[Scarlet_Rider]

At 7.004 km, Spa is the longest track on the F1 calendar. It is also one of the most loved tracks among the F1 drivers.



My favourite is the Eau Rouge sequence of corners.







Times (IST)


Just hoping that rain doesn't play a spoilsport.



Sources:
https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2...m/Circuit.html
https://f1tv.formula1.com/
https://www.fia.com/championship/eve...ian-grand-prix
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...9pqThjZ9s.html

[volkman10]

Max Verstappen unstoppable as he wins the rain-hit Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps.

[Turbohead]

Max Verstappen is unstoppable! The guy is insane. He pulled 22 seconds clear of his teammate all while preserving his tires - the wear on both the Red Bulls were identical. I was checking out his onboard visuals and you'll really understand why - the man just knows how to go around a corner with minimum effort. In comparison, the onboard visuals of his teammate really show him putting in a lot of effort. It feels like Max is shortening the corners, if I can say that, compared to many other visuals I saw. All this while bantering around with his race engineer.

In fact watching Max's onboard is so satisfying. I wish I can drive so smoothly that fast!

If all that bored you, the action behind P4 was exciting. Lots of overtaking and racing with great overtakes from Albon and Occon to mention a few. Absolutely gutted for Piastri - that's a talent to watch out for and probably someone who can bring the pressure to Max in the future.

Hoping for Aston and Ferrari to start fighting again with Mercs and McLaren post the summer break.

[volkman10]

Win 12 for Red Bull heralds most successful season start in F1 history.

- Verstappen won by 17.841s. Last year he won this race by 22.305s.

- It was Verstappen’s eighth consecutive championship race win, just one short of the all-time record held by Sebastian Vettel from 2013.

- Prior to today, Verstappen had never won from sixth on the grid. It means he ties Fernando Alonso's record of nine winning grid positions.

-With 314 points so far in 2023, Verstappen has already exceeded Vettel's championship-winning points totals in 2010 (256 points) and 2012 (281 points).

- Today was Verstappen’s 13th consecutive podium finish (the fourth-longest streak in history).

- In finishing one-two for their 12th win of the year, Red Bull broke the record for most victories from the beginning of a single season (McLaren won the first 11 races in 1988).

-It was Red Bull's fifth one-two finish of the season and ties their best-ever season total, set in 2022.

- Red Bull finished one-two in Belgium for the second year in a row.

- P2 was Perez’s best finish since the Miami Grand Prix, seven races ago.

- With P3, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took his third podium finish of the year.

-Leclerc has now failed to win his last nine starts from first on the grid.

- Carlos Sainz’s DNF for Ferrari was his fourth failure to finish at Spa (fifth when including his did-not-start in 2020).

Driver standings

[libranof1987]

Boring, as boring a race could be. Especially since the rain decided to stay away as well (except for a slight drizzle for a few min).

1) Max won
2) Ferrari retired

So, pretty business-as-usual.

That said, that F1 has become boring isn't RBR / Max's fault. More so now, with the budget cap in place (arguably with some flexibility). I do hope the mid-field makes it a bit more spicy: McLaren and Aston Martin have put up a good fight against Mercedes and Ferrari.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Boring, as boring a race could be. have put up a good fight against Mercedes and Ferrari.

Best is to just watch the free highlights on YouTube.

[NazgulLOTR]

i wish the rain lasted more than 10 minutes and disappointing that Mclaren and Ferrari couldn't put up much of a fight.

but Piastri is a star for the future. Mark my words.

[GTO]

Quite a boring race (I was surfing Team-BHP concurrently ), yet it is fascinating to see Max Verstappen race. We are witnessing an all-time great, one who will go on to become a legend in the history books.

In other news, added the F1 TV App yo my FireStick. Worked like a charm, although, if F1 wants to have any kind of following in India, they need to tie up with one of the big guys. The last thing anyone wants to do is download yet another app, pay for yet another subscription and watch just a couple of races every year, half of which are boring. Give streaming rights away for dirt cheap, or even free, but build a fan following!! How can you not have a presence on any popular platform in the most populous nation of the world!!!

[Hatari]

Plenty of battles and overtakes at Spa.

Shame about Piastri getting over eager into La Source, Sainz squeezing him didnt help.
Im sure he will realise he needs to keep it clean and that he has the entire race ahead of him to attack.
It would have been a good Sunday for a strong result against Lando.

Atleast, that resulted in a good P5 for Alonso. Aston going too aggressive with fuel having to save towards the latter half, inspite of the 4-5 laps of the drizzle.

It did really help Lando's race with the higher downforce spec rear wing to salvage P7.

[ds.raikkonen]

Never thought I'd say this, but this Belgian GP was really dull. I have always loved Spa and the unique challenges it 'used' to offer, used to wait for this weekend the most in the McLaren Vs Ferrari Vs Renault eta.
But these ground effect cars have got on top of it, especially Red Bull. Even a partly wet race was not good enough. McLarens struggled, would have been amazing to see them fight with Ferrari. Leclerc held on to P3 quite well, I had imagined Hamilton would fight harder with him towards the end but he dropped off behind.
I skipped forward the race by 2-3 laps after lap 10 or so and the leaderboard remained the same throughout. Had it rained harder, things would have been so different...
Given this level of domination, F1 surely will have to consider some balancing act for the 2024 season. BoP anyone? (Horner will cry for sure)

[Hayek]

Frankly, DRS has made F1 fairer but more boring. In the old days, the qualifying lottery meant that a faster car that fell behind would struggle to overtake slower vehicles - and you could win races with inferior machinery.

But with DRS, you just can’t keep a superior car behind you (you can’t even keep a near equal behind you) and hence a great driver and car can literally slice through the traffic to dominate.

May be they need to reduce the advantage that DRS gives or limit the number of laps in a race where DRS can open to make it a more even contest.

[sunilarkt]

Originally Posted by GTO

if F1 wants to have any kind of following in India, they need to tie up with one of the big guys.
Attachment 2483971

F1 owner Liberty Media may have overplayed their card. Previous management was not so insistent on premium price for broadcastering rights and it worked quite well to gain F1 following in India. They are comparing their deal to cricket, PL football deals which is quite ridiculous expectation in my opinion. This article has some good insight .

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GTO

How can you not have a presence on any popular platform in the most populous nation of the world!!!

They don't need to; or atleast don't intend to currently. Their focus is on US of A. Netflix (/Drive to Survive) has ensured the limelight from sponsors and viewers in that market is on the sport for sure; and this is being displayed in mega sponsorship deals across the board (for e.g. ORACLE Red Bull Racing as they are called now). With 3 races (5 in that continent if you include Canada & Mexico), that is the continent they are focusing on.

Race tickets are priced to the moon for all races and yet they are getting people to the stand. TV viewership can wait. I expect this to not change (unless of course Jio gets into the game which they will do eventually).

[Joeboy]

The races have become so boring due to Max's and redbull dominance in almost all races this season. I won't be surprised if he wins all the remaining races this season. On a lighter vein it would be great if FIA presents the trophy now itself to Max and ask him not to race in the remaining races this season so that we can watch real exciting races from the other drivers fighting for first place onwards. I also won't be surprised if Max wins championships in 2024 and 2025 also. Hopefully the new rules in 2026 would bring the teams closer so that no one team and driver dominates.

[Joeboy]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Best is to just watch the free highlights on YouTube.

You can watch the full race replays in racereplay.net website.