The Belgian Grand Prix gave us another pure Red Bull domination race weekend with Verstappen taking his 8th victory in a row, Perez in P2 and Leclerc in P3. After 17 race laps, Verstappen took the lead of the race starting from 6th position. Verstappen gained 2 positions on the 1st lap itself. Leclerc started from P1, Perez in P2 and Hamilton in P3.Faster reaction times as compared to Perez didn’t help Leclerc hold the position against the monstrous speed of the Red Bull car. Piastri after having a strong car throughout the weekend had to retire from the race due to a collision on lap 1 with Sainz, Sainz lost part of his sidepod resulting in an aerodynamic loss.
This made it very tough for Sainz to hold position and eventually ended up retiring from the race on lap 25.
McLaren went for a high downforce setup for the race, which made Norris’ life tough, but once the weight of the car reduced during the final stages of the race, he was able to hold his position and finished in P7.
The Mercedes was quick even with heavy fuel loads, unlike in the Hungarian GP last week which helped Hamilton finish in P4 and Russell in P6 starting from P3 and P8 respectively.
The drivers went for various strategies, with Russell, Stroll and Gasly taking only 1 pit stop, while the rest of the grid took a minimum of 2. Hamilton made a pit stop on 43rd lap to snatch the fastest lap point from Verstappen, which he was able to do. Hamilton is now in 3rd position in the driver’s championship just 1 point behind Perez.
Russell had pace in later stages, but the speed of Aston Martin and Alonso stopped him from finishing behind his team-mate.
Red Bull just seems unstoppable having built a car that is adaptable to any and every circuit on the calendar. Max Verstappen just might be able to break the record for most wins in a season.
See you next race weekend!
About Shantanu Shende
MSc. Automotive and Motorsport Engineering Graduate.