take on dry (slick) tyres
NOR pits without setting a time; he wants to switch to soft tyres ASAP
5mins left; bottom 5 are SAI, HAM, RUS, STR, NOR
Radio from OCO reporting he hit a wall and has broken his front wing
HAM P4, BOT P11
STR P3, ALO P11
PER 1:55.151
RUS 1:54.934, MAG P11
NOR 1:54.051, TSU P11
SAI P2, GAS P11
GAS P6, OCO P11
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are OCO, TSU, MAG, ALO, BOT
OCO pits
BOT P3, PIA P11
TSU 1:53.148, HAM P11
PIA 1:51.534, LEC P11
HAM P2, STR P11
STR P2, GAS P11
ALO P5, VER P11
VER P9, BOT P11
LEC P3, TSU P11
MAG P12
GAS P12
Middle of the grid: TSU, GAS, MAG, BOT, OCO
Top 10 shootout is between PIA, SAI, LEC, STR, NOR, HAM, PER, RUS, ALO and VER
Replay of MAG holding a very angry LEC
VER gives his engineer an earful; somehow Gianpiero (GP) Lambiase remains calm, points out VER’s preferred plan wouldn’t have given him a faster time, and asks what the spoiled brat wants to do in Q3
Replay of VER running wide, nearly going into the gravel … so whose fault is it that he was only P10?
Qualifying session 3
Short delay before the start of Q3 so the track workers can clean up some gravel
Mechanics having a look at PER’s floor
DRS enabled for this final session
Green lights but everyone remains in the garage
ALO 1:49.164
STR P2
NOR 1:48.701
PIA 1:48.509
HAM P4
RUS P6
VER 1:48.059
LEC 1:47.931
PER P6
SAI P3
Order after the first run: LEC, VER, SAI, PIA, NOR, ALO, PER, HAM, STR, RUS
HAM P6
RUS P9
5mins to go; everyone will fuel up and put on new soft tyres ready
Cars crawling out of the pit lane as they leave a gap to the car in front
STR P6
LEC 1:46.988
SAI P2
PIA P3
NOR P4
ALO P5
VER 1:46.168
HAM P3
PER P3
RUS P8
Provisional grid: VER*, LEC, PER, HAM, SAI, PIA, NOR, RUS, ALO, STR, TSU, GAS, MAG, BOT, OCO, ALB, ZHO, SAR, RIC, HUL
*VER has a 5-place grid penalty for taking an additional gearbox
Post-quali stewards’ decisions
MAG given 3-place grid penalty for impeding LEC; that drops him to P16
HAM rejoining “unsafely” in front of RUS – No further action
ALB rejoining “unsafely” in front of GAS – ALB received a reprimand
VER impeding ALB in Q1? Not a mention!
Sprint Shootout
(quali for Sprint)
The start of the Shootout has been delayed as the stewards wait for the rain to ease up
Air temperature 15°C; track 18°C; humidity 95%
Forecast is for the rain to pass in about 15mins
Happy 42nd birthday ALO
No official announcement of when Sprint Quali will start but many drivers are in their cars, ready to go
The Safety Car is on track, checking conditions
Race control: SQ1 will start at 12:35 local time
7mins before SQ1 starts and the Mercedes pair head to the pit exit, HAM ahead of RUS
A few more cars join the queue at pit out
Sprint Qualifying session 1 (SQ1)
Green light; HAM rolls out of the pits and onto the track
Everyone going out on intermediate tyres – surely that means SQ1 could have started earlier and used the full wet tyres?
