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Formula 1
Belgian GP
F1 Belgian GP Live Commentary and Updates - Sprint Quali & Race
Saturday's action from the 12th round of the 2023 Formula 1 season
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F1's final sprint race before the summer break will take place on Saturday after qualifying for the grand prix itself took place on Friday.
Max Verstappen was hampered by a five-place grid penalty for Sunday after changing his gearbox but that penalty will not apply for the sprint.
The Dutch driver currently leads the standings by 110 points from team-mate Sergio Perez and comes into this weekend off the back of seven consecutive victories.
Sprint qualifying will get underway at 11:00am BST at Spa-Francorchamps, with the sprint race starting at 3:30pm BST.
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Sargeant is up to sixth ahead of Alonso, Tsunoda, Magnussen and Zhou. "We need to box this lap," Verstappen tells his team. He's coming in too.
Out on the track Verstappen leads Leclerc, Norris, Ocon and Russell.
Pit stop
Piastri and Sainz lead those who elect to pit at the first opportunity. They're followed in by Gasly, Hamilton and Perez.
Verstappen holds the pack back and then accelerates on the approach to Pouhon. We're underway at last!
This then appears to be 'the' formation lap, as the timing screens say the safety car will peel in at the end of this tour and a rolling start procedure will commence. The race distance is now 11 laps.
Could anybody decide to take the plunge and pit? With the race distance not being especially long, you'd imagine there will be something of a herd mentality.
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"Its drying quick. You could definitely already drive, I think, with inters," Verstappen reports.
The timing screens now say that the race duration will be 12 laps.
Verstappen is told that the plan is for four laps behind the safety car before a rolling start. "That's a smart decision," he replies.
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"Yeah, it's definitely inters," remarks Russell over the radio.
The sprint race hasn't officially started yet, although the cars continue to circulate for another lap behind the safety car.
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Russell reports: “Please can you give me the gap to the cars ahead. I can’t even see them even on the straight.”
Unsurprisingly, there's plenty of standing water on the track surface which is producing thick spray on the Kemmel Straight. I'd be amazed if the safety car came in any time soon.
Off they go on the formation lap. Wet tyres all round.
Just four minutes to go now until the formation lap gets underway. Starting behind the safety car, we don't know yet how many laps Bernd Maylander will be required to stay out in front of the pack.
This being such a long lap, the gain/loss from going a lap longer before ditching tyres can be significant. Remember 2008, when Nick Heidfeld was driving past cars like they were in treacle thanks to a well-timed switch to wets?
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The FIA has mandated that the race will get going on wet weather tyres behind the safety car. The question then becomes one of when/if drivers will switch to inters.
Given how heavy that downpour was, F1 made the right call. I remember watching the closing stages of the Spa 24 in 2016 where cars were just floating into the barriers on the approach to the Bus Stop. Excruciating.
With the sun now out, the awnings protecting the cars are being folded away.
Update - we have a time for the formation lap. It'll get going at 17:35 local time.
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A rainbow has appeared, and some umbrellas are coming down.
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You know who I feel sorry for most, aside from the fans? Photographers.
"This rain should stop in five minutes, then we have a gap of an hour with no rain," Leclerc is informed.
Adam Cooper has secured pole position down at the post-race media pen. We think he's going to be there a while. But he is at least armed with a coffee courtesy of Matt Kew, showing his versatility as a barista.
The current expectation is for rain to continue until around 20 past, then attempt a start behind the safety car, Norris is told. Clearly, F1 needs the weather to improve before letting the field loose.
It's not exactly quiet at Spa though. The atmosphere-building DJs are still doing a roaring trade.
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Several drivers have now taken their helmets off, but remain in the car as it's the only dry seat in the house.
"The next heavy shower is expected in two to three minutes," Zhou's engineer informs him. The only track action to speak of currently is the medical car, weighing up the level of surface water.
Toto Wolff over the radio to George Russell says he's considering closing the doors of the garage to stop the rain flooding in. Russell isn't too keen on his idea of removing the awning to get the true feeling for how wet it's got.
Now the timing screens are saying 'delayed start'. It seems like we're not going to be going in five minutes for the formation lap...
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It's properly wet now. Every car is now covered by an awning. The weather has clearly turned. Umbrellas everywhere in the grandstands.
Well, the decision to delay further means there's no real benefit to anyone hoping to hold out on slicks and build up an advantage until the track got wetter.
The formation lap will now begin in 10 minutes at 16:12 BST.
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Perhaps in light of that uncertainty, the start has been delayed.
The uncertainty over the rain also makes life difficult from a set-up point of view. Do you sit on the fence with slicks and wet settings? Leclerc is informed that rain is heavy at Turn 15 and will last for 20 minutes.
We say gamble, but it looks like some teams are changing tyres on the grid. They're still tucked up in blankets though, so we can't see which compounds they're on until seconds before the warmup lap starts and they are removed.
"The rain will hit the track in five minutes," Bottas is told by his engineer over the radio. Will anybody 'do a Winkelhock' and gamble on starting with inters or wets?
The first corner at Spa is an inviting one for lunges. But the penalty you pay for a bad exit out of La Source is such that there's a huge chance of losing ground on the long run to Les Combes for taking a big risk, even if it doesn't result in damage. Let's see how much drivers are willing to take in the sprint, where comparatively few points are on offer.
Helpfully, the timing screens tell us that the risk of rain for this session is 100%. Not even a smidgen of doubt.
By: Autosport Staff
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