Race Report: Minor Points Scored in Wet/Dry Belgian Grand Prix

George Russell finished fifth with Kimi Antonelli P16 in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

With rain showers falling on the circuit, the original race start was delayed for over an hour.

Once the race did get underway, it did so via a rolling start with George P6 and Kimi P19 on Intermediate tyres.

George used this period to make up a position on the Williams of Alex Albon before both George and Kimi boxed for the Medium compound as the track dried.

George cycled through still holding P5, a position he would maintain until the flag, with Kimi P17.

The Italian attacked over the next few laps, making his way up to P14 before stopping for a second time in an attempt to use fresher rubber to challenge for points.

Unfortunately, running a higher downforce rear wing, he became bottled behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon and came home in P16.

The team now heads to the Hungaroring in Budapest for the final race before the summer shutdown.

Kimi Antonelli

We opted to change the set-up in anticipation of a wet race today and, during those first few laps, that proved beneficial. The car felt good, and I was able to make some overtakes and progress up the field. Unfortunately, the track dried quickly and for the rest of the race we were losing out on the straights to some of the cars we were racing. Despite being able to stick close to those we were racing, we were unable to get any overtakes done. That meant we opted to try something different and went to the two-stop, but the result was similar as we got stuck behind the Haas of Esteban Ocon.

It's been a difficult weekend here in Spa, but we have the chance to reset and come back stronger straight away in Budapest. We want to go into the summer shutdown with some momentum and I, and the team, are focused on doing that.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

This has been a tough weekend for us here in Spa. We haven’t had good pace throughout, so today’s race was very much about damage limitation. George maximised his result with P5, taking advantage of having a lower downforce set-up to pass the Williams of Alex Albon in the closing stages. From there, it was a lonely race for him to the flag.

For Kimi, he opted for a higher downforce wet set-up which provided dividends in the early stages on the damp circuit. Sadly, as we transitioned to slicks, his pace advantage over cars ahead was negated by a lack of straight-line speed. We rolled the dice with the two-stop strategy, but points would not have been achievable whatever we did.

After a challenging weekend here in Belgium, it is good to get back on track next weekend in Budapest. We will spend the coming days analysing this weekend and making sure we carry the learnings into our running at the Hungaroring. Hopefully we can go into the summer break with a more positive result than we have managed here in Spa.