“One and a half kilos.”
Man. This was fun. Formula 1’s been in a surprisingly good place as the field has established itself. I’m not here to spoil things for you, you’ve already seen the rating for this race. And if you watched it, you may or may not have realised by now that we barely had an overtake the entire race. But all the strategic elements combined with a tough but not unassailable track made for a fantastic Belgian Grand Prix, and the perfect intrigue to go into the sport’s Summer Break. Let’s get into it.
The Game Of Strategy
It was a flippant comment just after half-distance that on paper, I didn’t quite think it was possible. We’d seen Carlos Sainz, who started on the hard compound tyre abandon the plan after pulling off just seven laps on the medium compound tyre. But it was Russell’s call to stay out and “think about the one-stopper”, something no one else in the field truly considered for long. It’s even more remarkable when you consider he was the first in the elite train of eight leading cars to go in and try an undercut, alongside 11th placed starting Max Verstappen.

By Lap 30, Russell, now leading, was given the greenlight to stay out and go for it. In theory, Mercedes had nothing to lose. Lewis Hamilton passed Sergio Perez off the start line and Charles Leclerc just couldn’t stay with the Mercedes in the back end of the race. As we got down to a dozen laps left, it was looking good for a Mercedes 1-2 finish, with Oscar Piastri threatening but too late to make a pass over the top on the final lap.
Hamilton had enough raw pace and the luxury of track position in the 2-stop train around him. But what Russell demonstrated was superb tyre management, an extra bit of pace defensively when Lewis got close and had to overcome that final half a second via a revamped DRS zone down the Kemmel Straight, and superb temperament, something we’ve associated with his struggles in the past. And it’s also a superb bit of execution from a Mercedes team that’s now suddenly won three out of the last four races, and they debatably didn’t have the best car in any of them as the field behind them tripped ov-
🚨 *HOLD IT* 🚨

Well… it turns out George Russell was declared to be underweight after the post-weight scrutineering check by 1.5kg and disqualified from the result. If I had to spitball the reasons, I suspect that having less rubber on the tyres due to the sudden switch to a one-stop strategy, combined with the lack of being able to gather rubber on the tyres due to the fact at Spa, you get turned around and put in through the pitlane backwards. If there’s a more technical reason, ala Sebastian Vettel’s famous DQ from second in Hungary a few years back due to the hole in the tank, I’m all ears.
In any case, Lewis Hamilton picking up an inherited win is one way to make up for losing out on 2008’s Belgian Grand Prix, but he’ll take it, no doubt. Goes to show you how a strategic masterclass can turn into a disaster on such a whim. And credit to JB in our Discord server for pointing this out, the first F1 race winner to lose out via a disqualification since Michael Schumacher at this very race back in 1994. Back to your regularly scheduled programming…
For Red Bull, this was a damage limitation job. Verstappen was always going to take a penalty here given the relative confidence in themselves at Spa. Verstappen was never able to overcome the DRS trains in front of him, but did reasonably well to take fifth from eleventh on the grid. More on Sergio Perez in a minute.

McLaren to me, fumbled a big opportunity here. Piastri had excellent pace but was just a little too late to really push for the win against the Mercedes (Overshooting his box likely cost him a couple of seconds), but Lando Norris once again botched his start and gave up key track position on a track where passing was very hard. Norris spent the entire back half of the race starting at Verstappen’s rear diffuser and couldn’t find a way through. If McLaren is truly challenging on all fronts, you’ve let another race slip by where Max has extended his Championship lead. 78 point lead and three races in hand, with 10 rounds to go. Least the Constructors fight is going alright – One car has finished second or better in nine out of the last ten races.
The Lightning Round
Ferrari, I swear to god, the honeymoon is over. Charles Leclerc drove his nuts off for that podium finish and it looks more and more like Ferrari are entering the Summer shutdown fourth on current form. Leclerc looked great in that first stint but at the end with the cars at their quickest, their pace vanished. Carlos Sainz dictating strategy only to end up sixth… man. I love Fred Vasseur, but the honeymoon happy-go-lucky funtime vibes are over.
Sergio Perez, in the most important weekend of his career, started from the front row and ended up seventh. In Helmut Marko’s words, he “completely collapsed” in the final stint, 10 seconds behind Verstappen before boxing for the fastest lap attempt. Max’s 4th place and lack of outright speed and the not great strategy that Red Bull put Perez on might be the only thing that saves him now. Perez didn’t get a better chance than this one to prove his worth, and he probably failed. But does Red Bull pull the trigger and make the switch? If only someone wrote a piece about it lately…

Alpine. Man, alive. Bruno Famin stepping down a year to the day that Otmar Szefnauer was let go almost felt like a noble act of honour towards the Viry engine department that powers their Motorsport division. But the confirmation that he’s stepping down, the fourth Renault/Alpine boss to do so in the last five years is a damning indictment of where the team is, with rumours strong they’re going to shut their engine programme down and potentially tie up with Mercedes as a customer. Giving up your factory status as a team is inconceivable to me. My thoughts go out to Alpine’s engine department because this is a horrible situation. At least Deadpool got them a couple of points.
Dre’s Race Rating: 8/10 (Great) – A really nice Belgian Grand Prix. A genuinely excellent strategic battle that for me emphasised the great spot F1 is in. We have four teams that are genuinely close to each other, battling on track, forcing gambles and risks to be taken, and the little errors in execution around that lead battle will be punished (Sorry, George.). The way the race played out, alongside a 10/10 finish with Hamilton trying for the win and Piastri right alongside, bumps this up even further. F1 now takes a three week break, see you in Zandvoort and for a new mini-series of posts here on M101 in the coming days. Till then!