Spa-Francorchamps, 2019

The race goes on at sombre Spa

2019 Belgian Grand Prix pre-race analysis

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With heavy hearts, the Formula 1 teams and drivers will return to racing today following the shocking crash which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert in a support race.

Hubert was well-known in the F1 paddock beyond Renault, where he was a development driver. Several drivers on the grid competed against him earlier in their careers, including pole winner Charles Leclerc, a former karting rival, plus this likes of George Russell and Lance Stroll.

Today F2 race will not take place, and the grand prix has inevitably become of secondary importance. But as was the case at the Hungaroring four years ago after the death of Jules Bianchi, once the race begins the competitive instincts take over.

Leclerc dominated proceedings on Saturday, not only firmly eclipsing the Mercedes drivers, but putting team mate Sebastian Vettel in the shade as well. However questions remain over Ferrari’s long-run performance, which did not look strong on Friday.

Ferrari have locked out the front row of the grid and have a clear straight-line speed advantage. Will that be enough for them to see off the competition and deliver their first victory of 2019?

Mercedes are well-placed to attack and have seldom failed to exploit any weakness on their rival’s part so far this year. However with both Ferrari drivers ahead of them on the grid, they really need either Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas – or both – to get in between the Ferraris at the start.

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However Mercedes know they are unlikely to capture the lead at the start of the race and passing the Ferraris on-track will be difficult given the SF90’s top speed. There best chance therefore will come through strategy.

Pirelli suspects teams will have some flexibility. While the obvious default strategy is to start on softs and switch to mediums, running two stints on softs before switching to mediums is little slower. However this would likely still leave Mercedes needing to overtake a Ferrari on-track, albeit potentially with a greater tyre life advantage, as Hamilton exploited against Max Verstappen in Hungary.

The Red Bull driver could also be a factor. Verstappen has been plagued by niggling power unit problems all weekend, but the RB15’s core pace is strong.

A further key variable in the race will be the temperature. It is expected to be around 10C cooler today than yesterday, with ambient temperatures below 20C. Some rain has fallen overnight but dry conditions are still expected for the race.

But Saturday’s events have cast a tragic pall over the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. Whoever wins today, the more important consideration is that we have a safe race.

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Qualifying times in full

Driver Car Q1

Q2 (vs Q1)

Q3 (vs Q2)
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’43.587 1’42.938 (-0.649) 1’42.519 (-0.419)
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1’44.109 1’43.037 (-1.072) 1’43.267 (+0.230)
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’45.260 1’43.592 (-1.668) 1’43.282 (-0.310)
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1’45.141 1’43.980 (-1.161) 1’43.415 (-0.565)
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1’44.622 1’44.132 (-0.490) 1’43.690 (-0.442)
6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1’45.560 1’44.103 (-1.457) 1’44.257 (+0.154)
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1’45.899 1’44.549 (-1.350) 1’44.542 (-0.007)
8 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1’45.842 1’44.140 (-1.702) 1’44.557 (+0.417)
9 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1’45.732 1’44.707 (-1.025) 1’44.706 (-0.001)
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1’45.839 1’44.738 (-1.101) 1’45.086 (+0.348)
11 Romain Grosjean Haas 1’45.694 1’44.797 (-0.897)
12 Lando Norris McLaren 1’46.154 1’44.847 (-1.307)
13 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1’46.000 1’45.047 (-0.953)
14 Alexander Albon Red Bull 1’45.528 1’45.799 (+0.271)
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1’45.637
16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1’46.435
17 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren 1’46.507
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1’46.518
19 George Russell Williams 1’47.548
20 Robert Kubica Williams

