Lewis Hamilton shows off his impressive surfing skillsThe final race before the summer break is nearly here as teams begin touching down in Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix. It’s arguably the track favoured by most drivers on the F1 grid and is one of the most iconic races on the calendar.
More points are on offer this weekend as well with the return of the sprint format. Red Bull and Max Verstappen will once again be the ones to beat, but there have been promising signs from Mercedes and McLaren.
Lewis Hamilton was able to end Verstappen’s run of pole positions last time out in Hungary while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri proved competitive in Sunday’s race. George Russell will be hoping for a better weekend though after starting the Hungarian Grand Prix from 18th.
Mercedes are still struggling to find the right balance between qualifying and the race with Red Bull half a second a lap quicker than their closest rivals. We’ll get some more insight today with the driver’s press conference. Stay tuned for live updates throughout the day.
Lewis Hamilton is hoping to catching Max Verstappen at Spa (Image: GETTY)
60 mins ago20: 50 Joe Krishnan
Russell wants safety to be prioritisedGeorge Russell has insisted driver safety must take priority over racing after giving his thoughts on the issue of visibility in wet conditions.
The Mercedes driver conceded there weren’t any ‘short-term solutions’ to combat the issue with rain set to fall at Spa this weekend, but the Briton says race chiefs shouldn’t be afraid to cancel the race if conditions are too dangerous.
“The two questions are whether Spa is safe enough and then it’s the question of the conditions,” Russell told reporters. “The fact is motorsport will always be dangerous when you’re travelling at these speeds.
“If you were to put a ranking of risk of all of the circuits, for sure Spa is one of the riskier circuits along with Jeddah, along with Monaco, for example, and Suzuka to a degree.
“Then when you’ve got a combination of the weather, it’s very challenging. It’s the visibility, we just have no visibility whatsoever. The way I describe it to try and give some perspective is driving down the motorway in pouring rain and turning your windscreen wipers off. That’s genuinely how it feels in the cockpit.”
Russell added: “Obviously, to have a race cancelled is not perfect for anybody. But we don’t want to see a huge incident as we’ve just seen [with Dilano van’t Hoff].”
(Image: NurPhoto)
2 hours ago19: 43 Joe Krishnan
Norris gifts helmet to Van’t Hoff familyLando Norris has gifted one of his race helmets to the family of Dilano van’t Hoff, the young racer who died earlier in July.
The British-Belgian F1 driver made the gesture after Van’t Hoff’s death at Spa four weeks ago. The 18-year-old was involved in a heavy collision in torrential conditions and passed away.
And his family, who appear to have been invited to the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, posed with Norris’ helmet on their Instagram page.
A nice gesture from the McLaren man.
3 hours ago18: 56 Joe Krishnan
Aston Martin chief dismisses Alonso ‘excuse’Aston Martin chief Mike Krack has dismissed Fernando Alonso’s suggestion that tyre changes at Silverstone are behind the team’s recent dip in race pace.
The Spaniard has dropped significantly down the field over the past three races, with Mercedes and McLaren now quicker than Lawrence Stroll’s team. But Krack rejected the notion put forward by Alonso that tyre changes are behind their troubles.
“That would be an easy excuse,” he told RacingNews365. “We see there is a little difference with these tyres but they were brought for safety and so from that point of view, everybody has to run them and are the same for everybody.
“We should not use this as an excuse for competitiveness because they are the same tyres we have to use going forward. It’s about learning as much as possible about them and moving on. It would be too easy to say it is the tyres.”
(Image: AFP)
4 hours ago17: 51 Joe Krishnan
Verstappen makes bold call over wet racesMax Verstappen has suggested the only way to avoid disastrous incidents occurring in poor weather conditions would be too cancel wet weather races.
Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, a track notorious for bad weather, Verstappen said visibility issues would only be cured by stopping wet-weather racing altogether.
“We have spent quite a bit of time in briefings, and I think also from his side, he’s done quite a few races now,” he said of FIA race director Nils Wittich.
“I think he’d also listen to the safety car a bit, and I think he will know if it’s safe or not. But the visibility is going to be bad anyway. Otherwise, we cannot have any rain races anymore.”
(Image: Getty)
5 hours ago16: 47 Joe Krishnan
Hamilton bats away personal questionLewis Hamilton awkwardly declined to answer a ‘personal question’ after being quizzed on his own struggles to rediscover his form from the 2021 season.
The Mercedes star did eventually answer but initially snubbed the question from Sky Sports F1’s Craig Slater, having been asked: “In this period have you ever felt you had maybe lost something that you wouldn’t get back? Or were you always confident that you could get back to your best?”
Hamilton paused before replying: “I don’t know – I think that’s a bit of a personal question and I probably don’t really want to go too much into that.”
He then spoke at length about Mercedes’ issues with balance: “But I think last year-and-a-bit has difficult with the car that we have had.”
(Image: Getty)
7 hours ago15: 14 Stuart Ballard
Horner shrugs off criticismRed Bull have taken on some criticism for replacing Nyck de Vries with Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, but Christian Horner has defended his decision.
“We are in a competitive business,” Horner told Formula.hu.
“What would be the difference if we had waited one or two more races (with the replacement of De Vries for Ricciardo, ed.)?”
