Max Verstappen made light work of his grid penalties to win the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix from P14 on the grid in a Red Bull one-two backed up by Sergio Perez, while pole-sitter Carlos Sainz finished P3 for Ferrari.
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Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso tangled at Les Combes on Lap 1, leaving the Mercedes driver out of the race before Valtteri Bottas spun out in avoidance of Nicholas Latifi and brought out a Safety Car on Lap 2.
The restart saw Verstappen line up eighth while Sainz led Perez – Leclerc having had to pit for mediums with a tear-off in his brake duct. Verstappen made quick work of the cars ahead, sweeping into P3 by Lap 8 with only Perez and Sainz to beat.
Sainz pitted from softs to mediums on Lap 12 when Perez allowed Verstappen past and into the lead. The Dutchman extended his lead until Lap 15 and clawed back the deficit to Sainz, taking the lead on Lap 19 – taking another free pit stop on Lap 31 – before going on to win over Perez by over 18 seconds in a dominant display, with the fastest lap to boot.
Sainz completed the podium ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who had previously passed Charles Leclerc but lost out on the final podium place by just over two seconds.
Leclerc made a late pit stop for soft tyres in an effort to take the fastest lap, but missed out on the bonus point and only just held on to P5 ahead of Fernando Alonso. However, after being caught speeding in the pit lane, a five-second penalty dropped him to P6.
The two-time champion was re-passed by the Ferrari on the final lap but finished ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon, who overhauled Sebastian Vettel (P8) and Pierre Gasly (P9) late in the race. Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Williams, fending off Lance Stroll for the final point.
Lando Norris caught up to a battling Albon and Stroll by the end of the race but the McLaren driver missed out and finished 12th, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who won a late-race battle against Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.
That left Daniel Ricciardo in P15 ahead of the Haas pair – Kevin Magnussen 16th and Mick Schumacher 17th – while Nicholas Latifi finished 18th after taking three pit stops.
Mario Isola – Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
Spa is a unique track, so it was great to hear that it will remain on the Formula 1 calendar next year. This year was a huge success run in variable weather conditions throughout the weekend, with 360,000 spectators witnessing an excellent show full of overtaking moves, in which our tyres played a key role. We saw a great race, with the hard being used by the majority of drivers. We will analyse all the data at our disposal but to hear on the radio that it was two-tenths of a second faster than expected was a fantastic achievement for us. Even though we knew that today’s conditions would be warmer than they were on Friday and Saturday, it was interesting to see the variety of strategies used, given the weather, track evolution, and a higher degree of degradation than expected. There were no problems with graining and the degradation was essentially thermal. We had no issues with the latest track modifications here either, thanks to our experience at the recent Spa 24 Hours, which was held during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend with Pirelli bringing 17,000 tyres. Congratulations to Red Bull for a one-two finish today with a truly impressive race pace.
How the race was won:
Owing to grid penalties, Verstappen started the race from 14th on the grid, opting for the P Zero Red soft tyre to make his way rapidly through the field during the opening stages. By lap 12 he had taken the lead, which he held until his first stop on lap 16 for P Zero Yellow medium tyres. Two laps later he was back in the lead, and he was able to make his final pit stop for another set of new mediums, 14 laps from the finish, without losing his advantage. He went on to take his second consecutive win from the midfield after Hungary, where he started 10th on the grid.
The alternative strategy:
There was a wide variety of strategies today, with three different strategies in the top three. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who finished second, didn’t use the soft tyre: instead starting on the medium from the front row of the grid before taking on the second set of mediums and then the P Zero White hard for his final stint. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz used the soft tyre to lead from the pole, maintaining his advantage until his first stop on lap 12 – and using all three compounds to finish on the podium. In total, 16 cars stopped twice and two stopped three times.
