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The F1 field by and large showed their class in what was a fairly processional Belgian Grand Prix – but one driver in particular stood tall, even if he didn’t finish on the podium.
Agree or disagree? You can debate Edd’s rankings with him live at 5.30pm UK time (4.30pm GMT) today in the comments at the bottom of the article.
Started: 1st Finished: 1st
Qualifying
Practice laps: 49
Gap to team-mate: -0.511s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.084s
Hamilton opted to avoid the crapshoot of the backing-up lottery and went at the head of the queue on the decisive final Q3 run. The result was a superb lap that crushed his team-mate by half a second and ensured pole position.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stops – medium/hard
Controlled the race superbly, although his lock-up and off at the final chicane did put a small blemish on his race drive. Looked after the tyres well, kept Bottas at arm’s length and ensured everything went to plan.
VERDICT: Superb in qualifying and executed the race well, although the off at the chicane does count against him.
Started: 2nd Finished: 2nd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 54
Gap to team-mate: +0.511s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.343s
Bottas never really looked like being able to threaten Hamilton, but given he also had the potential advantage of a tow from his team-mate on his second Q3 run and was initially happy with his lap, the half-second deficit was massive. A few untidy moments cost him and he wasn’t quite as at ease with the car as Hamilton.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stops – medium/hard
Bottas was never able to threaten Hamilton, even with the advantage of the tow at the start and the opportunity presented by the safety car restart. But he did also cover Verstappen well and ensure he was never under serious threat.
VERDICT: Not at Hamilton’s level and missed a chance at the start, but did enough to stay clear of Verstappen – albeit not by much on Saturday.
Started: 14th Finished: 13th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 48
Gap to team-mate: +0.265s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Having done a slightly better job than Leclerc when under pressure of elimination in Q1, he was just a little bit off his team-mate throughout his Q2 lap.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
1 stop – medium/hard
Ran 13th early on and kept Giovinazzi at bay, moving up a position under the safety-car stops thanks to Leclerc’s slow turnaround. Lost a position to Raikkonen after the restart and before the DRS became available, and never looked like re-passing the Alfa Romeo.
VERDICT: Solid in the difficult circumstances but a little slower than Leclerc – although he did do a better job in Q1.
Started: 13th Finished: 14th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 49
Gap to team-mate: -0.265s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
You wouldn’t expect Leclerc to be happy with a lap that was only good enough for 13th place, but he was actually very satisfied given Ferrari’s struggles.
He outpaced Vettel by a quarter of a second and even had he picked up a couple of tenths he still wouldn’t have gained a place. This was about it for Ferrari.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 5
2 stops – soft/hard/medium
Used his soft-tyre advantage to good effect on the first lap and was clear of the three who started ahead of him by the time he got to the first corner. Lost places to Vettel and Raikkonen through the safety-car pitstops thanks to a delay for tyre confusion and a pneumatic air top-up, then dropped further back with a second pitstop.
VERDICT: Flirted with disaster in Q1, but a storming first lap showed his class in a difficult race.
Started: 3rd Finished: 3rd
Qualifying
Practice laps: 51
Gap to team-mate: -0.486s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.031s
As usual, Verstappen was on it in qualifying – although he was a little disappointed not to pip Bottas having come so close, and it would have been possible to have found the 0.025s he needed.
He did, however, run out of battery energy at the end of the lap, although not due to any specific problem.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stop – medium/hard
Verstappen’s summary was “it was pretty boring, to be honest. Not really interesting, not much to do” – and that was fair.
Ran third after repulsing Ricciardo’s first-lap attack but didn’t have the pace to match the Mercedes drivers when they put the hammer down and spent much of the race managing the tyres, particularly in the closing laps.
VERDICT: Could have qualified a place higher with a perfect qualifying lap, but did what was possible in the race.
Started: 5th Finished: 6th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 56
Gap to team-mate: +0.486s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.375s
Being half a second off Verstappen was disappointing given his pace prior to the last run in Q3, but almost three tenths of that was down to an error in Turn 1.
Otherwise, it was an encouraging performance that at least was still enough for fifth.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – soft/medium
Slipped to sixth behind Ocon on the first lap after being a little too aggressive on the throttle while trying to repulse his attack around the outside of La Source, but jumped back ahead of him at the safety-car pitstops. Running on mediums, he was struggling for grip at the end and fell victim to a last-lap Ocon pass.
VERDICT: Qualifying held promise but should have been better and it was the same story in the race after being passed by Ocon twice.
Started: 10th Finished: 7th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 62
Gap to team-mate: +0.219s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.397s
The lack of a tow and a compromised warm-up lap, during which he was hindered by Ocon coming to a standstill, meant Norris’s sole Q3 run wasn’t as good as it could have been. He produced a strong middle sector on what was a better lap than it appeared in the circumstances.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – soft/hard
Ran 11th on the first lap after a rear snap briefly put him off at Les Combes on the first lap. He soon passed Leclerc and also overtook Stroll in the second stint.
