Paul Henman formula1 Belgium Grand Prix

Belgium Grand Prix

Spa-Francorchamps hosts the 14th round of the 2024 season and the last one before the mandated summer break. (It resumes with the Netherlands GP on August 25th.)

Since the Hungary Grand Prix last weekend there’s obviously been a lot of discussion about McLaren’s team orders and the collision that VER caused but escaped penalty. Even Red Bull are unhappy with the petulant child’s attitude! And his teammate, PER, remains under pressure from the team given his recent run of poor results.

In other news, ex-Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has been announced as COO and CTO with Audi, ousting ex-McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl. (Audi are taking over the Sauber F1 team next season.) They also announced HUL as signed to drive for them next year.

Free Practice

TSU has a ton of new components on his “RB”, each of which comes with a 10-place grid penalty, resulting in a total of 60 places so he’ll start P20
VER only has a new internal combustion engine (ICE) so he gets just a 10-place drop

  1. FP1: VER (1:43.372), PIA, ALB, RUS, HAM
    OCO’s Deadpool-themed Alpine had a water leak and only completed one lap
    RIC spun coming out of Turn 1
  2. FP2: NOR (1:42.260), PIA, VER, LEC, SAI
    Bruno Famin, who replaced Otmar Szafnauer as Alpine Team Principal at this time last year, will “move away” from his role by the end of August; his replacement “will be announced in due course”.
    Why do Alpine make these announcements during Free Practice?
  3. FP3: VER (2:01.565), PIA, GAS, NOR, OCO
    Rain before and during FP3
    Many drivers ran wide but it was STR who brought out the red flag when he spun in Eau Rouge, smacking his Aston Martin into the wall and wiping out his front-left suspension
    The rain continued and race control threw another red flag because they felt conditions were unsafe
    With just a couple of minutes left of FP3 the session resumed
    SAI aquaplaned off, across a gravel trap but kept it out of the wall

Qualifying

Aston Martin mechanics working hard to repair and rebuild STR’s car – they’re replaced the power unit and gearbox
Air temperature 18°C; track 22°C; humidity 93%; 80% chance of rain during Quali

Qualifying session 1 (Q1)
Long queue waiting for the green light – everyone wants to set a lap time ASAP before the rain
DRS disabled because of the wet conditions
Everyone on intermediate tyres
NOR 1:58.894
HUL 1:58.787
PIA 1:57.411
VER 1:56.003
Radio from NOR reporting rain in turns 5, 6 and 7
Radio for PIA telling him there will be heavier rain in 2mins
There are dry sections appearing but most of the track is still wet, so it’s too soon for slick tyres
Radio for NOR – “it’s now or never” for a new set of inters
PIA 1:55.549
VER 1:54.938
3mins left; bottom 5 are BOT, NOR, ZHO, HUL, SAR
NOR P5, pushing RUS to P16
SAR P16
Incident involving ZHO and VER noted – impeding
PIA 1:54.835
RUS P4, TSU P16
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are TSU, SAR, BOT, ZHO, HUL
HUL P11, MAG P16
BOT P8, PER P16
MAG P14, SAI P16
PER P4, MAG P16
SAI P5, HUL P16
TSU P18
ZHO P20
Back of the grid: HUL, MAG, TSU*, SAR, ZHO
*TSU’s penalties mean he was always going to start P20 anyway
ZHO might get a penalty for impeding VER

Radio from PER complaining the tyres weren’t ready; he ended Q1 in P4

Qualifying session 2
Radio for NOR expecting “class 1” rain in 10mins, but RIC was told they’re not expecting any rain
If there’s no more rain, who will be brave enough to be the first on slick tyres?
ALB 1:54.724
Some fans are putting rainwear on
NOR 1:54.459
VER 1:53.857
RUS pits; more inters; same for SAI and HAM
Was SAI’s release unsafe? HAM appears to think so
Radio from PER reporting it’s raining harder
5mins left; bottom 5 are RUS, GAS, LEC, BOT, STR
VER 1:53.837
RUS P4, SAI P11
LEC P3; ALO P11
SAI P4, RIC P11
2mins left; bottom 5 are RIC, ALO, GAS, BOT, STR
RIC P6, PER P11
PER P4, OCO P11
Chequered flag; bottom 5 are OCO, ALO, GAS, BOT, STR
OCO P4, HAM P11
GAS P7, RUS P11
RUS P2, ALB P11
HAM P2, RIC P11
ALO P5, SAI P11
ALB P9, GAS P11
SAI P4, ALB P11
BOT P14
Middle of the grid: ALB, GAS, RIC, BOT, STR
Radio for ALB telling him “it was a really good lap … but we’re not quite there with car pace”

Top 10 shootout is between VER, HAM, RUS, SAI, PIA, LEC, ALO, NOR, OCO, PER
PER survived by 0.003sec!