2022 Formula 1 Belgian GP Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing Honda | 1:25:52.894 | 26 | 284 |
| 2. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing Honda | +17.841s | 18 | 191 |
| 3. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +26.886s | 15 | 171 |
| 4. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +29.140s | 12 | 164 |
| 5. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Alpine F1 Team | +73.256s | 10 | 51 |
| 6. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +74.936s | 8 | 186 |
| 7. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +75.640s | 6 | 64 |
| 8. | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Germany | Aston Martin F1 Team | +78.107s | 4 | 20 |
| 9. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Scuderia AlphaTauri | +92.181s | 2 | 18 |
| 10. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | +101.900s | 1 | 4 |
| 11. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +103.078s | 0 | 4 |
| 12. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +104.739s | 0 | 76 |
| 13. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Scuderia AlphaTauri | +105.217s | 0 | 11 |
| 14. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Alfa Romeo F1 Team | +106.252s | 0 | 5 |
| 15. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Australia | McLaren Racing | +107.163s | 0 | 19 |
| 16. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 22 |
| 17. | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 12 |
| 18. | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Canada | Williams Racing | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Alfa Romeo F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 46 |
| 2. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | DNF | 0 | 146 |
2022 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Picture | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  | Red Bull Racing | 759 |
| 1. |  | Scuderia Ferrari | 554 |
| 3. |  | Mercedes-AMG F1 Team | 515 |
| 4. |  | Alpine F1 Team | 173 |
| 5. |  | McLaren Racing | 159 |
| 6. |  | Alfa Romeo Racing | 55 |
| 7. |  | Aston Martin F1 Team | 55 |
| 8. |  | Haas F1 Team | 37 |
| 9. |  | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 35 |
| 10. |  | Williams Racing | 8 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
Red Bull Racing
Reigning FIA Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen secured his ninth win of the season, with team-mate Sergio Pérez powering to second as Oracle Red Bull Racing produced a dominant performance at the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen had started the race from 14th on the grid after receiving a penalty for using too many engine parts but was simply unstoppable as he carved his way through the field and took the lead after just 12 laps.
The Dutch driver never looked in trouble as he secured another win to extend his title advantage to 93 points, while Pérez produced an equally assured drive to ensure a fourth 1-2 of the season and move into second place in the drivers’ standings.
Max Verstappen
This whole weekend has been incredible. It’s never easy though, it was quite a hectic first lap staying out of trouble, so many things were happening in front of me and everyone was trying to maintain their spot. After the safety car and when it had all calmed down, we made our way forward by picking the right places to overtake and we could look after our tyres. Now we need to keep on working hard and focus on each race ahead of us. We know that we have to finish every race, we don’t need to win every race but we want to as a Team. Let’s see what we can do in Zandvoort.
Sergio Pérez
It is a great weekend for the Team and I am very pleased with that because we have been working so hard. Max was on another planet today and so quick, I want to understand my race pace and where I lost out to him, I am aware of the gap and I want to come back stronger. I had a really bad start but luckily I was able to rectify it. I went into a lot of wheel spin as soon as I released the clutch and couldn’t get any traction, especially when I went into second gear, which meant I lost a lot of positions. I think my first stint wasn’t very strong and that really made a difference and determined a lot of my race. I need to be at a better level for Zandvoort and Monza. There is plenty to look at and hopefully, I go into next weekend even stronger, I think things will be a lot closer there so I am looking forward to it massively. We are going to push really hard.
Christian Horner – Team Principal & CEO
This was our biggest ever achievement to date. We have never won a race from as far back as P14 and to take a 1 – 2 with Checo, along with the fastest lap, is an outstanding achievement. It’s a fantastic win for Max and he has been in a class of his own on the track this weekend but it really is a team victory; for everyone here and all the team back in Milton Keynes. There is a lot of hard work that goes in behind the scenes that contribute to a performance like today and would also like to thank HRC for their contribution to this victory.
Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:
Scuderia Ferrari came away from the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix with third place courtesy of a combative Carlos Sainz and sixth from Charles Leclerc. This was Sainz’s seventh podium of the season and today’s points see the team still second in the Constructors’ championship. Charles had some bad luck, having to pit in the very first laps when a visor tear-off got caught in the right front brake duct on his F1-75, which was causing the brakes to overheat.
Lack of pace. Carlos got a really good start from pole position and led in the early stages, but after his first pit stop, it was clear that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had better pace, so the Spaniard then concentrated on maintaining the third place, fending off the threat from George Russell, although the Englishman never really managed to attack him. Charles, who had anyway started towards the back end of the grid because of the penalty incurred from changing the power unit, then had to try and fight his way up the order for a second time after the tear-off problem. He had made it from 14th to ninth but the stop dropped him to 17th. He staged a great recovery, crossing the line in fifth place, but he was eventually classified sixth, having picked up a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, with two laps remaining.
