Brilliant Russell Leads Mercedes 1-2 At Spa

This weekend, Formula 1 returned to Belgium's legendary Spa Francorchamps circuit set amidst the Ardennes hills and forests at the eastern end of the country, not far from the German border, and, come the end of this afternoon's 57th Belgian Grand Prix, it was Mercedes' George Russell who put in a mighty one-stop performance to lead his two-stopping teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton to the chequered flag.

On the news front, Audi announced last Tuesday that the previously sacked Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, is to return to the sport as the head of its F1 project following a major management shake-up instigated by the main Audi board. The likeable Italian will become Audi F1's chief operating and chief financial officer effective August 1, ahead of the car manufacturer joining the grid in 2026 after recently completing the acquisition of the current Sauber team. Binotto's appointment followed an unfortunate level of management infighting within Audi about its F1 plans, resulting in Andreas Seidl, the former McLaren team principal, leaving the Sauber/Audi outfit.

2024 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix

1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1hr19m57.040s
2 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.526s
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1.173s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +8.549s
5 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +9.226s
6 Lando Norris (McLaren) +9.850s
7 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +19.795s
8 Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) +43.195s
9 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +49.963s
10 Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +52.552s
11 Daniel Ricciardo (RB) +54.926s
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1m3.011s
13 Alex Albon (Williams) +1m3.651s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1m4.365s
15 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1m6.631s
16 Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +1m10.638s
17 Yuki Tsunoda (RB) +1m16.737s
18 Logan Sargeant (Williams) +1m26.057s
19 Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) +1m28.833s
20 Zhou Guanyu (Sauber) RetiredAlso, another highly anticipated piece in the 2025 F1 driver jigsaw puzzle fell into place on Thursday when Haas publicly confirmed that the current Alpine pedaller, Esteban Ocon, will be joining the American-owned outfit on a multi-year deal. His partner will be the already-announced Oliver Bearman, a Ferrari Academy driver and regular Haas rookie practice driver, and the pair will replace Sauber/Audi-bound Nico Hülkenberg and the departing Kevin Magnussen.

Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez put in another disappointing performance in Hungary last weekend, and the Milton Keynes-based team has indicated that it will review its current driver line-up in a crucial meeting scheduled for tomorrow at the start of the summer break. As the team arrived in Belgium, its lead in the all-important Constructors’ Championship, which determines the end-of-season prize money allocations, had shrunk to just 51 points ahead of second-placed McLaren, with Pérez having struggled to make a decent contribution from his side of the garage. The outfit was at least relieved that after the Hungaroring round, Max Verstappen still had a healthy 76-point lead over Lando Norris at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

Meanwhile, in the Mercedes camp, its team principal and CEO, Toto Wolff, is still pondering how best to replace the departing Hamilton for next season onwards, knowing that his primary target, Verstappen, seems set to remain with Red Bull until at least the end of 2026. The Austrian knows that it will be something of a gamble to opt for the 17-year-old Formula 2 driver, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, to whom Mercedes has been giving F1 experience this year in some of their previous cars during private tests.

In the upcoming week, Spa will continue this process by giving the teenager a day behind the wheel of its W13 2022 F1 car. After a difficult start to his F2 campaign this year, the young Italian has been more impressive of late with a Sprint race victory at Silverstone and a Feature race one last weekend at the Hungaroring, even if further success evaded him at Spa. Speculation is mounting that an announcement about Antonelli joining Mercedes’ F1 race team may follow shortly, with Wolff acutely aware that he could well be a potential future F1 star and remembering how he lost out on signing an equally young Max Verstappen when the latter opted for Red Bull instead.

Talking of Verstappen, the reigning champion faced a 10-place grid penalty for today’s Grand Prix following the installation of a new internal combustion engine as part of the hybrid power unit in his car, a fifth one this year and one beyond the annual permitted allocation of four. Also, RB’s Yuki Tsunoda was forced to start from the rear of the grid after having a whole new power unit fitted. This Belgian circuit, with its long straights and lengthy acceleration zones, has always been a popular place for taking such penalties due to the relative ease of overtaking here compared to at many other F1 tracks, and Verstappen has become used to grid penalties here at Spa in recent years.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll fell victim to the conditions 11 minutes into the last practice session when he acquaplaned through Eau Rouge and then spun into the barriers at Raidillon, bringing out red flags.

Formula 1 Grands Prix are scheduled to cover as close to 305 kilometres as possible, and therefore the length of the track at any given venue determines just how many laps the race is scheduled to last for. This explains why the round at the Hungaroring last Sunday lasted for 70 laps, while today's race at Spa, the longest circuit in F1, only lasted for 44 laps. This is a practical factor you may wish to bear in mind if thinking of attending a Grand Prix, as you will see the cars flying past you far more often at some circuits than at others. The typical local weather is another key issue for all concerned, and I know from personal experience that Spa is renowned for offering everything from hot sunshine to persistent heavy rain.

