2023 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix highlights

Max Verstappen recovered from a five-place gearbox penalty to claim his eighth successive victory in the 2023 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, with teammate Sergio Perez adding to the celebrations for Red Bull as he completed a one-two result.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

Finally, on a day with reasonable weather, the rain only made an appearance briefly without having any significant impact on the way the race played out. Coming into this final part of the weekend practically in the dark increased the number of unknown factors and, along with the large number of dry weather tyres available, as they were only used for a few laps in yesterday’s qualifying, this gave the teams a wider than usual range of possible strategies. Degradation on the Soft and Medium tyres was in line with our simulations, given the relatively low track temperature. These low temperatures also meant the Hard was not very competitive, and it was only used by one driver for a few kilometres. In terms of performance, the other two compounds were up to the task, and the stint lengths varied according to whether a driver chose to push right from the start to make the most of the available grip or manage the situation to lengthen the stint as much as possible, which was the case for the three drivers who only made a single pit stop.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the fans (380,000 attendance) who put up with some very wet weather. They were rewarded with a great show, partly down to the Sprint weekend format, which meant that, right from Friday, there was plenty of excitement on the track. Formula 1 is soon going to take a short break, although we still have two more days of testing on Tuesday and Wednesday here at Spa, working with Aston Martin and McLaren. The daily work programme will depend a lot on what the weather has to offer.

How the race was won from the tyre point of view:

Medium and Soft were the most used compounds during the race, with the Hard only used by Norris for 12 laps in his second stint. 13 drivers opted to start on Softs, seven on Medium. The softest of the three compounds Pirelli brought here proved to be very competitive, also giving the teams greater flexibility in terms of strategy, with seven drivers opting to push right from the start, stopping before lap 10 (Sainz also pitted, having sustained car damage) while others extended the stint as much as possible, like Gasly for example, who pitted after 23 laps. Those who started on Mediums also adopted different strategies: Russell managed to do 22 laps, Stroll just two fewer, while Tsunoda stopped on lap 9 and Alonso on 10. This compound was the out-and-out choice for the second stint, with much more similar stint lengths, in a window between 15 and 20 laps.

The most critical moment of this phase came shortly after half-distance when, for around ten minutes, it rained slightly. Lap times rapidly increased, reaching the limit for the crossover point to intermediates, but then the rain stopped, and the track dried quickly. For the final stages, based partly on what had been learned in the first part of the race, the Soft was back in favour of the teams and drivers. Here too, the stint lengths varied: the first three finishers completed a similar distance (Verstappen 14, Perez 15 and Leclerc 16), Norris did 27, while Ocon and Zhou ran for 19 while Tsunoda and Hulkenberg did 20.

Three drivers did just one stop – Russell, Stroll and Gasly – the first two of these finishing in the points, while the Frenchman was just outside in 11th. Another trio, the two Williams drivers and Lewis Hamilton made three stops. In the case of the Williams pair, it was for strategic reasons, while the seven times world champion came in for a set of new Mediums to secure the extra point for the fastest race lap.

What’s next?

Now it’s time for the Formula 1 summer break. The championship will resume with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort from 25 to 27 August, and just one week later, the action switches to the final European round of the season, from 1 to 3 September, when Monza hosts the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio d’Italia 2023.

2023 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

2023 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	860
2.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	409
3.		Scuderia Ferrari	406
4.		McLaren Racing	302
5.		Aston Martin F1 Team	280
6.		Alpine F1 Team	120
7.		Williams Racing	28
8.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	25
8.		Alfa Romeo Racing	16
10.		Haas F1 Team	12

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

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3. 3
4. 4
5. 5
6. 6
7. 7
8. 8
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