A memorable race decided in extra time

Spa-Francorchamps, 28 July 2024 | 20:02 Europe/Amsterdam A memorable race decided in extra time Featured-Race--BE24 Conditions-Sunday-BE24-EN The final result of one of the best races of the past few years wasn’t decided until well after the chequered flag had been waved.  On track, it ended with a Mercedes one-two, George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the pair joined on the podium by Oscar Piastri. However, post-race scrutineering revealed that the number 63 car was underweight as per the technical regulations and therefore George Russell was disqualified, the win going to his team-mate Hamilton, with Piastri now second and Charles Leclerc moving up to the third step of the podium. This is Hamilton’s 105th win from 346 Grand Prix starts, while it’s win number 128 for Mercedes, its third this season and a seventh in the Belgian Grand Prix. THE DAY ON TRACK   On the grid, the vast majority of drivers had opted to start on the Medium. The only exceptions were Sainz and Zhou who chose the Hard and Ricciardo who preferred the Soft.The two-stop was the most popular strategy, while the Hard was the compound that performed best, both in terms of degradation and performance. Zhou was the only driver to retire and of the remaining 19, five of them – in their finishing order –Russell, Alonso, Stroll, Magnussen and Tsunoda, only pitted once, going from the Medium to the Hard, with the first two of these finishing in the points places, respectively first and ninth.The prize for the longest stint goes to Russell who did 34 laps on the Hard, while on his final stint, Hulkenberg went furthest (24 laps) on the Medium. MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   “First of all, let me say this was a really exciting race. It’s been quite a while since Formula 1 has put on such a show and it’s unusual to see a race where the outcome is so uncertain, with the top three within just over a second of one another and the first six finishers, all of whom could legitimately claim to have aimed for the win or at least the podium, all finishing within under 10 seconds. It’s a shame the race result had to be changed but, as even Mercedes agreed, the rule regarding weight is very clear.The second topic is strategy. Going into the race, we stated that a one-stop was not fast enough compared to a two-stop, but leaving aside Russell’s disqualification, his performance would disprove that theory. For a preliminary explanation, at least in terms of tyre behaviour, there are some factors that stand out. First of all, today’s track temperature was around 10 degrees higher than during FP2 and that probably contributed to very limited graining on the Hard, which on the other hand was very significant on the Mediums on a long stint. Furthermore, we can assume that the teams worked hard on defining car set-up to find the best compromise between a wet qualifying and a dry race and to try and protect the front axle, which was most prone to graining. A third element to consider is that many drivers made a point of looking after their Mediums very carefully, especially in the quickest corners.Two thirds of the race was a fascinating chess game, with moves and countermoves, especially among the leaders, but also further down the field and then it all came to life over the final 15 laps or so, with all the drivers beginning to push and fight for track position. It was a show that, as I said earlier, means we go into the summer break with a strong desire to see something similar in a few weeks’ times in Zandvoort and indeed for the rest of the season.” 14-BE24-Race3-EN 14-BE24-PitStopB--EN 14-BE24-Temperatures-EN FORMULA 2Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) won the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps, his fourth success of the season. To take the win, the championship leader had to pass his main rivals for the title, starting with polesitter Paul Aron, whose podium hopes evaporated on the last lap with a technical problem. Second and third were Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing)  and Jak Crawford (DAMS). Hadjar on 165 points, extends his lead over Bortoleto (129) who has now moved ahead of Aron (124).There was a 50-50 split on the grid, with 11 on the Soft tyre and the same number on the Medium. The key factor was controlling tyre wear, aggravated mainly by the newly resurfaced sections of the track that offered more grip than in the past. Those who did the best job then reaped the benefit in the closing stages.FORMULA 3Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport) took a maiden Formula 3 win in the Feature Race, which was affected by numerous incidents and three Safety Cars. Joining him on the podium were Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing) and Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), the latter retaking the series lead. With just the final round in Monza remaining, the Italian has 129 points, one more than fellow countryman Gabriele Minì, out of the points today. Third is Luke Browning (123 points), followed