Hamilton’s Spa Day
Russell’s Glory Dimmed by Disqualification
Another race, another cracker. This time it was Spa’s turn to shine in the 2024 F1 season, from the unexpected front row of Leclerc and Perez to a three-way battle for the win on the last lap. Not for the first time this season, the biggest danger to one of the drivers vying for victory proved to be from his own team.
Russell Wins — then gets Disqualified
George Russell was the only man at the sharp end who tried to make a one-stop work, and the strategy was definitely on. While passing was eminently possible it was far from a piece of cake, and the younger Briton did very well to keep Hamilton behind him lap after lap.
With Piastri also within DRS of Hamilton, it was a thrilling climax to the race and looked like a masterclass from Russell to claim his second win of the season. It also would have been the first time ever an F1 season saw four separate teams achieve a 1–2 finish.
Would have been. But then the leading Mercedes was found to be under the weight limit, Russell was disqualified, and Hamilton was promoted to his 105th win. Piastri rose to 2nd, and Leclerc to 3rd.
There have been quite a number of team screwups this year, not least Ferrari putting Leclerc on hard tyres in the pouring rain of Canada, McLaren sending Piastri round for another lap on dry tyres in the rain of the UK, and now Mercedes with an underweight car.
Did the lower weight make a difference? Undoubtedly it made the car very slightly faster. I don’t think it made a material difference, however. But these regulations must be adhered to. Hamilton was disqualified from the 2012 Spanish pole for a similar reason (enabling Maldonado to win for Williams). It’s F1 101.
Rather a shame for Russell, after driving incredibly well and making a great strategy call that should have secured him a famous victory. Tyre wear and plank wear are among the factors blamed for the weight problem.
Strong Piastri, Handbrake Norris
Mercedes had a race winner and a disqualified driver, and the McLaren experience was also split across the garage (albeit to a lesser extent). Norris once again had a bad start, but this time it wasn’t just being slow off the line. There’s never a good time to dip a tyre into gravel, but one of the worst is at the start when the entire field is ready to take advantage.
You cannot win a race at the first corner but you can certainly lose it, and Norris ended up in 5th (after Russell’s disqualification) behind Verstappen, whom he was unable to pass.
Piastri, by contrast, had a solid start and a good race. He was flying at the end, and with another lap or two would have had a chance of beating both Hamilton and Russell on track. This also suggests that McLaren was probably the best car on the day, so 2nd and 5th is actually worse than they should have achieved, especially starting 4th and 5th with Russell disqualified and Perez going backwards.
However, while things were not splendid for Norris, overall the team did make up ground on Red Bull. They scored 28 points to Red Bull’s 19, making it a 9 point narrowing of the gap between the teams (now standing at 42 points). With 10 races to go, McLaren are rightly seen as the favourites for the title.
Verstappen Anonymous but Does Enough
Verstappen was much more polite on the radio after the histrionics of Hungary. He also failed to make the anticipated headway (many thought he and Norris were favourites to win but they ended up 5th and 6th before getting promoted one place each). The Dutchman finished just over a second off Leclerc and with Norris in his DRS but unable to effect a pass. And that’s more than enough.
Verstappen built up a tasty lead over the field during the early season heyday and Norris needs to narrow it consistently. But this is not happening. All Verstappen needs is to finish ahead or just behind each race and he gets the title. And now the gap is out to 78 points. That is not insurmountable but it’s certainly advantage Verstappen, even with Red Bull perhaps the third fastest car right now.
Contrast this with Perez, who had a remarkably good qualifying (3rd fastest then promoted to 2nd). He slumped from there down to 7th. Ending up behind both Mercedes (initially), McLarens, Ferraris, and his teammate was not the sort of drive that convinces me he should hang on.
Apparently, judging by what Red Bull are saying, he will retain his seat. But that decision will likely cost them the title to McLaren. I’ll probably cover this more in a mid-season interval article, alongside the Sainz to Williams news.
Alonso, Ocon, Ricciardo Score
It’s been a very up-and-down season for many teams. Neither Haas was anywhere near the points (Hulkenberg, having recently been 6th twice, was down in 18th and the last man on track to finish). Three teams with dippy form managed to scrabble into the points, as Alonso guided his Aston Martin, Ocon his Alpine, and Ricciardo his VCARB into the lower reaches of the points.
Aston Martin remains in their No Man’s Land between the top teams and backmarkers, but for Alpine and VCARB/RB this helps them in their battle with Haas. RB are currently on 34 points, Haas 27, and Alpine 11. The tight battle at the top, with seven different winners and multiple teams battling for victory at seemingly every race means the lower half of the grid might be a little neglected but the results here determine prize money and matter a lot. It’s also very close, given they are usually only capable of getting a point or two here and there.
For Alpine, it was their first points since Austria, while Haas has suffered a pair of pointless weekends in a row. RB are the most consistent of the lower points scorers, which is why they’re some way ahead of Haas despite Hulkenberg’s pair of 6th places. Spa was RB’s fourth points-yielding race weekend in a row. Aston Martin are a bit up and down, often scoring pretty well but with three pointless weekends too.
Williams and Sauber seem destined to be 9th and 10th, but it’s possibly the 6th, 7th, and 8th place battle between RB, Haas, and Alpine could go down to the wire.
Richard
