FORMULA 1 ROLEX BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2024

Is the Belgium Grand Prix the first race when both the pole position and the race win have been inherited by another driver?

Saturday afternoon Max strolled to the top of the qualifying timesheets, qualifying six-tenths quicker than Leclerc and the rest of the field in tough conditions, before taking a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding his engine quota for the season. Recent history repeated itself, when Max was quickest in qualifying in both the 2022 and 2023 Spa qualifying sessions but had to surrender his pole positions to Ferrari on both occasions having exceeded the permitted number of complete power units in 2022 followed by gearboxes issues in 2023. LeClerc inherited his 25th pole and teammate Perez joined Charles on the front row. Possibly a smart move from Red Bull, as it’s now the longest streak without the pole sitter winning in F1 since China in 2010….

Exactly 11 years to the day (28th July 2013) Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in Hungary to win his first race for the Silver Arrows… 11 years later, his 84th and latest win for the silver arrows was confirmed although this time he didn’t cross the line first as Lewis inherited his latest victory from team mate George Russell who was subsequently disqualified post-race. Lewis became only the 2nd driver to have won multiple races this season along with Verstappen, with the silver arrows winning three of the last four races. A barren spell in 2022 and 2023, Hamilton went two seasons without winning before two race victories in this month alone, which has now ignited a late surge by Mercedes in the constructor’s championship.

Hamilton took the lead from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the second lap and subsequently controlled large portions of the race before his 2nd pit stop on lap 27 to cover off Leclerc’s undercut who pitted the lap previously. The rest pitted leaving Russell with track position and leading the race on lap 31 of the 44-lap race, with George now on a one stop strategy. Following the heated debate around McLaren team orders in Hungary, Mercedes allowed their drivers to battle towards the end of the race with Lewis rapidly closing in on George who was on a set of hard tyres 15 laps older than Hamilton and the chasing Piastri. Oscar made a costly mistake, overshooting his marks at his final pit stop, which put a dent in his bid to secure back-to-back victories. Having closed the seven second gap, Hamilton was unable to lay a glove on Russell who crossed the line to secure victory for the first time at Spa and an unexpected 1-2 finish for Mercedes, with one of the drives of the season. So, we all thought….

George unfortunately became the 3rd race winner to be disqualified at Spa since Schumacher in 1994 and Hamilton in 2008, with his car found to be 1.5kg underweight. Russell's car was initially weighed at 798kg, which is exactly on the minimum weight limit for car and driver combined. Unfortunately, stewards found the car had not been fully drained of fuel and when it was, it’s weight was just 796.5kg. Piastri was promoted to second, while Ferrari's Leclerc moved up to third to take the final spot on the podium. The one stop strategy that almost won George the race, ultimately may have been the deciding factor with the weight infringement. Having pitted early on lap 10 and running a significantly longer final stint, Russell’s tyres would have had a higher tyre wear rate compared to the drivers who completed the two-stop strategy. Therefore, his tyres by the end of the race they would have had less rubber on them and consequently weighed less.

Verstappen had been predicted by the teams’ strategy models to come through and win the race from 11th on the grid, even with his teammate starting on the front row…. Although Max’s fourth-place finish was enough to extend his championship lead over Norris to 78 points. Lando was left to rue a small but another decisive error at the start, after running wide at the first corner, which seem to put a halt to any progress as he spent the early stages of the race in 7th. This is the first time Verstappen has finished consecutive races off the podium in over 5 years (Canadian and French GP in 2019), confirming the change in fortunes for a number of teams towards the front of the grid. Even with the McLaren drivers making small mistakes, they are now just 43 points behind Red Bull and possibly now favorites to end their 26 years wait for the constructor’s championship. All eyes are now on Red Bull and whether they will stick or twist with their current driver line up.

Four teams would have had a 1-2 finish this season, the last time this happened in F1 was back in 1960. Unfortunately for George and Mercedes this record will continue to at least after the summer break when the racing returns to Netherlands in late August.

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