Belgian Grand Prix: Hamilton – Piastri – Leclerc

Sunny. Dry. Air +21…22С, highway +42…43С

This year the season is interrupted for a long summer break by a race in Spa – the most interesting place. It would be nice if the holiday would start after the hot and usually boring Hungary – everyone is used to it, but the Belgian Grand Prix, and even with rain qualifying, is a highlight on the calendar.

On Friday, Norris was fastest on a dry track and it was hard to believe that it would rain all day on Saturday, but the prediction was right. Morning practice was halved due to rain – Verstappen set the best time, he also won the rain qualifying. But Leclerc started from pole.

Verstappen was given a ten-place penalty for an engine change and started the race 11th, Zhou lost three places due to an incident in qualifying and Tsunoda was given a completely new power unit and started the race last.

The front row of the grid was occupied by Leclerc and Perez, the second by Hamilton and Norris, and the third by Piastri and Russell.

Pirelli traditionally chose a “medium” three compound for Spa: C2 as hard, C3 as medium and C4 as soft. At Spa new asphalt was laid and on Friday many complained about the very high wear, and on Saturday they could not work on the tires because of the rain, so the team experimented with the strategy during the race.

In the race, Ricciardo started on Soft, Sainz and Zhou on Hard, with the rest opting for Medium.

At the start Leclerc kept the lead. Hamilton beat Perez to second. Norris lost three positions, Ocon two.

Top Ten in Round 2: Leclerc – Hamilton – Perez – Piastri – Russell – Sainz – Norris – Verstappen – Alonso – Albon.

Sainz overtook Norris for sixth place.

On lap 3, Hamilton passed Leclerc to lead the race. Albon overtook Alonso.

On the third lap, the engine in Zhou’s car lost power, but Guanyu restarted the system and accelerated, but on the seventh lap he stopped the car in the pits and dropped out of the fight due to brake failure.

On the 8th lap Hulkenberg changed tires, on the 9th – Albon, Ricciardo and Sargent,

Top Ten in Round 10: Hamilton – Leclerc – Perez – Piastri – Russell – Sainz – Norris – Verstappen – Alonso – Ocon.

On the 10th lap Gasly made a pit stop, on the 11th – Verstappen and Russell – George went ahead and overtook Tsunoda.

On lap 12 Hamilton, Perez, Piastri and Bottas swapped tyres. Returning to the track Piastri was ahead of Russell, Verstappen – Tsunoda and Magnussen.

On lap 13, Leclerc, Ocon and Stroll pitted, with Piastri holding off Perez in the battle for sixth place.

On lap 14 Alonso changed tyres. Ocon overtook Bottas. Sainz went into the gravel at turn 14 but continued.

On lap 15, Albon passed Tsunoda for 10th place.

On lap 16, Norris and Tsunoda made a pit stop.

Verstappen put pressure on Russell for a long time, but George took advantage of the DRS zone behind Perez – the drivers were a few tenths apart.

On lap 18 Magnussen changed tyres.

On lap 19, Bottas overtook Hulkenberg for 14th place.

On lap 21, Sainz and Hulkenberg pitted. Russell was ahead of Perez in the battle for fourth place – and Sergio was called to the pits.

On lap 22 Ricciardo changed tyres.

Top Ten in Round 23: Hamilton – Leclerc – Piastri – Russell – Verstappen – Norris – Sainz – Perez – Albon – Ocon.

On the 24th lap Albon made a pit stop, on the 25th – Sargent, on the 26th – Leclerc, on the 27th – Hamilton, on the 29th – Sainz, Verstappen and Gasly, on the 30th – Norris.

On lap 30, Perez passed Verstappen.

On lap 31 Piastri changed tyres – there was a small problem. Norris beat Perez for sixth place.

Norris pressed Verstappen, Max responded, Lando recharged the battery and their actions were repeated.

On lap 35, Piastri attacked Leclerc in the battle for third place, but Charles initially stayed ahead and on lap 36 he took the lead.

Bottas changed tires.

Russell was leading the race and was the only one in the top ten to opt for a one-stop strategy. Hamilton was closing the gap, but there were fewer and fewer laps to go until the finish.

On lap 37, Ricciardo passed Stroll for 10th place.

In 39th place, Sainz moved ahead of Perez to seventh.

Top Ten in Round 40: Russell – Hamilton – Piastri – Leclerc – Verstappen – Norris – Sainz – Perez – Alonso – Ricciardo.

On lap 41, Hamilton overtook Russell and found himself in the DRS zone. Ocon held off Ricciardo in the battle for 10th place.

On lap 43, Perez changed tires, hoping to set the fastest lap.

The battle for victory continued until the final meters, but Russell remained ahead.

George Russell won the Belgian Grand Prix, but was disqualified for violating technical regulations – after the finish his car weighed one and a half kilograms less than the minimum permitted weight.

Russell was removed from the protocol, the rest moved up one line. Victory went to Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri was second, Charles Leclerc third.

A long summer break is coming up; the battle continues at the end of August with the stage in Zandvoort.

Race results

* George Russell disqualified for failure to comply with technical regulations

Best round: Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) – 1:44.701 (44 laps, 240.822 km/h)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship Position: Constructors Championship