2021 Belgian Grand Prix

2021 Belgian Grand Prix
Previous←	2021 Hungarian Grand Prix
Round	12 of 2021
Next→	2021 Dutch Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	August 29, 2021
Race Number	1047
Official Name	Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2021
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility 7.004 km (4.352 mi)
Scheduled Distance	44 laps, 308.176 km (191.492 mi)
Completed Distance	1 laps, 7.004 km (4.352 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing-Honda
Time	1:59.765
Fastest Lap
Time	Not awarded
Podium
First	Max Verstappen
Second	George Russell
Third	Lewis Hamilton
Lap Leaders

The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2021) was the 12^th race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps between August 27 and August 29 2021.

Max Verstappen took pole position in a wet qualifying as Lando Norris crashed heavily at the Eau Rouge corner. Before the start of the race, Sergio Pérez crashed at Les Combes, hence unable to initially start. The start was delayed for nearly half an hour before the formation lap began. However, the weather conditions were too dangerous to continue, with the start procedure suspended. The race got underway again with a 1-hour time limit after a two and a half hour delay, which allowed Perez' car to be repaired in time, but was red-flagged again after two laps were completed. With the conditions continuing to deteriorate, it was ultimately decided that the race would not be restarted, hence Verstappen was declared the winner, and with half-points awarded. George Russell, who qualified a surprise second took his maiden podium, with Lewis Hamilton in third.

Background

Heading into the 12^th round after the summer break, Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the drivers' championship standings lead from Max Verstappen after outscoring him for two consecutive races, while Mercedes also reclaimed the standings lead from Red Bull in the constructors' standings.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	McLaren	MCL35M	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Aston Martin	AMR21	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri	AT02	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Alpine	A521	Renault	E-Tech 21 1.6L V6t	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	Red Bull	RB16B	Honda	RA621H 1.6L V6t	P
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF21	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Williams	FW43B	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	F1 W12	Mercedes	M12 1.6L V6t	P
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	Alfa Romeo	C41	Ferrari	065/6 1.6L V6t	P
Source:

Practice Overview

The full practice results for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.683	12	1:46.118	15	2:00.456	13
4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.336	8	1:45.386	9	1:58.509	4
5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:46.177	7	1:45.336	8	1:59.436	8
6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1:47.101	16	1:46.198	16	1:59.981	12
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:48.125	17	1:45.967	14	2:04.382	20
9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1:48.705	19	1:47.335	19	2:01.792	19
10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:45.699	3	1:44.965	5	1:59.324	7
11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:46.127	6	1:45.404	10	1:57.871	2
14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1:46.612	10	1:44.953	4	1:59.613	10
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:45.818	4	1:46.836	18	2:01.370	16
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1:46.649	11	1:45.180	6	1:59.205	6
22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1:46.928	15	1:45.758	12	2:01.510	17
31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:46.497	9	1:45.302	7	1:58.913	5
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1:45.363	2	1:44.472	1	1:56.924	1
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:48.224	18	1:44.544	3	1:57.996	3
47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1:49.059	20	1:47.529	20	2:01.269	15
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1:45.935	5	1:45.517	11	2:00.749	14
63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1:46.772	14	1:46.665	17	1:59.492	9
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:45.199	1	1:44.513	2	1:59.808	11
99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1:46.755	13	1:45.789	13	2:01.512	18
Source:

Qualifying

Q1

The start of qualifying was delayed for 12 minutes due to rain. Eliminated in Q1 were Giovinazzi, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Raikkonen and Mazepin.

Q2

Eliminated in Q2 were Leclerc, Latifi, Sainz, Alonso and Stroll, who would start 20^th with his grid penalty from the previous race applied.

Q3

The rain intensified before Q3 began, and as Norris began his flying lap, he lost control and crashed heavily into the barriers at Eau Rouge, spinning and coming to a halt and stopping the session for 40 minutes. Russell briefly went fastest before Verstappen beat his time, with Hamilton starting behind the duo. Bottas, who qualified in 8^th, would start 13^th with his grid penalty applied.

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time		Pos.	Time
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda		2	1:58.717		5	1:56.559		1	1:59.765	1
2	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes		5	1:59.864		8	1:56.950		2	2:00.086	2
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		3	1:59.218		2	1:56.229		3	2:00.099	3
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes		12	2:01.583		9	1:57.127		4	2:00.864	4
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		7	2:00.175		6	1:56.814		5	2:00.935	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda		8	2:00.387		4	1:56.440		6	2:01.164	6
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda		4	1:59.334		7	1:56.886		7	2:02.112	7
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes		6	1:59.870		3	1:56.295		8	2:02.502	13*
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault		15	2:01.824		10	1:57.354		9	2:03.513	8
10	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes		1	1:58.301		1	1:56.025		10	No time set	14
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		9	2:00.728		11	1:57.721				9
12	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes		10	2:00.966		12	1:58.056				10
13	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari		11	2:01.184		13	1:58.137				11
14	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault		14	2:01.653		14	1:58.205				12
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes		13	2:01.597		15	1:58.231				20*
16	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		16	2:02.306							15
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda		17	2:02.413							16
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		18	2:03.973							17
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari		19	2:04.452							18
20	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari		20	2:04.939							19
107% Time: 2:06.582‡
Source:

• Bold indicates the fastest driver's time in each session.
• * Bottas and Stroll were given five-place grid penalties for causing collisions in the previous race.
• ^† Norris did not set a lap time due to an accident during qualifying. He was then given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
• ^‡ As qualifying was held on a wet session, the 107% Rule was not enforced.

