2023 Belgian Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 Belgian Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 MSC Cruises Belgian Grand Prix 2023**) was the twelfth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on the weekend of July 28 to July 30, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship with 281 points, 110 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 142 from Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 452 points, lead the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes by 229 points and Aston Martin by 268 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception of Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri from the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix onwards.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 28 July 2023, and was scheduled at 17:00 local time (UTC+2), but was delayed by ten minutes due to rain.

For the first segment (Q1), Lando Norris broke his floor as his car snapped and was on track to hit the wall, but he saved the car and went into the gravel instead. Meanwhile, teammate Oscar Piastri saw better fortunes by setting the fastest lap momentarily. Max Verstappen allegedly impeded Alexander Albon but no further action was taken, going on to take Piastri's spot being the fastest car on track. Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Logan Sargeant, Daniel Ricciardo, on his second qualifying for the AlphaTauri team, and Nico Hülkenberg were all knocked out. Hülkenberg's retirement was caused by his own car, which suffered hydraulic leaks during the session. Repairs meant he could not set another lap.

Intermediates continued to be the chosen rubber of the second session (Q2) before Norris substituted them for soft tyres. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon ripped the right side of his front wing and ended up joining Yuki Tsunoda, teammate Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, who would also achieve a grid penalty for impeding Charles Leclerc, and the other Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas all out of the session, which Piastri momentarily topped with Verstappen barely scraping by.
The drag reduction system (DRS) was made available to all drivers for the final session (Q3). Verstappen achieved pole position but would be impeded by a five-place grid penalty, which meant Charles Leclerc achieved the second pole position in 2023 for Ferrari ahead of Sergio Pérez and Lewis Hamilton.

## Sprint Shootout

### Sprint Shootout Report

The sprint shootout was held on 29 July 2023, and was scheduled at 12:00 local time (UTC+2), but was delayed by 35 minutes due to rain.

The first segment, SQ1, would go underway with all cars on the intermediate compound. The wet track offered wildly differing fortunes for the teams. The fledging Aston Martin team, which had shown previous success in the season, were in much poorer form with Fernando Alonso only becoming the second-fastest car by session's end. Lance Stroll looked to be at threat to be knocked out, but would scrape past. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also found themselves lacking the newfound pace, with Norris only making it past being the thirteenth fastest. Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Nico Hülkenberg – the latter failing to take advantage of the changing conditions and being inconvenienced due to an issue with the Haas pit crew's front jack – were all out of the session. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen topped the session.

The second segment, SQ2, was red-flagged due to Stroll's journey into the barriers and subsequent crash. He was unable to set a time. He had switched to medium tyres on a wet track and was suffering from a lack of grip. While Daniel Ricciardo was able to set a lap, the red flag greatly inconvenienced Stroll's teammate Alonso, Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant, who were all knocked out – this in particular being Alonso's first time this season he could not progress to the third segment of a qualification. Meanwhile, George Russell barely made it out of the session once again.

Confusion arose after the FIA was revealed to have not declared the track to have been wet during SQ2, which led to Stroll switching to mediums despite the wet track and subsequently crashing and destroying the front section of his car during his outlap. As per sprint shootout regulations, teams must use a specific tyre compound during each segment; mediums in SQ1 and SQ2, and softs in SQ3. The track was wet during the session and as such the regulation did not apply. Fifteen minutes before the session began, FIA sporting director Steve Nielsen announced that the track would not be declared wet. A previous instance of such changing conditions was displayed in the Austrian Grand Prix earlier in the year.
The third segment, SQ3, saw everyone put on the softs as the track dried out. Verstappen was only second behind Lewis Hamilton, but improved his time and achieved the pole position for the sprint, with his teammate Sergio Pérez in eighth. Piastri saw himself bettering his British Grand Prix qualifying result by qualifying second, 0.011 seconds off of polesitter Verstappen.

## Sprint

### Sprint Report

The sprint was held on 29 July 2023, and was scheduled at 16:30 local time (UTC+2), but was delayed by one hour and five minutes due to the delay of the sprint shootout and rain.

