Charles Leclerc scored his main Formula 1 victory after withstanding a late-race charge from Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton took over a second per lap out of his rival in the closing stages, and the pair crossed the line separated by less than a second.Leclerc led from pole position convincingly ahead of Vettel, who then pitted early when he came under pressure from Hamilton. Leclerc, Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas all ran longer first stints, which elevated Vettel into the lead temporarily.
But Leclerc swiftly caught his team mate and Ferrari wasted no time telling the slower Vettel to let him by. A few laps later Hamilton fought his way past for second, and began his pursuit of Leclerc, though he ultimately had to settle for second. Vettel made an extra pit stop, surrendering third place to Bottas, but was never able to get back on terms with the Mercedes.
Lando Norris spent much of the race in fifth place but was denied the place when he suffered a suspected engine failure on the penultimate lap. That promoted Alexander Albon to fifth, though the new Red Bull driver is under investigation for an incident with Sergio Perez at the end of the race. Perez took sixth.
The other Red Bull didn’t make it as far as lap two. Max Verstappen got away very slowly, then tangled with Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, and crashed out with damage at Raidillon.
Both Toro Rosso drivers saw the chequered flag in the points, Daniil Kvyat ahead of Pierre Gasly, the pair separated by Nico Hulkenberg. Daniel Ricciardo had to pit for damage inspection at the end of the first lap. Lance Stroll picked up the final point courtesy of Norris’s retirement.
Antonio Giovinazzi was another late-race retirement after crashing out at Pouhon.
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2019 Belgian Grand Prix reaction
- Check back shortly for more race reaction
iCarbs (@icarby)
1st September 2019, 16:05
Was a classic Crashtappen race, not the Verstappen we’ve seen from the first half. Looking forward to what Albon can do with out a penalty next time out.
Hugh (@hugh11)
1st September 2019, 16:07
Have a day off
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:12
It was a bit too optimistic and clumsy and it did remind me of the start of last year. He should have known that that was a fair wallop so i do not understand why he carried so much speed down the hill with his car shaking that much. He could have avoided retiring and had a very slim chance of getting back to the pits at least.
But when he had his interview, his attitude has changed so much since last year. He seemed to accept that Kimi won’t have expected him to be there and just said these things happen. Didn’t seem very against him and just moved on. I respect him a lot for this.
Islander
1st September 2019, 16:26
Just one of those days when the great Max pretends to be Grosjean.
Why he should want to do so is a mystery… an enigma [that word derived from a dutch name I believe]
Kimi managed some passes with a broken floor. Small comfort when p5 was easily on the cards: or even better.
Gio is the other Grosjean pretender on this grid. Sigh.
Search
1st September 2019, 16:57
Enigma is derived from Latin — certainly not from any Dutch name…
Ioannis (@ioannisk)
1st September 2019, 21:57
Both “mystery” and “enigma” are ancient Greek words.
“school”, “air”, “police”, “music” are some other of direct ancient Greek origin.
Next time you use “It’s all greek to me” expression, you should reconsider…
Islander
1st September 2019, 22:14
[rolleyes] some dutch names end in ‘ma’. Geddit?
JohnH (@johnrkh)
1st September 2019, 22:45
@ioannisk, Search Islander
Well this gentleman from China has some very different views :))
JohnH (@johnrkh)
1st September 2019, 22:51
@ioannisk, Search Islander
Sorry cannot post the link but World Civilization Research Association Vice President and Secretary-General Zhai Guiyun is saying that ALL ‘Western civilization is a “sub-civilization” of Chinese culture.’
He goes on to say ‘Europeans “felt ashamed” due to the “fact” there was no history in Europe before the 15th century, compared to China. In an attempt to paper over this historical humiliation, the Europeans “fabricated” stories about ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations – all based on Chinese history.’
Search
1st September 2019, 16:56
+1 Ben
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
1st September 2019, 19:35
@thegianthogweed
Exactly, the mistake itself was like his old self but the interview and Max comment were nothing like before. He showed hints that he matured but that is one more. Not trying to blame the other one and being more factual, that will make him grow even more. Very nice to hear.
