The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix was a race of the unexpected with many ups and downs that made the audience witness the one of the most if not the most exciting race of this season, at first I was a bit skeptic of this season with Red Bull dominating last year, I was actually waiting for 2025 to start watching F1 again but boy is this a great season. From the planning and counter planning to the sudden and unexpected elimination, the race was a real one but tracks like SPA still lack the overtaking without DRS. Spa Francorchamps circuit which has a difficult track and always changing weather conditions is always one of those iconic races because its so fun to watch, the competition in this year’s race was very intense as the first four teams Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari were fighting for the lead with the difference of only a few tenths of a second, proving the great skills and strategies in Formula 1, been that the winner did only one pit stop, although latter on disqualify because of a technicality. This race was a great close before the summer brake, some drivers will try to go on have some fun and try to relax from the stress of racing every other weekend but some others will keep working hard to climb the ladder.
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For McLaren it was not such a good start been that their main driver Lando Norris got out into the gravel on turn one making him loose positions very early in the race on a track that is very difficult to pass others, the DRS effect is not so massive unless you are less than 0.7 sec behind the driver, a disaster start for Norris who is "fighting" for the championship. After two dramatic races for McLaren been Silverstone and Hungary everyone was probably asking how they going to fumble this race? well Norris did having a good qualify and then throw it out the window on turn 1.
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Other than the two Mercedes fighting at the front there was not much excitement other than deception, we got Norris who could not pass Verstappen during the entire race even after having a faster car during the straight where DRS was a big help, he kept trying and just couldn't. Ferrari became a middle pack leader with not potential to fight for the lead, if we think about it we got seven fast drivers but when it comes to race we might only have three or four consistent drivers who have real race pace Hamilton, Verstappen, Piastri when the other four drivers Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Sainz most of the time fall apart during the race.
The disqualification didn't affect the standings of the championship in a major way since Verstappen still so far away in points, Hamilton’s victory helped him gather more points for the constructors championship, he is not a direct Championship contender but getting some momentum, who knows probably turn things around for the second half of this season and be a challenger for second place, that would be a huge boost for him going into Ferrari next year.
The Belgian Grand Prix of 2024 will go down in history as one of the most exciting races with a lot of action on the track and a rather unexpected finish, not only having Russell driver on hard tires for 34 laps but then getting DQ. Hamilton was the best in this race and proved it, while Russell despite the disqualification proved that he has what it takes to become Mercedes first driver once Hamilton is out next year, Mercedes is starting to become a real contender probably not for any of the two championships but it could add to Red Bull wining even both of the championships if a lot of points keep been spread between the second three teams Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren and then all Red Bull has to do is stay close to the top on most races to win for a very slight margin of points. The teams will now take a break and head into the summer and will look back at the experiences from SPA and the next challenge. The championship race is still on and with several races left before the season is over, with McLaren looking like the number one contender for the constructors championship, Verstappen still 78 points on the lead of the Drivers Championship and even though their car was not dominant this weekend still look like a race winner contender, right now they have a bigger problem and thats Checo Perez who in my opinion will most likely be replace by Ricciardo as a test after the summer break.
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