A sombre weekend as Charles Leclerc dedicates first F1 victory to Anthoine Hubert after stunning drive; Leclerc was the star of the show but who else shone at Spa?
Tuesday 3 September 2019 06:11, UK
At long last for Charles Leclerc. This was a much-deserved first F1 victory for the youngster and a faultless weekend performance - from his staggering 0.7s advantage in qualifying, to the 44 laps of the race where he built a lead, and then kept his composure when the Mercedes came charging.
What made this debut win all the more astounding was the fact Leclerc lost a close friend in Anthoine Hubert on Saturday, with the Ferrari driver admitting he was extra focused to deliver the following day so he could dedicate the race to the 22-year-old and his family.
Lewis Hamilton has been vocal in his praise of Leclerc - who should really have had three wins by now - all season and predicted more "greatness to come" after his milestone win on Sunday, while Sky F1's Damon Hill predicted the "floodgates" will now open.
"He's already established himself as faster then Sebastian Vettel," added Hill of Leclerc, and it is hard to argue with that considering he has out-qualified his team-mate in the last six races.
Rating out of ten: 10
He missed out on victory for just the fifth time this season but Lewis Hamilton insisted he was proud of his weekend - and it is easy to see why.
Hamilton was by far and away the quickest Mercedes in Spa, nearly pipping Vettel to the front row in qualifying, and but for a few more laps he would probably have overtaken Leclerc for one of his more improbable victories. That would have been quite a feat considering Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claimed this was always going to be "damage limitation" due to Ferrari's straight-line speed.
The fact Hamilton extended his championship lead almost got lost due to Leclerc's emotional victory, but the Englishman is now 65 points ahead of Valtteri Bottas, while Max Verstappen, tipped as a contender, is suddenly a whopping 87 points back.
Rating out of ten: 9
Valtteri Bottas celebrated a new Mercedes contract at Spa and he would have hoped to immediately justify his team's faith by beating Hamilton. But the weekend never really got going for the Finn.
He finished a tenth off Hamilton in qualifying despite his team-mate's P3 smash and, although his team frequently tried to push him on and gee him up in the race, Bottas was never really in contention for the top two positions and finished 12s off after turning down his engine late on.
Bottas has not finished ahead of Hamilton since the Austrian GP, while his win drought stretches back to round four of the season in Azerbaijan. He desperately needs to find his mojo again.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
Speaking of slumps, this is a prolonged one for Sebastian Vettel. Since that agonising race-losing penalty in Canada in June, Vettel has failed to out-qualify Leclerc and only has two podium finishes in those six races.
Despite a worrying 0.7s deficit in qualifying, Vettel was well-placed for the race, second on the grid and with the benefit of slipstream, but a poor start allowed Hamilton through and, although he soon passed the Mercedes, his lack of pace meant Ferrari pitted him early on. That meant he needed another stop later, which dropped him to fourth - albeit with an extra bonus point.
Vettel does deserve credit, however, for his role in securing Leclerc the victory. First, he moved out of his team-mate's way when obeying team orders with a minimum amount of fuss, and then he held up Hamilton for a couple of laps before pitting. That may well have been crucial.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Red Bull could not have asked for much more from Alex Albon on his debut. One of the struggles Pierre Gasly had in the RB15 was making his way through the midfield but, despite a tricky opening stint on mediums, Albon stormed through the field into the points on softs - a surge which included several notable overtakes.
His passes on Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez, in particular, showcased wheel-to-wheel fearlessness we rarely saw from Gasly, who only finished fifth or higher twice in his 12 races in the Red Bull.
A promising start indeed.
Rating out of ten: 9
Sergio Perez is finally back in the points after a career-long eight-race drought and it is no surprise to see him return to the top 10 in Belgium, where he has three fifth-place finishes. He was agonisingly close to a fourth on Sunday before being passed by Albon on the final lap.
"I went into attack mode with lots of overtaking," said Perez of his race after losing a few places during the first-lap chaos.
Promisingly for Racing Point, it looks like their aerodynamic overhaul was successful after securing only their second double points finish of their season.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Daniil Kvyat would be forgiven for feeling rather downbeat after being overlooked for a Red Bull promotion after the team opted for Albon, who the Russian out-qualified and out-scored over their 12 races at Toro Rosso. Credit to Kvyat, though, for another strong race-day performance.
Like Albon, Kvyat was forced into a back-of-the-grid (well, 19th thanks to other penalties) start and followed his former team-mate onto the mediums. That gave him the soft tyre at the end of the race and, although passed by Albon, he gained six places after that second stop - also getting ahead of Gasly.
The battle between Albon, Kvyat and Gasly is one to look out for over the season's next eight races, with Red Bull keen to pick one of them as Max Verstappen's permanent team-mate from 2020 onwards.
Rating out of ten: 9
Nico Hulkenberg was one of the few drivers who made a two-stop race work on Sunday, but even the German admitted he was rather lucky to score some points. He only entered the top 10 with two laps remaining and was out-paced by Renault team-mate Ricciardo for most of the weekend.
After a disappointing few days, however, with Esteban Ocon confirmed as Hulk's replacement for next year, he will certainly take the points here.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
"We couldn't be prouder of this guy, this weekend," read a tweet from Honda on Monday after Pierre Gasly's first race back with Toro Rosso. Ninth place was incredibly impressive, considering the circumstances. Not only was Gasly feeling the mental strain following Red Bull's summer axing, but he then had to come to terms with the death of his close friend Hubert.
"I've grown up with this guy. I raced in karting with Charles and Anthoine since 2005," said an understandably emotional Gasly after the race. "Then we lived in the same flat for five years. We went to the same school, in the same classroom. I've known this guy so long and we shared so many moments on track, and off track, especially."
Gasly was unlucky to lose so many places in the final stages as he toiled on worn medium tyres, but fought tirelessly in attack and defence throughout the race and deserves his points.
Rating out of ten: 8
Qualifying was always going to be half-hearted from Lance Stroll due to his grid penalty but he still made Q2, and then made up six places in the race. He felt he could have gained even more.
"It was a bit frustrating because I spent the whole race stuck in traffic, behind cars on different strategies," said the Canadian. "It was tough to get clean air and really push on."
He has now dropped two points behind Perez in the drivers' standings.
Rating out of ten: 7
Lando Norris may have been rather fortunate to gain six places after Turn One, but his consistent drive after that - running fifth for 43 laps - meant he deserved the best result of his career. Unfortunately, an engine failure with just one lap remaining cruelly denied him. No wonder his radio message was full of expletives.
Rating out of ten: 9
Another awful race day for Haas and Kevin Magnussen. The Dane qualified 10th, started seventh, and stayed in that position until Lap 9. But then Magnussen's Sunday started to fall apart as he lost six places in the space of five laps. He never recovered after that. As he told Sky F1's Martin Brundle prior to the race, it's not that Haas are using their tyres too much, but that they aren't using them at all. A mystery.
Rating out of ten: 6
It was going even better for Romain Grosjean as, after being out-qualified by Magnussen, he found himself up in sixth until his first stop on Lap 15. Even after that, the Frenchman felt he was competitive. But that Haas just seems to lose all downforce in traffic and Grosjean's pace evaporated in the second half of the race, so much so that he asked his team to retire the car. "I'm very upset," said Grosjean after the race.
Rating out of ten: 6
Fourteenth does not sound like a great return, but Daniel Ricciardo had a really impressive weekend. He qualified up in sixth for Renault and, despite a five-place grid penalty, would have been confident of securing solid points on Sunday. But his Renault was hit from behind into Turn One and then spent the rest of the race with floor damage. Even though he had that limping car, Ricciardo was in the top 10 with less than 10 laps remaining. Unlucky.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
George Russell started a career-high 14th in Spa but was never likely to stay there for long, with Williams expecting this to be one of their most difficult weekends of the year. Russell did, however, finish well ahead of Robert Kubica again.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Kimi Raikkonen had been displaying his old Spa mastery all weekend until being sent up on two wheels by Max Verstappen at La Source at the start of the race. A heavily-damaged Alfa Romeo effectively ended the Finn's hitherto impressive weekend.
Rating out of ten: 7
An engine failure in qualifying meant Robert Kubica had to start from the pit-lane and, although he had Russell - his only true competitor - in his sights before the first pit-stop, he struggled afterwards.
Rating out of ten: 6
In a season in which points have proved hard to come by for Antonio Giovinazzi, this was a big chance ruined. The Italian appeared to have done the hard work during a consistent drive from the second-last row after a grid penalty, but threw it all away with a hefty shunt at Pouhon on the last lap. He will now hope for better when the Italian makes his debut in his home GP.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
Not the happiest of birthdays for Carlos Sainz. He was unluckily knocked out of Q2 and then his race was ended early on due to a power issue. That ended a run of three straight fifth-place finishes.
Rating out of ten: N/A
After making the chequered flag in 21 consecutive grands prix, this was probably the shortest race of Max Verstappen's F1 career. A poor start ultimately proved Max's undoing here, and he ended up colliding with Raikkonen as two into one did not quite go. Up until that point, the Dutchman had appeared to be doing what has become his trademark - extracting the maximum out of his Red Bull.
Rating out of ten: N/A
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