A Zoom Zoom Combo! Soggy Spa-Belgium and zippy Hungary GP's, A Sprint race, Angst at Ferrari, and standings at the summer break!

Hey Zoomies! Well, life really threw me some curveballs these last few weeks, with health stuff, and moving to a new unit, I didn't have time to write up the last 2 races before Formula One's summer break! I watched all the racing, but no time to do a proper write-up. So this Zoom Zoom post is going to be an abbreviated version of those two races, as the summer break is almost over, and racing revs up again in Holland/Netherlands. Oh, and for his nabbing his first ever podium after 239 races, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg is my choice for Driver Eye Candy! No big, major news to report since Silverstone, (edit: Ferrari has extended team Principal Fred Vasseur's contract! We like Fred!) other than Horner getting bounced at Red Bull, so lets get to our usual driver grid:

Reminder: Switch Lawson and Tsunoda, and Doohan out, with Colapinto in that Alpine seat.

Now on to the back half of this 2025 season, the 13th race in Belgium, commonly referred to as "Spa" race, has the longest track on the circuit, over 4 miles to complete a lap, and Spa has one of the most infamous and exciting turns/corners in all of F1, the Eau Rouge (turn 5 into 6, if memory serves), so there's that. This Spa race also has one of the six Sprint races- so points to be had. When writing this, I kinda went down a k-hole....err rabbit hole, admiring the pictures of this legendary corner at Spa, here's an old school pic (you can tell cuz there are no fences!!) I found to give context:

What Grand Prix year was this? Mark may know the answer!

Onto the abbreviated race coverage!

P1: Perelli has introduced a new Hard tyre compound, and based on radio feedback, the drivers are not thrilled with these wheels. Williams Racing Carlos Sainz power unit fuel system has him in the garage for most of this practice.

Sprint Race: Wait, Colby, where's the Spring Qualifying part? Well, Ask ESPN, cuz they did not show that. Before I get to the grid, this Sprint Race is only 15 laps, and only the top eight drivers get points; it's also a warm sunny day with warm temps. Now to the grid, On pole, is Oscar Piastri, then Max Verstappen, then Lando Norris, then Charles LeClerc, then Esteban Ocon, then Carlos Sainz, then Ollie Bearman, then Pierre Gasly, then Isack Hadjar, and rounding out the starting top ten is Gabriel Bortoleto. Three rookies in the top ten (Lawson a semi rookie, is in 11th!). All drivers on medium tyres.

And before the race starts, Gasly's Alpine car is out due to a water leak (so Lawson is no in 10th!). It's Lights Out for this Sprint and after a few turns, Max uses the slipstream and pulls ahead of Oscar to take the lead. Lap 5, Gasly gets his car on track, this more for the practice now for the GP. And Max wins his home race (was born a few miles away from his favorite track), and gives new Red Bull Principal Laurent Mackie's his first win as team leader! The Papaya boys finished 2nd and 3rd, and the rest of the top eight held their positions and get points for their respective teams. For me, Max ran an exceptional race, holding off the McLaren's drivers, as both Oscar and Lando gave it their best shot.

It's Quali time for the GP! Still warm and sunny! this track is in the middle of a forest, and absolutely gorgeous area surrounding it, btw! Q1: 18 minutes. Nico tried to get his Sauber into the pit lane, and bumped into Aston-Martin's Lance Stroll's car; Nico needs to have his front wing replaced, and Lance is called back into the garage to fix some damage due to that over-eager pit lane line jump-in. No further incidents, so bottom five are: Antonelli, Bortoleto, Colapinto, and both Aston-Martin's, Alonso and Stroll.

Q2: Stewards bring news that Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari car had all four of its wheels slide over the tracks' white racing line, and his lap time has been deleted, so Lewis in bottom five, while Bortoleto jumps up to race in Q2. 15 Minutes: No incidents, so next bottom five are: both Haas drivers, Ocon and Bearman, Gasly, Sainz and Hulkenberg.

Q3: 11 minutes. No incidents, so your top 10 are: Lando on pole, Oscar-2nd, (McLaren has tied Ferrari for top 2 lockouts with 68!), Charles LeClerc-3rd, Max-4th, Alex Albon-5th, George Russell-6th, Isack Hadjar-7th, Yuki Tsunoda 8th (his best GP quali position for the Sugar-Free Red Bull team this season!), Liam Lawson-9th, and Bortoleto-10th!

Driver Eye Candy: Nico in his kit!