That Stroll pass was key to ensuring he not only stayed out of reach of two-stopping Gasly but also allowed him to latch on to the Ocon/Albon battle at the end.
He thought he might have passed Albon at the chicane on the last lap but for a wide moment at Stavelot.
VERDICT: Unlucky to lack a tow in qualifying and drove a largely excellent race but with a few unforced errors.
Started: N/A (7th) Finished: DNS
Qualifying
Practice laps: 60
Gap to team-mate: -0.219s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.199s
Sainz left a fraction on the table in qualifying that cost him a place to Ocon, but seventh on the grid was a fine return for the machinery and put him in a decent position for the race.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: N/A
Sainz’s race was over some time before everyone else’s started with a power unit problem triggering an exhaust fire on a reconnaissance lap.
VERDICT: Desperately unlucky and can only be judged on qualifying, which was decent but not perfect.
Started: 4th Finished: 4th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 41
Gap to team-mate: -0.335s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.057s
Brake-by-wire problems made life difficult for Ricciardo, but his first Q3 run was largely unaffected and he nailed a strong lap to get the best-possible grid position.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stop – soft/hard
Played a canny game at the start and had a look at passing Verstappen, but couldn’t quite make it work. Thereafter, drove an exemplary race to keep the Red Bull in sight and didn’t put a foot wrong.
VERDICT: An outstandingly-executed weekend, especially given he had problems to overcome in qualifying.
Started: 6th Finished: 5th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 52
Gap to team-mate: +0.335s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.169s
Despite a fresh power unit, Ocon was still off Ricciardo’s pace and appeared not to be quite as comfortable in the corners in low-downforce configuration. A slender gain on his second run at least slightly narrowed the gap.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 1
1 stop – soft/hard
Did a good job to get ahead of Albon through the first corner to run fifth but lost the position when Renault did a double-stack pitstop under the safety car after he failed to back up Albon as much as he could have done on the way in. He then spent the rest of the race working to get it back, finally passing Albon with DRS assistance on the last lap to match his best F1 result.
VERDICT: A good performance and did well to pass Albon twice, but was a step behind Ricciardo on qualifying and race pace.
Started: 12th Finished: 8th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 58
Gap to team-mate: 0.015s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.074s
Gasly admitted being too aggressive on the throttle out of the chicane on his final Q2 lap meant this was the first qualifying of the season that he didn’t nail.
Without it, there’s every chance he would have outpaced Kvyat given he was ahead up to that point on the lap – but overdoing it cost him a Q3 place instead.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
1 stop – hard/medium
The only driver to start on hards, Gasly climbed to eighth in the early stages, with the highlight a superb move on Perez on the approach to Eau Rouge – squeezing between the Racing Point and the wall. He stayed out under the safety car and dropped to 16th when he finally stopped for mediums on lap 26 but passed eight drivers in the last 18 laps to take eighth.
VERDICT: Qualifying should have been better, but he drove an excellent race.
Started: 11th Finished: 11th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 65
Gap to team-mate: -0.015s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.056s
Kvyat is feeling a little happier with the car in qualifying trim of late and outpaced Gasly for the first time this season. While assisted by Gasly’s mistake, it was a decent showing for Kvyat and was about par for the car.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – medium/hard
Slipped behind team-mate Gasly through the first corner and ran 12th early on before passing Leclerc. He took the safety car restart 11th and despite temporarily moving ahead of Gasly and Perez when they made their stops, inevitably slipped behind them and missed out on a points finish by a place.
VERDICT: Outqualifying Gasly is a positive, but after a so-so first lap there was nowhere to go on an orthodox strategy.
Started: 8th Finished: 10th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 57
Gap to team-mate: -0.071s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.112s
Qualifying didn’t live up to his lofty expectations of challenging for the second row and being a little too aggressive on the throttle exiting the chicane cost him. That might have ensured he lost the tight battle with his team-mate had Stroll not made a similar, more costly error.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – soft/hard
Dropped behind Stroll and Leclerc at the start, but soon repassed the Ferrari, only to then slip behind Gasly despite squeezing the AlphaTauri towards the wall approaching Eau Rouge. It was surprising to see him left out on softs under the safety car, which meant he dropped to the back when he stopped not long after the restart, but he was able to make the passes he needed to and recovered to 10th.
VERDICT: Not perfect in qualifying or on the first lap, but recovered well on a tricky strategy.
Started: 9th Finished: 9th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 57
Gap to team-mate: +0.071s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.345s
Had a good chance of outpacing his team-mate, but his mistake in the final chicane on the sole Q3 run Racing Point had the soft tyres for was bigger than Perez’s and his advantage slipped away.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 2
1 stop – soft/hard
Had a relatively mundane race, running seventh in the first part but slipping back to ninth in the final stint after being passed by the more-freshly shod Gasly and also Norris’s McLaren as he struggled with the tyre drop-off.
VERDICT: Gave away a few tenths in qualifying and had a solid, unspectacular race. Very ninth.
Started: 16th Finished: 12th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 53
Gap to team-mate: -0.207s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.236s
Had a clear advantage over his team-mate and a shot at Q2, but lost too much time in the first sector, with oversteer at the first corner. This was partly down to losing temperature in the queue to start the lap, but finding the extra 0.087s would still have been possible.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
1 stop – medium/hard
Dropped to last before La Source thanks to not getting the start right, with the anti-stall kicking in. But he started to make up for it quickly and was back up to 16th by the end of the lap after passing Russell, Latifi and Grosjean. He then picked off Magnussen in the first stint and moved to the front of ‘Class C’ when Giovinazzi crashed. After jumping Leclerc in the stops, he then passed Vettel with DRS assistance to take what was ultimately 12th place.
VERDICT: Qualifying was good but could have been fractionally better and the race was very good, despite fluffing the start.
Started: 18th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 44
Gap to team-mate: +0.207s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.030s
Losing FP1 to a water leak didn’t help his preparation, but he never looked as at one with the car as his team-mate did.
Even so, he was quicker in some parts of the lap but a mistake coming through Les Combes cost him a shot at both Q2 and beating his team-mate.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 4
0 stops – medium
The race started well for Giovinazzi, as he climbed to the front of ‘Class C’ and set about chasing Vettel in the first stint.
But that proved to be his undoing as while trying to hang on to the back of the Ferrari, the rear stepped out on the throttle out of the Fagnes right/left and, in trying to collect it, he fired the car the other way and into the barrier.
VERDICT: There were flashes in qualifying and the race, but overall the execution was poor.
Started: 17th Finished: 15th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 30
Gap to team-mate: -0.476s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.000s
Grosjean was happy with his qualifying lap, although the rear stepping out coming out of Les Combes cost him a little time and spoiled what was otherwise a neat and tidy final attempt.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 1
1 stop – medium/hard
Ran 18th early on before passing Magnussen and followed the orthodox strategy. While he wasn’t able to attack the Ferraris ahead during the second stint, Leclerc’s second stop gave Grosjean a place. He looked to have hung onto it too, but for a lock-up at La Source on the last lap that allowed Leclerc to get closer then pass him on the Kemmel Straight.
VERDICT: Good, but both qualifying and the race would have been better but for La Source mistakes.
Started: 20th Finished: 17th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 23
Gap to team-mate: +0.476s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.404s
The rear-end stepping out exiting Stavelot sent him through the gravel and ruined his final qualifying lap, which would have been significantly quicker as he went maximum-attack to try and get into Q2. Without that error, he probably would have outpaced Grosjean.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: UP 5
2 stops – medium/hard/soft
The start of the race went well, with Magnussen having one of his customary charging first laps and getting up to 15th, but he slipped behind Raikkonen, Russell and Grosjean before the safety car as he struggled with the tyres. He was destined to finish 16th, but a second stop to try out the softs to see if they worked better (they didn’t) dropped him behind Latifi.
VERDICT: Ruined Friday is a mitigating factor, but he didn’t quite hook it up in qualifying or the race.
Started: 19th Finished: 16th
Qualifying
Practice laps: 56
Gap to team-mate: +0.508s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.086s
Latifi felt he had a shot of Q2 had he not had to back off for yellow flags for Magnussen’s Turn 4 off and suffered a number of power cuts, but that was perhaps optimistic given it would have required him lapping within hundredths of Russell. That said, he did shade Russell in the final sector and had shown good pace prior to that, so it was not out of the question.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: NONE
2 stops – medium/hard/medium
Latifi described this as a tricky race as he battled an imbalance that created what he called asymmetrical handling. He opted to make a second stop to allow him to push late on but jumped ahead of Magnussen when the Haas driver made his second stop.
VERDICT: Another weekend that was better than it looked on paper, even though it didn’t quite come together.
Started: 15th Finished: DNF
Qualifying
Practice laps: 57
Gap to team-mate: -0.508s
Gap to ‘ideal’ lap: +0.091s
He didn’t expect to get into Q2, but that’s exactly what he did with a strong final Q1 lap that got him into the second stage of qualifying for the fifth time in seven attempts this year. Having used up his allowance of top power mode, not beating the Ferraris in Q2 was to be expected.
Race
Penalties: –
Positions gained/lost lap 1: DOWN 2
0 stops – medium
It was an all-too-brief race for Russell, who couldn’t have done much about collecting the wheel shed by Giovinazzi’s crashing Alfa Romeo while running 17th. But struggles with the rear grip of the Williams on the first lap led to a brief off at Les Combes and contributed to him losing places to the Alfa Romeos and Magnussen, after he’d briefly got ahead of Vettel.
VERDICT: Superb in qualifying, but while his retirement was unlucky the first lap could have been better.
