Written by Daniel Turner. Edited by Joe Murphy.
Well. What really can I say to review the latest GP?
It felt like a long four week break since the excitement of last time out in Budapest. I was checking live updates on the race build up, excited to find out it was going to be a wet race. I quickly rushed back from the weekly shop in a well known discount food retailer, parked myself in front of the TV and settled in for what should have been a great race. But it wasn’t to be.
Following the delayed delayed delayed (you get the idea) race start, finally the cars left the grid for the formation lap (or two formation laps, I’m still figuring it out) only for them to return swiftly to the pits. I then sat for what turned out to be over three hours watching endless camera shots of a rain drenched Spa circuit and soaked but yet buoyant fans. They, as it turned out, were the real stars of the Grand Prix, holding out in the dismal weather for any hope of some on track action. Perhaps the most exciting point of the whole afternoon was watching Alan van der Mewre driving his Mercedes C 63 S round the circuit only to determine that it was still chucking it down and unsafe to send all twenty F1 cars out, at race speed.
Finally, the race was restarted over three hours after the scheduled race start time, but the cars only managed a further two laps behind the safety car before returning back to the pits. Shortly after, the race was finally officially ended to officially crown the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix the shortest ever F1 race. I am in no doubt that the cars were only sent out a second time to provide a race classification and to award half points to the top ten.
A lot of questions will be asked of the FIA following the weekend. As the on air commentary team put it quite accurately, the circumstances of the race fell through many cracks in the regulations and there will be a strong desire to prevent the same happening again in the future. The confusion amongst the teams and broadcast crews was evident. Has the race officially started? Has the three hour race clock started? Can Sergio Perez start the race following his out lap crash? They will of course review the weekends events, so let’s hope I don’t have to review such a race again!
It must be said, a great job by Race Control for guiding the teams through the unusual circumstances and to the TV teams for helping us viewers at home understand what was happening. Big Phil’s phone must have been going crazy! The biggest shout out, however goes to the fans for sticking it out in such dire weather conditions. As some drivers have alluded to in their post race interviews, I sincerely hope they are rewarded in some way for their patience.
1.Max Verstappen
Not the way he would have wanted to win the first race back after the summer break but he must be somewhat satisfied with the outcome. Closing the gap in the World Championship as well as being able to bag pole position, he couldn’t have done much more to get this championship back on track.
2. George Russell
All qualifying sessions are important, more so on certain tracks throughout the season. But this weekend in particular emphasises just how important a role qualifying can play.
By far the most outstanding qualifying lap of any of the drivers this season so far, George drove a simply stellar lap to put his Williams on the front row. For a brief yet brilliant moment, I seriously thought he may start on pole! It likely would have been extremely difficult to hold onto the position come the chequered flag, but as it turned out, it was all won and lost on Saturday and his epic lap alone is why he is fully deserving of his first F1 podium.
He must be by far the most satisfied of all the drivers in Belgium. If he hasn’t already secured the Mercedes drive for next season, he most certainly must have kept some heads spinning down in Brackley.
3. Lewis Hamilton
In contrast, I think Lewis is probably feeling a bit disappointed about how his weekend has turned out. Not only was he out qualified by a Williams, he must have also fancied at least a second place finish in the race. In the end, his qualifying performance confined him to third place and a reduced lead in the standings. The only concellation must be that the points loss is half of what it might have been.
Looking down the rest of the order, Daniel Riccardo gets his best finish of the season so far in 4th. He had been looking strong this weekend with a much needed improved performance, but yet still falling short of his team mate. Lando promised so much on Saturday before unfortunately dipping a wheel on the painted kerb and sending his McLaren into the barriers.
Vettel seems to be getting a handle of his Aston Martin with some impressive performances of late. His cruel disqualification in Hungary aside, I’m sure he would have been satisfied with fifth and a good haul of points for the team.
Nicholas Latifi is now a back to back points scorer in F1 thanks to his 9th place finish. The Williams team appear to be continually improving, in part thanks to some superb driving from Russell but the Canadian must take a massive confidence boost from his recent performances. I hope they can continue to improve going forward to get back to where they rightly belong.
An underwhelming performance from Bottas this weekend firmly heaps the pressure on himself to keep his Mercedes seat, not helped by his 5 place grid penalty for causing the Turn 1 carnage in Hungary. I can’t help but feel that he already knows that his tenure in F1’s top team will be coming to an end?
Another weekend to forget for Perez after his out lap brush with the barriers. Not the best way to celebrate a contract extension with Red Bull. I must say, though, I was thoroughly impressed by the team thanks to their herculean to repair his car for a potential race restart. Teamwork is certainly making the dream work for them so far, but Perez needs to start playing his part in taking the championship to Mercedes.
Despite only having three racing laps behind the safety car, someone would have completed a lap in the quickest time. Quite unbelievably on this unbelievable of weekends, that accolade belongs to Nikita Mazepin. No points awarded of course being outside the top 10, but still, it’s an achievement all the same.
The paddock will firmly put this remarkable weekend behind them as the F1 circus returns to Zandvoort for the first time in 36 years. Stay tuned for W2W’s race predictions later in the week, but with the home fan advantage, my play money is on the home favourite to perform on home soil.
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