Starting off the weekend in Belgium, it’s bad luck for Norris as he’s been given a 10-place grid penalty for taking a new power unit component for his chassis; he’s going to have a tough weekend.
Back to three sessions
The first practice session sees Hadjar struggling to get his setup ready. A few lock-ups from Sainz and Bortoletto, but it’s Verstappen who takes the top spot in FP1.
FP2 is stopped by a red flag after Gasly has a massive crash into the barrier, ending his session. Russell seemed to struggle, whereas his teammate Antonelli was setting the fastest laps.
The final practice session saw an unexpected crash for Hamilton, who snapped the steering wheel, sending him into the gravel and into the barrier on the exit. It’s going to be tough for the mechanics as they will need to fix his car with only a few hours until qualifying.
Antonelli is still looking strong, followed by Norris, who’s been setting fast laps but will have a grid penalty wherever he qualifies. Verstappen is also looking in good form and has done very well at the Belgian GP previously.
Quick to qualify
Q1 begins, and it’s a good job by Ferrari for getting Hamilton’s car ready to go. It’s close between Colapinto and Albon, but Colapinto soars ahead and gets into Q2, kicking Albon into 17th. Both Aston Martin’s and Cadillac’s drivers are out, and Ocon (who is wearing a special Spider-Man-themed helmet) is 18th.
We head into Q2, and Antonelli is looking strong, setting the fastest lap. The next drivers who are out are Bearman in 16th, along with Sainz in 15th and Hulkenburg in 14th. A shame for both Alpine drivers as they don’t make it through, and Lawson just misses out in 11th.
Hulkenburg has a hydraulic leak on the way back to the garage, so he has to stop and delay the start of FP3 whilst they remove the stationary car from the track. Hadjar will be starting from the back of the grid in this race due to several engine changes, so Redbull are using Hadjar to help Verstappen secure the top position. We’ll see if their plan will work.
Q3 starts, but a brief red flag comes out after the cars have managed to do one fast lap; they are cleaning gravel after Piastri dipped a tyre in, dragging it onto the track. Norris currently has the fastest lap, but a reminder that where he places; he will have a 10-second grid penalty.
The final fast laps and Redbull display their tow technique as Hadjar helps Verstappen cross the line in P1, but not for long, as Antonelli swipes it from him to take his 6th pole position. Norris slots into 3rd but will start 10 grid places behind, and Russell qualifies 4th on track. Leclerc and Hamilton in 5th and 6th, with Piastri in 7th. Lindblad had an exceptional qualifying, finishing in 8th with Bortoletto in 9th and Hadjar not setting a time, as he will start from the back of the grid.
Will it be a 6th win for the young Mercedes driver?
Antonelli is quick off the line, but Verstappen is right behind him, and after a couple of corners, Verstappen takes the lead, with Russell and Leclerc fighting hard. But not for long, as Leclerc and Antonelli swarm him and overtake him on the 1st lap, with Antonelli ahead. Hamilton and Russell collide on turn 5, sending Russell out of the race, stuck in the gravel and very frustrated.
The safety car has been brought out as they remove Russell’s car, and Hadjar, Bearman and both Cadillac cars have pitted whilst behind the safety car, but after only 2 laps that is a risky strategy. On the first lap, Sainz went into the back of Ocon, and Ocon went wide onto the gravel, inflicting some damage to his car.
After 5 laps, Antonelli goes away strongly ahead of Leclerc, and on the restart, Hamilton lurches ahead of Piastri in 4th, but not for long, as Piastri uses his charged battery to take his spot back. Stroll and Perez unfortunately retired due to a power issue in their cars.
Verstappen is in 3rd place and is hunting Leclerc down as Antonelli starts striding away, and Norris is making places up into 9th from starting 13th after his 10-place grid penalty. Verstappen takes 2nd place from Leclerc after diving down ahead of him on the straight.
A few laps later, Piastri was alongside Leclerc, but they got too close and touched a piece from the Ferrari flying off, and Hamilton is all over the back of Piastri, a three-way fight between the McLaren and both Ferraris, but the Ferraris end up ahead of Piastri for now.
Hamilton receives a 5-second time penalty for causing the collision that ended Russell’s race. As on lap 12, Norris is up into 6th, and it has been an excellent race from him so far, just behind his teammate after the collision.
Leclerc and Piastri have not been given any penalty for their previous collision, so Ferrari will need to figure out a strategy to help Hamilton with his penalty. On lap 18, Verstappen makes a quick stop and comes out in 6th place.
A virtual safety car comes out briefly but ends within a lap just to clear some debris, but Antonelli comes into the pits, and he comes out in 6th just ahead of Verstappen, and it’s an excellent team effort to fend the undercut.
On lap 20, the virtual safety car is out again, and both Ferraris dive into the pits; Hamilton completes his penalty, and the Ferraris just about successfully double-stop. They’ve been able to have a cheaper pit stop, which is excellent, but Hamilton has an unsafe release as one of the engineers gets knocked, slightly slowing him down.
Norris now leads the race as his teammate Piastri pitted under the virtual safety car, removing more debris. Leclerc quickly overtakes him and becomes our new race leader, with Antonelli in 3rd and Verstappen close by in 4th.
As lap 25 begins, Antonelli is chasing down Norris in 2nd, who has yet to pit. After a couple of laps, he overtakes him, and now Verstappen is gaining on Norris. Soon enough, Verstappen dives down the outside, braking late and getting ahead of him and up into 3rd.
Lindblad and Lawson are showing a strong performance, holding their 9th and 10th place. On lap 30, Norris is in 4th place and Piastri just behind them, the team radio telling them not to fight with each other and swap positions.
Colapinto makes an excellent lunge ahead of his teammate Gasly, and Lawson moves up into 10th. Norris is called into the pit on lap 31, hoping his one-stop strategy will work out, but it’s a slow stop with the back left tyre not going back on, meaning he’s now lost out, coming in 8th behind both Audi drivers.
10 laps to go and Antonelli is hunting Leclerc down, who’s leading the race. Antonelli is now within a second of him and shortly dives down ahead of him, but Leclerc is sticking with him. Whilst Hamilton is gaining on Piastri, so there could be a battle for 4th place.
A few laps later, Hamilton is hot on Piastri’s tail, as is Norris, closing in on Hadjar for 6th place. But with only 4 laps left in this race, they’re both running out of time. Hamilton charges his battery and dives around the outside ahead of Piastri, moving up into 4th. He now needs to create a gap between himself and Piastri and defend to hold on to this position.
Antonelli begins his final lap, taking victory once again, his 6th win. Leclerc is 2nd, and Verstappen takes 3rd place in Belgium. Hamilton was in 4th, Piastri just lost out in 5th, and Hadjar had a superb drive from last to 6th, holding off Norris in 7th. Bortoleto came in 8th, Lindblad in 9th and Colapinto snagged the last point in 10th ahead of Lawson.
An excellent race from Antonelli; he’s truly showing that, even though he’s young, he can handle the pressure in an F1 car!
See you next weekend in Hungary for our final race before the summer break!