Fortunately, the opening free practice session got underway on Friday at 13.30 local time under dry conditions following earlier rain, with an air temperature of 21C, and it was Verstappen who dominated proceedings, topping the timing screens, half a second quicker than the best of the rest, Oscar Piastri for McLaren, and, somewhat surprisingly, the Williams of Alex Albon third fastest. Verstappen’s current teammate, the underpressure Pérez, was well off the pace and only seventh quickest.

Early practice times can be a sign of things to come but can also be deceptive, and so all eyes were focused on who would go well and who wouldn’t in Friday’s second practice period. At least for now, the rain continued to stay away, much to the relief of all those fans camping near the circuit. The McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri led the way ahead of the best of the rest, Verstappen, with Pérez only ninth fastest in the other Red Bull.

It’s wise never to bet on rain staying away from Spa, and, yes, it was falling lightly as the final practice hour began early yesterday afternoon before becoming noticeably heavier. In the dry, Spa is always a challenge that every racing driver simply loves, but in wet conditions it can become decidedly dangerous, and in recent years we’ve witnessed at various levels of racing some awful accidents, leading on occasion to serious injuries and fatalities. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll fell victim to the conditions 11 minutes into the last practice session when he acquaplaned through Eau Rouge and then spun into the barriers at Raidillon, bringing out red flags.

...Leclerc made a great start, but so too did Hamilton, who quickly stopped Pérez’s clear intention of moving across in front of him, and soon the multiple champion was running second.

Fortunately, the Canadian avoided having what could have been a huge accident and emerged unscathed, although his car suffered significant front-left damage. Nine minutes later, the action resumed, but no one risked heading out in the heavy rain. Race control soon redflagged it again, deeming the conditions too dangerous, even for practice running. Subsequently, the drivers were allowed back on track briefly to undertake some practice starts, and the timesheets showed Verstappen had set the pace from Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly

Qualifying took place later yesterday afternoon on a damp track with light rain still falling, and Verstappen remained in imperious form, outpacing the second-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by a mighty 0.595 seconds. However, the triple champion’s grid penalty demoted him to start today back in 11th position, with the official poleman thus deemed to be Leclerc. Pérez put in a better performance and claimed the other front row grid position, while Hamilton and Norris helped themselves to the second row.

This was not to be though, as, with the chequered flag getting ever nearer, Russell eked every bit of life out of his own ageing, but carefully managed tyres...

As the start of this afternoon’s Grand Prix neared, the key questions centred on how the McLarens, Mercedes, and Ferraris might perform in the now dry and sunny conditions, how much progress Verstappen might be able to make from his mid-grid starting position, and how well Pérez might fare as the Mexican desperately seeks to retain his seat. When those famous red lights went out, Leclerc made a great start, but so too did Hamilton, who quickly stopped Pérez’s clear intention of moving across in front of him, and soon the multiple champion was running second. In contrast, Norris again made a poor start and quickly found himself back in seventh position.

On lap three, Hamilton, aided by DRS, went one better as he swept past Leclerc on the Kemmel Straight and led as they entered Les Combes. To their rear, Pérez, Piastri, Russell, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz completed the top sextet, which remained until the opening round of pitstops. When these had run their course, Hamilton led from Leclerc and Piastri, then Russell usurped Pérez for fourth.

We've now reached this year's summer break for the F1 world, which is actually just a temporary break from racing rather than from related work.

A second series of pitstops followed, but Russell was the only driver to opt to stay on track and run to the end on his existing hard specification tyres, with his Mercedes colleagues checking over the radio that he was definitely happy to run a one-stop strategy. With 13 laps remaining (and they are long seven-kilometre ones at Spa!) Russell’s lead over Hamilton was seven seconds, and it was assumed that it would just be a matter of time before the multiple champion, on much fresher tyres, cruised up to the rear of his teammate and swept past for the victory. This was not to be though, as, with the chequered flag getting ever nearer, Russell eked every bit of life out of his own ageing, but carefully managed tyres, and Hamilton was never close enough to attempt a pass. Meanwhile, Piastri had gotten the better of third-placed Leclerc with nine laps to go and was right with the two Mercedes drivers at the end.

Just to the rear of the podium trio, we also witnessed an excellent scrap for the next three places as Leclerc held off Verstappen and Norris, with Pérez finishing eighth and claiming the extra point for the fastest lap of the race after making a late extra stop for soft rubber.

We've now reached this year's summer break for the F1 world, which is actually just a temporary break from racing rather than from related work. However, it will enable most to fit in at least a short holiday and spend some time with friends and family before the season continues in the Netherlands in late August. After Red Bull’s total dominance of the 2023 Championships, it has been fascinating to see rivals, led by McLaren, now regularly taking the fight to them, and the second half of the current campaign should be both unpredictable and highly entertaining to watch.


2024 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship

1 Max Verstappen 275
2 Lando Norris 197
3 Charles Leclerc 174

2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship

1 Red Bull 404
2 McLaren 361
3 Ferrari 340