Air temperature 16°C; track 23°C; humidity 93%
Onboard video with HAM is fantastic, getting a driver’s-eye view as he constantly works the wheel to keep the Mercedes pointing in the right direction
HAM 2:02.297
MAG and HUL pit without setting a time
LEC 2:01.438
PIA 2:01.311
VER 2:00.352
5mins left; bottom 5 are ZHO, TSU, MAG, HUL, ALO
Incident involving HAM and VER noted – impeding
SAI 1:59.981
VER 1:58.958
Replay shows HAM on the inside, off the racing line and VER going around the outside – if that was impeding, it’s pretty minimal
There seems to be a problem with the FIA timing chart – it keeps flashing STOP for the Ferrari pair
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are ALB, NOR, STR, MAG, HUL
ALB P2, ALO P16
ALO P2, ZHO P16
VER 1:58.135
NOR P12, BOT P16
STR P13, GAS P16
GAS P10, TSU P16
MAG P18
Back of the sprint grid: TSU, BOT, MAG, ZHO, HUL
Sprint Qualifying session 2
RIC 1:57.687
NOR 1:56.828
Yellow flag – SAR has run wide, spun, gone off, but recovers – end of yellow
GAS 1:56.137
HAM 1:55.823
VER 1:55.200
2mins left; bottom 5 are RIC and no time yet from SAR, ALO, ALB or STR
STR is on medium compound slick tyres; everyone else still on inters
Yellow flag – STR has run wide at “no name” corner (Turn 9), across the gravel and into the tyre wall – that’s a dangerous spot so…
Red flag – SQ2 stopped with just 0:29 left on the clock
That’s a fair bit of damage to the Aston Martin, and his mechanics don’t have long to rebuild that car before the Sprint race
Middle of the sprint grid: RIC, ALB, SAR, STR, ALO
Apparently SQ was not declared “wet” so Aston Martin had to use mediums rather than softs – weird call by the stewards, given they delayed SQ1 because of the rain
Top 10 shootout is between VER, HAM, PER, GAS, LEC, PIA, SAI, NOR, OCO and RUS
Sprint Qualifying session 3
Everyone heading out on soft (dry) tyres
LEC 1:52.525
SAI P2
NOR 1:51.546
GAS P4
PIA P3
HAM 1:51.198
OCO P7
RUS P6
VER P2
PER P8
Order after the first run: HAM, VER, NOR, LEC, PIA, SAI, RUS, PER, GAS, OCO
OCO P4
PER 1:50.303 despite the traffic in the final chicane – what a shambles
Chequered flag: PER, HAM, VER, NOR, OCO, LEC, PIA, SAI, RUS, GAS
GAS 1:49.700
OCO P3
SAI 1:49.081
LEC P2
NOR P3
HAM P5
PIA 1:49.067
VER 1:49.056
RUS abandons his lap and pits
Provisional Sprint grid: VER, PIA, SAI, LEC, NOR, GAS, HAM, PER, OCO, RUS, RIC, ALB, SAR, STR, ALO, TSU, BOT, MAG, ZHO, HUL
Replay of the end of SQ3 shows RUS ahead of HAM into Turn 1, RUS locks up, HAM gets too close to his teammate in Eau Rouge, and then HAM passes RUS – a bit of a chaotic lap from Mercedes
RUS described it as “A total mess from start to finish” [F1]
Sprint Race
Current forecast (25mins before the start) is for a rain shower in about 30mins
10mins before the start; Air temperature 21°C; track 29°C; humidity 66%
Race control: Risk of rain for F1 Sprint is 100%
2mins before the start; fans are putting up umbrellas
Race control: Delayed start
Awwww, tell them to put on full wet tyres and get on with it!
Race Control: awnings may be used on the grid
RC: Formation lap will start at 1712 local time (Should have been 1705h)
BBC weather forecast says “The second shower arriving around the scheduled race start could last “until 17:20 (local time) at least”, the FIA forecasters advise teams… expected to be level 3/4 (moderate to heavy).”
That’s a worrying amount of water gushing up at the dip before the rise to Eau Rouge – OK, that would probably be dangerous if they were running now, so they were right to delay the start
Radio for RUS, Toto Wolff suggests removing the awning so RUS can experience the weather; RUS suggests Toto should join them on the grid; Toto says it’s getting so bad in the garage that he’s thinking of closing the doors 🙂
Medical Car is on track, presumably checking the conditions
Radio for ZHO, “The next heavy shower is expected in 2-3 minutes”
Brief yellow flag on the timing chart – did the medical car go off?
