Belgian Grand Prix: Leclerc must chase, Verstappen can cruise
F1 NewsThursday, 25 August 2022 at 08:33
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc aims to revive his Scuderia's spirits and his own title hopes when he returns to the scene of his first Formula 1 victory for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, while championship leader Max Verstappen can cruise.
The Monegasque, winner at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019, is second overall but a massive 80 points behind Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen with nine races to go in the 22 race 2022 F1 World Championship.
If his hopes of becoming Ferrari's first F1 world champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 appear to be in tatters, Leclerc has a winning car that should suit the high-speed circuit.
He will also need reliability and none of the driver errors or strategic missteps that have cost the team dear, with Leclerc winning only three races to Verstappen's eight despite starting from pole seven times.
Verstappen has finished every race but one on the podium, making the Dutch driver's second title look inevitable.
The 24-year-old, winner last year of a procession that lasted three laps behind the safety car in torrential rain, is fired up to chalk up his first proper Belgian victory in front of his orange-clad supporters in the country of his birth.
Verstappen: I definitely got the itch to get back to it
Previewing Spa-Francorchamps, Verstappen said of his other F1 home venue: "It's my favourite track so I'm looking forward to racing there this weekend."
Seven-times F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate George Russell could put Mercedes in the mix too.
The team are on a streak of six straight podium finishes, with both cars in the top three in the last two races, and Russell taking their first pole of the season in Hungary.
Classified second for Williams in last year's washout, Russell wants to go one better, especially with more stringent floor stiffness tests potentially working in Mercedes' favour.
Mercedes are getting better with every race, can they win on Sunday in Belgium?
"While we're still not quite in the fight for victories, we're getting closer, so we need to keep the momentum going and the pressure on," said team boss Toto Wolff.
The Belgian race marks the sport's return from its summer break and is the first of three successive weekends that includes the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and Italy's Monza.
There will also be plenty of talk about the driver market, with McLaren on Wednesday announcing the departure of Australian Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the season.
The weekend will also see the introduction of a new vertical oscillation metric, setting a limit on how much cars are allowed to bounce or "porpoise".
Changes have been made to the Spa circuit's fearsome Eau Rouge corner after a spate of serious accidents in recent years, including a crash that claimed the life of F2 racer Anthoine Hubert in 2019. (Editing by Ed Osmond)
Belgian Grand Prix Stats & Facts
Reuters compiled information and statistics for the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix:
- Circuit: Spa-Francorchamps
- Round 14 of the 22-race championship:
- Lap distance: 7.004km. Total distance: 308.052km (44 laps)
- 2021 pole position: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull One minute 59.765 seconds.
- Race lap record: 1:46.286, Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes 2018)
- Start time: 1300GMT (1500 local)
Belgian Grand Prix
- Last year's race was F1's shortest, lasting three laps due to heavy rain after starting from the pitlane behind the safety car. The final classification was set after two laps and half-points awarded.
- This year's will be the 55th Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. Eleven of the last 20 have been won from pole position.
- Spa is the longest lap in F1 and one of the fastest, with an average speed of around 230kph. Cars are flat out for about 70% of the time and reach 315kph at Blanchimont.
- Five current drivers have won at Spa: Lewis Hamilton (2010, 2015, 2017, 2020), Sebastian Vettel (2011, 2013, 2018), Daniel Ricciardo (2014), Charles Leclerc (2019), Verstappen (2021).
- Michael Schumacher won a record six times at Spa, including from 16th on the grid in a wet 1995 race.
- Safety cars have featured in the last six Belgian GPs.
- There is no Belgian driver on the starting grid but McLaren's Lando Norris and Verstappen both have Belgian mothers.
Grand Prix Victories
- Red Bull have won nine of 13 races this season and Ferrari the rest. Verstappen has won eight, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz three and one respectively, and Red Bull's Sergio Perez one.
- Mercedes' Hamilton has a record 103 wins from 301 starts. The seven times world champion last won a race in Saudi Arabia last December and is now on the longest streak of his career without a win.
- Ferrari have won 242 races since 1950. McLaren have 183 wins, Mercedes 124, Williams 115 and Red Bull 84.
Pole Position & Fastest Lap
- Leclerc has had seven poles this year, Verstappen three, Perez, Sainz and Russell one each.
- Hamilton has a record 103 career poles, most recently in Saudi Arabia last year.
- Six drivers have taken fastest laps this season.
- Leclerc took the bonus point in the first three races, Verstappen in Imola, Miami and Austria, Perez in Spain and Azerbaijan, McLaren's Lando Norris in Monaco, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in Canada and France and Hamilton in Britain and Hungary.
2022 F1 Championship Points before Belgian Grand Prix
- Verstappen leads Leclerc by 80 points. Red Bull lead Ferrari by 97 points in the constructors' standings.
- Williams' Nicholas Latifi is the only race driver yet to score this season.
- Mercedes are the only team to have scored in every race and Hamilton the only driver to have reached the chequered flag throughout.
Milestones
- Red Bull's next front row start will be the team's 150th.
- Verstappen's win in Hungary was the 28th of his career, taking him ahead of triple world champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time lists. The next driver ahead of him is 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell (31 wins)
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