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Cloudy sky. Dry. Air + 17С, track + 30С
A year ago, Ferrari dominated the Spa. Charles Leclair won the qualifying, Sebastian Vettel was second: the Scuderia riders filled the entire front row of the starting field and Charles scored the first victory of his career.
This year, everyone also talked about Ferrari. Maranello powered cars lagged far behind, and Ferrari drivers in training were inferior even to customer team drivers with the same engines.
Many feared that Leclair and Vettel were already out of the game in the first part of qualifying, but they did their best, practically repeating last year’s time, and withdrew in the second. The opponents of the year have come a long way.
Tires were again the second topic of conversation. The Belgian Grand Prix was the first of the season in which the cars were adjusted to a low level of downforce. Warming up the tires in cold weather with these settings proved difficult, and this hurt Ferrari the most.
Pirelli used to bring the harder compounds to the Spa, but this year they chose a step softer tires. The roles of Hard, Medium and Soft were the compositions C2, C3 and C4.
In the second part of qualifying, five riders immediately tried to reach the final with Medium, but only three of the strongest made it.
Lewis Hamilton convincingly won qualifying, immediately improving on the previous record by almost a second and a half. Valtteri Bottas lost half a second, but he was second.
There were no fines. The starting field followed the qualification protocol. For the fifth time this season, the Mercedes drivers took over the entire front row of the starting field. Verstappen and Riccardo started from the second row, Elbon and Okon from the third. Daniil Kvyat started the race 11th.
On the way to the starting field, Carlos Sainz’s car began to smoke, he returned to the pits. Due to problems with the power plant, the exhaust pipe overheated and the Spaniard was withdrawn from the race.
Before the start, he spent a minute of silence in memory of Antoine Hubert, who passed away in the Formula 2 race last year. Another participant in the accident, Juan Manuel Correa, who moved in a wheelchair or with a cane, also arrived on stage. The runners and team personnel honored the memory of the young Frenchman.
In the race, Riccardo, Albon, Ocon, Perez, Stroll, Norris and Leclair started on Soft, Gasley on Hard, the rest on Medium.
.jpg "Start of the Belgian Grand Prix")
There were no incidents at first. Hamilton retained the leadership. In the first four, despite a tenacious struggle, there were no changes. Okon got ahead of the ill-initiated Elbon. Leclair moved up to eighth place. Gasli was ahead of Kvyat and Peres.
The top ten in the second circle: Hamilton – Bottas – Verstappen – Riccardo – Ocon – Albon – Paseo – Leclair – Gasley – Perez.
On lap 3, Gasly edged out Leclair for eighth place.
On lap 4, Pérez beat Leclerc and Raikkonen beat Magnussen for 15th place.
On lap 6, Norris passed Leclair. Magnussen missed Russell and Grosjean.
On lap seven, Kvyat edged out Leclair, moving up to eleventh place.
Top ten on lap 10: Hamilton – Bottas – Verstappen – Riccardo – Ocon – Albon – Stroll – Gasley – Pérez – Norris.
On the eleventh lap, Raikkonen overtook Giovinazzi in 14th position.
On lap 12, Giovinazzi went off the track at the exit of Turn 13, crashing the car, a detached wheel hitting Russell’s car. The drivers left the cars alone.
.jpg "Safe car")
The security car got out. All the riders, except Gasly and Pérez, changed their tires and went to Hard. Okon missed Elbon at the pit stop.
The top ten for safety car: Hamilton – Bottas – Verstappen – Gasley – Pérez – Riccardo – Albon – Ocon – Stroll – Norris.
On lap 14, a restart was announced. Hamilton retained the lead and quickly walked away. Lewis complained about the loss of engine power, but the engineer said there was no problem.
Raikkonen edged out Vettel in the fight for 12th place.
On lap 17, Riccardo overtook Pérez for fifth place.
On lap 19, Pérez changed the tires. Leclair attacked Vettel, not without a little contact, but Sebastian stayed ahead.
