
Hamilton to start Belgian GP from pit lane after nightmare Spa weekend
The seven-time Formula One world champion has endured a challenging weekend at Spa, placing 18th in Friday's sprint qualifying and finishing 15th in the 100km sprint race on Saturday.
Hamilton, who joined Ferrari in January, has yet to secure a podium finish with the Italian team. He apologised to Ferrari after Saturday's race, calling his performance 'unacceptable'.
Despite his struggles, the Briton has a strong track record at Spa, having won five times and only missed the podium twice in races he has completed at the circuit.
Ferrari confirmed the engine change on Saturday. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli will also start from the pit lane due to similar power unit changes.
Rainy weather is expected to affect Sunday's race. Earlier, the Formula Two feature race began behind the safety car, while the Formula Three race was cancelled due to poor track conditions. — Reuters
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Malay Mail
43 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Piastri takes control of F1 title fight with daring Belgian GP win over Norris
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (Belgium), July 28 — Oscar Piastri passed McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris with a bold early move to win the rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix and extend his Formula One lead to 16 points on Sunday. Charles Leclerc was a distant third for Ferrari as reigning champions McLaren celebrated their sixth one-two finish in 13 races and the third in a row. The race at Spa-Francorchamps was red-flagged after an initial formation lap and delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to the weather, with standing water and heavy spray affecting visibility. Piastri was in no mood for hanging around when the racing got going with a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car to check conditions. The Australian slipstreamed Norris through the daunting Eau Rouge and then scythed past down the Kemmel straight into Les Combes in a move of total commitment in the treacherous conditions. 'I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn One, lifted as little as I dared out of Eau Rouge,' he said. 'The rest of the race we managed really well. I struggled at the end. Maybe the mediums were not the best for the last five or six laps. We had it mostly under control.' The win was his sixth of the season, making the 24-year-old the first Australian — on a list that includes past world champions Jack Brabham and Alan Jones — to triumph so many times in a single campaign. Norris had a slight battery issue, the Briton asking over the radio why he had 'no pack' before his race engineer assured him it was coming back, but he was not looking for any excuses afterwards. 'Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run,' he said. 'So nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it today.' Two-horse race Piastri now has 266 points to Norris' 250. Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen is third but 81 points off the lead and the championship more than ever a two-horse race with Hungary up next weekend before the August break. McLaren lead the constructors' standings with 516 points to Ferrari's 248 while Mercedes fell further behind their Italian rivals on 220. Piastri pitted on lap 12 of 44 to switch from intermediates to medium tyres on a drying track and Norris followed a lap later, but opting for the hards and rejoining nine seconds behind. The Briton might have hoped Piastri would have to pit again but the Australian made the tyres last to the chequered flag on a one-stop strategy. Piastri crossed the line 3.415 seconds clear of Norris, who had been chasing a third win in a row and managed to reduce the gap in the final laps before late mistakes left the ever-calm Australian under no pressure. Saturday sprint winner Verstappen finished fourth in his team's first grand prix since the dismissal of team boss Christian Horner, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes. Williams' Alex Albon held off Ferrari's seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton — last year's winner with Mercedes — to secure sixth. Hamilton had been one of four drivers due to start from the pit lane but given a big boost by the switch to a rolling getaway and a fresh engine installed overnight. The Briton was also the first to make the decision to switch to slicks and pit, gaining six places. Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls with Gabriel Bortoleto ninth for Sauber and Pierre Gasly securing the final point for Alpine. — Reuters


The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Different horsepower for Horner as Red Bull enter new era
