The rain never came, but it was plain sailing for Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton took a comfortable victory at the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix to further extend his lead in the championship, with Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen completing the usual HAM-BOT-VER podium.
It was a fairly sedate race at the front. Hamilton had more than enough to cover anything his teammate threw at him – which was thoroughly demonstrated on Saturday with two stellar qualifying laps, more than half a second faster than Bottas – and Max Verstappen unable to challenge the mighty Mercedes on this occasion.
An early crash by Antonio Giovinazzi, that also collected the helpless George Russell, brought out the safety car on lap 10 and all the front-runners, bar Sergio Pérez and Pierre Gasly, took the opportunity for a cheap pit stop and ran to the end on a set of hard tyres. Whilst things started to get a little uncomfortable towards the end, and Hamilton’s mind clearly flashed back to that puncture in Silverstone, there were to be no late dramas this time and the Briton took his 89th victory – now just two short of Michael Schumacher’s all-time record – again being denied a ‘grand chelem’ only by a fastest lap on the final lap.
He dedicated the win to Chadwick Boseman, best known for his starring role as Black Panther, who sadly passed away over the weekend at the age of just 43. “It’s been an emotional weekend, I want to dedicate this win to Chad and his family, he was such an inspiration and his legacy will live on.”
Renault Find Their Form
The aforementioned fastest lap was set by Daniel Ricciardo as he closed in on an unlikely podium, finishing just three seconds behind Verstappen in the end.
Renault have been steadily improving as this quick-fire season has progressed, but this year’s black-and-yellow machine really came into its own with a low downforce setup at Spa. They were near the top of the timings all weekend; Ricciardo second in Practice Two and teammate Esteban Ocon in the same position in Practice Three.
Come race day, the Renaults fell back from the top three somewhat but, it would become apparent, were far kinder to their tyres and, with a few more laps, the Honey Badger may well have been designing a tattoo for Team Principal Cyril Abiteboul…
The 44 laps of the Belgian circuit were enough for Ocon, though, who held off the late charge of Lando Norris and successfully passed the Red Bull of Alexander Albon on the final lap for fifth place. 23 points for fourth, fifth and the fastest lap, is Renault’s best points haul at a single race ever. And things bode well for next week’s trip to Monza, where an even lower downforce setup could well see Abiteboul sweating once more.
An Emotional Weekend, Especially for Gasly
A minute’s silence was held before the race in memory of Anthoine Hubert, the F2 driver who was tragically killed at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. Many of the young, French drivers grew up with Hubert but Gasly, in particular, considered the young Renault protégé one of his very best friends.
So, it was excellent to see the AlphaTauri driver continue his good form this weekend and come home with some more points in eighth place. He made up a number of positions in the opening laps, despite starting on the hard tyre, and showed incredible bravery as he passed Pérez into Raidillon, the Mexican squeezing him to a dangerous degree.
The safety car fell unkindly for Gasly and his counterstrategy, but he fought back through the field excellently, after switching to the medium compound on lap 26, and felt he had done enough to make his former roommate proud come the chequered flag. The fans voted him the Driver of the Day.
More Pain for Ferrari…And It May Get Even Worse
Ferrari did not expect much coming into this weekend, but they may well have managed to underdeliver, nonetheless. The deficiencies of the SF1000 were brutally exposed and its lack of straight-line speed was particularly evident in the first and third sectors of the lap in Belgium.
There were fears that Ferrari would struggle to progress through Q1, after Practice Three left Charles Leclerc in 17th and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel plumb last. They did narrowly avoid that particular embarrassment, but 13th and 14th on the grid was a long way from locking out the front row before a maiden victory for Leclerc at the same circuit last year.
My personal suspicion is that the team overly focussed on an especially downforce-heavy car for this season due to their superiority on the straights in 2019. But, once the engine rules had been clarified and severely hampered them, it was too late to dramatically change the philosophy of the 2020 design.
Whatever the reason for their shortcomings, it is probably a good thing that there will be no Tifosi at next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, as it will likely be the lowest downforce setup of the year and their problems will only multiply.
Nil points at Spa is humiliating, but nil points at Monza…
There is certainly a big hill to climb for those in red.
The Belgian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Can anyone (well, Max Verstappen) challenge the Mercedes? They haven’t won here since 2017… Nope, they have now not won here since 2020…
Will a better result in Spain help motivate Sebastian Vettel? It must have been hard to find any motivation in this Ferrari at this track.
Or will Ferrari just struggle terribly around the power-sensitive Spa track? Yes.
Will the pressure increase further on Alexander Albon? It was another okay race and Helmut Marko has come out and backed him. For now, at least.
Could we have a wet and wild Spa weekend? *sigh* No.
