F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
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F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
F1 Belgian Grand Prix – A Tough Race for Ferrari
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Francorchamps, 28 August 2022

Scuderia Ferrari came away from the Belgian Grand Prix with a third place courtesy of a combative Carlos Sainz and a sixth from Charles Leclerc. This was Sainz’s seventh podium of the season and today’s points see the team still second in the Constructors’ championship. Charles had some bad luck, having to pit in the very first laps when a visor tear-off got caught in the right front brake duct on his F1-75, which was causing the brakes to overheat.

Lack of pace
Carlos got a really good start from pole position and led in the early stages, but after his first pit stop, it was clear that Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had better pace, so that the Spaniard then concentrated on maintaining third place, fending off the threat from George Russell, although the Englishman never really managed to attack him. Charles, who had anyway started towards the back end of the grid because of the penalty incurred from changing the power unit, then had to try and fight his way up the order for a second time after the tear-off problem. He had made it from 14th to ninth but the stop dropped him to 17th. He staged a great recovery, crossing the line in fifth place, but he was eventually classified sixth, having picked up a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, with two laps remaining.

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Straight back on track
The Championship is back in action next week on a completely different type of track, the twisty Zandvoort circuit and its parabolic corners. Part of the team is heading straight for the Netherlands, while the remainder return to Maranello where an in-depth analysis will look into the reasons for the difference in pace between its cars and those of the rival team with which the Scuderia has been fighting wheel to wheel all season long.


Carlos Sainz #55
“The car felt quite good today and we did our best, but our pace just wasn’t quick enough this weekend to hold on for the win. We ran a solid race from start to finish, with good pit stops and strategy calls, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Red Bulls behind, as they simply had more pace.
Time to analyse and prepare the next week’s race at Zandvoort.”

Charles Leclerc #16
“We started well, then on lap 3 we unfortunately had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit when I was in P9. That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a difficult race.
The feeling in the car was quite ok, but compared to our competitors we were lacking pace. They made a huge step leading up to this weekend and we have to work on closing the gap.”

Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director
“Today’s race did not live up to our expectations. Red Bull has done a great job and the performance difference between them and us this weekend, in terms of pace and also tyre degradation was clear to see. Carlos drove a good race. Charles was unlucky in the very early stages and from then on he had even more of a job on his hands. As a team, we just have to roll up our sleeves and continue to improve the performance of our car. The next race at Zandvoort features a track with completely different characteristics and we are ready to give it our best shot as always, aiming for the win.”

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN went close to scoring points as Zhou Guanyu finished 14th, within seconds of P10, at the Belgian Grand Prix. Birthday Boy, Valtteri Bottas, saw his race come to an early end as he was collected by a spinning Latifi and spun into the gravel in the opening laps.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal
“The team did a good job, given the circumstances: unfortunately, that was not enough for a point today. We knew that, taking power unit and gearbox penalties with both cars, we’d have a complicated weekend, but we can take heart from the pace we showed. Both drivers had a good shot at the points: unfortunately, Valtteri’s race was over immediately, and Zhou got stuck in Albon’s DRS train when in sight of the points. These things happen, we’ll build on the pace and work hard to make sure we can maximise our results already in Zandvoort.”

Valtteri Bottas #77 C42 (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
“We had pace today and, with such a mixed-up grid, there could have been opportunities to get a good result, so it’s disappointing to finish my race so early. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time: I saw Latifi spin towards the left, and all I could do was take evasive action to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, I spun on the grass and ended up stuck in the gravel: I tried to go forward and back, but couldn’t move. It’s not the birthday present I wanted, but hopefully I can still have some fun tonight, before we turn our focus on next week.”

Zhou Guanyu #24 C42 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
“Our pace was quite alright today, and despite starting from the back due to the penalty, the race has even been quite exciting, with lots of action going on. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a Williams train towards the end of the race: they were way fast in sector one, making them hard to pass, and eventually, in the last four or five laps, I had no tyres left, so it was a bit difficult to keep up. In terms of results, we obviously wanted more from today, but we sacrificed this weekend for the engine change; hopefully in the upcoming ones we can start further up on the grid and score some good results.”

Start
At the start, Carlos keeps the lead, while Charles, promoted to 14th on the grid after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri starts from pit lane, crosses the line tenth before passing Lance Stroll on the Kemmel straight. At the Les Combes chicane, Nicholas Latifi and Valtteri Bottas touch and the Safety Car is out.

Lap 4
A visor tear-off ends up in one of Charles’ brake ducts, so he has to pit to have it removed, going oout on Medium tyres, rejoining 17th.

Lap 5
Leclerc passes Latifi.

Lap 8
Leclerc passes Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda to go up to P13.

Lap 9
Leclerc passes Kevin Magnussen to go 12th.

Lap 12
Carlos stops to go from. Soft to Medium tyres. He is sixth but soon moves up to fifth, passing Daniel Ricciardo. Leclerc passes Lando Norris, moving up to ninth, partly due to other drivers pitting.

Lap 13
Ricciardo pits and Leclerc is seventh behind Stroll.

Lap 14
Sainz passes Sebastian for fourth, but is soon third when George Russell pits for tyres. Leclerc does the same to Stroll to go fifth.

Lap 16
Perez pits, Carlos is second. The Mexican emerges ahead of Leclerc in third place.

Lap 17
Verstappen pits and Carlos is back in the lead, while Russell passes Leclerc.

Lap 19
Verstappen attacks Carlos to take the lead.

Lap 26
Carlos and Leclerc both pit, the former for Hards, the latter for Mediums. They are now fourth and seventh.

Lap 29
Leclerc passes Ocon to take sixth place, and with Russell pitting, Carlos is third again.

Lap 31
Leclerc passes Vettel for fifth.

Lap 43
Leclerc pits for Softs and emerges just ahead of Alonso, who then passes him. Leclerc gets back in front but is unable to set the fastest lap and the race finishes with Verstappen winning ahead of Perez and Carlos, with Leclerc fifth, but then demoted to sixth, because of a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane at his last stop.


Pos R# Driver Team Chassis Time

1 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull  1:25:52.894
2 11 Sergio Pérez Red Bull  + 17.841
3 55 Carlos Sainz jr. Ferrari  + 26.886
4 63 George Russell Mercedes AMG  + 29.140
5 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine  + 1:13.256
6 16 Charles Leclerc * Ferrari  + 1:14.936
7 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine  + 1:15.640
8 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin  + 1:18.107
9 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri  + 1:32.181
10 23 Alexander Albon Williams  + 1:41.900
11 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin  + 1:43.078
12 4 Lando Norris McLaren  + 1:44.739
13 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri  + 1:45.217
14 24 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo  + 1:46.252
15 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren  + 1:47.163
16 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas  + 1 Lap
17 47 Mick Schumacher Haas  + 1 Lap
18 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams  + 1 Lap
NC 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo  Lap 1 collision with Latifi
NC 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG  Lap 1 collision with Alonso


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