The last Formula 1 test before the summer break, the Belgian Grand Prix, took place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Throughout the weekend there were clouds over the track, the weather was constantly changing, but Sunday’s race turned out to be quite boring in the end. Verstappen scored another sure win, perhaps his strongest in recent memory, and in the fight behind him, the deciding factor in the end was the speed of technology.
One way or another, we summarize the results of the 13th stage of the 2023 season.
Max getting closer to the title, Cheko disappoints again
At Spa, Max won for the eighth consecutive victory and is now one step away from the record of Sebastian Vettel, who in 2013 won nine Grands Prix in a row. As recently as last week, Red Bull surpassed McLaren’s achievement of 35 years ago, so why not beat another record? In addition, Vettel also achieved those victories behind the wheel of Red Bull.
In the general classification, Verstappen is now ahead of Pérez by 125 points, and this gap guarantees Max first place in the championship four races ahead. That is, we can assume that at this rate, Max will become inaccessible in Japan or Qatar, five or six stages before the end of the championship. But the Dutchman can’t be lucky forever, right? Or maybe? Alas, this is now the main intrigue of the 2023 season.
Pérez and Verstappen on the podium at the Belgian Grand Prix
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Sergio Perez in Belgium took second place, and this is the first double “Red Bull” after the Miami Grand Prix. As in that race, Cheko looked completely helpless against the background of his partner. The Mexican’s resistance was useless, the gap in the rhythm of the two teammates is so great. And this, unfortunately, only emphasizes how futile the Mexican’s hopes for the title were at the beginning of the season.
Perez himself has resigned himself to the fact that he has no chance of challenging Verstappen for the title, but even in number two status, Cheko doesn’t look as good as Red Bull would like. There are already rumors in the paddock that Milton Keynes would like to replace Sergio with the experienced Nico Hulkenberg or the rookie Oscar Piastri, who plays brilliantly at McLaren.
Chronicle of the weekend:
Piastri – the opening of the first half of the season
For Piastri, the Belgian Grand Prix literally lasted one lap, until the contact with Carlos Sainz, which left no room for McLaren. However, the Australian shone the day before, leading the sprint and even competing with Max Verstappen for some time. But more importantly, in both qualifying weekends, Oscar was quicker than Lando Norris, who has long been considered one of the best drivers in the paddock.
The debut season in Formula 1 is one of the greatest challenges in motorsport, and Nyck de Vries has not overcome it. But Piastri looks just brilliant: he doesn’t make mistakes, he drives steadily at the pace of a more experienced comrade and is already starting to overtake from time to time! Oscar made his debut, perhaps even more brilliantly than Norris himself, and it’s certainly not just Red Bull who’s looking at him.
Piastri with a rolled wheel returns to the pits
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Ferrari is back, Aston Martin is going backwards
By the middle of the season, there was almost nothing left of the old Aston Martin speed. If in the first races Fernando Alonso was closer to Red Bull, now the green cars are at the end of the top ten and earn only a few points. In the last three races, Alonso and Stroll have collected 21 points together, although previously they had collected 20 points in each Grand Prix.
But little by little he solves Ferrari’s problems. Leclerc took the podium for the third time this season and held Hamilton back with no visible issues, and it seems the engineers are on the right track: the earlier instability for the SF-23 went unnoticed. Instead, the Scuderia, like the Mercedes, is marking an era. So, the Germans have already brought to Belgium the third version of sidepods for W14, but Red Bull is still indecently far away.
At Alpin, redundancies following McLaren breakthrough:
A major success for Yuki Tsunoda
One of the supporting characters in Belgium was Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese qualified 11th, working his way up to eighth at the start and eventually finishing 10th, having earned a point for Alpha Tauri. In the context of Daniel Ricciardo’s success in Hungary, Yuki’s position was in jeopardy: the F-1 driver had to outrun a teammate who had just met his car. The past race allows you to forget about that weekend as a misunderstanding.
However, we must not forget that at the end of the season in Alpha Tauri, lineup changes are quite likely. Helmut Marko has repeatedly made it clear that he would not want to leave out Liam Lawson, who shines in Super Formula, and if Tsunoda can’t keep up with Riccardo, he will have to relent. And if Red Bull still decides to drop Perez, then Yuki may have a chance at promotion, unless of course Daniel always falls behind.
Tsunoda, Albon and Gasly fight
Photo: Peter Fox/Getty Images
The spa gets boring too
New tracks are often criticized for being boring. As an example, classic circuits are often cited, such as Spa-Francorchamps. But last weekend proved that such races can be pretty boring.
You can come up with crazy rules and different people will win at each stage, but then the race will become a game where luck will be the determining factor. But as long as Formula 1 remains a sport and its task is to determine the strongest combination of driver and car, boring racing will be inevitable.
In addition, there was a lot of fighting in the middle of the pack, the pressure from Mercedes on Leclerc and Alonso could pay off at any time, and outside the top 10, the fight was full-on until the finish. Not too bad, for a boring run!