Radio for NOR, “Latest update is that the rain is expecting to stay around until about twenty past, then they expect to start the race behind the Safety Car”
Another yellow flag pops up and then clears
Radio for LEC, “This rain should stop in five minutes, then we have a gap with an hour of no rain”
Looks like the rain is easing off; umbrellas being put away
However there’s another yellow flag and this one seems to persist
Race control: formation lap will start at 1735 local time
Radio from SAI asking whether he can follow the SC into the pits (for inters) or has to take the rolling start – interesting strategy (Answer is yes)
Awnings are being removed from the grid
Race control: Formation lap will be started behind the safety car on (full) wet-weather tyres
3mins to start of formation lap; grid is clearing out
Safety Car leads everyone away on the formation lap; all on full wets, per the rules
Radio for ALO, “There will be at least two laps following the safety car”
Why does the official TV coverage say 44 laps? It’s only 15 laps for this sprint
SC crosses the start-finish line and the official timing still says Formation Lap … but the timing chart now says there will be 12 laps (instead of 15)
Radio from RUS, “Yeah, it’s definitely inters”
Radio for VER telling him there will be 4 laps behind the SC
Air temperature 19°C; track 26°C; humidity 84%; it’s looking sunny
Formation lap #4 but race control announce another formation lap behind SC (and race distance reduced to 11)
Race control: SC will enter pits; rolling start procedure
VER starts to back everyone up, and checks with his engineer whether to pit
SC heads into the pit lane
01/11: VER, LEC, NOR stay out
PIA pits, followed bu GAS, PER, HAM, SAI and many more
So we have 10 cars still on full wets and 10 on inters (starting with PIA in P11)
Radio from VER, “We have to box this lap”
02: VER pits, followed by all the others who didn’t stop last lap
PIA is P1
VER rejoins P2
LEC’s release was a little dodgy
03: GAS has PER right on his tail, but there’s no DRS because it’s a wet race
03: PIA, VER, GAS, PER, HAM, SAI, LEC, NOR, RIC, OCO, STR, RUS, ALB, BOT, HUL, ALO, SAR, TSU, MAG, ZHO
PIA fastest lap 2:00.360
Yellow flag – ALO in the gravel at Turn 11
SC deployed
04[SC]: PIA, VER, GAS, PER, HAM, SAI, LEC, NOR, RIC, OCO, STR, RUS, ALB, BOT, HUL, SAR, TSU, MAG, ZHO; out: ALO
Replay shows ALO was closing on HUL but touched the white line and lost the rear of the Aston Martin
05/11[SC]: SC in at the end of this lap
Incident involving SAR under investigation – speeding in the pit lane
Radio from MAG suggesting it might soon be time for dry tyres
PIA acts as the SC and slows to back up the pack
PIA decides to put his foot down but VER stays with him
06: VER right on PIA’s rear wing… and easily passes the McLaren for P1
5sec penalty for SAR
HAM makes a move on PER but the Red Bull gives no quarter
07: VER f/lap 1:58.943 (although there’s no point for f/lap in the sprint)
HAM and SAI both pass PER
LEC passes PER too
Radio from PER complaining he has no rear grip
NOR looks for a way to pass PER … but PER runs wide, into the gravel
PER rejoins the track – if the stewards called a couple of rejoins “dangerous” in Quali, then this definitely counts
Incident involving HAM and PER noted – “causing a collision” although it looked 50:50 to me
08: PER continues to drop down the table
Radio for PER telling him to box and retire
09: VER, PIA, GAS, HAM, SAI, LEC, NOR, RIC, RUS, OCO
PER pits; retires
HAM given 5sec penalty for causing a collision with PER – that’s ridiculous
RUS ducks inside RIC to take P8
10/11: VER, PIA, GAS, HAM*, SAI, LEC, NOR, RUS, RIC, OCO, STR, ALB, BOT, SAR, MAG, HUL, ZHO, TSU; out: PER, ALO
VER has almost 6sec lead over PIA
HAM under 1sec behind GAS but there’s no DRS
VER takes the chequered flag
PIA P2
GAS P3
Yellow flag – not sure why
Provisional result: VER, PIA, GAS, SAI, LEC, NOR, HAM*, RUS, OCO, RIC, STR, ALB, BOT, MAG, ZHO, SAR, HUL, TSU
*5sec penalty applied dropping HAM to P7
DNF: PER, ALO
Race
Pit lane is open; cars can make their way to the grid
Looks like there’s a problem with HUL’s engine – he’s back in the Haas garage, and will have to start the race from the pit lane
Grid: LEC, PER, HAM, SAI, PIA, VER*, NOR, RUS, ALO, STR, TSU, GAS, BOT, OCO, ALB, MAG*, ZHO, SAR, RIC, HUL*
*VER has a 5-place grid penalty for taking an additional gearbox
*MAG given 3-place grid penalty for impeding LEC
*HUL will start from the pit lane
15mins before the start; Air temperature 18°C; track 27°C; humidity 63%; it’s dry but a bit overcast; 40% chance of rain during the race
That was a theatrical rendition of the Belgian anthem!
LEC leads everyone away on the formation lap
The top 4 are on soft tyres, as is VER and then everyone from GAS (P12) down to RIC (P19); the rest are on mediums
It’s a long lap, so LEC will need to take it slowly to bunch everyone up otherwise he’ll have a long wait on the grid
01/44: LEC defends from PER
PIA seems to be going slowly – there was contact in Turn 1 and he’s got a broken front wing
PER has already taken P1, and VER up to P4
Radio from SAI saying he’s got damage
ALO closing on SAI
02: PER, LEC, HAM, VER, SAI, ALO, NOR, TSU, STR, ALB, RUS, BOT, ZHO, OCO, SAR, GAS, HUL, MAG, RIC, PIA
OCO takes P13 from ZHO
Yellow flag – PIA has parked the McLaren off the track – looks like he’s been through the gravel
Replay of the start – PIA was squeezed by SAI and then taps the wall
Marshals have cleared PIA’s car
03: PER fastest lap 1:52.166
DRS now enabled
Radio from SAI asking about his damage; he’s told “5% aero” which is pretty huge
04: PER f/lap 1:52.153
ALO takes P5 from SAI
HUL hassling GAS but he ends up cutting a corner
05/44: PER, LEC, HAM, VER, ALO, SAI, TSU, ALB, STR, RUS, NOR, OCO, SAR, BOT, ZHO, GAS, HUL, MAG, RIC; out: PIA
RUS makes a move on STR but the Aston Martin defends P9
Radio from HAM reporting Ferrari (LEC) is running wide every lap
06: NOR pits, as do MAG and RIC; NOR switches to hard tyres
VER picks of HAM and takes P3 – looks easy with the slipstream, DRS and budget overspend
07: VER f/lap 1:52.130
RUS takes P9 from SAI
OCO and BOT pit
08: SAR takes P10 from SAI
SAI pits; did they patch the hole in his side pod?
MAG f/lap 1:51.534 (on new medium tyres)
09: PER has 3sec lead over LEC but VER has DRS behind the Ferrari
SAR pits
VER sweeps past LEC and takes P2
10/44: PER, VER, LEC, HAM, ALO, TSU, STR, RUS, GAS, HUL, ALB, MAG, OCO, NOR, RIC, BOT, SAI, ZHO, SAR
TSU pits
11: ALO pits from P5; hards go on; rejoins P9 just behind HUL
12: ALO passes HUL for P8
There’s lots of talk about rain arriving in about 20mins
How long before PER is told to let VER through?
