Leclerc scores maiden F1 win as Ferrari bests Mercedes in Belgium; Hamilton P2 & Bottas P3 for Silver Arrows

In the first race back from the summer break and on a sunny Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps that was dimmed by the tragic death of up and coming Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert in the feature race on Saturday, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made good on the flashes of brilliance he has so often shown this season to score his maiden Formula 1 victory at one of the most legendary circuits on the calendar. The Prancing Horses finally put together their pace advantage with enough aero efficiency and reliability to best the normally supreme Silver Arrows of Mercedes. Leclerc started from pole and his senior teammate Sebastian Vettel began in P2 after Ferrari locked out the front row in Saturday qualifying, forcing Mercedes to play catch-up with their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas starting in P3 and P4 respectively. Hamilton was able to better Vettel late in the race to seize P2 and then did an outstanding job closing the gap to Leclerc. But the Englishman ran out of laps and had to settle for a second place finish, which hardly did his massive points lead in the Drivers’ Championship any harm whatsoever. Bottas, who was re-signed by Mercedes for another year during the break, finished P3.

Despite finishing off the podium in P4 Vettel did yeoman’s work for his team. After being the first of the top runners to pit on Lap 16 and doffing his starting Soft Pirelli’s for the more durable Mediums, Vettel inherited the lead when first his teammate, then Hamilton and then Bottas pitted on the successive laps of 21, 22 and 23. But rather than fighting to keep the lead Vettel played the good solider and gifted P1 back to Leclerc on Lap 26. The proud German 4-time champion then played a superb rear gunner role for Leclerc’s benefit holding up Hamilton for several laps before finally being passed on the Kimmel Straight on Lap 32. It was an unusual show of selflessness for any F1 driver let alone Vettel and must have been appreciated by the team. But having pitted so early, with the team perhaps banking in a late Safety Car that never materialized, Vettel was doomed to stop again for fresh rubber on Lap 34 while the top 3 sailed away from his grasp.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The race got off to a choppy start with a nasty tangle between Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen going into Turn 1 at La Source. The result was floor damage for Raikkonen but a catastrophic steering failure for Verstappen that sent the Dutchman spearing off into the barriers at the top of the hill. Thankfully Verstappen was uninjured but his day was over almost before it began, putting an end to a superb recent run that saw him win two of the previous four contests, as well as his finishing streak of 25 consecutive top 5 finishes. The ensuing Safety Car period was too early to benefit anyone strategically and only lasted until the end of Lap 4.

Outside of the elite Top 4 and with Verstappen and Raikkonen’s misfortunes blowing the points positions wide open McLaren’s Lando Norris looked to score a massive P5 result after his teammate Carlos Sainz suffered a breakdown on Lap 3. But Norris’s car died on the start finish straight on the last lap of this 44 lap tilt. So the heartbroken rookie could only watch as car after car was able to finish in front of him and he slid down the order and out of the points in P11. The main beneficiary of Norris’s agony was Alexander Albon, making his debut for Red Bull after being promoted from Toro Rosso during the summer break. Albon gladly took that P5 position, while Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Toro Rosso opportunistically grabbed P6 and P7 respectively.  Nico Hulkenberg salvaged at least a little something for struggling Renault with an eighth place finish despite the fact that he will not be returning to the factory team next year. The second Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, who was demoted back down from Red Bull to make room for Albon, soothed his injured pride just a little bit with a P9 result. And the second Racing Point of Lance Stroll took the last points paying position by coming home in P10 after wheel banging his way past Haas’ Romain Grosjean late in the race.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian Gran Prix:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time at the similarly legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit right in Ferrari’s backyard. With the Scuderia on the ascent that high speed circuit should suit the Prancing Horses’ straight line advantage and the tifosi will be looking for an even better result from their pilots at the expense of mighty Mercedes. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!