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd September 2019, 7:40
Yeah, that one surprised me a bit too, but I was happy to see that Max has grown to admit Raikkonen really had no chance to avoid the car he couldn’t see to his inside.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
1st September 2019, 16:43
Lol finally Ferrari have a driver that can win them a championship. Vettel with a strong teammate shows all of his weaknesses
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:11
@carlosmedrano
Leclerc cant win a championship unless they shed the self-destruct mode they’ve had since the Brawn effect wore off.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
1st September 2019, 16:45
Crashes all because of his own fault then blames the other driver classic crashstappen
Yaru
1st September 2019, 17:11
If you mean his radio message, he was probably more frustated. Your first instinct in a crash would always be to blame the other driver. This is what a lot of people do in real life driving too.
Later when he was interviewed mid race, Verstappen said that Raikonnen probabaly couldn’t see him and was following his normal line.
It is no different than Vettel crash with him some time back. Vettel blamed Verstappen immedietly after on the radio, but after the race went and apologized to him. Sometimes it takes time to rationally think things through.
F1oSaurus (@)
1st September 2019, 20:00
How was that interview any different? Saying that Raikkonen didn’t see him, means he’s still blaming someone else for his own mistake.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:11
@carlosmedrano
What was his fault?
RP (@slotopen)
1st September 2019, 17:13
@icarby
I’m glad somebody else said it first. I agreed Verstappen was the best driver through Hungary with his new found maturity. But the old Verstappen showed up. As the season stands Hamilton has regained the top of my ranking.
Glad to see Leclerc get his first win. Sorry to see Norris stopped after such a great drive.
Search
1st September 2019, 18:17
Can we please stop this whole Crashtappen nonsense… a split-second misjudgement and no room to correct. He owed up to it when interviewed. The guy has had a stellar year. A year in which even Hamilton made mistakes. They all make mistakes. That’s the magic of this sport. Humans driving at the absolute edge of their ability.
erikje
1st September 2019, 19:18
Some “fans” need to put other drivers down to relegate their favorite. I bit sad, but that is how it is.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:13
Funny thing is it’s counterproductive if you think about it.
F1oSaurus (@)
1st September 2019, 20:03
Year? The season is only half over. His last mistake was Brazil 2018. Or perhaps Monaco 2019.
Plus he’s had a series of poor starts. People blame Hamilton for those too even if it’s mostly the car’s start/launch system’s fault.
RP (@slotopen)
2nd September 2019, 0:50
I said Hamilton was better so far.
That makes him 2nd best on the grid. I’m so vicious!
Seriously, he might be the 2nd best driver on the grid, but that wasn’t a simple mistake. He crashed a perfectly good car making a hopeless move. It was never happening.
grat
2nd September 2019, 3:06
The problem is, this isn’t the first time Verstappen has dived down the inside of La Source… AND collided with Raikkonen.
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
1st September 2019, 20:31
He’s been crashing the first half too, crashed into Sainz in Bahrain, Bottas twice in Monaco, Hamilton in Monaco, LEC in Austria and Silverstone, and now Kimi in Spa. He is still crashtapping his way thru the season. Exactly why, even with a championship capable car, he will probably come short.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd September 2019, 14:11
@megatron I think you’ll find that even the most biased against Max do not see all those incidents as crashes, nor do they think Max would squander a WCC car. You’re just making yourself look silly. It’s been months since he’s had an incident like this weekend, and it wasn’t even a dive bomb like he may have done in the past. He placed himself in a risky spot no question, and for sure KR could not have seen him as his eyes needed to be focused forward. The incident brought no penalties as it was a racing incident.
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
1st September 2019, 16:05
“Leclerc resists Hamilton to take first win and dedicates it to Hubert”
….. and a well deserved win it was!
Raven
1st September 2019, 18:08
So, how come can anybody else ever deserve a win?
erikje
1st September 2019, 19:19
And very little to resist. Ham never even had an opportunity to pass.
