Belgian Grand Prix: The Hits/Misses according to the editorial team

The TOPS

13, a lucky number for Red Bull

What better way to end this first part of the championship before going on vacation than with a 13th consecutive victory? After a strong first half, Sergio Pérez quickly overtook poleman Charles Leclerc to take the lead in the Belgian Grand Prix. Meanwhile, starting from 6th place, Max Verstappen once again showed everyone that he was in a league of his own. By the 15th lap, he was on the tail of his teammate, and it only took him two more laps to overtake the Mexican driver. Another masterclass for the Dutchman, who finished nearly 25 seconds ahead of Pérez at the checkered flag. Neither rain nor a few tensions with his engineer hindered Verstappen on his way to a 45th victory in F1. Red Bull leaves Spa with a 27th double in F1.

Charles Leclerc’s strong performance

Poleman after Verstappen’s penalty, Charles Leclerc couldn’t do anything to hold back the untouchable Red Bulls. 3rd for most of the race, the Monegasque driver was far from the front but had enough of a gap to ensure his 3rd podium of the season (excluding the Sprint). Leclerc confirms that when everything falls into place for Ferrari, when the strategy is on point and the pit stops go perfectly, he remains a reliable asset on the grid, capable of fighting for podium finishes in every Grand Prix. While his teammate Carlos Sainz makes mistakes, Leclerc maintains a clean race and even takes advantage to surpass both the Madrilene and George Russell in the championship, climbing up to 5th place.

At Alpine, the track makes you forget about the backstage turmoil

The weekend, however, started in a very peculiar way at Alpine. While a major clean-up is taking place within the management and top management of the French team, the drivers of the blue cars did not seem disturbed during this Belgian Grand Prix. After Pierre Gasly’s third place in Saturday’s sprint, both him and Esteban Ocon put on a show in the heart of the pack. With both of them executing some impressive overtaking maneuvers, for example Gasly on Albon and Ocon on Tsunoda, the two Norman drivers showed that if there was one thing not to change in Enstone, it was the drivers. The native of Évreux was rewarded with points for finishing in 8th place, while the one from Rouen missed the top 10 by a few seconds. With a deficit of 47 points to catch up to McLaren’s 5th place in the constructors’ championship, Alpine already knows that a lot of work awaits them when the season resumes at Zandvoort at the end of August.

The FLOPS

A costly mistake for Carlos Sainz

Starting from 4th on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps does not guarantee a podium, but it does provide a great opportunity to achieve an excellent result. Carlos Sainz could have hoped for a Top 5 finish in Belgium, especially when considering the pace shown by Charles Leclerc throughout the race. However, the Spanish driver ruined it all right from the La Source corner. Trying to avoid Hamilton on his left, Sainz cut across the path of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, damaging the right side of his Ferrari. Although both drivers may share blame for the incident, the driver of car number 55 destroyed his chances of a good result in just a few meters of the race. This only adds more pressure to his seat, as rumors of potential replacements for the driver who has been racing for the Reds since 2021 start to circulate.

Lance Stroll still not up to the level of his car

When we take a look at the standings of both championships, there is no need to reach for a calculator to understand the gap between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in terms of points. As we have entered the second half of the season, the Spanish driver has simply scored three-quarters of the points collected by Aston Martin since Bahrain. While he can still aim for a place on the final podium and fight with Mercedes and Ferrari, his Canadian teammate is struggling in the midfield to secure Top 10 finishes. The Silverstone team has proven since the beginning of the season that they have a fast, reliable, and versatile car on all types of circuits; this Belgian Grand Prix once again demonstrated this. Finishing 9th under the checkered flag with less than a second ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri, a reassessment is needed during the break in order to avoid being held responsible for the potential loss of the team’s podium position in the constructors’ championship.

McLaren wastes a great opportunity for a big result

Author of three consecutive podiums, including a Sprint race, McLaren could approach this Belgian Grand Prix with high ambitions. Starting 5th and 7th on the grid, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris hoped to at least fight for a Top 5 position, or even a podium. However, the first lap quickly erased this ideal scenario. Damaging his front wing after contact with Carlos Sainz, Piastri was forced to retire. It was a shame considering the weekend had started with a very impressive second place finish in Saturday’s Sprint race. Starting with a car setup for wet conditions, Norris seemed to be under attack from his competitors during the first part of the race. It wasn’t until his final stint and switch to soft tires that he was able to regain momentum and move up to 7th place. A small consolation for a team that had established itself as the second force on the grid behind Red Bull in recent races.