GP Belgium: times, standings, track info, weather

Times GP Belgium

Just like a month ago in Austria, another sprint race weekend is planned. This means that qualifying for the Grand Prix will already take place on Friday afternoon and there will be another sprint qualification and sprint race on Saturday. Then it’s time for the GP on Sunday, where everyone starts in the order as already determined on Friday afternoon. So a lot of action!

Championship standings

As is now customary, Max Verstappen has extended his lead in the championship with a full blow of points in the past race. Behind that, Sergio Pérez has also done good business by finishing third, as he takes a little more distance from Fernando Alonso in third. It also looks like Alonso will lose that spot to Lewis Hamilton. Lando Norris has moved up one place thanks to his second place in Hungary, he is now eighth.

To say that Red Bull is doing well this year is an understatement. It proved that by becoming the first team in Hungary to ever book the twelfth win in a row. In the standings in the championship it is unmissable; despite the occasional lesser performance of Sergio Pérez, the team is more than double the number of points of the number two, Mercedes. That in turn is increasingly distancing itself from Aston Martin. McLaren’s good form is now paying off, because that hardly has to be feared for Alpine in fifth place. In fact, the look is forward, because the season is still long and Ferrari and Aston Martin have made little impression lately.

Circuit

The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most legendary circuits in the world. Not only for Formula 1, but also for many other racing classes. It is the favorite destination for many F1 drivers, Max Verstappen also sees it as his favorite F1 circuit. Spa is characterized by a wide variety of turns, high speeds and awe-inspiring climbs. Especially the combination Eau Rouge-Raidillon is famous and notorious. In the photo above this article you can see Verstappen driving towards it. In the past, serious accidents regularly happened here, unfortunately several times with fatal consequences. The tragic fatal accidents of Dutchman Dilano van ‘t Hoff recently and that of F2 driver Anthoine Hubert in 2019 are still fresh in our minds.

The layout of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has changed considerably several times in its 102 years of existence. The biggest change came in 1979, when a huge street circuit section was removed. Then Spa-Francorchamps was halved in length in one fell swoop. On the old circuit, which continued straight after Kemmel Straight where drivers now turn right, an average speed of 240 km/h could be achieved. Today the circuit is just over 7 km long and, in addition to Eau Rouge-Raidillon, Blanchimont and Pouhon are still famous corners. The drivers will drive 44 laps on Sunday to reach a total distance of 308.052 km. The fastest race lap is in the name of Valtteri Bottas, who crossed the track in 1:46.286 in the 2018 Belgian GP. Max Verstappen is the most recent winner. He won last year after an impressive race to catch up from fourteenth on the grid.

Weather forecast

It is very gray, gray and rainy weather all week in the Netherlands and that also applies to Belgium. It seems that the rainy weather will continue at the beginning of the weekend, but Sunday seems to be a nice day for now. Especially the qualifications and the sprint race will probably still be affected by precipitation, so that promises to be spectacular!