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
1st September 2019, 19:33
leclerc had to manage the gap to the end. He timed it perfectly didn’t take too much out of the tyres too early like max did and had just enough to hold max back.
Patrick (@anunaki)
1st September 2019, 20:02
I don’t think tyre management was something Max had to do today
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st September 2019, 16:08
So both Sainz and Norris were hit by PU-related failures? That’s rough. They still maintain their WCC advantage though, as Renault only made minimal inroads today into McLaren’s lead.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
1st September 2019, 16:59
No, that’s Renault working on their goal for the second half of the season: getting in front of the customer team. Remember what happened to Toro Rosso in the second half of the season two years ago?
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st September 2019, 17:56
@jeffreyj – I would laugh, but yes, I remember Toro Rosso having PU failures to rival McLaren-Honda.
Or we shouldn’t attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity, and wonder if Renault just don’t have a clue. I mean, their works team struggled today (after mightily impressing yesterday).
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
1st September 2019, 19:29
Former Lotus team boss Matthew Carter (who sold the team to Renault) said that this was going to happen on an episode of missed apex podcast (can’t remember which one).
He said that customer teams simply don’t get certain engine modes at certain times, whilst the works team does and he pointed at the Toro Roso situation from a few years ago when predicted Renault will try to finish the season ahead of McLaren this year. He’s a guy who should know how the politics behind the scenes work…
erikje
1st September 2019, 19:22
@phylyp, we have failing engines by Renault (a lot) Ferrari and Mercedes.
Honda is the only one without blown engine ‘s this season. Remarkable
anon
1st September 2019, 21:15
erikje, whilst it is true that no Honda engine has failed on track, on the other hand Honda have replaced their engines more frequently than their rivals have done over the opening races.
The most that any one engine has done, I believe, is five races, and before the season Marko stated that their plan was to use five engines this season, meaning they would need to take at least two penalties – the penalties that they took in Spa were penalties that had been planned from the start of this season.
They might not have failed, but equally the way they have approached this season means we’ve also not yet seen one of their engines last for at least 7 races, which is the minimum lifespan they will need if they want to complete a season without grid penalties. In that respect, whilst Honda have made progress, there is still that final step that will need to be made to prove that they can achieve that lifespan requirement.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:08
I know that this is Albon’s first race for Red Bull and he is very inexperienced, but I personally think Kvyat was more impressive today. Kvyat started 19th with Albon 1 place ahead. I think it is fair to say the Red Bull is a quite a bit better that Toro Rosso. Albon fell behind Kvyat and also didn’t get past him until 7 laps from the end of the race. Then Kvyat was still only 8 seconds behind. Albon also got the first black and white flag we have seen in quite some time.
I don’t want to take much away from his performance as it was very good, but I think Kvyat was quite a bit better. Kvyat may be more experienced, but I’m just so impressed with his turn around from when he got kicked out. Still think he has a good chance to get a seat at Red Bull next year.
Hugh (@hugh11)
1st September 2019, 16:13
Worth noting too – Kvyat was 11th after the first lap madness and Albon was 14th or something. . And the black and white flag was for Gasly iirc.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st September 2019, 16:17
@hugh11 – yeah, the black and white was for Gasly moving under braking at turn 5.
I think Albon did reasonably well today, especially in the latter part of the race. The first half, he was rather unimpressive (still not at terms with the car’s behaviour under heavy fuel loads?), but he did well thereafter. He showed us some good “thinking racecraft” with how he overtook Ricciardo.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:18
Yea ok, i was wrong about the flag, sorry. I’m still not sure why it took Albon this long to catch up with Kvyat though. I think they both had really good drives, I just feel that Kvyat is not getting enough credit.
Dom (@3dom)
1st September 2019, 23:12
@thegianthogweed I think Kvyat has been impressive too (both today and generally this season) but give Albon a chance. His car maybe better but it’s his first race weekend in it, surely too early to judge
dan
1st September 2019, 16:17
Gasly was more impressive Kvyat for me god knows how you feel Albon was less impressive than Kvyat. Albon was close to Kvyat all year in the same car let it go. He is a rookie aswell
koddamn (@gufdamm)
1st September 2019, 16:19
Gasly has no pace.
