1 yr. ago • 96%

2023 Belgian Grand Prix - [POST RACE] discussion thread

FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2023

Circuit stats
First Grand Prix	1950
Number of laps	44
Lap record	1:46.286 Valtteri Bottas (2018)
2022 winner	Max Verstappen

24 comments

Some beautiful overtakes this weekend. Verstappen on Piastri during the sprint, Gasly on Albon today and Ocon on Tsunoda.

I feel sorry for Albon, at the beginning of the race it seemed like he would have a genuine shot at a points finish.

Also, good on Hamilton for taking fastest lap on the last lap of the day.

16
- Solid performance from Albon really, quite surprised he didn't hold onto 7th or 8th especially with two front runners out of the mix and Stroll clearly struggling.
  
  1
Is it just me or does it seem like something is genuinely going on between GP and Max?

I know everyone has been saying this is just how their relationship is, but I don't remember nearly this many quips in the past.

15
- Remember that we only hear what FOM wants us to hear. They cherry pick messages to make a story quite often. If you want to hear the rest of the radio the onboard replay on F1TV should have everything
  
  21
  
  Some who cares more than me willing to watch it and let us all know?
  
  5
  
  I get that, but why would they start bringing attention to the messages now if it has always been like this?
  
  2
- I would presume they like joking around.
  
  4
  
  When Max started complaining about how windy the track was and how hard he had to hold the wheel I assumed he was just joking around.
  
  6
Max casually standing on his car only mildly celebrating while half of the field did not yet cross the line was truly a thing I did not expect to see this year.

15
- In fairness, there's usually a cool down lap. At Spa they hang a hard right and go down the pit lane in the reverse direction, so the early finishers are quick to get parked and get out.
  
  6
  
  Yeah I know. Still it felt a bit strange because we don't normally notice the cameras switching to the celebration before everyone completed the final lap.
  
  3
I was really rooting for Piastri, quite a shame how it turned out.

12
- It is really unfortunate. I really wanted to see him shine today
  
  3
- Yeah, would have liked to see more replays of how that actually unfolded, maybe it was just Sainz lockup that caused it.
  
  2
  
  It was correctly judged as a racing incident, in my opinion. Sainz was between Hamilton and Piastri. He could maybe have given 30 cm more, but... L1T1 🤷
  
  3
Although the statistic would be insane and likely never repeated in history, I don't want Red Bull to win every race this year. Someone else other than Max or Checo needs to win for once.

7
- It’d be insane if they managed to pull it off. Max is extremely dominant, but they only need to get unlucky once. Even making it this far without throwing away a win due to a mistake/bad luck/mechanical problem/rain is almost unbelievable.
  
  It wouldn’t surprise me if another team snatched a win here or there in the latter half of the season. Aside from potential trip-ups, it probably wouldn’t make sense for Red Bull to develop the car much further. They’ve already got it in the bag and are better off focussing on next year; that might give other teams the chance to catch up a little bit.
  
  3
- Any other year I would have thought it was impossible. I can't think of a track that will catch them out now, but obviously anything can happen.
  
  1
Some really nice overtakes today.

There was a spark of light from Albon again, the pack is getting tight now and despite his good start it wasn’t enough overall to make the points.

Bummed about Piastri. Looking forward to seeing him more and more now the Maclaren has started to pick up the pace.

2

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