Qualifying session 3
Radio from HAM as he waits at the head of the queue, “Is it a good thing I’m ahead of everyone?”; Bono says “Depends on what this rain does”
HAM 1:54.011
RUS P2
PIA P2
OCO P4
NOR P4
ALO P5
SAI P5
LEC P6
PER 1:53.765
VER 1:53.159
Order after the first run: VER, PER, HAM, PIA, RUS, NOR, SAI, LEC, ALO, OCO
Replay shows NOR dipped a rear wheel in a gravel trap so that cost him a little time
HAM, RUS, PIA and NOR all stay out for another run; the rest pit
HAM P3
PIA P4
RUS P5
NOR P4
If the plan was for VER to give PER a tow, VER’s made sure that can’t happen by passing a few car on their out lap
Chequered flag; order is VER, PER, HAM, NOR, PIA, RUS, SAI, LEC, ALO, OCO
SAI P7
LEC P2
ALO P9
PIA P6
Front of the grid: VER*, LEC, PER, HAM, NOR, PIA, RUS, SAI, ALO, OCO

Provisional grid: LEC, PER, HAM, NOR, PIA, RUS, SAI, ALO, OCO, ALB, VER, GAS, RIC, BOT, STR, HUL, MAG, SAR, ZHO, TSU
*TSU has 60 (sixty!) place penalty for engine changes, so he’ll be P20
*VER has 10-place penalty for engine changes, so he’s start P11
So LEC inherits pole due to VER’s penalty… same as last year

Post-Quali: ZHO given 3-place grid penalty for impeding VER; ZHO was P19 and given TSU’s huge penalty, ZHO will remain P19

Race

Grid: LEC, PER, HAM, NOR, PIA, RUS, SAI, ALO, OCO, ALB, VER, GAS, RIC, BOT, STR, HUL, MAG, SAR, ZHO, TSU
Pit lane is open; drivers can make their way to the grid
Air temperature 21°C; track 38°C; forecast says zero chance of rain

LEC leads everyone away on the formation lap
Everyone on medium compound tyres except SAI, STR and ZHO on hards, and just RIC on softs
Track temp has risen to 42°C;

01/44: PER tries to cover HAM off the line, but HAM takes P2
VER around ALB for P9

02: LEC, HAM, PER, PIA, RUS, SAI, NOR, ALO, VER, ALB, OCO, GAS, BOT, RIC, STR, HUL, MAG, ZHO, TSU, SAR
DRS enabled
NOR makes a move on SAI but runs wide and immediately lets SAI reclaim P6
VER takes P8 from ALO

03: VER fastest lap 1:49.828
HAM has DRS behind LEC… and takes P1
VER closing on NOR
ZHO seems to have lost power, trying to hobble back to the pits

04: HAM, LEC, PER, PIA, RUS, SAI, NOR, VER, ALO, ALB
HAM f/lap 1:49.109
The top 9 all have DRS (except HAM, of course)
Looks like ZHO’s problem is fixed and he’s running again

05/44: HAM, LEC, PER, PIA, RUS, SAI, NOR, VER, ALO, ALB, OCO, GAS, BOT, RIC, STR, HUL, MAG, TSU, SAR, ZHO
PIA has a look at PER but remains P4

06: PER on the radio again, complaining about his car

07: ZHO pits, retires the Sauber

08: HUL pits; hards go on; rejoins P19

09: Williams pit both ALB and SAR; both go onto mediums
RIC pits too; swaps his softs for mediums; P16

10/44: HAM, LEC, PER, PIA, RUS, SAI, NOR, VER, ALO, OCO, GAS, BOT, STR, MAG, TSU, ALB, RIC, HUL, SAR; out: ZHO
HAM leads by ~2sec

11: RUS pits from P5; hards; P13
VER pits too, from P8; hards; P14
RUS past TSU for P12

12: HAM pits, as do PER, PIA and BOT; rejoin P6, P8, P10
PIA inside RUS for P9

13: LEC pits; hards; P5
VER f/lap 1:48.403
Of the front runners, SAI, NOR and ALO yet to stop
TSU makes VER work for the pass; takes P9