Ijei
1st September 2019, 16:49
which is normal with the old engine
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:24
I am not talking about the fact he is a rookie, I am saying Kvyat looked better this race. I have described why and you haven’t described the opposite.
The reason why I think Kvyat was better was that he started behind and was still ahead 7 laps from the end. He may have somehow slipped by in the chaos, but it must have been either somethign really impressive by Kvyat or nothing at all special for the majority of the race by Albon to take that long to catch a Toro Rosso in a Red Bull.
I have nothing against Albon, but I think there is a valid reason for me thinking Kvyat did better today for the car’s ability.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
1st September 2019, 16:18
Albon did Splendid. You must bear in mind Kvyat is driving a familiar car, while Albon is not. I would go as far as to say Albon was very risk averse until the second half of the race. There is a lot more left for Albon to show us.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:32
Yea maybe i am a bit harsh. I usually judge drivers by how they perform without taking into account that they are new to a team.
But ignoring that fact that he is new to the team and just looking at the performance, I think most of Albon’s race didn’t look all that impressive, while Kvyat did. 19th to 7th in that car is more impressive than finishing with the Red Bull from 18th to 5th.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
1st September 2019, 18:11
Yes, I also agree that Kvyat has been marvellous this season. He is setting a good example, of just how important, managing a young driver is, for performance.
Imagine Kvyat performing like this after the torpedo incidences, I myself believe, everyone would have eventually forgot about his transgressions. It just so happens, his drop from Red Bull, and subsequently, Toro Rosso made his poor showing look way worse than it needed to be. Red Bull overreacted, and they made it clear then they brought him back on, to drive with Toro Rosso.
Now Kvyat is stuck with this, “torpedo” brand, all because Red Bull failed to manage their driver’s public perception, and put him in a space for him to become secure in his own abilities. Red Bull Left Kvyat out to dry, and I hope another team snatches him up, I really don’t believe Red Bull deserves him at this point. Kvyat is Toro Rosso’s gem, to the surprise of every there, I bet.
dan
1st September 2019, 18:41
@gufdamm If you think Kvyat has a shot in another car then good luck. He needs RedBull and TorroRosso backing mate not the otherway around. And no, RedBull did not overreact they got a far superiour driver for it. A top 2 driver on the grid currently top 3 minimum. See what Ves did to Gasly? Kvyat should of done that to Albon he is a rookie afterall. You will see this year when Gasly outqualifies and outraces Kvyat that he is not all that.
Dint Albon outqualify Kvyat overall this season lol? Kvyat certainly deserves to be in F1 imo but he will be shown to be very close to Gasly he cannot seperate himself from the teammates Kvyat can’t. I seen Gasly ahead far more this race doing great overtakes, worst engine aswell than Kvyat. I put money onit Kvyat is not going to be beating Gasly every week. Which ill surely be wrong if as you say Gasly as no pace lol. You act like Kvyat is the star driver of the season who as been driving awsome every week.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd September 2019, 14:23
@thegianthogweed I just don’t think one can ignore that this was Albon’s first race in the RBR. Kvyat is engrained with his car. And as Albon said post-race he struggled on the mediums and then when he pitted for reds he was much more comfortable with the car. And that’s when he was more impressive. For me, given that he couldn’t have been expected to place much higher than he did in his first race in the car, his day was excellent no matter how one wants to rate him vs Kvyat or any other driver. He might not even be as good as Kvyat, right now, but he has the better car and therefore the better opportunity to show his better stuff. One can ask those decision makers why it isn’t the ‘better’ Kvyat that is in that seat then. We know the answer to that is that they know what they have in Kvyat so now they want to see what they have in AA. I would say they will be very pleased so far.
