George Russell wins the Belgium grand prix after holding off his teammate lewis Hamilton and the Papaya of Oscar Piastri, too top the final podium before the summer break.

An impressive one stop strategy sends Russell over the line with tyres 34 laps old.

A much sunnier day after a wet weather quali yesterday as the tack has heated up to 43 degrees celsius. Majority of the field have opted for mediums, Sainz and Zhou on hards while Ricciardo is the odd one out on softs.

Mclaren, Mercedes and Ferrari hoped to maximise points today as Max Verstappen starts down in p11 after a 10 place grid penalty for fitting a replacement engine, Albon, Ocon and Alonso will be watching for the Dutch driver in their mirrors as they start ahead of him. 

Charles Leclerc manages to stay ahead by Hamilton passes Perez and starts hunting down the race lead. Behind Norris has a rough start loses 3 places after dipping his wheels into the gravel but Verstappen is already up to eighth.

Only 3 laps in and Hamilton takes the lead from the Monegasque, the four time spa winner has immense experience making it difficult for Leclerc to do much else.

DRS is opened but the kick Sauber of Zhou is slowing down, as the green car limps round the for the following few laps before pulling into retire on lap 7 with Hydraulic issue's being the cause. An issue that retried Alpine in the previous two race's.

Norris holding off Verstappen as both have DRS, but being stuck behind Sainz is causing issues as their hard compounds struggle. Redbull opt for an undercut to get round Norris on lap 12. Verstappen pitting produces a ripple effect as Hamilton, Leclerc, Perez, Piastri and Russell follow leaving Lando and Sainz out. Norris is in a few laps later after maxing out his tyres, by lap 17 Sainz is still leading with Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri and Perez following.

Further back Williams, Alpine, Hulkenberg and Ricciardo have already pitted.

Sainz runs wide  going into the gravel on all four wheels, damaging the gap he had produced, but he manages to get control again. It isn't until lap 21 that Sainz pits from the lead after switching to 'plan B'. ​

10 laps to go and George Russell is now the race leader, following a slow 4.4s pitstop from Oscar Piastri, Russell  going for a 1 stop strategy as he hopes to go 33 laps on his hards. His teammate, Hamilton is +6 behind him as Mercedes are looking for a 1-2 here at Spa. The final spot on the podium has Piastri was closing in on Leclerc, the Aussie l in the stronger position with fresher tyres completes lets the overtake and is up into third. 

1-2 in the championship, are behind in 5th and 6th battling who can get the most points, Norris currently with the fastest lap but in a Redbull Sandwich.

Into the closing laps Ricciardo is now up into the points as 

Norris is in reaching distance of DRS and Max Verstappen, continuing to take the fastest lap. Max Verstappen also in reach of Charles Leclerc who had hopes of a podium today after inheriting pole. Potential DRS train incoming.

The Mercedes however have allowed their boys to race it out for the win now Hamiltons caught up with his fellow Brit. With the Mercs battling it out Piastri is closing in on the pair with 2 laps to go. 

​

Bronwen Jones

Max Verstappen continues to top the timing boards but with a 10 place grid penalty provisional pole is inherited by Charles Leclerc for the second year in a row exceeding the teams expectations. This will be Leclercs 25th pole start of his career. Charles is left up front by himself to defend as Sainz starts in p9. 
​Sergio Perez starts next to Leclerc as he will fight for maximum points to keep RedBull ahead in the constructors championship. 

Following pace in all the previous session Piastri couldn't deliver when it mattered, starts in P6 behind his teammate. 

Today the pack qualified in wet weather but tomorrows forecast remains dry which could see McLaren back on top again.

Once again Max finished the session on top but this time out was in wet conditions. Weather conditions tested the drivers with many running wide and it wasn't long before a red flag was pulled out when Stroll sent his Aston Martin into the wall, inflicting significant damage with quali round the corner. After a 40 minutes break the track went live again but a second red flag was shortly waved but this time for unsafe weather conditions. Formula 2's sprint race was later postponed for the same reason.

With 25 minutes left on the clock Russell, Sainz and Magnussen had no times recorded, and never went on to do so. Ocon, Bottas, Tsunoda and Zhou completed the most laps and that was further than 7.

