The Grand Prix at the iconic Spa circuit is always one to look forward to because of the nature of the track and the challenge presented to the drivers. The name itself brings up memories of races past and moments of action that we have all marveled at. The 2020 edition though probably will not stick in the memory banks of fans for long as the fight for victory was over the moment Lewis Hamilton managed to get up to Les Combes on lap one still in the lead and then pull out a safety net to team mate Bottas.
Had someone been able to slip stream him up the long drag to the the Les Combes chicane then we may have had a fight on out hands but all hope was lost for a battle for victory and the opening laps were pretty processional The rest of the race too did not produce much action at the front although we did see some good action lower down the field. Indeed Pierre Gasly’s pass on Sergio Perez into Eau Rouge was sublime and gets my vote for moment of the race. I’m going to give Gasly the driver of the day award as well as he drove brilliantly all day. keeping good pace after staying out longer than most for his first stop and then coming back to get a well deserved eighth place. He continues to impress after his demotion from the RedBull team and is showing the talent that most people knew he had despite his struggles in the main team.
Other standout performances went to the the Renault drivers with a Riccardo in fourth and Ocon in fifth. It was a fine weekend for the Enstone team as both drivers also qualified in the top six on Saturday and their pace on high speed tracks with lower downforce bodes well indeed for the Italian races at Monza and Mugello where the sport moves onto over the next two weekends.
At top of the championship though Hamilton is serenely moving towards what will almost inevitably be his seventh title, with a forty seven point advantage over Verstappen in second and fifty points, two wins ahead of team mate Bottas. He is unstoppable at the moment, the cars is amazing and he is at his absolute best. We all hoped for a close fight this year but baring something extraordinary the title will be wrapped up way before the circus rocks up in Abu Dhabi. There are ten races left now after F1 finalized the calendar and while there will be races where Bottas and Verstappen managed to keep Lewis off the top step reeling in his advantage will be incredibly tough.
As we move on to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix I will finish this weeks blog with Ferrari who had their worst race weekend for over almost ten years at Spa. No points were scored and it was a relief for the team to get both drivers through to Q2 on Saturday. This highlights how far the Scuderia have dropped and how much work they have to do to claw their way back to the top. Spa was painful for them but the evidence suggest that Monza and Mugello will be brutal for the team. They celenrate thier 1000th race at Mugello and their poor form could not have come at a worse time for them. The rebuilding process has begun with the establishment performance team to take some of responsibilities off of Mattia Binotto and let him focus on leading the team but there is clearly a lot of work to do. Although it is painful to see, and all F1 fans I think would prefer Ferrari to be near the front, the team must put their focus on 2022 as the new rules give them a reset and a chance to turn things around. This is something I have said in a previous blog and I am even more sure of this now.
Onwards to Italy then and lets hope for a more exciting race around Monza, and I am personally very excited to see cars tackle Mugello a week later.
My F1 talk 