7 hours ago14: 39 Stuart Ballard
Marko agrees with WolffRed Bull chief Helmut Marko has agreed with Toto Wolff’s calls for the the FIA to tighten up certain aspects of the budget cap.
“The regulations of that entire budget cap are still too open to much interpretation and it does not care enough about the facts,” he said.
“That’s why there are discussions and that needs to be sharpened.”
8 hours ago13: 49 Stuart Ballard
Marko weighs in on PerezRed Bull chief Helmut Marko has backed Sergio Perez to turn things around after a difficult few months.
The Mexican has come under huge pressure after a spell of results which has ruined his World Championship chances.
But Marko was impressed with Perez’s weekend in Hungary and believes he is on the right track.
Marko said: “He is clearly improving after fighting his way from ninth on the grid to third in Hungary. Finally he made it to Q3 again. You can see an upward trend.”
FULL STORY
9 hours ago12: 50 Stuart Ballard
Albon a target of two teamsWilliams star Alex Albon had interested from at least two teams for the 2023 campaign.
The 27-year-old has impressed since returning to the grid with Williams and has been a level above rookie Logan Sargeant this season.
The difference in performance between the two Williams drivers has clearly seen teams take notice of Albon with ESPN claiming there was strong interest in the British-born Thai racer heading into 2023.
But Albon remains fully committed to Williams for the time being and has no immediate plans to leave.
FULL STORY
10 hours ago12: 03 Stuart Ballard
Stroll earns No 1 spotIt may not be the best ranking to be put on top of but Lance Stroll has been named as the “greatest pay driver of all time”.
Peter Windsor has dismissed any suggestion the younger Stroll is under threat of losing his seat at his dad’s F1 team.
“You could argue that Lance Stroll is the greatest pay driver of all time because, yes, he’s there because his dad is paying all the bills, but at least his dad has gone out and created a new team out of an old one, Aston Martin.
“The payment for Lance to be in Formula 1 has been a very constructive thing and it’s given a lot of jobs to a lot of people and it’s a whole new thing, so in that sense you’ve got to say: ‘Wow, that’s the perfect use of being a pay driver – and he’s got a reasonable amount of talent as well.’”
FULL STORY
10 hours ago11: 22 Stuart Ballard
Hamilton not ‘in-sync’Lewis Hamilton has never been “in-sync” with his Mercedes car to the level of Max Verstappen’s dominance with Red Bull.
That’s according to former F1 team boss Peter Windsor, who claims Hamilton’s era of dominance with Mercedes also worked out well for his team-mates while Verstappen has been a level above Sergio Perez.
He said: “I’m not sure Lewis has ever been that in-sync with the car for such a sustained level.
“He’s had a great car for many years, but there’s always been another driver who is quick in the Mercedes basically, even Valtteri [Bottas] occasionally got the best of him.”
11 hours ago10: 20 Stuart Ballard
Leclerc and Sainz in limboFerrari chief Frederic Vasseur has no plans to hold contract talks with Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz in the near future.
Both Ferrari drivers have deals running until the end of the 2024 season, but question marks have been raised on their futures given the team’s poor performance this year.
But Vasseur is offering neither driver no assurances on their futures with the main focus being on developing their car.
“We will only hold talks about possible extensions towards the end of this season,” Vasseur said to Corriere Dello Sport.
“Today our only priority is the development of the car.
12 hours ago09: 35 Stuart Ballard
Ricciardo slammedFormer F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has taken a brutal dig at Daniel Ricciardo over his return to the sport, suggesting the Aussie was not deserving of replacing Nyck de Vries.
He said: “He did some political background work with [Helmut Marko] that [Nyck de Vries] didn’t see coming, well done.
“On the other hand, it’s impressive, for a return to Formula 1, a big smile and Instagram are enough to drive these magnificent cars, it’s incredible.
“No [other] driver after four pitiful seasons was allowed to return to Formula 1.”
13 hours ago08: 48 Stuart Ballard
Verstappen to be taught a lessonMax Verstappen may be set for a dressing down from Red Bull chief Helmut Marko over his and Lando Norris’ reaction to the Hungary trophy being smashed.
Herendi Porcelain confirmed after the race that a replacement was already being made for Verstappen after Norris’ trademark bottle celebration went horribly wrong.
But Marko feels the need to remind Verstappen to be more respectful of the unique award.
He said: “The copy of the trophy is coming to us at the factory, and I’ll teach Max to appreciate the original that he’s getting replaced.
“That’s Hungarian tradition and young people have to understand that.”
14 hours ago08: 06 Stuart Ballard
Hamilton to get his wishLewis Hamilton may finally get his wish at Mercedes after a frustrating 18 months of being unable to challenge for race wins.
It’s the longest period of Hamilton’s career that he has gone without a win in F1 and that doesn’t look like changing any time soon with Max Verstappen on top form.
Toto Wolff accepts that major changes are needed for next year and Mercedes are prepared to listen to Hamilton’s cries from earlier this year to keep their mind open on how best to design their 2024 car.
He said: “We need a lot of changes in 2024. The development path we are on now is quite interesting and we see opportunities and we are looking at all possibilities and to every concept.”
14 hours ago07: 31 Stuart Ballard
Good morningHello and welcome back to Express Sport’s live F1 blog.
We’ve got the Drivers’ Press Conference today for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Stay tuned for fresh updates throughout the day as we look ahead to the final race before the month-long summer break.
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