Straight back on track. The Championship is back in action next week on a completely different type of track, the twisty Zandvoort circuit and its parabolic corners. Part of the team is heading straight for the Netherlands, while the remainder return to Maranello where an in-depth analysis will look into the reasons for the difference in pace between its cars and those of the rival team with which the Scuderia has been fighting wheel to wheel all season long
Charles Leclerc #16
We started well, then on lap 3 we, unfortunately, had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit when I was in P9. That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a difficult race.
The feeling in the car was quite ok but compared to the competitors we were lacking pace. They made a huge step leading up to this weekend and we have to work on closing the gap.
Carlos Sainz #55
The car felt quite good today and we did our best, but our pace just wasn’t quick enough this weekend to hold on for the win. We ran a solid race from start to finish, with good pit stops and strategy calls, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Red Bulls behind, as they simply had more pace.
Time to analyse and prepare the next week’s race at Zandvoort.
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director
Today’s race did not live up to our expectations. Red Bull has done a great job and the performance difference between them and us this weekend, in terms of pace and also tyre degradation was clear to see. Carlos drove a good race. Charles was unlucky in the very early stages and from then on he had even more of a job on his hands. As a team, we just have to roll up our sleeves and continue to improve the performance of our cars. The next race at Zandvoort features a track with completely different characteristics and we are ready to give it our best shot as always, aiming for the win.
Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:
George continued his consistent run of form to finish the Belgian Grand Prix in P4, while Lewis experienced his first DNF of the season, the final driver on the grid to do so. Lewis suffered damage on the opening lap after contact with ALO at Les Combes, with a loss of water pressure forcing the car’s retirement.
Lewis Hamilton
Looking back at the footage, Fernando was in my blind spot and I thought I left more room than I did, so it was my fault and I paid the price. I’m just sorry for the team, we had a chance of P3 and P4 today. The car felt good on the laps to the grid, we’d got it into a good place and I’d made a good start. After three weeks away, I was looking forward to racing today so it’s frustrating, but it is what it is. Right now, my job is to focus on the next race, I need to recuperate and get back on the treadmill.
George Russell
I have mixed feelings right now because had you told me last night we will be two seconds off the podium on merit and pure pace, I’d have said that’s a good recovery. When I was closing in on Carlos at the end, a second a lap, I thought here we go – we’re in for a really good shot here. But then I just had two really scrappy laps and got the tyres out of the window. When the tyres are in that sweet spot, the car is transformed but as soon as I lost them, I knew the podium was game-over. Overall, considering where we were, P4 and two seconds off the podium – not too bad. Today our race pace was probably better than the Ferraris; Carlos started on pole, was leading the first stint and we closed him in both times. So at worst, I think we were equal with Ferrari today, but as we know, it’s swings and roundabouts. What is clear is, that Max is cruising away at the moment.
Toto Wolff
I don’t think we can be satisfied with this weekend – if you see Verstappen, he has leapt above us all. We really need to find out how we can improve our cars because the gap is just too big. We’re giving the drivers a very difficult car to drive and it hasn’t got the pace on a single lap so we need to work ourselves out of this situation. Over the next four days, we’ll be putting our heads together, setting our sights on the next race and also next season. It’s important we stay level-headed, keep our spirits up and don’t flip too much between elation and depression – this weekend is a low but in Hungary three weeks ago, we were thinking we will absolutely win a race, so we’ll never give up.
Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:
Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and Team Principal Andreas Seidl after the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris
It was a difficult race but pretty much as I expected really. It wasn’t easy to overtake, and I just got stuck in the DRS trains. Not a lot to do but I think we did a good job. The little changes we made to the car for this weekend made a bit of a difference so there are still some positives to take from it all. We tried but we just weren’t quick enough this time around. We’ll keep working hard, keep pushing, take a look at everything in the next few days and try and take the fight back to the Alpines in Zandvoort.
Daniel Ricciardo
I think it was visible to see our struggles today. Not to be pessimistic but I knew coming into the race that we would probably find it hard through the first and third sector with the rear wing that we were forced to use from yesterday. Obviously, I hoped that I’d have enough speed in the second sector to try and make something happen – but we just couldn’t overtake with the speed we had.
“I know I wasn’t the only one who struggled to overtake today, it looked like some cars were just so much quicker than others on the straight and that was it. In clear air, we certainly had a bit more speed but we just lost so much time being stuck behind cars and couldn’t really make anything happen. I think there were a lot of opportunities with the mixed grid but I appreciate Lando’s race didn’t seem that much better so maybe we just didn’t have the package. We’ve got a week to come back for Zandvoort. We’ll see how we go there, and hopefully, it’s a good weekend.
