News & Updates

Everything to know about the F1 2024 Belgian GP and after

Photos courtesy of: F1/F1 Teams

The season has come to end its first half and we’re now officially in summer break. The Belgian Grand Prix knew how to end it with champagne showers, and a supposed Mercedes 1-2 win. While a lot expected a Red Bull domination for the 2024 season, we now have eight different drivers to reach the top step of the podium.

Although the weekend was competitive, even the heavens shed tears for the fallen drivers at Spa-Francorchamps. The drivers paid tribute to late drivers Anthoine Huebert and Dilano van’t Hoff during the opening of the Belgian Grand Prix. 

The summer break will mean a lot of things for the F1 drivers and teams–planning effective strategies to win both the 2024 World Champion title and the 2024 F1 Constructors’ Championship win. Max Verstappen is leading the driver points, and Red Bull Racing is leading the constructor points, but with only a 42-point gap ahead of McLaren. 

But before all that, the race for the win and the podiums for the Belgian Grand Prix comes first.

FREE PRACTICE

The weekend started with news from FIA that Red Bull’s Verstappen will receive a 10-place grid penalty due to engine changes, and a 60-place grid penalty for RB’s Yuki Tsunoda for their introduction of a new power unit to his car including a fresh ICE, MGU-K, MGU-H, energy store, exhaust, turbocharger, and control electronics. Expectedly, this meant a huge pressure on Perez’s shoulder to perform well and move his team to a higher position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The free practice sessions were full of surprising events with Williams driver Albon taking P3 in FP1, as well as Alpine driver Ocon taking P7 for FP2 in his new Deadpool & Wolverine inspired livery. However, the wet track of the last session was a headache for the drivers to perform within their full potential. Stroll’s spin at Eau-Rouge resulted in a red flag, and another one emerged because of the heavy rain. The free practice was concluded with Verstappen at P1, Piastri at P2, and a surprising P3 from Pierre Gasly.

QUALIFYING

The rain continued to pour down as it welcomed Qualifying. With the wet track, the drivers were careful in their laps, yet still in competitive spirits. Early in the track, Guanyu was set on an investigation by the FIA for impeding Verstappen, and the Dutch driver expressed his reaction to the incident with colorful words to his radio. 

It was a rollercoaster of emotions for the Red Bull team as Perez went from being a driver at risk at Q1 to earning P3 in the last session of Qualifying. His teammate Max Verstappen managed to get the fastest lap, but dropped down to P11 because of his 10-place grid penalty. This gave Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc a provisional pole, Perez bumped to P2, and Hamilton up to P3.

RACE

It was an intense race from the start–Leclerc started in the front row, while Hamilton and Perez immediately went into battle for P2. Piastri tried to close down the gap from the two drivers ahead of him to include himself in the battle.

Hamilton successfully stole P2 from the pressured Red Bull driver, Perez. Another Silver Arrows was in a side-by-side battle as Russell and Piastri fought for fourth place.

The Monegasque driver was already in distress by Lap 3, when 4-time Belgian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton took the lead away. Another driver in distress was Zhou Guanyu when he faced difficulties in his car’s power, causing the Kick Sauber team to come to a frustrating decision to retire the car.

Mexican driver Sergio Perez was in constant battles against other drivers, and he dropped down to P7 by Lap 13. However, his teammate Verstappen managed to earn two spots ahead from his starting point. 

It was a continuous battle for both the Red Bull drivers despite being envisioned by most as the dominating team for this season. At Lap 21, after Perez managed to get to P4, British driver Russell successfully overtook him. 

The Australian driver of McLaren, Oscar Piastri, managed to get the fastest lap at Lap 27, and shared a poetic exchange with his radio.

Tom Stallard: “Last lap was purple.”

Oscar Piastri: “It goes without saying, but clean air is king.”

Silver Arrows driver Russell became race leader by the 31st lap, followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton. Piastri dropped down to P3 when he made his second pit. Within the same lap, Verstappen had climbed up to P5 on the board, while Perez dropped to P7 when McLaren driver Lando Norris took P6 from him. 

