The Belgium Grand Prix has a million questions to be answered, not only is it the race before the summer break where mid-season moves are traditionally but Spa itself is a fan-favorite circuit that provides great racing and shows where everyone is from a performance standpoint. Some questions got answered, and others were left to debate for the next few weeks. As far as the on-track action goes, we have just witnessed the official coming-out party for George Russell.
Belgium Grand Prix Hail Mary Drive
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George Russell made his lone pit stop on lap 11 going from the mediums to the hards. Russell Pitting from 5th attempting to undercut Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Presumably, The original plan was to pit again around lap 30 and then go to the mediums to finish out the race. Russell had different plans that came to fruition taking home his third career win and his first Belgium Grand Prix.
Russell defied all odds and went the final 33 laps on the set of hards, nursing his tires and saving enough rubber to fend off his legendary teammate Lewis Hamilton a three-time winner of the Belgium Grand Prix and seven-time champion. An improbable strategy that showcased a true talent George Russell is to fight off his teammate in a faster car on fresher tires as well as kudos to Mercedes for letting them fight it out.
This is the third victory for the young Brit second of the season and the third for Mercedes. The rebirth of the German Luxury car brand in Formula One has been two years in the making after missing the regulation changes going into the 2022 season. With the upgrade to the front wing, Mercedes have shown to be officially back and at this rate, Mercedes may make enough noise for a legendary comeback in the constructor standings.
Put Up or Shut Up
Three drivers most notably have been on the hot seat for the last couple of months. Sergio (Checo) Perez the highest profile of the drivers on the hot seat. Checo needed to have a monster day to put out the fire in his seat. He had a great qualifying run starting on the front row and before you could sneeze Checo began to drop. Checo did finish in the points but went from second to eighth. It’s hard to justify a claim that Checo’s driver was able to hold his seat and certainly not douse the fires.
The second seat that is on the line is Daniel Ricciardo’s seat at Red Bull’s sister team VCRB. Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner and Red Bull Advisor Helmut Marko have made it sound like Ricardo is either getting promoted to Red Bull or getting released. Ricardo finished 11th after starting 13th isn’t quite the monster drive to make an overwhelming case for the second Red Bull seat. It will be a wait-and-see what Horner and company think is the best move forward.
The final seat that is in the news for a potential change after the Belgium Grand Prix is Logan Sargent’s seat in the Williams. Rumors are swirling wildly that Kimi Antonelli will take that seat to get some experience in Formula 1 before he potentially takes Lewis Hamilton’s seat. Sargent started and finished 18th. It appears the Belgium Grand Prix will be Sargent’s final Formula One race.
The Constructors Championship Tightens
McLaren and Mercedes continue to come out firing on all cylinders. McLaren is now just 43 points behind Red Bull. Mercedes is still a distant 4th behind Ferrari, however, if Mercedes continues to reel off double podium finishes and Red Bull continues to decline we may have a three or four-way fight for the constructor’s title. Red Bull needs to get the second seat worked out and produce at a much higher level if Red Bull wants to take home a third straight constructor title.