14: ALO pits; hards; P13
PIA f/lap 1:47.565

16: NOR pits; hards; P8
SAI runs wide, sticks a wheel in the gravel but keeps his foot in and returns to the track
It must be time for SAI to pit

17: It’s interesting that VER is trying to catch RUS but RUS has DRS behind PER

18: NOR f/lap 1:47.522

19: SAI stays out, holding on to P1 for now; there’s a radio call discussing Plan B

20/44: SAI, HAM, LEC, PIA, PER, RUS, VER, NOR, ALB, RIC, ALO, OCO, GAS, BOT, HUL, STR, SAR, MAG, TSU
OCO uses DRS to take P11 from ALO

21: SAI finally pits; mediums; rejoins P8
RUS takes P4 from PER
How long before Red Bull tell PER to let VER through?

22/44: HAM just under 2sec clear of LEC
PER pits – that’s convenient; hards; P8 (That’s his 2nd stop)
RIC makes 2nd stop; hards; P18
NOR closing on VER
Radio from PER complaining they’re slow on the straights

23: RIC takes P17 from SAR
PER f/lap 1:47.223
ALB pits from P8; hards; P16
NOR locks up, cuts the final chicane

24: TSU leaves his attack too late; SAR keeps P17

25/44: HAM, LEC, PIA, RUS, VER, NOR, SAI, PER, OCO, ALO, GAS, BOT, STR, MAG, RIC, ALB, SAR, TSU, HUL; out: ZHO
Radio from HAM confirming his tyres are good

26: LEC pits from P2; hards; P7 – that’ll force HAM to pit soon
RIC closing on MAG; takes P14
Radio from RUS suggesting they think about one-stop

27: HAM pits; hards; P6 clearly ahead of LEC but behind SAI, so will Ferrari try to hold him up?

28: PIA f/lap 1:47.024
Radio from PIA, “Clear air is king”

29: VER and SAI pit; mediums and hard tyres respectively; rejoining P7 and P8
VER behind “teammate PER again

30/44: NOR pits from P3; hards; P7
PER lets VER through for P5

31: PIA pits from P1; missed his mark and slammed into the front jack; hards; P2
VER f/lap 1:46.447
NOR right on PER’s rear wing; uses DRS to take P6

32: Radio for RUS confirming he’s happy to stay out; Yes
NOR f/lap 1:45.563
Radio for NOR telling him “these tyres are robust; happy to push on them”
NOR closing on VER
Radio from VER concerned that NOR is catching him; he’d told he can push

33: RUS, HAM, LEC, PIA, VER, NOR, PER, SAI, ALO, BOT, STR, RIC, OCO, ALB, MAG, GAS, TSU, HUL, SAR

34: HAM under 6sec behind teammate RUS; LEC 2.8sec off HAM
PIA has DRS behind LEC

35/44: RUS, HAM, LEC, PIA, VER, NOR, PER, SAI, ALO, BOT
PIA has a look at LEC but the Ferrari holds on to P3

36: LEC and PIA wheel-to-wheel through the chicane; PIA takes P3; nice clean pass

37: RIC passed STR for P10

38: HAM has closed RUS’ lead to 2.5sec; will Mercedes arrange a swap?
SAI has DRS behind PER

39: SAI around PER to take P7
NOR has DRS behind VER

40/44: RUS, HAM, PIA, LEC, VER, NOR, SAI, PER, ALO, RIC, OCO, STR, ALB, MAG, GAS, BOT, TSU, HUL, SAR; out: ZHO
HAM has DRS behind RUS

41: Both RUS and HAM are told to keep it clean and give each other space
PIA is only 4sec behind HAM and closing in

42: PIA now 3sec behind the Mercedes battle
HAM is right on RUS’ tail but not making a risky move

43: PIA under 2sec from HAM
PER pits from P8; softs; rejoins still P8 – going to try to take fastest lap from NOR

44/44: PIA not quite close enough for DRS

RUS takes the chequered flag, with HAM and PIA right on his tail

Provisional result: RUS, HAM, PIA, LEC, VER, NOR, SAI, PER, ALO, OCO; RIC, STR, ALB, GAS, MAG, BOT, TSU, SAR, HUL
DNF: ZHO
Fastest lap: PER 1:44.701 on the final lap

UPDATE! RUS’ car was found to be 1.5 kg below the minimum weight so he was disqualified
Result: HAM, PIA, LEC, VER, NOR, SAI, PER, ALO, OCO, RIC; STR, ALB, GAS, MAG, BOT, TSU, SAR, HUL

[2024 calendar and driver line-up]

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