Race leader George Russell and his team strategized a one-stop–his aging hard tires about to battle the remaining 13 laps of the race.

Marcus Dudley: “Just confirming–you are happy to stay out?

George Russell: “Yes. Copy.”

Compared to the aggressive radio exchanges last race from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and his radio engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, they surprisingly had healthy strategic conversations for the Belgian Grand Prix. In the battle for P5 against Norris, Verstappen was careful of the team’s decision on what to do.

Max Verstappen: “I think Lando is pushing behind me, so let me know what you want me to do.

Gianpiero Lambiase: “We’re happy for you to push now, Max, as well. Happy to push.”

The two Silver Arrows drivers led the race 1-2 with George Russell at P1. Although teammates, it was still an important individual battle for both of them. Lewis Hamilton tried to overtake Russell from the last ten laps of the race.

It was a close gap from the two drivers of Mercedes, with McLaren’s Piastri closely behind them placed at P3. The gap was concluded as the closest non-safety car finish between the top three since 2016.

The Belgian Grand Prix was dominated by the Silver Arrows 1-2 and Oscar Piastri for his hard-fought podium. It was an amazing one-stop win for George Russell who shred his tires for 34 laps, and a P2 podium and Driver Of The Day for Lewis Hamilton. 

From overtaking Charles Leclerc to defending his lead position, Lewis Hamilton was off to a strong start and expected by many to win the race. The impressive one-stop strategy from George Russell changed the course of the grand prix–but the victory celebration did not last long for the Brit.

Upon further investigation by the FIA, George Russell’s car was 1.5-kg underweight prior to the race which resulted in a disqualification. Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, anticipated the possibility of a disqualification and admitted that it was a mistake from the team. 

Although it is an unfortunate incident for Mercedes, Toto wanted to look at the brighter side of the situation. “The positives from this race is we had two cars that were the benchmark with two different strategies and who could have said that a few months ago,” he said.

British driver George Russell expressed his dismay in the situation in a tweet, highlighting that it is heartbreaking. However, he still takes pride in crossing the line first and left strong words of more upcoming wins. 

This decision resulted in the victory being handed to Lewis Hamilton. Oscar Piastri will take second place, while Charles Leclerc inherits the last spot at the podium. Hamilton also thought that it was disappointing news after earning a Mercedes 1-2, but remains optimistic with the race results from his team. “The car was feeling good, and we had [a] much better pace than we expected. There were several cars that seemed similar in terms of performance but once we had got ahead, we were able to maintain that position,” said the 7-time world champion.

With all of this said, the first half of the 2024 Formula One season has wrapped up, yet a lot of questions remain unanswered. How will Red Bull maintain its lead in the drivers’ and constructors’ championship? With Max Verstappen not being able to land a win since the Spanish Grand Prix, and Perez’s continuing search for his first win of the season, they truly have to earn and fight to maintain these titles.

It’s also a wonder if McLaren are finally back to their former glory. Finally earning another 1-2 in the Hungarian Grand Prix after a 3-year drought, and Piastri earning a podium for the Belgian Grand Prix, the team has a great chance of stealing the lead from Red Bull. However, their veteran acumen remains to be sharpened given the age of their competition.  

Will Mercedes be able to give Hamilton a fitting goodbye? This is his last year as a Mercedes driver after 11 years and 6 championships, as he will transfer to Ferrari in 2025 and start a brand new journey. With his current status of 2 wins for the season, will this great momentum continue and result in another historical season? 

And is it only downhill from here for Ferrari? The prancing horse has not won a race since Leclerc’s Monaco Grand Prix triumph, and Sainz only got into the podium twice in the last seven races. Adding the fact that Leclerc lost his provisional pole lead for this race, and was only practically handed a podium because of Russell’s disqualification, the team’s lacking aspects are obvious. With the latest news of Carlos Sainz signing with Williams for the 2025 season and onwards, the question of whether this will be a departure to remember from the Spanish driver remains in many minds. 

Many are hoping for different outcomes and changes coming after this summer break. All of this and more will only get answered in Verstappen’s home race–the Dutch Grand Prix happening on August 25.