Ipsom
1st September 2019, 16:27
I’m just going to mention that Gasly out qualified Kvyat and was given a bad pit call timing that released him in the thicket of other cars. If he did kvyat’s strategy I think he would have finished ahead.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:37
Kvyat was getting a penalty, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise that Gasly beat him in qualifying. I’m not that surea bout your other point either really as Kvyat’s pace did look a fair bit better. I’m not sure the place he pulled out cost him 20 seconds to Kvyat.
OOliver
1st September 2019, 16:37
Kvyat had a penalty so was not going to try too hard with qualifying
regs (@regs)
1st September 2019, 21:32
Kvyat also had suspension issues in Qualification
F1oSaurus (@)
1st September 2019, 17:57
@thegianthogweed Wasn’t it more like Kvyat mostly simply inheriting his position, while Albon had to fight to take it.
Albon was unlucky with the start mayhem and to then end up stuck behind the train of cars with Giovanazzi at the end. There was no overtaking since they all had DRS. After that got sorted he advanced quite quickly to the front.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
1st September 2019, 18:20
What a foolish thing to say. You seem to have missed the rate at which Kvyat pierced the field after his pitstop. Wasn’t shown on TV, but you just had to follow the timing screen to see. Albon did really well, considering the new car and all, but I also believe that Kvyat had a much stronger race considering the car he is having. Also, first lap is not only luck, but also driver’s management of the situation. Dani did an impeccable job in this regard this race.
F1oSaurus (@)
1st September 2019, 20:06
@njoydesign How is that foolish? Pfft. If he had actually made progress by overtaking it would have been shown.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:17
@njoydesign
Albon made up double the time on Perez than Hamilton on Leclerc at the same period of the race.
iCarbs (@icarby)
1st September 2019, 18:50
Albon was happier with the balance of the car in his second stint. Where he made some excellent overtakes and got Perez at the end. I doubt Gasly would’ve done the same. This in his first gp in the pressure cooker of the Red bull top team. If memory serves, Max had also a good opening race after his switch.
Final note, the position he finished was probably the one Max would’ve got if he didn’t have his first lap misjudgement. All in all Red Bull should be pleased either Albion.
Will be good to see both with upgraded engines and no penalties in the next race.
Was generally impressed with all the young drivers this weekend. Felt sorry for Norris, reacted well to the issues on the first lap and the car pu let him down again.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:21
@icarby
Agree re Albon. I doubt he would have mixed it with the Mercedes even it he hadn’t started near the back.
That experience will be good for him. A couple more starting from the back and it looks like he’ll be able to cut through the field like Vettel and Hamilton used to.
Norris did well but was partly lucky taking the same tight curb line as Max into turn one and then gaining places.
Hugh (@hugh11)
1st September 2019, 16:10
Another great race. Great job by Leclerc. And also Norris, except for that heartbreak at the end. Albon impressed too, got stuck in a DRS train at the start but ended up finishing ‘best of the rest’
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
1st September 2019, 16:15
What I can’t quite remember though is how he managed to get stuck in this train while Kvyat managed to make much more progress early on, despite starting behind. I think Kvyat was better really as Albon only got by right near the end despite starting ahead of Kvyat and being in a significantly better car.
dan
1st September 2019, 16:19
@thegianthogweed Blame Kvyat then for not being 20 odd seconds up the road everyrace ahead of Albon when they were teammates Albon was way too close considering he is a rookie. Kvyat had his chance in 12 races to utterly embarass Kvyat which he was not able too.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
1st September 2019, 16:32
Kvyat drove better today than Albon. Stop slandering Kvyat. What are you on about with this “embarrass” foolishness. They both had a good race. Idk, how are you expecting a guy, whose been out of f1, to come in on an unfamiliar car and ’embarrass’ his teammate.
erikje
1st September 2019, 18:33
Kvyatt did great, Albon did even better. His passings were enlightening.
regs (@regs)
1st September 2019, 21:27
@erikje
But Albon was having far faster car this race.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:33
@regs
Albon’s bench mark was how quick he could cut through the field compared to what we’ve seen the top drivers do in the past. He wasn’t 100% comfortable in the car and on the later stint he did look like a top driver.
