Latest news with #Francorchamps


CNA
2 days ago
- Automotive
- CNA
Piastri and Norris racing like champions in F1 title battle
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium :McLaren boss Andrea Stella says teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are racing like champions and the Formula One title will probably be decided by fine margins and individual brilliance. The pair are 16 points apart in a two-horse race, with Australian Piastri leading McLaren's sixth one-two of the season in Belgium on Sunday and taking his sixth win of the campaign. Red Bull's Max Verstappen is third but 81 points behind with his hopes of a fifth successive title fast receding. There are 11 races left and the intra-team rivalry will be the major focus with McLaren set to retain the constructors' crown with ease as they now a massive 268 points clear of second-placed Ferrari. Norris won in Britain after Piastri was penalised for braking erratically behind the safety car but the Australian triumphed at Spa by slipstreaming past from second on the grid. "There is very, very little between our two drivers and this is because the two drivers are racing at a very, very high level," Stella told reporters. "I think the difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution," added the Italian, who worked with champions at Ferrari and said Piastri and Norris were both operating at that level. At Spa, the regular grid lineup was replaced by a rolling start in wet conditions after four laps behind the safety car, with Norris finding pole position was no real advantage once the race got going. Piastri had discovered the same during the Saturday sprint, when Verstappen won from second on the grid after seizing the lead on the opening lap. "We saw in Silverstone that an issue, a sporting issue for Oscar, during the safety car restart and the consequent penalty cost him the race," said Stella. "Here we saw that, somehow related to the circuit characteristic, it would have been very difficult for Lando to keep the position, starting first at the safety car restart." Stella discounted a battery problem that appeared to be an issue initially, saying a slight anomaly had occurred on both cars and Norris should not have been any worse off. "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart, but at the same time I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap...," he said. "So I think the execution is what is going to make the main difference." Piastri was not unhappy after qualifying second, observing that Spa was probably the best place not to have the best lap and planning his next move already. "The move through Eau Rouge, I knew it was going to be by far my best opportunity to try and win the race. I'd been thinking about it for a while, put it that way," said the Australian.


Malay Mail
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Malay Mail
Hamilton to start Belgian GP from pit lane after nightmare Spa weekend
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (Belgium), July 27 — Lewis Hamilton will start the Belgian Grand Prix from the pit lane after Ferrari fitted a new power unit to his car, following a difficult qualifying session that saw him finish 16th. The seven-time Formula One world champion has endured a challenging weekend at Spa, placing 18th in Friday's sprint qualifying and finishing 15th in the 100km sprint race on Saturday. Hamilton, who joined Ferrari in January, has yet to secure a podium finish with the Italian team. He apologised to Ferrari after Saturday's race, calling his performance 'unacceptable'. Despite his struggles, the Briton has a strong track record at Spa, having won five times and only missed the podium twice in races he has completed at the circuit. Ferrari confirmed the engine change on Saturday. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli will also start from the pit lane due to similar power unit changes. Rainy weather is expected to affect Sunday's race. Earlier, the Formula Two feature race began behind the safety car, while the Formula Three race was cancelled due to poor track conditions. — Reuters


Reuters
4 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Hamilton's Belgian GP nightmare gets worse
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, July 26 (Reuters) - Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, last year's winner with Mercedes, failed to get through the first phase of Belgian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. The seven-times world champion, who has yet to stand on the podium since his move to Ferrari at the end of last season, will start 16th on Sunday. The Briton had already endured a nightmare in Saturday's sprint race, starting 18th after a spin in qualifying and finishing 15th. Hamilton is a five-times winner in Belgium, one off Michael Schumacher's record at the circuit. He won at Spa last year after then teammate George Russell was disqualified from first when his car was found to be underweight.


CNA
4 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Hamilton's Belgian GP nightmare gets worse
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium :Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, last year's winner with Mercedes, failed to get through the first phase of Belgian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday after his best lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. The seven-times world champion, who has yet to stand on the podium since his move to Ferrari at the end of last season, will start 16th on Sunday. The Briton had already endured a nightmare in Saturday's sprint race, starting 18th after a spin in qualifying and finishing 15th. Hamilton is a five-times winner in Belgium, one off Michael Schumacher's record at the circuit. He won at Spa last year after then teammate George Russell was disqualified from first when his car was found to be underweight.


CNA
6 days ago
- Automotive
- CNA
Hamilton in 'big, big push' to speed up Ferrari
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium :Lewis Hamilton said he refused to be another name on the list of Formula One champions who failed to win a title for Ferrari, and was making "a big, big push" back at the factory to help boost the chances of success. The seven-times world champion and record race winner, who moved from Mercedes to Maranello this season, has yet to stand on the podium after 12 races with the sport's oldest, most glamorous and successful team. Ferrari has not won a drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. "I see a huge amount of potential within this team. The passion - nothing comes close to that. But it's a huge organisation, and there are a lot of moving parts," Hamilton told reporters on Thursday at the Belgian Grand Prix. "And not all of them are firing on all the cylinders that they need to be. That's ultimately why the team has not had the success that I think it deserves. "So, I feel that it's my job to challenge absolutely every area, to challenge everybody in the team - particularly the guys that are at the top who are making the decisions." Hamilton named Raikkonen, seemingly forgetting that the Finn won his sole title with Ferrari, along with multiple world champions Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel on a list of those who ended up frustrated with their stint in red. "I refuse for that to be the case with me," said the 40-year-old Briton, who wants an eighth title but knows time is not on his side. "So I'm going the extra mile. "I think if you take the same path all the time, you get the same results. So I'm just challenging certain things. They've been incredibly responsive. We've been improving in so many areas." Hamilton said he had been busy at the factory since his home grand prix at Silverstone, where he finished fourth, holding meetings and going over everything that he felt needed to change. He has called meetings attended by leaders from various departments as well as principal Fred Vasseur. "I've sent documents... after the first few races I did a full document for the team. Then during this break, I had another two documents that I sent in, and then I come in and want to address those," he said. "Some of it's structural adjustments that we need to make as a team in order to get better in all the areas we want to improve. "And the other one was really about the car - the current issues that I have, some things that you do want to take on to next year's car, and some that you need to work on changing." Hamilton is sixth in the standings, 16 points behind fifth-placed teammate Charles Leclerc. He has so far beaten the Monegasque only twice in regular grands prix. The Briton won in Belgium last year, his 105th and most recent win.