On lap 21, Riccardo edged out Gasly for fourth place.
On lap 24, Gasley, who had not been in the pits, missed Elbon in a team from the pits.
On lap 25, Leclerc changed the tires; During maintenance, mechanics increased the pressure in the engine’s pneumatic system, which took a few seconds longer than usual.
On lap 26, Okon was ahead of Gasly and Pérez-Grosjean.
On lap 27, Gasly changed his tires.
On lap 29, Pérez edged out Vettel for eleventh place.
On lap 31, Latifi changed her tires.
On lap 32, Gasli was ahead of Vettel in the fight for 13th position. Caught behind Pierre, Sebastian blocked the tires.
On lap 34, Pérez and Gasli overtook Raikkonen.
Top ten in circle 35: Hamilton – Bottas – Verstappen – Riccardo – Albon – Ocon – Stroll – Norris – Kvyat – Perez.
On lap 36 Magnussen changed the tires. Perez edged out Kvyat in the fight for ninth place.
On the 37th, Kvyat missed Gasly on a team from the pits. Norris beat Stroll for seventh position.
In the final laps the tires were worn, both Mercedes drivers cut the chicane from the bus stop, but Verstappen couldn’t take advantage of this, he also lost his rhythm. The three leaders calmly rode to the finish line.
On lap 43, Gasley beat Stroll for eighth place.
On lap 44, Okon edged out Elbon for fifth place.
.jpg "Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix with his fifth win of the season and 89 of his career")
Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix with his fifth win of the season and 89 of his career. Valtteri Bottas finished second: Mercedes has the fourth winning double in seven races. Max Verstappen took the third step of the podium.
Riccardo and Ocon finished fourth and fifth, the best result for Renault of the season.
The fight will continue in Monza next week.
Race results
| Pilot | I send | Hour | Speed | Pete |
| 1.L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1: 24: 08.761 | 219,655 | one |
| 2.V. Bottas | Mercedes | +8,448 | 219,288 | one |
| 3. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +15,455 | 218,984 | one |
| 4. D. Riccardo | Renault | +18,877 | 218,837 | one |
| 5. E. Okon | Renault | +40,650 | 217,900 | one |
| 6.A. Elbon | Red Bull | +42,712 | 217,812 | one |
| 7.L. Norris | Mclaren | +43,774 | 217,767 | one |
| 8.P. Gasley | AlphaTauri | +47,371 | 217,613 | one |
| 9.L. Walk | Racing point | +52,603 | 217,390 | one |
| 10.C. Perez | Racing point | +53,179 | 217,365 | one |
| 11. D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +70,200 | 216,643 | one |
| 12.K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +71,504 | 216,587 | one |
| 13.S. Vettel | Ferrari | +72,894 | 216,529 | one |
| 14. S. Leclair | Ferrari | +74,920 | 216,443 | two |
| 15. R. Grozhan | Haas | +76,793 | 216,364 | one |
| 16. N. Latifi | Williams | +77,795 | 216,322 | two |
| 17.K. Magnussen | Haas | +85,540 | 215,995 | two |
Best circle: Daniel Riccardo (Renault) 1: 47.483 (lap 44, 234.589 km / h)
Reasons for retirements
| Pilot | I send | A circle | The reason |
| K. Sines | Mclaren | 0 | did not start / power plant |
| A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | 9 | shock |
| D. Russell | Williams | 9 | shock |
Championship position: Individual
Championship place: Constructors’ Cup
| I send | Motor | Lenses | |
| = | 1. Mercedes AMG Petronas | Mercedes | 264 |
| = | 2. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing | Sling | 158 |
 |
3. McLaren F1 Team | Renault | 68 |
 |
4. BWT Racing Point F1 Team | Mercedes | 66 |
| = | 5. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 61 |
| = | 6. Renault DP World F1 Team | Renault | 59 |
| = | 7. Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | Sling | twenty |
| = | 8. Alfa Romeo Racing | Ferrari | two |
| = | 9. Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | one |