Andreas Seidl
It’s been a tough Sunday for us here in Spa. Warmer conditions today contributed to a lack of pace which, in the end, resulted in us going backwards during the race. Lando finished P12 and Daniel P15, and it wasn’t possible for them to score a better result.
“My thanks to the team at the track and back at the factory, together with our colleagues at Mercedes HPP. The result does not reflect the effort this weekend. Special mention also to our pit crew who once again did excellent work across our four pit stops. We’ll use the next few days to reset, regroup and analyse our performance to see what we can learn that will help us come back stronger next weekend in Zandvoort. We go again in five days.
McLaren Racing best pictures:
BWT Alpine F1 Team secured its fourth double top ten finish in a row as Fernando Alonso finished fifth and Esteban Ocon seventh in a thrilling, incident-packed 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps to claim 16 points.
Fernando had finished sixth at the chequered flag, but with Charles Leclerc’s post-race penalty, the Spaniard was promoted to fifth to take 10 points. Esteban enjoyed a superb, overtaking-dominated display, as he progressed from sixteenth to seventh for his six points.
Fernando made a fast start from third on the grid to leap to second before colliding with Lewis Hamilton into Les Combes. Fortunately, minimal damage was sustained to his A522 and he was able to continue the race. Esteban made a sensible start and did well to stay out of trouble as he made moves towards the points-scoring positions.
Both drivers were on a two-stop strategy – Fernando with two stints on Mediums before switching to Hards – with Esteban on a Medium-Hard-Medium plan.
Esteban made two double overtakes – one into the final chicane – the other in the closing stages of the race on Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly into Les Combes to jump from ninth to seventh.
The team remains fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, passing the 100-point mark on 115 points heading into the second race of the triple-header next weekend in Zandvoort.
Fernando Alonso
I am happy with the result today with fifth place. Our performance shows that we are consistently ahead in the midfield. It’s clear that when we execute our races well, these are the results we can expect to score. We were also handed a little gift with the penalty to Charles [Leclerc] at the end, but we’ll take it. The incident with Lewis [Hamilton] was also unfortunate, but it’s a racing incident and the car seemed fine despite the contact. We can look back and be very pleased with our weekend here with more points scored in both championships as we look ahead to Zandvoort next.
Esteban Ocon
What a way to wrap up what’s been a fantastic weekend for the team. The car was fast, and I personally had a lot of fun out there racing today, especially with those double overtakes. Well done to the team for their work this weekend, we can all be proud of ourselves. I was feeling confident all race and the car felt great who knows what could’ve happened if we had started further up the road! We leave Spa satisfied, knowing it was a job well done, as well as a good haul of points for the team to extend our fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. Bring on Zandvoort.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal
We can be exceptionally pleased with our performance in today’s race. Taking a sweet sixteen points after starting from third and sixteenth on the grid is a very good effort and certainly deserved. It was a busy race for the drivers who did well to come away unscathed after an entertaining opening few laps. Fernando was unfortunate to collide with Lewis [Hamilton] on the opening lap and it was lucky he did not sustain too much damage. Esteban too had to be sensible to take advantage of some opportunities in front, which allowed him to push towards the points-scoring positions. It was great to see both of our drivers enjoying some brilliant wheel-to-wheel racing at times and it was equally pleasing to see some fantastic overtakes throughout. It’s been another brilliant event for the fans who will enjoy returning to Belgium next year, which is very good news for Formula 1. We’ll reflect on today’s race, assess where we can continue to improve, and head to Zandvoort ready to do it all over again!
Alpine F1 Team best pictures:
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN went close to scoring points as Zhou Guanyu finished 14th, within seconds of P10, at the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix. Birthday Boy, Valtteri Bottas, saw his race come to an early end as he was collected by a spinning Latifi and spun into the gravel in the opening laps.
Valtteri Bottas (car number 77)
We had the pace today and, with such a mixed-up grid, there could have been opportunities to get a good result, so it’s disappointing to finish my race so early. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time: I saw Latifi spin towards the left, and all I could do was take evasive action to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, I spun on the grass and ended up stuck in the gravel: I tried to go forward and back, but couldn’t move. It’s not the birthday present I wanted, but hopefully, I can still have some fun tonight, before we turn our focus to next week.