Belgium Grand Prix: 44 laps, with 19 turns. 390K fan attended this weekend's races. Weather is wet, as the rain has arrived at Spa. The race is delayed for 15 minutes. Four (4!!) cars starting the race from the pit lane, Alonso, Antonelli, Hamilton and Sainz, due to Power unit changes. Visibility will be an issue with the spray coming from the cars. All drivers starting on Intermediate tyres. Race Control have called for a RED FLAG on the formation lap as conditions are too dangerous to race. After 1 hour 20 minutes later, they okay is given to start the race by first following the safety car. We may not get all 44 laps in as Grand Prix races have a 3 hour window in which to race, and now time left is under two hours. No LIGHTS OUT, just kinda, go follow the safety car!

After 5 laps of following the Safety Car, it's Wheels GO, and Oscar quickly overtakes Lando for the early lead! Georgie overtakes Alex for 5th.

Lap 12 finds the track basically dry now, and several of the drivers in the back switch to Mediums...actually most of the drivers are on Mediums, Lando switches to Hard tyres. all these pit stop tyre changes has benefitted Lewis, as he has risen from 18th to 7th place!

DRS is now activated, and at Lap 41, top 10 has stayed the same, and Lando has been hunting down his teammate Oscar; Lando made a couple of errors that cost him about three seconds and Lando is behind Oscar by 3.7 seconds. It's not enough for Lando, as Oscar wins the Belgium Grand Prix by 3.4 seconds. LeClerc takes the 3rd place on the podium. Lewis Hamilton get the fans Driver of the Day vote, which was well deserved! While this was a good, solid race was okay, it was a bit tedious for me. Onto Hungary.

Going straight into the races for the Hungarian Grand Prix! Except I will note that the the Hungarian GP has completely remodeled their track from last year- new grandstands, , new garages, new pit buildings, and resurfaced track! This track is a drivers favorite, with great flow and elevation and the turns! All Practices are 60 minutes, btw.

P1: Reserve driver Felipe Bergovich is filling in for Fernando Alonso for Aston-Martin as his back has been cranky to race in P1. Over at Sauber, reserve driverPaul Aron gets his F1 requirement done, taking Nico's car. And for the majority of this P1, Sky Sports/FIA lost the sound from the commentary box! Other than my annoyance, no incidents. P2: temperature at 80 degrees, a bit cooler from earlier, and party cloudy. Turns 8 and 9 could be trouble for this weekend's races. Max threw a towel out of his car onto the track. A fine will be coming to Red Bull for that! No further incidents.

P3: Another warm day, with high humidity. Sugar-Free's Red Bull Driver, Isack Hadjar did a full 360 spin, but was able not to crash, and continue on, but whoa, that was close! Oh! A-M's Alonso is back on track after taking a day off from P1 due to back issues. No further incidents, so onto Qualifying!

Q1: 18 minutes. Temp is 64 degrees, track temp though is 130 degrees and jumidity is at 32 percent! Rain MAY creep into this Quali, so there is that. And in just a few minutes, due to the clouds, the temps have dropped about six degrees, so the driver's tyres will like that! No incidents, so you back of the grid bottom five are: Yuki, Pierre Gasly, Nico, Esteban Ocon, and Alex Albon!

Q2: 15 minutes. track is much cooler, so faster lap times to come. A spot of rain drizzled down, but didn't play into the results of the next bottom five, which are: Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz, Ollie Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, and the big shocker, Sir Lewis, the most successful driver at the Hungarian GP! ( I will have more on Lewis b4 the GP- angst! "everytime. everytime"). Q3: 12 minutes: Track temp has now dropped 15 degrees! Also the wind has picked up, headwinds i'm hearing. No incidents, so who won Pole position? In a bit of a surprise, it was LeClerc; Charles final lap was faster than the Papaya Boys at McLaren, with Oscar 2nd, Lando 3rd, Georgie-4th, Alonso-5th, Stroll-6th (!!!!), Gabriel Bortoleto-7th, Max-8th, Liam Lawson-9th, and Isack-10th! Notes on Quali: Aston-Martin drivers Fernando and Lance did very well; and we have three rookies in the top 10 on the GP grid!

If you have hung in this far....Congrats! Rewards time for your endurance! Oh boy, for this GP!

Driver Eye Candy- Nico birthday boy!

Hungary GP: A note. After Quali, Ferrari's big contract signing , Sir Lewis Hamilton was so distraught that he told the media that perhaps Ferrari should replace him!!!! Hugs for Lewis! You sir, are a legend! Shake this off! Im relatively new (2019) F1 fan, so i missed all of your SEVEN Driver championships- but your character and your skills wash away these feelings you have of not being "good enough". Yes you are!