I think he was over 12 seconds behind Perez when Hamilton was 6 sec behind Leclerc. Unless Perez had a problem that was good going.
x303 (@x303)
1st September 2019, 18:34
How can a RB driver be labelled best of the rest?
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:10
(@x303)
Because their cars are 5th and 6th best.
Cranberry
2nd September 2019, 5:34
While I would agree that RedBull was 3rd fastest car in Spa, and is likely to be so in Monza aswell, it looked like the performance of the cars had shifted before the summer break and Red Bull had overtaken Ferrari in performance.
First 5 races: Ferrari definitely had the upper hand over RedBull, however, somewhere around the Spanish GP Red Bull started looking like they had completely caught up to Ferrari…. and by the time they took their victories, for me, it was obvious they had overtaken Ferrari.
x303 (@x303)
2nd September 2019, 9:24
I understand, but isn’t RB part of F1 and not F1.5? To my knowledge, Mercedes, Ferrari and RB form one group, the others teams another (hence the title “best of the rest”).
By the way, thanx for your explanation @bigjoe!
Joseph (@bigjoe)
11th September 2019, 15:21
@x303
Yes I think you’re right they are not included in F1.5. But look at the last 2 races, they clearly rely on Verstappen to be able to compete with any of the top 4 cars with only Vettel struggling.
dan
1st September 2019, 16:14
Sainz gets another break Norris is genuniely the faster driver already i do nit rate Sainz tho Hulkenberg made him look silly. Also what about Vettel when his car can win he chokes yet again. Embarassing to be 7 tenths behind and come 4th today. That Ferrari last year was an absoloute rocketship that much is clear from what we see of Vettel. He just constantly makes mistakes even on fresh Softs he went off lol.
RIP Hubert
MG1982 (@mg1982)
1st September 2019, 16:37
Actually, LEC won today thanks to VET. I’m afraid that in the space of 44laps the Mercedes of HAM seemed slightly faster than any of the Ferraris.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
1st September 2019, 17:03
I think Hamilton would have won too were it not for Vettel being a complacent nr 2 driver today.
It is a big, big fall from grace for Vettel, but if he really is happy to play wingman to Charles (who is clearly faster and only getting better) Ferrari have a significantly better ‘Bottas’ to their ‘Hamilton’ than Mercedes does!
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:29
@jeffreyj
Bottas’s engineer claimed Lewis’s rear wear held him back from Vettel. Once he got on top of it he was easily past.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd September 2019, 14:30
@jeffreyj I think SV ‘owed’ this one to CL and to the team for the orders having gone towards him in recent past races. This was CL’s day and SV and the team knew it and he ‘happily’ served the team yesterday. I doubt this should be taken as you are implying, that SV is now happy to be CL’s wingman forever and ever amen.
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:23
@mg1982
In the cooling down room the Ferrari engineer said several times to Hamilton, almost like he was probing for info, ‘you had massive pace on the mediums’
Ipsom
1st September 2019, 16:24
Very amateur mistake from Giovinazzi
Islander
1st September 2019, 16:29
You kinda know if it doesn’t happen all race, it will happen on the last lap..
Ipsom
1st September 2019, 18:22
The problem is it happened in silver stone and I don’t think he was under pressure in either cases… such lapses of concentration are unacceptable for a F1 driver
Christer Albäck (@calbackk)
1st September 2019, 16:42
Verstappen getting away with bullying again. At least some kind of justice that his car broke. No respect for that man. F1 should be a gentleman’s sport.
Qeki
1st September 2019, 17:01
The whole weekend was phenomenon for Leclerc. You don’t often see a gap of .7 at saturday eventhough Vettel didn’t had a perfect lap and over the whole course Ferrari was faster than Merc. Todays race was a win worthy drive for monegasgue.
