Episode 10 – Belgian Grand Prix

Ladies and Gentlemen! We are back again and by God I feel compelled to let you know - IIIIIIIITTT’S RACE WEEK!!! Isn’t it oh so sweet to know we are going racing two weekends in a row? On top of the appeal of back-to-back race weekends, is that the upcoming circuit, Circuit de Spa -Francorchamps, is widely regarded as a favorite for fans of the sport. Let’s do a quick debrief of last weekend, and then we can break down what’s ahead!

— In the Rearview —
The 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix sure gave Red Bull Racing fans plenty to cheer about. Their second driver, Sergio Perez, recovered from his mediocre qualifying result of 9^th to grab the bottom step on the podium, and their main driver, Max Verstappen, led them to a record-breaking 12^th team victory in a row. This breaks the long-standing record of 11, set by McLaren (Prost and Senna) back in 1988.

Speaking of McLaren, they managed to keep their newfound momentum up this weekend with their lead driver, Lando Norris, earning his eighth career podium, and their rookie, Oscar Piastri, finishing in 5^th . Look for them to try and continue competing at the top for the rest of the season, as they have done well on multiple track types so far.

It was another disappointing race for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc finishing P7 and Carlos Sainz Jr. finishing just behind him in P8. Charles could have come away with a few more points, if it wasn’t for a 5-second speeding in the pitlane penalty, on top of an almost 10-second long pitstop. Oh well, on to the next one.

Down in the back half of the standings, new Alpine investors Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney and Michael B. Jordan may be asking for their money back after two races in a row of neither car crossing the finish line.

Enough dwelling on the past! We have a Grand Prix to preview!

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Stavelot, Belgium

This weekend we journey to the historic Spa. Used in car racing since the 1920’s, this circuit originally traversed the public roads between the towns of Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Stavelot. Although the track has seen several modifications in its history, the most major cutting its length in half, it has retained a reputation for being one of the fastest and most exciting circuits on the calendar. (It is also still the longest.) I would be remiss in giving a preview of Spa without mentioning the marvelous Eau Rouge. Nothing short of a work of art, the Eau Rouge/Radillon combination comes at the bottom of a hill leading out of La Source, the turn 1 hairpin. Drivers speed through a quick left-right-left series of turns before cresting a blind summit onto the Kemmel straight. My words don’t do it justice. Check out this awesome overtake by Mark Weber on Fernando Alonso. Truly a thing of beauty. Even though it shows Red Bull on Ferrari violence. We don’t need to talk about that. Check out the track map below for the full layout.

— Weekend Format —
This weekend we have the pleasure (or misfortune, depending on your view) of having a sprint race on! Featuring six times in this year’s calendar, sprint races are shorter (100km) races that take place on Saturdays and award championship points to the top eight finishers. First place receives eight points, and the reward is reduced by one point per place. Due to the sprint, the weekend schedule looks a bit different. Here’s how it shakes out – times are in EST.

Friday

-First Practice (FP1): 7:30am
-Qualifying Sessions (Q1, Q2, Q3): 11:00am

Saturday

-Spring Qualifying (SQ1): 6:00am
-Sprint Race (14 Laps): 10:30am

Sunday

-Race (44 Laps): 9:00am

— Stories to Watch —

Weather: Strap in for another wet racing weekend, folks! The Belgian weather often has a few surprises for racers and this time around looks to be no dif

ferent. As of writing, there is an 80% chance of rain on Friday and Saturday, that drops to 60% on Sunday.

Aston Martin Woes: The lads in the green cars will surely be looking to forget the last two races (They scored a total of 9 points… not very good for the 3rd place team.) and return to their earlier season form. Before Silverstone, they averaged 18 points a race and were breathing down Mercedes’ neck for 2^nd in the Constructor’s Standings. Now, they are only 17 points ahead of Ferrari and could be settling for Best of the Rest when it’s all said and done!

Danny Ric looks to start a streak: After being rear-ended by Zhou Guanyu heading into turn 1, it looked like Ricciardo’s race would come to an early end. However, he managed to press on and finish in an impressive P13 (remember, AlphaTauri = tractor) and beat his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. All in all, it was a positive return to F1, and he will hope to continue delivering good results to the team.

I’m not even going to give you a sob story about Ferrari this week, just know that I want to. Instead, I’m going to channel all that negative energy into excitement for the race! Fingers crossed that it’s a banger, because after this there will be no racing until the end of August due to summer break. Say it with me, “BOOOOOOO”. I agree, truly a travesty. Racing will be back before we know it though! Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Give me a shout and tell me your favorite circuit!

Much Love.