13: HAM pits from P4; mediums go on; rejoins still P4 but with STR on his tail
Another strained conversation between VER and his engineer (GP)
14: PER and LEC pit; both now on mediums, and rejoin still P2, P3
Radio for VER asking if he can make these soft tyres last until the rain; VER makes some pathetic comment about not being able to see the radar; what a brat
15/44: VER pits; mediums go on; rejoins P2
HAM f/lap 1:51.523
16: ALO dives past RUS to take P6
VER has DRS behind teammate PER – would be funny if PER does his usual forceful move when other pass him and takes out VER
ALO takes P5 from teammate STR
17: VER f/lap 1:50.696
VER takes P1
RUS past STR for P6
18: VER f/lap 1:50.108
Radio for SAI warning him rain is expected in 4 mins
NOR makes his 2nd stop; slow stop; softs go on; rejoins P19
19: Fans are starting to react to rain on the main straight and some other stands
20/44: VER, PER, LEC, HAM, ALO, RUS, GAS, STR, TSU, OCO, ALB, MAG, RIC, BOT, ZHO, HUL, SAR, SAI, NOR; out: PIA
TSU steals P8 from STR
Radio from VER, “It’s raining quite a lot”
21: STR pits; slow stop; softs go on; rejoins P18
VER had a twitch in Eau Rouge
22: BOT lining up RIC for a pass
NOR on SAR’s rear wing
BOT takes P12
NOR around the outside of SAR to take P16
Radio for RUS telling him to box
23: RUS pits from P6; softs go on; rejoins P16
TSU passes GAS for P6 – GAS is the only one yet to pit so his soft tyres are very old
NOR now passes ZHO for P13 – the conditions favouring McLaren for now
RUS takes P13 from SAR
24: SAI pits; retires
RUS passes ZHO for P12
25/44: VER, PER, LEC, HAM, ALO, TSU, OCO, MAG, BOT, HUL, NOR, RUS, ZHO, SAR, STR, ALB, GAS, RIC; out: sai, pia
TSU, BOT, HUL and SAR all pit; they all take on new dry tyres – the rain is easing off
RUS breezes past NOR for P8
26: OCO pits, as does MAG
27: VER has 7sec lead over PER; his engineer tells him to “settle into standard race management”
HUL takes P15 from RIC
HUL f/lap 1:49.907
Radio from NOR reporting “rear are already struggling a bit” – his soft tyres are barely 10 laps old
28: HAM pits from P4; softs go on; rejoins P5
29: LEC pits from P3; softs go on; rejoins still P3
HAM takes P4 from ALO
30/44: PER pits from P2; softs go on; rejoins still P2
ALO pits too; softs; P5
31: VER pits; softs; easily still P1
32: VER’s lead ~9.5sec over PER, with LEC another 4sec back
Radio for VER, “You used a lot of the tyre on the out lap Max, not sure that was sensible” – I’m sure that went over well
33: VER f/lap 1:48.922
ALB and GAS side by side through a couple of corners but GAS comes out ahead in P11
ALB fights back but the Alpine stays ahead
34: Radio for VER again telling him about tyre wear
VER suggests he pushes more then they can have “more pit stop training”
ALB pits again – his 3rd stop
35/44: VER, PER, LEC, HAM, ALO, RUS, NOR, STR, TSU, OCO, GAS, BOT, MAG, HUL, RIC, ZHO, SAR, ALB
36: I think GP should agree with VER, let him pit and then just leave him up on the jacks 🙂
37: Closest battle is HUL, RIC and ZHO fighting over P14
38: Black and white flag for SAR for exceeding track limits
OCO makes a late dive inside TSU to steal P9
39: Sounds like the Aston Martin pair have been told to lift and coast
40/44: VER, PER, LEC, HAM, ALO, RUS, NOR, STR, OCO, TSU, GAS, BOT, MAG, HUL, ZHO, RIC, ALB, SAR; out: SAI, PIA
ALB closing on RIC… take P16
41: ZHO takes P14 from HUL
ALB now passes HUL
43: HAM pits; mediums go on; rejoins still P4
ALB catches MAG and takes P14
44/44: TSU trying to catch STR but he’s almost out of time
Idiot VER fans set off orange flares, despite FIA saying it’s not permitted
VER takes the chequered flag
Yellow flag – don’t know why
PER P2
LEC P3
HAM P4, f/lap 1:47.305 – oh that’ll annoy VER 🙂
ALO P5
RUS P6
Provisional result: VER, PER, LEC, HAM, ALO, RUS, NOR, OCO, STR, TSU; GAS, BOT, ZHO, ALB, MAG, RIC, SAR, HUL
DNF: SAI, PIA
Fastest lap: HAM
[2023 calendar and driver line-up]