In typical Spa fashion conditions have been wet today, the session started relatively okay but not good enough for DRS. With threats of more rain on the way the all teams were on track straight away. All on inters. 

Verstappen found himself to of the time sheet for the majority of the session but Piastri was close behind him. A common occurrence this weekend. Delight for Alpine and their fans as their hardwork looks to have paid off as Gasly spent his session in the top 5 eventually finishing it in second. 
With 5 minutes to go Stroll was joined by the Williams and Haas boys in the elimination zone, but some final minute hot laps Stroll and Albon managed to pop themselves up the order to get them into Q2. 
Logan, K Mag and Hulkenberg unable to do so but joined by Zhou and Tsunoda. Tsunoda who due to car changes was going to start at the back of the grid on sunday regardless.

Piastri, Gasly, Verstappen, Perez and Sainz filled out the top 5 with other usual top runners Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton down in 12th and 13th.

McLaren, Mercedes, Redbull and Ferrari all with two drivers out, Alonso and Ocon make lone appearances for their teams. Verstappen and the McLarens having two sets of fresh tyres.

Hamilton was first out on track, but its Verstappen puts it fastest with behind on used tyres. If Max continues this pace the pole position players only need to battle it out for p2, with a 10 place grid penalty in coming for the Dutch man. 

With 3 minutes left the Ferraris, Alonso and Ocon are yet to grace the track, as they all do one lap to finish their quali. The Mercedes and McLarens taking their third lap, the papaya boys between the silver arrows 

After staying out the spotlight a perfect lap from Charles Leclerc shoots him up into P2, meaning he starts out front on sunday.

Bronwen Jones

First day out in Spa and Max Verstappen seems to have found his rhythm, which is no surprise as he's won here the last 3 years. However he faces a 10 place grid penalty for taking on a new power unit.

Yuki Tsunoda also with new car components also finds himself starting from the back of the grid on sunday.

In other news Esteban Ocon has signed for Haas, 2025, with a multi-year contract. But for this weekend Ocon and Gasly sport a special livery to celebrate Alpines sponsor, Ryan Reynolds new movie, Deadpool & Wolverine.

News in the afternoon, after FP1, would also arise at Alpine, with Team Principal Bruno Famin announced to be leaving the Endstone based team by the end of August after just short of 12 months in the job. Famin will take up the role of all other motorsport activities of the Renault Group at Viry-Chatillion.

The team said in a statement on X: "A new team principal will be announced in due course."

There was a chance of rain how ever skys stayed clear for the first session of that, with track temperatures around 38 degrees celsius mark.

The field headed out on a mix of hard and medium, where Max went fastest first. Ocon on the other hand was forced to back into the pits, as his team try's to fix reliability issues that turned into a suspected water leak. Ocon remains in the garage for the res of the session. A continuing issue that has ended Gasly's past two race's early.

Also on hards AM, Williams and the RB boys with K Mag and Bottas, the rest on mediums. 

Coming up to the half way point of the session Gasly finds himself on track alone as everyone else is in to change tyres. 

The McLaren boys pushing hard on their mediums as they aim for another weekend of max points, Norris locks up and he can only go eighth fastest today while Piastri manages to go second fastest.

George Russell topped at one point but over Max dominated, ending the session fastest on hard tyres. 

Alex Albon will be pleased with third, even on softs, however more work needs to be done for Williams with Logan down in p15.

After the news at Alpine with Bruno Famin departing his role as Team Principal by the end of August, it was time for action in Free Practice 2. Esteban Ocon would need a clean session of running in free practice 2 and it was his teammate Pierre Gasly who was the first driver of 20 to enter the circuit.

Verstappen would pick up from where he left off in free practice, as in the early stages he would go to the top of the timing sheets. On the mediums, his time of 1:43.456 would be the time the drivers would all aim for. McLaren's Lando Norris would manage to sit in second place.

All drivers would eventually decide to set a lap time on the soft tyres, in some sort of qualifying simulation run. Oscar Piastri would be the driver who would take the top spot, and would hold it for a decent portion of the session. F1's newest race winner was just two thousandths of a second (0.002s) clear of Verstappen.