Kyorin
1st September 2019, 17:28
I actually thought Perez did really well today. The effectively almost complete new car they brought to the last race was able to flex it’s wings properly at this track. I don’t think it unrealistic that RP could move up two places in the constructors standings by the end of the season.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
1st September 2019, 20:17
I don’t like to not-pick, but the first line of this article –
“Charles Leclerc scored his main Formula 1 victory after withstanding a late-race charge from Lewis Hamilton.”
I think ‘main’ should be ‘maiden’, shouldn’t it?
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
1st September 2019, 20:28
Oh good grief! I make a comment about a typo and make one myself! Not-pick should be nit-pick.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
1st September 2019, 21:56
@nickwyatt – irony is having a quiet chuckle, somewhere ;)
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st September 2019, 21:22
Great team race from Ferrari and LEC seems like the real deal.
Great racing by the drivers in the F1-1B group. Really enjoyable battles back there in positions 6-14.
Great drive by HAM. How does he have the worst race pit crew in F1? 3.6 second stop wasn’t bad it was horrendous.
And with the horrendous comment we can segway over to VER.
1. Didn’t start at lights out.
2. Didn’t bother braking in turn 1 because he’s in a Red Bull.
3. And then to leave no doubt that he is the most dangerous driver in F1, he realizes he has a steering problem, and still stomps on the accelerator bringing his rudderless rocket up to ramming speed. Fortunately he didn’t collect any other cars or hurt track workers when he left the circuit. There should have been an investigation in VER’s actions after the collision. The collision didn’t need an investigation but someone might want to ask Max what happened.
And finally, segway back to LEC, what happened when he left the track early on when he was all alone in front???
Joseph (@bigjoe)
1st September 2019, 21:26
@jimfromus
Verstappen was a bit unlucky. Note how Norris followed him also taking the tight line over the curb then gained out of it due to the collisions.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
1st September 2019, 21:50
What I learnt about the Merc and Ferrari drivers this weekend.
Seb – Got steamrolled by teammate in qualifying and his race pace was very poor. even on the softs in the last stint he couldn’t make any inroads on Bottas. And Bottas isn’t particularly known for his race pace. Bit worried for Seb’s, he is not looking too good.
Bottas – Usual Bottas weekend. In qualifying he manages to somewhat muster everything he’s got over one lap and be sort of competitive. In the race he just can’t sustain the pace and stay with the very best. Kept his seat thanks to Lewis putting in a good word, in the knowledge that he’s got Bottas covered for pace no problem. Team opted not to rock the boat and kept him around a bit longer.
Lewis – you can never rest when his around, got pace for days. Will be champ this year again. Enough said.
Leclerc – a star no doubt. He is so young but already got so much speed. As he gets more experience and starts cleaning up the mistakes, hes going to be a star. Perhaps not mentally as tough as Verstappen, but quick nonetheless. Looking forward to see him develop.
Others: Verstappen annoyed me today. Ruined Kimi’s race in the first corner when Kimi was looking good for a haul of points. And poor Lando Norris, so unlucky. Good showing though, very good drive indeed. Albon also did a good job, look forward to the next few races.
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
1st September 2019, 22:01
I tend to agree. With drivers like Norris, Vestappen, Leclerc and Albon coming on, F1 is looking good for the future. And what I really like is that drivers such as Hamilton are welcoming the new boys on board! Ham understands that he can’t go on forever and new stars will emerge – and he welcomes them.
This weekend though, it was pretty brutal. Anthoine. I don’t think I can write anything constructive that hasn’t been already written. I hope Juan Manuel doesn’t blame himself.
Ioannis (@ioannisk)
1st September 2019, 22:19
Congrats to the Monegasque for his maiden win.
Well deserved.
P.S. What a hilarious and clickbait title. LEC resists HAM.
Oh yeah, it was almost 30 laps of intense pressure, like with HAM and VER at Monaco.
Dude, if I donate 2000GBP to you, will you stop writing these cr*p that are insulting for our IQs?
JMDan (@danmar)
2nd September 2019, 19:51
Was disappointing to see such a great race end with the last lap under the yellow flag. You want to see everyone speed across the finish line But what a race it was. Charles has finally broken the ice. This is excellent.