We are back with our original design F1 race graphic and our last race, the 14th out of 24, before the summer break; and for me, full circle, as this will be the first race I've now seen twice, newbie no more!
This race in Belgium is the longest race on the circuit at over 4.3 miles, with 19 turns. The city where it's held is about 90 miles east of Brussels.
This week's eye candy is Danish driver Kevin Magnussen, who announced last week that he will not return to Haas racing in 2025. Haas then went on to confirm my suspicions from last weeks post that yes, Esteban Ocon who leaves Alpine at the end of this 2024 season, has signed a multi-year contract with their team. So for 2025 at least, Haas is set with two new drivers, Ocon and Ollie Bearman...unless changes are made over the summer! Ocon was quite vocal on why he was leaving Alpine, basically saying that the engineers and higher ups at Alpine do not listen to the drivers. He may be right, because later it was announced that Alpine team Principal has left the team! Alpine/Renault is just a hot mess this season, imho!
Your current (hasn't changed yet!) drivers/teams:
Onto the racing and Belgian waffles (thanks announcers, for making me now crave this!)
P1: All practices are 60 minutes, clock does not stop for anything, unlike in Qualifying. This P1, weather is good, but this Spa, and weather can change just like that! Ocon had to retire his car due to a water leak problem, but other than that, a standard practice.
P2: Nothing happened. Teams and drivers have their data on the track conditions. Onto the weekend!
P3: It's ponchos and brellies time as it's a rainy P3 at the track. If you are behind a car, you are going to get the kickback of the mist kicking from the car in front of you- aqua-planing! Intermediate tyres out as the skies open up and down comes the rain! Fifteen minutes into this P3, and Lance Stroll astro-planes and smashes into the wall; he is okay, car is not as front left tyre whacked off and red flag, as Stroll's car is removed from the track. Another red flag came out once the track was cleared, because at this point, parts of the track have become small lakes, and for all intents and purposes, this practice session is over.
Mags giving some seriously handsome Daddy vibes!
A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.
Q1: 18 minutes for fastest lap for pole position and grid placement in these qualis. No DRS due to the wet track. Not raining at the moment, but it's coming. The track is now wet and slick, no ponding, Teams running on the Intermediates, and with about six minutes to go, due to tyre degradation, teams are switching to a fresh set of intermediates. No further incidents or problems on track as the rain has been held at bay, so your bottom five (back of the grid for the GP) are: both Haas drivers, Hulkenberg and Magnussen, Zhou/ Sauber, Sargent/Williams and Tsunoda/RB.
Q2: 15 minutes, no rain at the start. Note: Max Verstappen was the only driver who did not put on a second set of intermediates. No incidents, and no heavy rain, so we end Q2 with the bottom five (mid grid positions) being: Albon/Williams, Gasly/Alpine, Riccardo/RB, Bottas/Sauber and Stroll/Aston-Martin.
Q3: 12 minutes, light rain, no incidents so the top 10 for the Grand Prix Sunday are: Verstappen/Red Bull, LeClerc/Ferrari, Perez/Red Bull, Hamilton/Mercedes, Norris/McLaren, Piastri/McLaren, Russell/Mercedes, Sainz/Ferrari, Alonzo/Aston-Martin and Ocon/Alpine in 10th...but...since Red Bull decided to go with a fifth new engine, Max and Red Bull got a 10 grid penalty for the GP, so it will be Leclerc on pole position (which no one has won a DP in five years) and bump everyone up one spot, including Albon, with Verstappen now ay 11th on the grid. That's a wrap for Qualis!
Younger Mags Daddy Eye candy! cool tattoos!
Grand Prix Sunday! This GP goes 44 laps, with long straights, hence shorter amount of laps.
Weather is very warm and sunny, and teams will be worrying about tyre degradation under these conditions, so its strategy time on when to pit and how many times to change tyres at what part of the race! LIGHTS OUT and after seven laps, Saubers' Zhou had him retire the car for a DNF (Did Not Finish). Outside of that retirement, it was a good steady, if a bit long race, with several lead changes but in the end, on just a one pit-stop strategy, it was Mercedes George Russell winning the checkered flag! Georgie ran a great race and was truly emotional on the podium with fellow Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and McLaren's Oscar Piastri taking the 3rd spot. And with that we head into the summer break with the standings..... *NEEDLE SCRATCH ACROSS THE RECORD*
Oh no! Turns out the folks in charge of "da rules" found that Georgie's car was 1.67 kg lighter than the required weight, and hence Georgie was DISQUALIFIED and Hamilton was declared the Belgian winner, bumping Oscar up to the #2 spot, and Ferrari's Charles LeClerc takes the third position. So those podium pics and videos are from before of George Russell's celebrating the win are null and void!
I am not posting the podium shot due to the cruel twist of fate that be-felled Georgie!
Last of the Danish Eye candy instead!
The water's a bit cold, Mags!
And at Summer break, for those of you who are wondering where your favorite team and driver or drivers ranks in the standings, here ya go!
Constructors' Team Standings following the Belgian Grand Prix
1. Red Bull, 404 points. 2. McLaren, 361 points
3. Ferrari, 340 points 4. Mercedes, 284 points
5. Aston Martin, 71 points 6. RB, 33 points
7. Haas, 27 points 8. Alpine, 10 points
Drivers' standings after the Belgian GP:
1. Max Verstappen, 277 points 2. Lando Norris, 199 points
3. Charles Leclerc, 177 pts. 4. Oscar Piastri, 167 pts
5. Carlos Sainz, 162 pts. 6. Lewis Hamilton, 150 pts
7. Sergio Perez, 131 pts. 8. George Russell, 116 pts
9. Fernando Alonso, 49 pts. 10. Lance Stroll, 24 pts
11. Nico Hulkenberg, 22 pts. 12. Yuki Tsunoda, 22 pts
13. Daniel Ricciardo, 12 pts. 14. Oliver Bearman, 6 pts
15. Pierre Gasly, 6 pts. 16. Kevin Magnussen, 5 pts
17. Esteban Ocon, 5 pts. 18. Alexander Albon, 4 pts
19. Guanyu Zhou, 0 pts. 20. Logan Sargeant, 0 pts
21. Valtteri Bottas, 0 pts
Summer Break news: Red Bull has decided that Perez will finish out this season, but no guarantees after that. The big news though is that Carlos Sainz has landed his post 2024 and beyond seat/home! Sainz has agreed to race for the Williams team, and being a part of history as F1's first ever appendix-free team drivers, as Alex Albon had his appendix removed a few years ago!
As I strongly hinted with last weeks eye candy, current Williams driver Logan Sargent, obviously will not be racing for Williams after this 2024 season. Update: Logan is in negotiations to race for IndyCar...back to America he goes.
Last photo on this post as we and I enjoy the summer break (late August return!) is for the AWWW factor. At a recent race, and purely by accident, Charles LeClerc's Leo and Sir Lewis Hamilton's Rocco finally met for the first time! Wish I could've been allowed to post the video of a very annoyed Rocco (the bulldog) being so over it with the high-energy puppy that is Leo! But there is this to leave a smile on your face. :)
UPDATE I found one! Enjoy!
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