Zhou Guanyu (car number 24)
Our pace was quite alright today, and despite starting from the back due to the penalty, the race has even been quite exciting, with lots of action going on. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a Williams train towards the end of the race: they were way fast in sector one, making them hard to pass, and eventually, in the last four or five laps, I had no tyres left, so it was a bit difficult to keep up. In terms of results, we obviously wanted more from today, but we sacrificed this weekend for the engine change; hopefully in the upcoming ones we can start further up on the grid and score some good results.
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal
The team did a good job, given the circumstances: unfortunately, that was not enough for a point today. We knew that taking power unit and gearbox penalties with both cars, we’d have a complicated weekend, but we can take heart from the pace we showed. Both drivers had a good shot at the points: unfortunately, Valtteri’s race was over immediately, and Zhou got stuck in Albon’s DRS train when in sight of the points. These things happen, we’ll build on the pace and work hard to make sure we can maximise our results already in Zandvoort.
Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:
Haas F1 Team finished with Kevin Magnussen 16th and Mick Schumacher 17th at the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, held Sunday at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Both drivers started the race on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires, with Magnussen lining up from 12th place, and Schumacher 19th, after taking on fresh power unit components that incurred a penalty.
Magnussen and Schumacher escaped drama through the opening laps and fought valiantly in a closely-contested midfield group, with Magnussen briefly running inside the top 10. Magnussen pitted on lap 12 for White hard tires, with Schumacher following in two laps later, and both made a second stop for another set of medium tires, Magnussen coming in on lap 27 and Schumacher boxing on lap 31.
From there Magnussen brought the VF-22 home in 16th place, with Schumacher in 17th position, to record a two-car finish.
Up front Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen surged through the field to record victory, his ninth of the season, ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, with Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz third.
Haas F1 Team holds seventh place in the constructors’ championship with 34 points.
Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20
I think we had an idea that this wasn’t going to be such a strong weekend. This type of track isn’t really our track so we tried what we could, but we didn’t really have the pace today. All in all, it hasn’t been the best of weekends, but we’ve got more running, and collected more data and that will be useful going forward. I’m looking forward to the next race.
Mick Schumacher, Driver No. 47
It was tough, especially after the safety car restarts to see those cars driving by. It was frustrating not having any top speed compared to the cars around us. On the other hand, it’s great to be here and great to be driving in front of so many people, some German! I think it was circuit-specific that we struggled with this week but with Zandvoort coming up we should be in a better position where we should be able to fight for points again and also, we should have a better read on the upgrade where it’s more comparable to Budapest. I expect us to go a bit forward and hopefully it will give us some points.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team
I’m quite disappointed with the result today but it was almost expected. On a high-speed track where we need low drag, our car is just not good enough this year. We’ll try to make it up next week in Zandvoort where the car should be better suited to the race track like in Austria and Silverstone. We go away from here a little bit beaten up, but we are ready to come back again next weekend.
Haas F1 Team best pictures:
Scuderia AlphaTauri enjoyed a strong race as French driver Pierre Gasly finished ninth in his 100th Grands Prix, while Japanese team-mate Yuki Tsunoda passed Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu on the last lap to finish in 13th.
Pierre Gasly
It’s been an amazing race, it’s my 100th race today, so it’s a special one. I’m really surprised with how we’ve finished, after having to start from the pitlane to come back home in the top 10 is pretty incredible, so we should be happy with that today. We were obviously lined up in P8 on the grid, but had an issue and had to return to the garage, luckily we got the car started, and were able to begin the race from the pitlane. The car isn’t quite where we want it to be yet, we’ve still got some areas we need to work on, but I’m pleased we managed to be back scoring points again today.
Yuki Tsunoda
Starting from the pitlane was always going to be tough, but I think the pace was strong today and we had a good strategy, being able to make our way forward during the race. Unfortunately, we lost quite a lot of time in the pitstops and then I got stuck in a DRS train, but I’m pretty happy with how I drove today and how the car felt. Hopefully, we can maintain the performance we’ve found this weekend in the Netherlands, alongside a clean race weekend, and aim once again for the points.