FORMER Red Bull team boss Christian Horner posted a video on social media of himself riding on horseback in the English countryside on the day of the Belgian Grand Prix. 'Different horse power this Sunday,' read the simple caption. Spa-Francorchamps marked the start of a new era for the former Formula One champions, the first race without Horner -- dismissed two weeks ago -- at the helm since Red Bull entered the sport in 2005. New boss Laurent Mekies started with a win, with Max Verstappen taking the Saturday sprint, and then a frustrating fourth place for the Dutch four-times world champion in the main Sunday grand prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda failed to score for the sixth race in a row. Apart from expressing surprise at the long delay in getting the race started, due to heavy rain, Mekies avoided any polemic. He blamed the team for Tsunoda's blank, saying the Japanese had done a great job in qualifying but was called in too late for his pitstop in a mistake that cost him three or four positions. 'After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to also meet the race team,' said the Frenchman when asked to assess the weekend. 'To also enter into the race dynamics and see how the flows and the processes and preparation are. That was super-good in terms of getting to know the team. As you would imagine, it's a team where everything is done at the mega level.' Horner's absence was the talk of the paddock but by the time the circus regroups in Budapest next week, the conversation is likely to have moved on. 'I think Laurent is very good. The sport moves on quickly, so it probably won't be something that we're talking about come Monday,' McLaren boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television. 'He (Horner) had fantastic results. It's a shame to kind of go out the way he did.' Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the weekend that he would miss his old sparring partner and Netflix 'Drive to Survive' protagonist -- in a way -- and expected him to return sooner or later. 'I don't think he's gone forever. I think he's going to pop up in some kind of other function,' said the Austrian - REUTERS


New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Verstappen and Hamilton unhappy with 'overcautious' rain delay at Spa
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Multiple world champions Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both accused race organisers of being overcautious on Sunday when the start of the Belgian Grand Prix was delayed by 80 minutes following heavy rain. Four-time world champion Verstappen said he believed that instead of suspending the race after one formation lap behind the Safety Car, Race Control should have kept the field out on the track to clear standing water. "It wasn't even raining," he said, referring to the decision taken at the scheduled race start time of 1500 local time (1300 GMT). "Of course, between Turns One and Five, there was quite a bit of water. "But if you do two or three laps behind the Safety Car, then it would have been a lot more clear -- and the rest of the track was ready to go anyway. "It's a bit of a shame. I knew that they would be a bit more cautious because of Silverstone, but this also didn't make sense. "Then, it's better to say 'let's wait until it's completely dry' and we'll start on slicks because this is not really wet weather racing for me." Instead of staying out, however, the field were taken back into the pit lane to wait for more than an hour, waiting until improved weather conditions prevailed. The race then began with a rolling start after four laps behind the Safety Car. Verstappen finished off the podium for the third consecutive race as series leader Oscar Piastri led team-mate Lando Norris home in a convincing McLaren 1-2. Ferrari's Hamilton said race organisers had over-reacted after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and Alpine's Isack Hadjar collided at Silverstone in poor visibility. "We started the race a little bit too late, I would say," he said. ""I kept shouting that 'it's ready to go it's ready to go', but they kept going round and round. "I think they're probably over-reacting from the last race, where we asked them not to re-start the race too early because the visibility was bad. "This weekend, I think they just went too far the other way. We didn't need a rolling start." After a disappointing Saturday when he was twice eliminated in the first part of qualifying, for the sprint race and the Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion responded with a rousing drive through the field from 18th to finish seventh. "I always love races like that where you're challenged and have to make your way through the field," said the 40-year-old Briton. "But, ultimately, I'm disappointed to have had not such a great weekend -- definitely one to forget, but at least I've still got some points. "And, we outscored Mercedes, but I've got to go back -- and you can't always get it right. There are lots of factors that contributed to Friday and Saturday, but ultimately me. Obviously I recovered a little bit today, but big thanks to the team. I will try and come stronger next week." However, Williams driver Carlos Sainz supported the decision as "a safe call" given the history of the sprawling high-speed circuit. "My respect to the Race Director because he told us after Silverstone - and the accidents at Silverstone - that he would play it safer here and that is what he did," said Sainz. He accepted that the race could have started much earlier on a 'normal' circuit, but pointed out that as a result of the decision taken the race was run for a full 44 laps. "On a normal track, yes," he said. "I think maybe we could have started earlier by five or ten minutes. But at Spa-Francorchamps, and with the history of the track, it is better to be safe than sorry. "You got the whole race. You got to watch the full race. So, I don't think it was a bad call. A safe call, yes." The Spa-Francorchamps circuit has been the scene of 53 fatalities including two in the last six years due to poor weather conditions.