Sector times

Driver Sector 1 Sector 2 Sector 3
Charles Leclerc 29.904 (2) 44.319 (3) 28.193 (1)
Sebastian Vettel 29.897 (1) 44.357 (4) 28.375 (2)
Lewis Hamilton 30.498 (7) 43.970 (1) 28.586 (6)
Valtteri Bottas 30.767 (14) 44.078 (2) 28.570 (5)
Max Verstappen 30.684 (11) 44.395 (5) 28.611 (7)
Daniel Ricciardo 30.376 (3) 45.206 (8) 28.404 (3)
Nico Hulkenberg 30.379 (4) 45.338 (9) 28.488 (4)
Kimi Raikkonen 30.515 (8) 44.936 (7) 28.620 (8)
Sergio Perez 30.480 (6) 45.463 (12) 28.678 (10)
Kevin Magnussen 30.450 (5) 45.400 (10) 28.888 (14)
Romain Grosjean 30.536 (9) 45.504 (13) 28.757 (11)
Lando Norris 30.720 (12) 45.461 (11) 28.666 (9)
Lance Stroll 30.567 (10) 45.713 (15) 28.767 (12)
Alexander Albon 30.787 (15) 44.852 (6) 28.970 (16)
Antonio Giovinazzi 30.766 (13) 45.824 (16) 28.822 (13)
Pierre Gasly 31.305 (17) 45.661 (14) 29.469 (18)
Carlos Sainz Jnr 31.194 (16) 46.351 (18) 28.962 (15)
Daniil Kvyat 31.469 (19) 45.853 (17) 29.196 (17)
George Russell 31.465 (18) 46.600 (19) 29.483 (19)
Robert Kubica 31.722 (20) 46.810 (20) 38.318 (20)

Speed trap

Pos Driver Car Engine Speed (kph/mph) Gap
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 317.7 (197.4)
2 Daniel Ricciardo Renault Renault 316.9 (196.9) -0.8
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari Ferrari 316.0 (196.4) -1.7
4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 315.6 (196.1) -2.1
5 Sergio Perez Racing Point Mercedes 314.6 (195.5) -3.1
6 Lance Stroll Racing Point Mercedes 313.9 (195.0) -3.8
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 312.7 (194.3) -5.0
8 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 312.5 (194.2) -5.2
9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Ferrari 312.2 (194.0) -5.5
10 Lando Norris McLaren Renault 310.9 (193.2) -6.8
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Ferrari 310.7 (193.1) -7.0
12 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 309.9 (192.6) -7.8
13 Max Verstappen Red Bull Honda 309.7 (192.4) -8.0
14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 309.6 (192.4) -8.1
15 Alexander Albon Red Bull Honda 308.3 (191.6) -9.4
16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Honda 306.2 (190.3) -11.5
17 Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren Renault 304.9 (189.5) -12.8
18 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso Honda 304.6 (189.3) -13.1
19 George Russell Williams Mercedes 302.9 (188.2) -14.8
20 Robert Kubica Williams Mercedes 298.2 (185.3) -19.5

Drivers’ remaining tyre sets

Driver Team Hard Medium Soft
New Used New Used New Used
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1 0 1 0 0 4
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1 0 1 0 0 4
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1 0 1 0 0 4
Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1 0 1 0 0 4
Max Verstappen Red Bull 0 1 1 0 0 4
Alexander Albon Red Bull 1 0 1 0 3 2
Daniel Riccairdo Renault 0 1 1 0 0 4
Nico Hulkenberg Renault 0 1 1 0 0 4
Kevin Magnussen Haas 0 1 1 0 0 4
Romain Grosjean Haas 0 1 1 0 1 4
Carlos Sainz Jnr McLaren 1 0 1 0 3 2
Lando Norris McLaren 1 0 1 0 1 4
Sergio Perez Racing Point 0 1 1 0 0 4
Lance Stroll Racing Point 0 1 1 0 2 3
Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 0 1 1 0 0 4
Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 0 1 1 0 3 2
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 0 2 0 2 2
Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 0 1 1 0 2 3
George Russell Williams 1 0 1 1 1 3
Robert Kubica Williams 1 0 2 0 2 2

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Over to you

Will Ferrari finally take their first victory of 2019 today? Share your views on the Belgian Grand Prix in the comments.

2019 Belgian Grand Prix

Browse all 2019 Belgian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “The race goes on at sombre Spa”

  1. Will Ferrari finally take their first victory of 2019 today? – No.

    1. They seem to be slower on race pace but if they can both stay ahead of Mercedes on the first lap they should be able to do it by staying ahead of them on the straights

    2. The race will be very straightforward I fear. Ferrari have a straight-line speed advantage and the tires are too hard for strategy to become a factor, so after the first lap not a lot will happen at the front.

  2. @jerejj Such certainty its a shame to go to waste. Take a huge a bet or something.

    1. A Tenner says Ferrari-Ferrari collision at LaSource

      1. You are on.

  3. If Lewis can’t do anything with that slipstream after eau rouge the Ferrari duo will set sail and in the back of my mind I have a feeling we’re gonna hear, “ okay Charles, Sebastian is quicker than you”.

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