Piastri would be dislodged by his teammate only, as Lando Norris would set an impressive lap time for 1:42.260 and that time would be unbeaten at Spa Francorchamps as Friday descended into the evening in Belgium.

A McLaren 1-2 is how the session would finish with Norris ahead of Piastri. Max Verstappen completed the top three at the end of the second hour of practice.

Verstappen was third with his teammate Sergio Perez also making it into the top 10, with a ninth place finish. As for the Ferrari drivers, it was fourth for Charles Leclerc, who was just ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.

Differing results for Mercedes as it was sixth for George Russell and 10th for Lewis Hamilton. Esteban Ocon for Alpine was seventh, ahead of Kevin Magnussen in eighth for Haas.

A lot of excitement and a lot of great track action in Formula 1 to come at Spa Francorchamps, the last round before the summer break, and round 14 of the World Championship. Action continues on Saturday for the free practice 3 and qualifying sessions.

Bronwen Jones

Brandon Whiteside

This weekend the paddock heads to the historic Belgian Grand Prix as Formula one enters round 14 of the 24 race season, and the last before the teams go on summer break. 

Last weekend Oscar Piastri became the seventh different race winner of the season with his maiden win. And although the results show McLaren had a weekend of success overtaking Ferrari to be 2nd in the Constructors Championship, the team radios have cast a dark shadow over the Woking team. 

​TRACK STATS

Times Held-                           78
First Held-                             1925
Pole Record-                         1.41.252    (HAM 2020)
Lap Record-                          1.46.286    (BOT 2018)
Pole Sitters-                           34
Winners-                                51
Podium Sitters-                      75
Current grid pole sitters -       HAM, VER, LEC, SAI
Most Driver Poles-                 HAM (8)
Most Team Poles-                  Ferrari/Mclaren (11)
Most Driver Wins-                  SCH (6)
Most Team Wins-                   Ferrari (18)
Most Driver Podiums-            HAM (10)
Most Team Podiums-             Ferrari (40)
Times Won From Pole-          21
Wins From the Front Row-     35
Lowest Start Position to Win- 16th SCH '95
Largest Win Margin-               474secs Clark '63

Never forget 
When coming to Spa it's important to remember the danger the track holds with fatal incidents being as recent as last year when 18 year old (F4) racer Dilano Van 't Hoff passed, just a few years after Anthoine Hubert suffered an horrific crash in front on thousands including his closest in the Paddock of Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

Bronwen Jones

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Oscar Piastri becomes a grand prix winner after a dominate driver in Hungary. McLaren crossing the line in 1-2 but vibes in the paddock might not be a sweet as they would like following a brilliant result as team orders have left a nasty taste with Norris.

A bold mistake from Verstappen lands him in fifth with a potential penalty on the way, Hamilton went unscathed finishing the race in 3rd.

Budapest heats up to 44 degrees celsius and McLaren under pressure as mechanics fix Norris's throttle on the grid.

A fighting start as the McLaren of Oscar Piastri over takes his teammates to take the race lead as Verstappen goes wide in the first corner, Norris struggles to not get swolled by the pack behind. 

Alex Albon had a solid start who goes from 13th into 9th, Ocon who's managed a 5 place jump to 14th and Magnussen who goes into 10th for that last points position unlike his teammate Hulkenberg who's loses his 11th place after going into the pit after tangling with someone at the start. 

George Russell starting down in 17th on hards unlike the top of the field who are on softer tyres, Mercedes going for a longer first stint strategy as an attempt to repair yesterdays problematic qualifying. The Brit managing to make p10 by lap 10, helped by Ocon, both Williams and Haas' who pitted to join the Merc on hards. 
These early pits looked to have paid off as Hulkenberg gets the fastest lap.

Back up front Piastri is grows his lead now +3.5s faster than the rest.
Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas joining the top 10 runners, while Perez is still on the outside in 11th. 

Mercedes go for the undercut on Verstappen on lap 17th putting on hards, coming out in 7th. Norris follows suit as his race is "with Verstappen" and stays ahead of Tsunoda and Hamilton in 5th, Piastri comes into the pit after growing a 8 second lead but Redbull don't retaliate going for a different strategy leaving Verstappen to lead the race. 