The sprint began with all cars under full wets after four formation laps behind the safety car. When it went into the pits, with the race now running to 11 laps, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz Jr., Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, and Nico Hülkenberg pitted to switch to intermediate tires. Max Verstappen then led until the second lap, when he and everyone else who chose not to pit after the formation lap switched to intermediates. This meant Piastri led a race for the first time in his Formula One career.

On lap 3, Fernando Alonso lost control of his car on the curb of turn 12 and spun into the gravel. He could not recover the car, prompting his first retirement of the season and a safety car period to recover Alonso's car. It went in just before lap 6 started, and Verstappen finally passed Piastri down the Kemmel Straight after turn 4. Verstappen would keep the lead, which he extended to six seconds as he crossed the line.

Hamilton and Pérez banged wheels through turn 17 while fighting for the fourth position, leaving Hamilton ahead after Pérez suffered damage to his sidepod. After Pérez was overtaken by Sainz and Charles Leclerc, he ran into the gravel on the next lap at turn 15 and tumbled down the order before eventually retiring.
Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top three. This is Gasly's first top-three finish since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and Piastri's first top-three finish in his Formula One career. Lewis Hamilton crossed the line in fourth but was dropped to seventh after a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Pérez. This promoted Sainz to fourth, Leclerc to fifth, and Norris to sixth. Russell grabbed the final points-scoring position.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 30 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2).

As the lights went out, Charles Leclerc held onto his first position into the first corner. Carlos Sainz Jr. locked up heading into turn 1, colliding with Oscar Piastri and forcing Piastri's McLaren against the inside wall. Piastri suffered suspension damage and retired on the first lap, briefly bringing out yellow flags before the race continued. Sainz also suffered damage to his sidepod but was told to adjust his aero balance and keep holding onto fifth place.

Ahead on the track on the first lap, Sergio Pérez passed Leclerc on the Kemmel straight and quickly built a gap of more than a second. On lap 6, Max Verstappen, starting from sixth after a gearbox penalty, pounced on third-place Hamilton through Kemmel. On lap 9, Verstappen overtook Leclerc in turn 7 to claim second place. Meanwhile, Sainz, still suffering from earlier damage to his car, dropped down several places behind Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Alexander Albon, and Logan Sargeant.

Pérez and Leclerc pitted on lap 14, but Pérez suffered a slight delay due to a malfunctioning wheel gun. Verstappen's quicker pit stop on the next lap meant that Pérez's lead was cut down to 1.5 seconds. On lap 18, Verstappen passed Pérez on the Kemmel straight to take the lead, which he would retain for the rest of the race.

A brief rain shower arrived on lap 20, but no driver pitted for intermediate tires, though Lance Stroll ended his first stint on the medium tires and switched to soft tires. As the race reached its halfway mark of 22 laps, Sainz pitted to retire due to significant earlier damage.

By lap 31, all drivers had pitted twice except for George Russell, Pierre Gasly, and Lance Stroll. Esteban Ocon slashed through the field in the remaining laps, overtaking Tsunoda for ninth and Stroll for eighth. In the final laps of the race, Lewis Hamilton stopped for a third time as Alonso was more than a pit stop's time behind him in fifth, changing to fresh medium tires and stealing the fastest lap point from Verstappen on the final lap.
Verstappen took the checkered flag to win by 22 seconds from Pérez, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Russell, Lando Norris, Ocon, and Stroll. After a quick pit stop, Norris was running as low as seventeenth before recovering ten positions to finish in seventh. Tsunoda rounded out the points-scoring positions, earning AlphaTauri their first points since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

## Notes

1. ↑ Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for a new gearbox driveline.
2. ↑ Kevin Magnussen received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Charles Leclerc in Q2.
3. ↑ Nico Hülkenberg qualified 20th, but he was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He also received a ten-place grid penalty for a new gearbox case and a new gearbox driveline. He was then required to start the race from the pit lane as the new elements were changed without the approval of the techical delegate during the parc fermé.
4. ↑ Nico Hülkenberg failed to set a time during the sprint shootout, but he was permitted to race in the sprint at the stewards' discretion.
5. ↑ The sprint distance was scheduled to be 15 laps before being shortened by four laps due to an aborted start procedure.
6. ↑ Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, but he received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Pérez.
7. ↑ Logan Sargeant finished 14th, but he received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
8. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.