Onto the GP: 70 laps, 14 turns. Weather is good at the start. Yuki will start from the pit lane. Trivia: If Ollie finishes 11th, he will hold the record of placing in the same place (in Ollie's case, 11th) for the 5th consecutive time. (Keep in mind, finishing 11th, is OWIE- just outside the points!). Over 300K attended this weekend's races. The top 11 are starting on Medium tyres, with a mix of the three tyres on the lower grid. LIGHTS OUT and Charles launches out front to keep the lead, while Lando guesses wrong, and is overtaken by Fernando and Georgie, with Lando now in 5th, trying to hold off Gabriel! Note: One of the best starts of a race this season!). On Lap 3, Lando overtakes Fernando for 4th! Max has overtaken two drivers for 7th. On Lap 19, we see Oscar, Georgie and Charles make their first pit stop for tyre changes, with Oscar on Hards. Lando now in the lead, with Fernando in 2nd, Charles in 3rd, Oscar in 4th, Gabriel holding in 5th, and Georgie now in 6th. Note- Isack got a gravel shower on one of the turns, and his hands are definitely hurting from the stinging gravel! Max complaining they pitted him too early, as he is now fighting thru traffic has clawed his way back up to 12th. Lap 27, Charles on the radio to Ferrari not happy with the pre-race strategy position, and feels he and his car are going to lose this race, while Lando tells McLaren team radio, "Why not?" when suggested Lando keep with his current tyres till about Lap 40 (!!), and finish on Hards. The commentators agree with Lando, feeling he is condemned to no better than 4th place at this point. Readers will come back to this paragraph later! :) Lando boxes for Hard tyres on lap 32, and the pit stop was the best of the year, at 1.9 seconds! He comes back out on track holding position in 4th place. Lap 40 has McLaren hinting at pitting Oscar for a tyre change, Ferrari hears that, and has Charles change tyres (his 2nd pit stop 2.0), but Oscar DOESN'T pit...the McLaren Bluff worked, as Charles now in 4th! At this point, almost all drivers are on Hard tyres. Lewis and Georgie pit to change to Mediums, as does Oscar. Lando now in the lead, with Charles, Oscar, Georgie and Max the top 5 at Lap 47.

Things get interesting as the above-mentioned leaders are now having to deal with the the drivers in the back of the pack to overlap them and weave thru traffic. Lap 50 finds Haas Ollie Bearman to retire the car for a DNF, and will remained tied with several drivers for 4 consecutive same place (11th) finishes. Meanwhile, Charles is having a meltdown on Ferrari team radio, and is clearly furious about the strategy, stating that he and his car won't even finish on the podium!

Charles was right, as Georgie overtakes Charles on Lap 62! Meanwhile, Oscar is eating time out of Lando's lead, now under 3 seconds! Lando radios that the traffic from the backfield is going to rule his race, Oscar now just 1.2 seconds behind, yet Oscar has to also deal with that same traffic! Four laps to go, and the Papaya boys are allowed to race for 1st place, now a half-second behind Lando, who is giving everything he's got to hold off Oscar. Lap 68 almost sees Oscar overtake Lando, but no dice. Both drivers pushing it with all their might! Lap 69 , see Oscar lunge up, but his car locked so Lando holds on. Last lap, has Lando cut off Oscar to prevent an overtake, and with that last move the end of this exhilarating race finds Lando Norris winning the Hungarian GP, also giving McLaren their 200th team victory!

Lando coaxed those Hard tyres for 39 laps, over half of this Grand Prix! Why not, indeed!

Lando teasing that he was going to toss this porcelian trophy in the air!

Behind Lando and Oscar, Georgie rounds out the podium, while Charles does end up in 4th, and fuming at his team! Aston-Martin the big surprise, with Fernando and Lance both finishing in the top 10 and points, which will help with their battle with Sauber (!!) and Sugar-Free Red Bull in the team standings! Gabriel Bortoleto gets the fan vote of Driver of the Day, running a solid race for the Sauber team! Before the champagne celebration, Lando made sure all the trophies were safely out of the way; no need for a repeat of last season's oopsie, when Lando accidentally knocked over Max's trophy!

Summer Break for F1 started after this race, and racing will resume last weekend of August, which is when I am posting this recap! Hope it made for some airport, cruise ship, poolside or staycation reading for you as you enjoy the holiday weekend!

The Dutch/Holland/Netherlands (pick one!) GP will be that holiday weekend race! Thx for reading! As Promised, Updated Team and Driver Standings! With McLaren basically 300 points in front, what race will they seal the deal? The race to follow for the rest of the season will be between Lando and Oscar for the Driver's Cup!