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2019 Belgium Thoughts

ANTHOINE HUBERT: Jessi Combs earlier in the week. Anthoine Hubert over the weekend. Reminders racing and the pursuit of speed is still very, very dangerous. Sometimes we get complacent. This past week jolted us back to that reality.

THE BIG PICTURE: Silly season hit a crescendo at the end of the summer break. Mercedes went with the safe choice. Renault went for the future. Hulkenberg is left hunting. Haas and Alfa Romeo may be doing some looking.

EVENT: Spa promoters keep raising the concern of the Dutch GP taking customers (i.e., Max fans) away. We don't believe it. For starters, it is only 3-1/2 hours from the Netherlands. And if the reports of a million applications for Dutch GP tickets are even remotely true, there will still be a heck of a lot fans not getting into their home grand prix, looking to go elsewhere. Lastly, Dutch fans are known to follow their heroes all over the place, not just one time.

TRACK: An old style track with old style dangers.

QUALIFYING: Ferrari finally lives up to their FP performance locking up the front row, but it's the youngster beating out the veteran, Mercedes and Hamilton pull off yeoman's work after the FP3 crash, Renault performs well, and then grid penalties galore shake up the whole lineup.

RACE: Another interesting race with a nail biting ending while the midfield had a slew of great wheel to wheel battles.

START: Leclerc thanks Hamilton for splitting the Ferraris, Hamilton tries but can't do anything about Vettel's slipstreaming, Raikkonen never saw Verstappen, Verstappen didn't notice his left front suspension was obviously broken right away, and causes a horde of Dutch fans crying in their orange beer.

LECLERC: A bittersweet victory.

VETTEL: Completely outclassed by the supposed (but obviously no more) number two driver.

FERRARI: They couldn't possibly blow this race. Well, they did with one of their drivers, and barely hung on with the other.

HAMILTON: Almost pulled off another amazing victory. Even second initially seemed out of reach.

BOTTAS: Valtteri's new contract was about the only good news for him over the weekend.

MERCEDES: In the short term, Bottas was the right choice. We'll see if they bemoan the long term consequences.

ALBON: Did in his first race what Gasly could not -- finish behind the Mercedes and Ferrari duos, especially when Verstappen is unable to. Granted, Alexander was helped by Norris' last lap failure, but still an impressive drive from 17th.

VERSTAPPEN: Amazing this was his first DNF after 21 consecutive top five finishes.

RED BULL: Yet another midseason driver shuffle. This time, it will be very interesting how this all plays out.

GASLY: Meanwhile, Pierre has to wonder if he's just playing out the season before getting dropped entirely.

KVYAT: While Daniil has to be thinking is this it for his comeback?

TORO ROSSO: The true definition of a junior team.

PEREZ: That was a bit dirty.

SAINZ: Well, that was a useless birthday.

NORRIS: Well, that was a useless 43 laps.

MCLAREN: One out on the first lap. One out on the last lap. Which is more frustrating?

HAAS: Haas is just flat out frustrating.

GIOVINAZZI: It's now probably just a matter of running out the season for Antonio.

ERICSSON: Or is Marcus going to stick around the Alfa Romeo pits for more than just hanging out as an emergency replacement?

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Pause.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 19 -- Anthoine Hubert.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Peter Collins is one of a number of drivers who won their first F1 race at Spa. He did it in 1956 also driving a Ferrari. It was on the longer 8.774-mile circuit. It was also the first time Collins ever led a F1 race.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Charles Leclerc on his friendship with Anthoine Hubert, "We were four kids who were dreaming of Formula One. We grew up in karting for many, many years, and to lose him yesterday was a big shock for me and for everyone in motorsport."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Lando Norris when asked what happened on the last lap, "Whatever was giving me power stopped giving me power!"

SCHEDULE: Off to another Ferrari favored track. This time the most important one of all, which they totally blew last year.

Copyright © 2019 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Leclerc 44
2. Hamilton 44
3. Bottas 44
4. Vettel 44
5. Albon(R) 44
6. Perez 44
7. Kvyat 44
8. Hulkenberg 44
9. Gasly 44
10. Stroll 44
11. Norris(R) 43
12. Magnussen 43
13. Grosjean 43
14. Ricciardo 43
15. Russell(R) 43
16. Raikkonen 43
17. Kubica 43
18. Giovinazzi(R) 42
NC Sainz 1
NC Verstappen 0

Time of Race
1:23:45.710

Margin of Victory
0.981 sec.

Safety Car
1 for 4 laps

Lead Changes
3 among 3 drivers

Lap Leaders
Charles Leclerc, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Sebastian Vettel

Pole Position
Charles Leclerc

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 268
2. Bottas 203
3. Verstappen 181
4. Vettel 169
5. Leclerc 157
6. Gasly 65
7. Sainz 58
8. Kvyat 33
9. Raikkonen 31
10. Albon(R) 26
11. Norris(R) 24
12. Ricciardo 22
13. Perez 21
  Hulkenberg 21
15. Stroll 19
16. Magnussen 18
17. Grosjean 8
18. Giovinazzi(R) 1
  Kubica 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 471
2. Ferrari 326
3. Red Bull 254
4. McLaren 82
5. Toro Rosso 51
6. Renault 43
7. Racing Point 40
8. Alfa Romeo 32
9. Haas 26
10. Williams 1
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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