Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature Lap 6/44: The race continues and immediately Russell and Alonso go toe-to-toe for third, the Mercedes man coming out on top and holding onto his position. Perez attacks Sainz but the Spaniard holds on to his lead. The Mexican got a taste of the fight today. Updated at 14.17 BST Lap 5/44: Charles Leclerc requested new tires and switched from soft to medium. The safety car drove by. Lap 4/44: With the safety car running out, Sainz leads, followed by Perez, Russell, Alonso and Vettel. Verstappen has reached P8.
Valtteri Bottas retires!
Eeesh – an incredible start here. This time Latifi tags Bottas and both go off the track. And the birthday boy, 33 today, is over. The safety car is out and Alonso makes his feelings clear to Hamilton, who appears to have crossed the Alpine: “What an idiot! Closing the door from the outside!”
Lewis Hamilton retires!
Lap 2/44: Both cars return to the track, but both look damaged and Hamilton, going into Turn 16, sparks coming from under his car, is told to stop by his team. His race is on! Lap 1/44: It’s a great start from Sainz who holds the lead but Alonso, Hamilton and Russell overtake Perez! And then more drama as Hamilton and Alonso fight for second place, get confused and plow into the gravel together! Lewis Hamilton is leaving! Photo: Joe Portlock/Formula 1/Getty Images Updated at 14.10 BST Belgium: nice and flat, no? No. This circuit has the highest elevation of any on the calendar, as well as the longest. Sainz, Verstappen, Leclerc and Bottas start on softs, everyone else on mediums. Right then. The drivers are lined up and we are ready for the formation lap. Updated at 14:00 BST Max Verstappen is hedging his bets in his pre-race interview, saying the aim is to “stay out of trouble and see where we end up”. Meanwhile, a defeated Toto Wolff believes the Mercedes car is undriveable: “You can’t have a car that’s on pole in Budapest… and then suddenly you’re almost 2 seconds away, so we have to look at the data, let’s dig deep and find out. I think it’s clear from Lewis’ reaction that the car was undriveable yesterday. So we have to find the right balance between finding out what’s going on and focusing on planning for next year.” Max Verstappen. Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images Updated at 14.01 BST How they line up on the grid today: 1 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 2 Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 3 Fernando Alonso (Alpine) 4 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 5 George Russell (Mercedes) 6 Alexander Albon (Williams) 7 Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 8 PierrelGauri (Alpine) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 10 Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) 11 Nicholas Latifi (Williams) 12 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 13 Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) 14 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 15 Charles Leclercone (A6) )17 Lando Norris (McLaren) 18 Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) 19 Mick Schumacher (Haas) 20 Yuki Tsunoda (Alfa Tauri) Breaking news (vis Press Association): The Belgian Grand Prix has been axed from next year’s calendar. The race, staged at the historic Spa-Francorchamps venue, had been mired in doubt as Formula 1 chiefs continue to expand the sport’s schedule outside of Europe. A record 24 laps has been mooted for next year. A debut Grand Prix at the Las Vegas strip has already been confirmed for 2023, but the failure to confirm the return of the South African GP to Kyalami for next season ensures the Belgian race will remain for at least another term. A statement released by the sport’s bosses an hour before the start of Sunday’s race at Spa read: “Formula One can confirm that the Belgian Grand Prix will be on the 2023 calendar following an agreement to extend our cooperation together. “Further details of the 2023 calendar will be announced in due course.” The 2023 season is expected to begin in Bahrain on March 5, with the final version of next year’s schedule expected to be released in the coming weeks. Martin Brundle’s multi-trumpet walk on the gridiron is as quietly excruciating as ever. He pursues passerby Esteban Ocon, who does his best to ignore the man shouting his name behind him, but, after a valiant effort, finally succumbs. “Conditions are pretty similar to yesterday,” he murmurs. “Everything is fine I would say. The car feels as good as yesterday. It’s always difficult, but the aim is to get back into the competition.” The same scene then plays out with Fernando Alonso, who steps aside once he realizes there is no solution. “We’re going to try to be aggressive, but let’s take it one step at a time,” he says. Not a single driver starts today where he qualified. A vaguely annoying consequence of the various penalties imposed on today’s grid. George Russell starts from fifth place today, despite a middling performance from Mercedes in qualifying. His hopes for the match? “A realistic goal is to definitely catch Fernando and do the fastest race possible. It sounds simple – race as fast as you can and stay ahead of Max and Charles, but I think Max will just pass the field. It would be great if we could fight for that podium, but based on yesterday’s pace it will be difficult, but today is a completely new day.” And our write-up from yesterday’s qualifying, a demolition job on Verstappen: There’s a new shooter in town. Or at least, on the way to town. Coming to town in four years. Here’s a reminder of this week’s big news:
Preamble
When the excitement is in danger of dying out, how about a mid-season rule change to spice things up? That’s right: welcome back to the second half of an F1 season that sees Max Verstappen with a ridiculous 80 points in the standings. And welcome back to a new sport – or at least a very marginally adapted one. It must be said that the new regulations – the introduction of a “metric sway” and the tightening of floor stiffness rules, since you asked – are to ensure driver safety, not to prevent the season from turning into pavement. By trying to limit the bounce that occurs on those punishing straights, the rules should reduce any chance of head injury. The impact? We’ll soon see, but while early whispers suggested the rule change might prevent Ferrari and Red Bull – both of whom were exploiting a loophole that allowed some flexibility on their floor – benefiting Mercedes, then any hopes of flattening of the field were paid off during yesterday’s qualifying when these two teams roared ahead in the chase with Max Verstappen as dominant as ever. Max Verstappen set the fastest lap despite opting against a final route, but Carlos Sainz will start from pole due to grid penalties for Verstappen and Leclerc. Sergio Perez starts second and Fernando Alonso third. The Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were miles off the pace – a “kick in the teeth”, Hamilton said – although they will start fourth and fifth after moving up the grid. If you think none of this suggests a particularly renewed level of competition, you’d be right. With half the season over, Charles Leclerc is already sounding somewhat defeated.[Red Bull] they’re extremely fast and we can’t explain exactly why,” he said yesterday. “When you see the gap from Max, it’s a little disturbing.” He was talking about the qualifiers, but he could just as easily be talking about his own championship hopes. Is the season over? Well, Red Bull have a 97-point lead in the constructors’ standings, while Verstappen’s failure to win the championship now rests on a capitulation of Devon Loch proportions. At Spa, however, he starts from P14, so he will have to fight his way up the field to compete. To you, Max. Updated at 1.25pm BST