With fresh tyres Hamilton is gaining ground and Norris is falling into danger. 
The Ferrari, side by side, opt for plan C as Sainz is the first of the reds to pit. Sainz now joined by Verstappen as the pair head back on track. The spaniard appearing in ninth and Verstappen in fifth behind Hamilton who continues to set the fastest lap. The papaya Aussie now back out front widening the gap once more.

By lap 30 George becomes the only driver yet to pit and stuck +13.7 behind Sainz.
At the back of the grid Albon is having a less than positive race after a slow second pit but nothings worse than Gasly's sunday who retires with a  suspected a hydraulic leak. 

Half way through the race, lap 35, Russell finally makes his first pit for mediums. Piastri is slowing and Norris begin to gain on his fellow McLaren, who's now given the go ahead to race for the lead. 

Bronwen Jones
​Writer @ F1 Journal

Lando Norris goes on pole to gain McLarens ninth pole in Hungary to tie with Mercedes.

Redbull and Merecedes going into Sunday with a fight as Verstappen and Hamilton are left up in the top 10 with out their teammates, as Sergio starts in 16th and Russell in 17th.
​
After days of dry weather and dry practices's the grey clouds appeared producing a wet weather quali and a cooler track at 30 degrees celsius.

Kick Sauber's nine upgrades fails to get them into Q3 while McLaren are continuing their fight with Redbull with Zero upgrades.

Less than a second split the top 15 in todays FP3 as Norris tops his second free practise this weekend. It was set to be another McLaren, RedBull and Merecedes fight as those teams set the fastest laps. The McLarens with the upper hand as their drivers sit next too eachother.

The weekend not falling in Leclercs favour who struggles to put his ferrari in the top 10.

The session saw a busy track as the action got going, but Gasly seems to have issues with his break as his engine smokes up in turn 1.

Softs were a popular stratergy this morning as qualifying is vital weekend at a difficult track to over take and the smallest of margins making the difference.
​

A yellow flag was waved in the half way stage of the session as Hamilton spun out of turn 9, as he couldn't keep it under control during T8, problems for mercedes even after breaking curfew to fix yesterdays issues.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were 14th and 15th respectively for Aston Martin, while Logan Sargeant in the Williams, Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly for Alpine, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon rounded out the order.

The rained stopped with moments to go before the green flag, but with the stream of cars entering the track its soon to dry up.

6 minutes 45 secs left of Q1 Sergio Perez brings out a red flag as he loses grip on turn 8 to hit the wall. With Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen holding on to the fastest times during the break, while the Haas' drivers, Zhou and Ricciardo are in the elimination zone.

Russell has to go onto his second set of softs which could effect his qualifying later on.

With the track drying out new times are being set on last lap pushes as Daniel Ricciardo goes fastest while George Russell gets eliminated in 17th at a difficult place to over take. 

Although Russell claims the elimination is a fault of his own it seems Mercedes mechanics didn't put enough fuel in for 3 laps needed.

The Alpines start last as both drivers remained in the garage once the light went green, as of Q1 it's unclear what caused  Norris narrowly missed elimination, after only going 13th following a strong start to the weekend.

Piastri starts Q2 with an impressive time sitting himself in 2nd, on used tyres, as both McLarens save their second softs for potentially the fight for pole. Piastri following Verstappen and ahead of Sainz, Alonso and Norris. With 1 minute to go Ricciardo is yet to set a time.

The pack head out for their final laps with Norris showing off purple laps to go fastest, Verstappen follows but can't top Norris going slower by 0.02s.
Toto Wolf is left holding his breath as Hamilton cuts it close as he misses out on the elimination zone by 0.01s.

Once again Verstappen sets the fastest lap in the first stint of the Q3 shoot out, but not far behind Lando Norris picks up another purple middle sector to put himself in provisional pole, 1.4 seconds faster than last years fastest lap. with rain incoming. 

But with 5 minutes to go Piastri joins Norris to lock out a McLaren front row  but Verstappen is looking to attack as the World championship leader sets purple sectors. It isn't enough for the Redbull who goes third as Yuki Tsunoda send his RB into the wall bringing out a red flag with 2 minuts 13 sec to go.

Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari in the top spot for Free Practice One, with Lando Norris topping the time sheet for Free Practice Two.

Charles Leclerc briefly brought out the red flag in FP2 with a huge crash after losing control of his Ferrari at Turn Four.

Oliver Bearman borrowed Nico Hulkenberg's car for FP1 and ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard.​

Top 10 Results
1) Carlos Sainz         1'18.713
2) Max Verstappen    +0.276 
3) Charles Leclerc     +0.298
4) George Russell     +0.424
5) Zhou Guanyu        +0.467
6) Lando Norris         +0.498
7) Oscar Piastri         +0.536
8) Yuki Tsunoda        +0.547
9) Lance Stroll           +0.552
10) Lewis Hamilton   +0.574

In Free Practice One, Carlos Sainz topped the leaderboard, followed by Verstappen and Leclerc. 

Oliver Bearman borrowed Nico Hulkenberg's Haas seat for the session, and the Ferraris looked like they had built up pace since the last few races.

At the start of the session, Oscar Piastri had a technical issue with his car, which delayed his getting out on track. He managed to get on track 20 minutes into the session.

The session had a mix of tyre options, with most drivers on the medium compounds, while Verstappen started the session on softs and Stroll and Sainz on hards. However, every driver ended the session on soft tyre runs.

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris       1'17.788
2) Max Verstappen     +0.243
3) Carlos Sainz           +0.397
4) Sergio Perez           +0.467
5) George Russell       +0.506
6) Kevin Magnussen   +0.527
7) Lewis Hamilton       +0.575
8) Daniel Riccardo      +0.583
9) Alex Albon               +0.726
10) Fernando Alonso   +0.731

Norris headed Max Verstappen by 0.243s in his upgraded Red Bull, followed by Carlos Sainz, who was 0.397s off the pace.

The session was red-flagged when Charles Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari at Turn Four. A snap of oversteer took him onto the exit kerb, where he spun into the barrier on the other side of the track.

Once the drivers were allowed back on track after a 16-minute Red Flag, Zhou Guanyu almost did the same thing as Charles, bringing out a brief yellow flag.

Aston Martin also brought an upgrade this weekend and Fernando Alonso ended the session in tenth place.

At the end of the session, Norris, Sainz, Verstappen, Perez, and Russell were all on soft tyres after most drivers had run mediums for the majority of the session.

​Anny Wooldridge
Writer at the F1 Journal

The Hungarian Grand Prix is the first of another European double header before the summer break.

Red Bull have brought upgrades to the Hungarian Grand Prix but only to Max Verstappen's car.

Sergio Perez makes his 270th Grand Prix start at the Hungarian Grand Prix. A victory for Lewis Hamilton would see him equal his record broken at the last race with nine victories at a single circuit. A top three finish for Lewis Hamilton would give him 200 podiums. If Lewis Hamilton gets Pole this weekend it would make him the first driver to record ten poles at a single track.

If Lando Norris wins the Hungarian Grand Prix it would be the first time three different British drivers have won in succession since 1965.

F1
Friday - FP1 12:30 to 13:30 (BST)      FP2 16:00 to 17:00 (BST)
Saturday - FP3 11:30 to 12:30 (BST)  Qualifying 15:00 to 16:00 (BST)
Sunday - Race 14:00 (BST)

2021 
Qualifying -
         1 HAM      1'15.419
         2 BOT       1'15.734
         3 VER       1'15.840
Race -
            1 OCO (3 stop)
            2/DQ VET (3 stop) no fuel 4 sample
            2 HAM (4 stop)
            3 SAI (3 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1'18.394 GAS L70

2022 
Qualifying -
            1 RUS     1'17.377                              
            2 SAI       1'17.421                                             
            3 LEC      1'17.567                                            

Race -
            1 VER (2 stop)
            2 HAM (2 stop)
            3 RUS (2 stop)
 Fastest Lap - 1'21.386 HAM L57

​2023 
Qualifying -
           1 HAM   1'16.609
           2 VER    1'16.612
           3 NOR    1'16.694

Race - 
          1 VER (2 stops)
          2 NOR (2 stops)
          3 PER (2 stops)
Fastest Lap - 1'20.504 VER L53

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal