Not only the land of capital city of European Union and NATO headquarters but also a host for classic Formula 1 race. This year Belgium welcomes its 64th Grand Prix.
The weather is hot and sunny, track the longest (7 km) with a drop of 100 m between its highest and lowest points, and circuit is the fastest on the calendar featuring motor sport’s most famous corner Raidillon.
Since the 1st Grand Prix of Belgium in 1925 Spa-Francorchamps circuit has amassed a glorious past and has an exceptional reputation. Spectators and drivers consider it to be the most beautiful in the world. It is the most challenging, majestic, mesmerising and a massive test of man and machine, track that punishes imperfection and rewards the brave and the bold.
Among the winners are such legends as Michael Schumacher (6), Ayrton Senna (5), Jim Clark and Kimi Raikkonen (4), Damon Hill, Juan Manuel Fangio who is the only driver to win at Spa with 3 different teams, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton (3) who also has record number of pole positions here (5).
Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolf’s Mercedes might be dominating the 2019 championship, but a victory at Spa is not a given. Ferrari has the necessary horsepower and for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen it is home race. The Italian squad has 17 wins at Spa with the 1st in 1952 courtesy of Alberto Ascari, and its most recent was last year by Sebastian Vettel. He has more fastest laps (3) here than any other driver on the current grid.
With 9 races remaining in 2019, reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team both enjoy commanding leads in their respective title defences. In Constructors’ Championship, Mercedes are 150 points ahead of Ferrari, while the Driver’ Championship, Hamilton enjoys a 62-point lead over team-mate Valtteri Bottas. The intrigue lies in the chasing pack: Max Verstappen is now only 7 points behind Bottas, while his Red Bull team, featuring a new line-up that now has the Dutchman paired with Thai rookie Alex Albon, are only 44 points behind the Scuderia.
It’s been a very difficult weekend for everyone in motorsport and today I raced with Anthoine in my thoughts. In general, it’s been a wobbly weekend but to have a solid Qualifying and then a solid race today, I’m really happy. Of course, you always want to win on a race day, but I gave it absolutely everything I had. Ferrari were a very strong force but for us to be that close at the end means there are plenty of positives to take. I’m happy for Charles, he did a fantastic job all weekend so congratulations to him. We’ve got a lot work to do to try to catch up to Ferrari on the straights in the next four days, but if anyone can do it it’s this team. Hopefully we can have another close race next weekend in Monza.
Lewis Hamilton
Agris F1 