F1 Belgian GP Live commentary and updates - Race | Live text

By: Jake Boxall-Legge, Haydn Cobb, Tom Howard

Summary

Belgian Grand Prix was set to begin 1425 BST (1525 local)
Delayed start due to rain after two formation laps
Race starts at 1717 BST (1817 local) for two laps behind the safety car
Red flag returns - half points to be awarded with more than two laps completed
Race will not resume. Max Verstappen, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton is the podium. It's a maiden F1 podium for Russell. Half points awarded.

Leaderboard

Verstappen, Red Bull
Russell, Williams
Hamilton, Mercedes
Ricciardo, McLaren
Vettel, Aston Martin
Gasly, AlphaTauri
Ocon, Alpine
Leclerc, Ferrari
Latifi, Williams
Sainz, Ferrari

Status: Stopped

19:55 And that's probably everything from us today. Thanks for sticking with us, unfortunately the weather sometimes gets in the way of our plans - even F1 races! See you next week, hopefully Zandvoort remains dry!

19:54 Hamilton: "Firstly, I feel really sorry for the fans today. It's no-one's fault because of the weather. I really hope the fans get their money back today."

19:53 Russell: "We don't often get rewarded for great qualifying, but today we did. It's a shame we couldn't get this race underway, but from our side it'll go down as an amazing result."

19:52 Verstappen: "In hindsight, it was very important to get that pole position. It's a real shame not to do those laps, but the conditions were very tricky out there. I think if we started at 3 o'clock we would have had a chance."

19:48 What we DO know is that we're getting a podium ceremony. It's going to be, uh, a little bit dicey...

19:48 Lots of difficult questions from our Twitter followers. We don't know if fans will get their money back, I'm just a guy on a laptop.

19:46 Are we going to get a podium ceremony?

19:45 Max Verstappen will be awarded victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, with George Russell second and Lewis Hamilton third.

19:45 The race will not resume. That's it.

19:41 A few fans have decided to call it a day, and are heading off home. 35 minutes remain on the clock.

19:33 If it stays like it is, we'll be witnessing history: shortest race in F1 ever.

19:27 So we've got two laps in, which is what we need to award points. The clock will keep ticking down, but visibility is arguably worse than it was earlier this afternoon.

19:26 Mazepin currently has the fastest lap of the race - we still are not 100% sure if the fastest lap point will be given with half points - but as it stands it won't be going to anyone as the Haas driver is outside the top 10.

19:26 And that's another red flag at the end of these two laps.

19:23

And to clarify the running order at the back of the pack, Stroll is 18^th, Raikkonen is 19^th and Perez is 20^th in the train circulating behind the safety car. Then, if we do have a proper start, they will take to the pitlane for that. Big if, mind.

19:21 Verstappen completes the first lap, still leading from Russell, Hamilton, Ricciardo...it's as you were, obviously.

19:19 Sergio Perez is back in this race as he comes out of the pitlane in his repaired Red Bull. He's at the back of the pack in P20.

19:19 Maylander gets an excellent start, holding the lead from Verstappen out front.

19:17 Cars are now on track. The Belgian Grand Prix...begins?

19:14 Well, pitlane start is rather academic at this point isn't it? I don't know what's happening any more...

19:12 Stroll will start from the pitlane as a result of his rear wing change. Given he was P19, that won't matter too much.

19:10 Lance Stroll has been reported to the stewards, after the rear wing was changed to a different spec.

19:08 So, that's just under 10 minutes before SOMETHING happens. Wet tyres must be fitted.

19:07 Race will resume at 18:17.

19:06 Maybe the real 18:05 weather update was the friends we made along the way...

19:06 THEY'RE LATE. IT'S 18:06.

19:04 What's the next weather update going to be? Stay tuned...

19:01 18:00 weather update: The next weather update will come at 18:05.

Did Stewart Lee write this race?

18:55

17:55 weather update: The next weather update will come at 18:00.

This is hilarious.

18:51

Liquid football.

18:48 The track sweeper is going the wrong way. Instant DSQ for Sweepy Jeff - race control have referred them to the stewards for further punishment.

18:46

Weather update: the next weather update will be in 10 minutes.

Okay then.

18:41 We covered Le Mans on live last week - that was considerably easier than doing this. Thankfully, we won't be going into the little hours of the morning here...

18:39 The FIA is hoping for a break in the weather, hence the update news. Because we're not kitted out with a weather radar, I don't know what to expect at this point.

18:30 A weather update will be provided in 15 minutes. I bet it's something along the lines of "it's still wet"...

18:21 "I'm trying find a hole in the weather," Masi says to Mercedes' pit wall, after they complain that they're cold and want to go off and try to warm up.

18:19 Update: it's still raining.

18:17 The clock has been stopped, but we're bound by the whims of the sun. Sun-down should be about 7:30ish local time, so we've got some kind of window to get an hour's worth of action in.

18:12

18:05 "The time limit is what has stopped," Masi says to Ferrari. The FIA has decided to pause the three-hour time limit in which the race must fit, under force majeure, to give more time for rain to clear.

F1 Belgian GP Live commentary and updates - Race

Live updates for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

Summary

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