Jody Egginton (Technical Director)
Today’s race has been quite eventful. Pierre’s car had an issue on the grid, meaning it had to be returned to the garage and start from the pitlane alongside Yuki, who was already committed to a pitlane start. Once the race was underway, both drivers got down to the task of trying to move forward. Yuki put in some very solid stints to move towards the points, but ultimately was bottled up in the train of cars behind Albon and was not able to quite get into the points, which is disappointing as Yuki ran a good race here in Spa. With Pierre, the gamble to run a shorter middle stint, and extending the last, was risky as it required a further step of tyre management, but it worked. This allowed him to escape the train behind and come home in a very solid ninth place. To be back to scoring points is very welcome, but we are still making it harder than it needs to be, so there is still plenty of topics to focus on ahead of next week’s race.
Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures:
Sebastian secured four well-earned points for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team at Spa-Francorchamps, while Lance just missed out on a top 10 result.
A raft of grid penalties helped elevate both Lance and Sebastian onto row five on the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix, and they aimed to capitalise on that strong starting position in the race.
Lance Stroll
It was a tricky day out there today, and we were so close to picking up a point. Things did not quite work out for us as we had hoped. Losing some positions early on made it tough, but we had some fun battles out there within the midfield.
Later in the race, we got stuck in a DRS train behind [Alex] Albon’s Williams, and ultimately we came up just short. Our race pace was positive, however, and we are extracting good performance from the car when it matters most.
Sebastian Vettel
Eighth is a solid result. I was a little bit unlucky with the timing for the second stop. I came out just behind Pierre [Gasly] and lost a lap behind him, which allowed Esteban [Ocon] on new tyres to close down the advantage I had built up during the middle stint.
Once again, we were more competitive in the race than in qualifying: we started strongly and I managed to find a decent rhythm. I was able to put pressure on both Alpines, and I think seventh might have been possible, but they were a bit too fast for us today. But we will bank these points.
Mike Krack, Team Principal
After qualifying yesterday we said that our aim would be to score points with both cars in today’s race, and we very nearly achieved just that.
Sebastian finished a fine eighth, and Lance ended up 11th, less than a second behind the 10-placed finisher [Albon]. We started both cars on Mediums, then split the strategies [Vettel: Medium-Hard-Medium; Stroll: Medium-Medium-Hard].
Both drivers optimised the chances that those two strategies gave them, Lance, in particular, executing some impressive overtaking manoeuvres en route, and as I say we were only a whisker away from scoring points with both cars.
From here we go straight to Zandvoort [Netherlands], where we will be hoping to add further to our World Championship points total.
Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:
In Formula One’s return after the summer break, Williams Racing returned to the Top 10 thanks to a strong drive from Alex Albon which he ranks as one of his best.
Despite their best efforts, there would be no way through for the likes of Stroll, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu or Ricciardo who could not break Alex’s resolute defence
Alex Albon
This was one of the tougher races I’ve done in my career and also one of my personal bests. We did the best job we could today and it’s a good feeling. On the lap to the grid, it was clear that tyre degradation was going to be really high and hotter track temperatures than we have had the rest of the weekend made tyre wear worse. On the final stint, I was thinking about three-stopping, but we held on, kept Lance [Stroll] behind and then it was about not making any mistakes.
I think, as a whole, we executed the weekend from FP1 onwards well, maximised the positive of our car being quick on the straights, and made no mistakes. We experimented, made the best of the tyres in qualifying and maximised the results potentially in the race, so I’m very happy.
As a team, we had a complete weekend and that’s what it shows; when you don’t have the fastest car but you do everything right, you can still come away with a point or two.
Nicholas Latifi
I went a little off the line in turn six, there must have been a lot of marbles from the junior categories and I understeered right off. It felt like driving in the wet on slick tyres. I dipped the wheel in the gravel, and it spun the rear around which caught me by surprise quite a bit.
I thought I would go straight into the gravel and come back on slowly, but instead, I spun across the track as a result and made contact with Valtteri [Bottas]. My race was compromised from there as that set of tyres we needed to make the two-stop work was damaged. One to forget but we’ll try and bounce back In Zandvoort.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
Tyre degradation today was higher than we had anticipated, which meant at least two stops were required. Nicholas’s race was largely determined by the collision with Valtteri [Bottas] early in the race, which required him to pit for a new front wing. His start set of tyres was also damaged and so we chose to complete two further stops using a Soft tyre for the final stint.
Alex had a difficult start and lost places initially before recovering on the opening lap. We chose to pit him relatively early at each stop to give him the best chance of holding track position and using his straight-line speed advantage to defend. We asked a lot of him in the final stint and he was under a lot of pressure from the cars behind for the whole of that stint. He drove very well and played his hand without fault to deliver another hard-earned point.
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