Belgian Grand Prix briefing: Piastri wins, Hamilton impresses after chaotic start

New York Times

17 hours ago

McLaren's Oscar Piastri overtook his teammate and championship rival Lando Norris in the opening stages of a rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix to win and further extend his championship lead.
The Athletic's experts, Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman, analyze the race's main talking points.
If you'd had offered Lewis Hamilton a gain of 11 places in the race after what he called an 'unacceptable' qualifying result on Saturday, one would imagine he'd gladly have taken it.
Advertisement
And yet there was a moment in Sunday's race when the Ferrari driver was lighting up the timesheets as the fastest man on the circuit, meaning there's reason to think that finishing seventh would result in some mixed feelings.
Ferrari's decision to start Hamilton from the pit lane after taking a new power unit also meant it could adjust the setup on his car, going for a higher downforce setup that would work better in the wet by offering more grip. In the early phase of the race, he put this to brilliant use, passing Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto and Nico Hülkenberg all in the space of a single lap to charge up the order.
Hamilton was then the first driver to make the switch from intermediate to slick tires, fitting a set of mediums at the perfect time, again gaining him a bunch of places as others waited an extra lap or two before making the same move. He'd gone from the pit lane to seventh in just 14 laps.
But that would ultimately prove to be Hamilton's ceiling. On a dry track, more downforce was less of a good thing, leaving him stuck watching the rear of Alex Albon's Williams for the remainder of the race. He sounded fired up on the radio as he tried hunting Albon down, taking in the info from race engineer Riccardo Adami over battery modes and different lines to make up the time. He simply couldn't get close enough, reporting at one point his car felt 'draggy as hell.'
Ferrari's updated suspension, designed to resolve the ride height issue that has plagued it since its double disqualification in China, seems to have provided a step forward. A top-five was surely on the cards for Hamilton without his track limits faux pas.
But it was fun, even for the opening quarter of the race, to see Hamilton back on the charge; a glimmer of better things soon to come through his tricky first year wearing Ferrari red.
Luke Smith
One may have expected a battle to brew between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen given how fine the margins were between the two during qualifying. The Ferrari driver qualified just 0.003 seconds quicker than the reigning world champion.
'I don't know yet,' Leclerc said Saturday when asked if he could keep Verstappen behind come race day, adding that he hoped the rear suspension upgrade had given Ferrari the 'upper hand' over the Red Bull.
Advertisement
As expected, Verstappen was all over the back of Leclerc's car during the opening stages of the race, looking for a moment to dive past. But the opportunity never came, a gap steadily growing as the race wore on. It hovered in the two-second realm for a good chunk of the race before ending at around 1.5 seconds as the Red Bull driver made another push in the closing stages.
By Lap 34, Leclerc was nearly 11 seconds behind the McLaren duo but a podium finish is a strong sign for Ferrari, which has struggled in recent weeks.
So what does this mean for the remainder of the season? When asked on Saturday whether it gives him confidence for the second half of the season, Leclerc said 'yes and no,' pointing at the gap to McLaren that is at multiple tenths of a second.
'We'll do a step forward. I don't think though that we'll find those three or four tenths in that upgrade. But it will help us to get closer. The more we use it, the more we'll be able to maximize this and there'll be some more potential to gain. But no, I don't think it's enough to be able to challenge the McLaren consistently from now on.'
Right now, Leclerc seems to be right. The gap was quite large to the McLaren duo by the end, but it could help Ferrari keep a stronger hold on second in the constructor standings.
Madeline Coleman
There were concerning flashbacks to 2021 when heavy rain started to fall as the cars assembled on the grid in the lead-up to lights out. Four years ago, the Belgian Grand Prix lasted just two laps, both completed behind the safety car, as showers washed out proceedings on what was a disappointing day for F1.
We had to wait more than an hour before the FIA deemed conditions were good enough to go racing after drivers reported poor visibility during their initial formation lap behind the safety car. The call to throw a red flag was criticized by some, including Max Verstappen, and there was some logic to that concern given the rain only then grew heavier. There was a risk the best window to get in some laps had been missed.
Advertisement
In the end, the decision to wait proved to be entirely correct. The race finally went green at 4:20 p.m. local time, having been slated to start at 3 p.m., and after four laps behind the safety car, we were able to go green at last.
F1's red flag resumption rules do seem to lack flexibility, given the rain had long stopped and the sun had been out a while before we got going, with a 15-minute restart window required before the cars could leave the pits. That's maybe something that could be looked at in the future. And this generation of cars have notoriously been poor for visibility when trailing others in the rain due to the ground-effect designs, kicking up more spray.
But credit should go to race officials for making the right call in the end, putting safety first and, impressively, getting a complete race distance at Spa.
Luke Smith