Lewis Hamilton took his 5th win of the season at the iconic Spa- Francorchamps circuit as his teammate Valtteri Bottas finished second to earn Mercedes their 50th 1-2 finish since returning as a constructor in 2010. Max Verstappen completed the podium by finishing third.
New Delhi, 31 August 2020: Lewis Hamilton secured pole by half a second over his 2nd placed teammate Valtteri Bottas on Saturday. Max Verstappen came ever so close to the front row as he was slower by 0.015s to Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo achieved his best result at the track, qualifying P4. It was a chequerboard pattern as Red Bull’s Alex Albon qualified in P5 and Renault’s Esteban Ocon in P6. Carlos Sainz outqualified his McLaren teammate Lando Norris as they lined up P7 & P10 respectively. Sandwiched between them were the Racing Point cars of Sergio Perez in P8 and Lance Stroll in P9. Daniil Kvyat outqualified Pierre Gasly for the first time in ten races as they started in P11 & P12. Ferrari had a disastrous qualifying as their cars started in P13 & P14, Charles Leclerc ahead of Sebastian Vettel. George Russell once again made it to Q2, starting in P15, his teammate Nicholas Latifi in P18. Both Alfa Romeos sandwiched the Haas of Romain Grosjean as Kevin Magnussen qualified last.
Predicted strategy was a one stop, starting on softs and then onto a set of medium tyres to finish the race. The top 3 cars were starting on the medium tyres. Alternate predicted strategy was to start on the mediums and end the race on soft tyres.
The predicted rain never arrived for Sunday as the grid formed under a cool sunny day in Belgium. Sainz could not start the race due to a broken exhaust discovered while taking his car on the grid.
The start was uneventful as the top 4 maintained their positions going into turn 5.Slipstream is a big factor at this circuit, especially at the start as the grid is bunched up. Due to a tail wind into turn 5 (rather than a head wind), Hamilton was able to keep the lead and not get overtaken by Bottas.Behind, Ocon had jumped Albon at the start. Leclerc made his way into the top 10 while Magnussen was up to P15 after starting last.
Gasly was the only person starting on the durable hard tyre. The hard tyre was working well with heavy fuel loads at the start of the race as Gasly was hunting down Stroll in P7 by lap 4. Meanwhile, Leclerc started falling back as he started to struggle on his soft tyres and inferior straight-line speed. By lap 7 he was out of the points paying position.
The safety car was called into action on lap 11 as Giovinazzi spun into the barrier and Russell was unable to avoid a collision. The whole grid pitted on lap 10-11 bar Gasly and Perez. Albon was the only car to pit for medium tyres, everyone else chose the hard tyre for the end of the race. Albon also managed to overtake Ocon in the pits as Renault lost time due to a double stack.
Racing got underway on lap 14 as Hamilton comfortably pulled away from Bottas, who did the same from Verstappen. By lap 18 Perez pitted for hard tyres dropping to last place. Gasly did the same on lap 26, bolting on the medium tyres as he had started on the hard tyres. There was tension in the Ferrari camp as both cars could be seen going wheel to wheel and touching for P12. Leclerc had to pit for a second time on lap 24 due to loss of hydraulic pressure which dropped him last. Only Perez and Gasly were moving up the field as everyone else maintained their positions. Raikkonen overtook Vettel to run as the lead Ferrari powered car.
The end of the race was tense. Both Mercedes cars and Red Bull’s Verstappen were worried about tyre failures as they started to experience vibrations in them. All three reduced their pace significantly towards the end. Ultimately the worries were unfounded as Hamilton cruised to 5th win of the season- 4th win at Spa- Francorchamps. Hamilton dedicated his win to late actor and friend Chadwick Boseman who passed away on 28th August. Behind him were Bottas and Verstappen to complete the podium.Ricciardo set the fastest lap on the last lap, as he finished P4. His Renault teammate passed Albon on the last lap to finish P5 as the sole McLaren of Norris finished P7.Gasly made the most of his medium tyres to finish in P8, ahead of both of the Racing Point cars who completed the top 10. Gasly’s teammate Kvyat missed out on points as he finished in P11. Raikkonen finished as the leading Ferrari powered car, ahead of the works Ferrari team. Vettel finished in P13 & Leclerc in P14. Behind them were the two Haas cars and sandwiched between them was Latifi in P16.
Mercedes had brought an extensive low drag aerodynamic package. It included revised horns on the top of the nose of the car, new bargeboards and side pod endplates to increase their straight-line speed. They also brought a new floor which had six vertical fins added to manage the airflow around the rear tyre. This package worked well as they maintained their qualifying and race pace advantage. Though, they were slower on the straights compared to Red Bull, which indicates Mercedes were running more downforce. Red Bull had an encouraging showing, especially with Verstappen as he almost qualified on the front row. In the race they were more subdued.
The Renault car works very well in low drag, high-speed circuits as evident from Silverstone and now Spa- Francorchamps. Their race pace was on par with Red Bull and had there been 2-3 more laps, Ricciardo could have overtaken Verstappen for the podium. Alas, at least they got their first fastest lap of the race in a decade. McLaren also looked promising, though not as fast as they Anglo-French rivals. Norris could have finished higher, but compromised his race due to losing positions on the opening lap. McLaren too, like Mercedes brought a low drag sidepod endplate to increase their straight-line speed. Interesting to NOTE: McLaren tested a 2021 specification floor on Friday to collect some real-world data. The AlphaTauri showed pace in the hands of Gasly as he was able to finish in the points. His teammate was unable to capitalise on the advantage of his car as he finished outside the points.
Ferrari had the worst race of the season. After taking a pole here a year ago, they plummeted to outside of the points. They were the only team on the grid not to improve on their previous year lap time. They could not find the right set-up, and as they were already behind in the power unit department, they compromised their downforce levels. A weekend to forget then. They may have the same struggles in the next race in Monza, their home Grand Prix. Alfa Romeo and Raikkonen were faster than the Ferraris. They can be somewhat content as their car works better on low drag circuits. Haas and Williams continued in a positive direction, as both teams improved their lap time compared to the previous year, though it is not enough to achieve points.
Precised & to the point,