At long last for Charles Leclerc.
This was a much-deserved first F1 victory for the youngster and a faultless weekend operation – from his amazing 0.7s edge in qualifying, into the 44 laps of this race in which he built a lead, then kept his composure if the Mercedes came charging.
What made this debut win even more astounding was that Leclerc lost a friend in Anthoine Hubert on Saturday, with the Ferrari driver declaring that he had been extra focused to supply the following day so that he could dedicate the race to the 22-year-old and his loved ones.
Lewis Hamilton was outspoken in his praise Leclerc – who should have had three wins now – all year and called more”devotion to come” after his milestone win on Sunday, while Sky F1’s Damon Hill predicted the”floodgates” will open.
“He’s already established himself faster then Sebastian Vettel,” added Hill of Leclerc, and it’s really tough to argue with that considering he has out-qualified his team-mate in the past six races.
Rating out of ten: 10
He missed out on success this season but Lewis Hamilton insisted he was proud of his weekend and it’s easy to see why.
Hamilton was by far and away the quickest Mercedes at Spa, almost pipping Vettel to front row in qualifying, and to get a few laps he would have overtaken Leclerc of his victories that are more improbable for one. That could have been quite a feat since Mercedes boss Toto Wolff claimed this was always going to be”damage limitation” due to Ferrari’s flat-rate rate.
Actually Hamilton extended his championship lead nearly got lost because of Leclerc’s psychological victory, although Max Verstappen is a whopping 87 points ago, however, the Englishman is 65 points before Valtteri Bottas.
Rating from ten: 9
A Mercedes contract was celebrated by valtteri Bottas and by beating Hamilton he would have expected to immediately justify the religion of his team. However, the weekend got going for the Finn.
He ended a tenth off Hamilton in qualifying regardless of his own team-mate’s P3 smash and, although his team frequently tried to push him gee him up in the race, even Bottas was never really in contention for the two positions and finished 12s off turning down his motor overdue on.
While his win burial extends back to around four of the year in Azerbaijan bottas hasn’t finished since the GP. He needs to find his mojo again.
Rating from ten: 7.5
This can be a prolonged one for Sebastian Vettel. To out-qualify Leclerc, Vettel has failed since then agonising penalty in Canada in June and has two podium finishes from those six races.
Despite a worrying 0.7s deficit in qualifying, Vettel was well-placed for the racesecond on the grid along with the advantage of slipstream, but a bad start enabled Hamilton during and, even though he passed the Mercedes, his lack of pace meant Ferrari pitted him early on. That meant a second stop was had by him that dropped him – albeit with an extra bonus point.
Vettel does deserve credit, but because of his role in procuring Leclerc the success. He moved from the way of his team-mate when obeying team requests using a minimum amount of fuss, then he held up Hamilton to get a couple of laps before pitting. That may have been crucial.
Rating from ten: 6.5
Red Bull couldn’t have asked for much more from Alex Albon on his own debut. One of those battles Pierre Gasly had was making his way through the midfield however, to the things softs, Albon rallied through the area despite a catchy opening stint on mediums – .
His passes on Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo, in fearlessness that was showcased we watched from Gasly, who only finished fifth or higher in his 12 races in the Red Bull.
A promising start.
Rating out of ten: 9
Sergio Perez is back in the points after a drought and it is no real surprise to see him return to the top 10 where he has three finishes. Before being handed by Albon to the last lap he was close to a fourth on Sunday.
“I went into attack mode with lots of overtaking,” explained Perez of his race after having several places during the first-lap chaos.
Promisingly it appears like their aerodynamic overhaul was effective after securing only their dual points end of their season.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
Daniil Kvyat will be forgiven for feeling downbeat after the team opted for Albon, who also the Russian out-qualified and out-scored within their 12 34, after being overlooked for a Red Bull advertising . Credit for another powerful performance that is race-day, however, to Kvyat.
Much like Albon, Kvyat was forced to a back-of-the-grid (well, 19th thanks to other penalties) start and followed his former team-mate onto the mediums. That gave the soft tyre at the conclusion of the race to him and, but passed by Albon, he attained six locations after that end – also becoming ahead of Gasly.
The battle involving Kvyat, Albon and Gasly will be aware of over the following eight races of the season, with Red Bull keen to select them from 2020 onwards since Max Verstappen’s permanent team-mate.
Rating from ten: 9
Nico Hulkenberg was among the motorists that left a two-stop race work on Sunday, but the German admitted that he was fortunate to score several points. He only entered on the top 10 with two laps and has been out-paced by Renault team-mate Ricciardo to get the majority of the weekend.
After a couple of days that are disappointing with Esteban Ocon verified as Hulk’s replacement for following year, he’ll certainly take the points here.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
“We could not be prouder of this man, this week end,” read a tweet from Honda about Monday following Pierre Gasly’s first race back using Toro Rosso. Ninth place was very impressive, considering the conditions. Was Gasly feeling the strain following Red Bull’s summer axing, but he had to come to terms with his friend Hubert’s death.
“I’ve developed this man. I raced in karting using Charles and Anthoine because 2005,” said an understandably emotional Gasly following the race. “Then we lived at the same flat for five years. We moved to the school. I’ve known this guy so long and we shared a lot of minutes on trackoff course, particularly.”
Gasly was unfortunate to lose places in the final phases as he toiled on tyres, but fought in attack and defence during the race and warrants his own points.
Rating from ten: 8
Qualifying was going to be half-hearted from Lance Stroll because of his grid penalty but he made Q2, and made up six places. He believed he could have gained more.
“It was a bit frustrating because I spent the entire race stuck in trafficbehind cars on various approaches,” said the Canadian. “It was tough to find clean air and really push on.”
He has dropped two factors from the drivers’ standings.
Rating from ten: 7
Lando Norris may have been lucky to gain six places after Turn One, but his drive then – functioning for 43 laps – supposed he deserved the best result of his career. Unfortunately, an engine failure with 1 lap remaining cruelly denied him. No wonder that his radio message was filled with expletives.
Rating from ten: 9
Another awful race for Kevin and Haas Magnussen. The Dane qualified 10th, began seventh, and stayed in that place. But Magnussen’s Sunday started to fall apart as he lost six places. He never recovered then. As he told Sky F1’s Martin Brundle before the race, so it is not that Haas are using their tyres too far, but that they aren’t using them whatsoever. A puzzle.
Rating out of ten: 6
As he found himself up until his first stop on Lap 15, it had been going even better for Romain Grosjean. After that, that the Frenchman believed he was competitive. But that Haas only appears to lose Grosjean’s pace evaporated in the second half of this race , so much so that he asked his team to retire the car and also all downforce in traffic. “I am very angry,” said Grosjean following the race.
Rating out of ten: 6
Fourteenth does not sound like a return that is wonderful, but Daniel Ricciardo needed a remarkable weekend. He qualified up in sixth for Renault and, despite a five-place grid punishment, could have been convinced of securing solid points on Sunday. But his Renault then spent the remaining part of the race together with flooring damage and was struck from behind into Turn One. Ricciardo was with under 10 laps at the top 10 Though he had that car. Unlucky.
Rating from ten: 7.5
George Russell started a 14th but was never likely with Williams anticipating this to be one of this year of the most difficult weekends to remain there for extended. Russell did finish before Robert Kubica.
Rating from ten: 6.5
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