F1 Belgian GP Live updates - race day
Live Text
Sort by
Stopwatch
Another fastest lap for Bottas - the first man in the 1m49s with a 1m49.937s. The gap's at just over a second between him and race leader Hamilton.
Radio Comms
"I'm struggling so much on the straights," Leclerc says over his Ferrari team radio. That's been the story of their Spa weekend so far.
Albon's coming back at Ocon now, he had a run with DRS but couldn't dispatch the Renault driver.
Ricciardo and Verstappen squabbling over room on that opening lap, both finding the limits of the track through Les Combes and Malmedy.
The power of the AlphaTauri Honda (with the aid of DRS) allows Gasly to blast ahead of Leclerc down the Kemmel Straight on the third lap. That moves Gasly up to eighth place.
Stopwatch
A fastest lap for Bottas, setting a 1m50.116s to close the gap to Hamilton by 0.2s.
Meanwhile Perez has struggled as he dropped behind his Racing Point team-mate Stroll at the start and has now lost places to Leclerc and Gasly on the second lap. The Mexican driver is P10 and fending off Norris.
Hamilton and Bottas have darted away, but Verstappen's not completely out of the picture.
Rapid start from Leclerc using those soft tyres to move up to P9 for Ferrari to jump ahead of both AlphaTauri drivers and McLaren's Norris. An even more stunning start by Magnussen up to P15 already!
A fighting start from Ricciardo, getting a run on Verstappen and grabbing third into Les Combes! Verstappen then gets the Australian back, as Ocon steals fifth from Albon!
Lights green
And the Belgian Grand Prix is go! Who will prevail over these 44 laps?
The current Spa circuit is a real drivers' circuit, quite a sight to behold. But the old track was a real Masta-piece...
Information
Outside of the top 10 there is quite a split in strategy. Kvyat in P11 on the mediums, Gasly in P12 on the hards and Leclerc in P13 on the softs. The rest of the grid behind them are on the mediums.
Green flag
And we're away for the formation lap!
Information
Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen are the top 10 runners on the medium tyre.
Autosport
Information
Five minute klaxon! It's almost time for the Belgian Grand Prix to get underway...
Twitter
Air temp is 18 degrees C, with the track at 31 degrees. It's not t-shirt and shorts weather, but it's not coat weather either.
Information
For those of you indulging in rain dances, the current risk of rain is 40%. You may wish to dance harder.
Twitter
Crash
Sainz will not be starting the race due to an exhaust failure. More on that as we have it.
Meanwhile, Ferrari has managed to lock out the seventh row of the grid - Leclerc and Vettel start 13th and 14th.
So let's recap. Hamilton smashed the track record yesterday to take pole over Bottas by half a second. Verstappen and Ricciardo occupy the second row.
Autosport
Good afternoon everyone! In 30 minutes it'll be that time of the weekend where we congregate on our sofas and watch the start of the Belgian Grand Prix! And we'll be with you every step of the way.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
Published:
Page:
