Over the past few race weekends, we F1 fans have been in for a treat. With no single driver winning more than 2 races in a row, every Sunday has delivered a nail-biting result. And with Verstappen set to take a power unit penalty this weekend, we might be in for another overtaking masterclass. Read this story and much more in this Belgian GP preview from DRC.
Championship fight brewing?
Max Verstappen and Redbull have both been performing so well in the last couple of seasons that the prospect of a Championship fight almost feels alien. But now, McLaren and Mercedes are catching up. Mclaren’s 1-2 in the Hungaroring is proof of this change.
Mclaren driver Lando Norris is just 76 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers Championship. With a total of 11 rounds to go, Norris might be in for a fight with the Dutchman.
Lando’s case will be helped by Redbull opting to take an excess power unit for Max this weekend, as reported by motorsport.com. However, Max has shown in the past seasons that he can win at this venue from as low as 14th (2022), albeit in a more dominant car than now. Whether he can repeat this feat will be a thing to witness.
In the Constructors championship, the competition has been even tighter. Mclaren is P2 from Redbull by only 51 points, while Ferrari holds P3 only 67 points away from P1. A couple of good weekends would mean that McLaren or Ferrari would be well within contention for that constructor’s trophy.
Mercedes betting on the weather for a good weekend
In the last race in Hungary, Mercedes scored a P3 courtesy of Lewis Hamilton, while George Russell came home in P8. These results may look good but when you compare it with the 2 consecutive wins Mercedes had in Austria (George Russell) and Silverstone (Lewis Hamilton), it does look like Mercedes dropped off at the Hungaroring. As per their team boss, Toto Wolff, this result was down to the heat they experienced in Hungary, as he exclaimed, “These conditions are not for us.” Hence for the race in the Ardennes forest, Mercedes will be hoping for much colder temperatures over the weekend. They currently sit at P4 in the constructors, 81 points adrift of Ferrari in P3.
Alpine decide to switch it up for Spa while a Mercedes engine deal looks imminent
Following the release of the movie Deadpool X Wolverine this week, Alpine has unveiled a special promotional livery adorning the colours of the franchise.
Their on-track performances in Hungary were quite disappointing, however. Esteban Ocon finished in P18, a lap down, after starting from P19 while Gasly had a DNF after 33 laps due to a hydraulics issue. An off-track news that has been floating around is that Alpine is set to become a Mercedes customer team starting as early as 2025. Big steps are being taken for the Alpine-Mercedes deal, as reported by multiple sources like The Race and Motorsport.com. However, an announcement is not expected until after the summer break.
Sources have also reported that the Alpine-Mercedes partnership will be like the one Aston Martin has. This means that Alpine will be using Mercedes’ gearbox, rear suspension and the engine.
However, whether the bosses at Mercedes and Alpine agree to a deal or not, is still unknown.
Driver Market up in the air
A hot topic going into the Spa weekend is the second seat at Redbull and the Driver market complications. Team Boss Christian Horner praised Perez in post-race interviews in Hungary, but he too exclaimed that Perez’s consistency needs to improve.
Helmut Marko, advisor to Redbull has also been claiming that they will hold meetings on the topic of the second Redbull seat, after the race weekend. This means that come the end of the summer break, the driver dilemma at Redbull could be sorted.
Apart from Redbull, the other news that came out of the last race weekend was the departure of Kevin Magnussen from Haas for 2025. Rumours are that Esteban Ocon could get that second Haas seat alongside Ollie Bearman for 2025.
In other news, Ex-Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has joined as Chief Operating and Chief Technical Officer at Audi. He replaces Ex-Mclaren team principal Andreas Seidl and Audi executive Oliver Hoffmann, who was overseeing the project. This means that we will be seeing Binotto back in the F1 paddock very soon.
At Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli is been looked upon for that second seat. He was asked how he looks at his promotion to F1, to which he gave an honest answer-“I don’t know if I would be ready, to be honest because I still am learning a lot in F2,”. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has been full of praise for the Italian and is seeing more than just the leaderboard for making the decision.
Weather and Track information
Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most famous tracks in the calendar, and the favourite of many drivers as well.
The 7 km long track through the Ardennes forest makes up for a very exciting race to watch every time. The majority of the track is long straights and fast-flowing corners. Hence setting up the cars for this track will be quite a challenge.
The weather for the weekend looks interesting as well. Rain is expected on both Friday and Saturday, while Sunday looks sunny.
Where to watch
All of the sessions will be available at F1TV and Fancode in India.
