Wet track, wild action, the race this weekend would surely be fun!
After the rather dramatic Hungarian GP, the next race of this year’s Formula 1, the Belgian GP 2021 is to commence this weekend. As the drivers complete the final practice sessions at Belgium’s legendary Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, we sure have reasons to be excited (or anxious) about! The circuit is currently wet and thus demands much from the drivers and their cars. The Friday and Saturday practice sessions have taught the drivers much and apparently brought about a few key strategy-reworks as well.
The Spa had been wet during the practice sessions of Friday and Saturday, posing severe traction challenges to the drivers. The final practice session had multiple rooster tails and severe drama. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen finished the fastest in Saturday practice. He, however, had crashed to end in Friday’s FP2. 20 minutes into the drive on Saturday, Max described the Spa as ‘greasy’, but finished the FP3 at the top of the chart (1m56.924s) with some serious driving! RedBull’s Sergio Perez followed, falling back by just 0.0947 seconds.
Hamilton finished third and his teammate Bottas secured the 11th spot. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who had taken the F1 crowd by storm with his victory at Hungary, finished 5th in the final practice, while the fourth spot was held by McLaren’s Lando Norris. Alonso finished 10th, drawing Alpine inside the top-10 safe zone! The entire driver standings post the practice sessions are as follows.
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| Position | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Aslphatauri |
| 8 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin |
| 9 | George Russell | Williams |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes |
| 12 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Haas |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | Alphatauri |
| 18 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo |
| 19 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas |
| 20 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo |
Belgain GP 2021: Why The Qualifying Session And The Race Could Be Challenging?
Belgium’s Spa circuit has always been one of the most demanding racetracks for the drivers. The 7 km long track has 19 corners, most of which demand high driver skill levels. If the climate of the practice sessions is to continue, the race would be truly challenging. The traction would be terribly low, a lot of aquaplaning is to be expected, and possibly a couple of crashes as well! The drivers and their cars would both have to be good to survive this. The wing design and position would also be significant keys to success here, considering the weather and the track’s construction.
To give you a slightly more lucid picture of the risk involved, Ferrari’s Leclerc had crashed his SF21 so bad in FP2, that he had to continue the FP3 and probably the rest of the race on the team’s spare chassis!
Image Source: Formula 1
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