Grid

The starting grid of the feature race of the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix is outined below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Max Verstappen
	George Russell	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Lewis Hamilton
	Daniel Ricciardo	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Sebastian Vettel
	Pierre Gasly	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Sergio Pérez
	Esteban Ocon	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Charles Leclerc
	Nicholas Latifi	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Carlos Sainz, Jr.
	Fernando Alonso	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Valtteri Bottas
	Antonio Giovinazzi	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Lando Norris
	Yuki Tsunoda	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Mick Schumacher
	Nikita Mazepin	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Lance Stroll
	Kimi Räikkönen	______________

Note - Bottas and Stroll penalised five grid places for causing a collision at the previous round. Norris penalised five grid places for an unscheduled gearbox change. Raikkonen required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.

Race

Report

Before the race, Perez crashed at Les Combes on his way to the grid, due to rainy conditions. The team determined that his car was too damaged to take the race start.

The start was delayed repeatedly until 3.25 pm local time, with the entire field starting the formation lap behind the safety car. However, visibility was poor, and the start procedure was announced to be suspended, with the restart not commencing until 6.17 pm local time. During this period, Perez' car was managed to be repaired after it was deemed that he was allowed to start, while Stroll changed into a different spec rear wing during the wait.

The race got underway behind the safety car for two laps until it was red-flagged again as conditions still did not improve. At this point, it was decided not to restart the race, and hence Verstappen was declared the winner, with Russell taking his first podium in second and Hamilton in third, and the race had half-points awarded as the race did not reach 75% race distance, with the rest of the Top 10 classified as how they started, those who started behind Perez gained a place as Perez was reclassified last after the restart.

Results

The full results for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points*
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1	3:27.071	1	12.5
2	63	George Russell	Williams-Mercedes	1	+1.995	2	9
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1	+2.601	3	7.5
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1	+4.496	4	6
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1	+7.479	5	5
6	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Honda	1	+10.177	6	4
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1	+11.579	8	3
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1	+12.608	9	2
9	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1	+15.484	10	1
10	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Ferrari	1	+16.166	11	0.5
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1	+20.590	12
12	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1	+22.414	13
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1	+24.163	16
14	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1	+27.109	14
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda	1	+28.329	17
16	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	1	+29.507	18
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	Haas-Ferrari	1	+31.993	19
18	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1	+36.054	PL†
19	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda	1	+38.205	PL‡
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1	+44.108†	PL†
Source:

• * Half-points were awarded as the race did not reach 75% of the scheduled distance.
• ^†Räikkönen and Stroll started from the pit lane after having their rear wing assemblies changed. Stroll's was changed during the delay, and received an additional 10-second time penalty applied after the race.
• ^‡ Perez initially was unable to start after crashing his car while on his way to the grid before the race. He was later given permission to start after his car was repaired during the delay.

Milestones

• 150^th race of the V6 turbo-hybrid engine era.
• 200^th race entry for Daniel Ricciardo.
• 50^th race entries for Lando Norris and George Russell.
• 50^th race for Red Bull with Honda engines.
• 150^th race for Williams with Mercedes engines.
• 8^th pole position for Max Verstappen.
• Maiden podium finish for George Russell.
• First podium for Williams since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
• The sixth time in F1 history half-points are awarded, the first time since the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix.
• The race breaks the record for the shortest ever race time and distance, previously held by the 1991 Australian Grand Prix.

Standings

The half-points awarding meant that Verstappen could only reduce the drivers' championship leading gap to 3 points behind Hamilton and also 7 constructors' championship points behind Mercedes. While there were no changes in the drivers' standings, the only change was Russell gaining a place ahead of his team-mate thanks to his podium finish. Ricciardo's high classification ahead of the Ferraris meant that McLaren reclaimed third in the constructors' standings ahead of the Scuderia, with Williams moving further from Alfa Romeo thanks to Russell's podium.

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Lewis Hamilton 202.5 — 2 Max Verstappen 199.5 — 3 Lando Norris 113 — 4 Valtteri Bottas 108 — 5 Sergio Pérez 104 — 6 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 83.5 — 7 Charles Leclerc 82 — 8 Daniel Ricciardo 56 ▲1 9 Pierre Gasly 54 ▼1 10 Esteban Ocon 42 — 11 Fernando Alonso 38 — 12 Sebastian Vettel 35 — 13 Yuki Tsunoda 18 — 14 Lance Stroll 18 — 15 George Russell 13 ▲1 16 Nicholas Latifi 7 ▼1 17 Kimi Räikkönen 2 — 18 Antonio Giovinazzi 1 —

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Mercedes 310.5 — 2 Red Bull Racing-Honda 303.5 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 169 ▲1 4 Ferrari 165.5 ▼1 5 Alpine-Renault 80 — 6 AlphaTauri-Honda 72 — 7 Aston Martin-Mercedes 53 — 8 Williams-Mercedes 20 — 9 Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 3 —

Only point-scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

See Also

	See the related content on the W Series Wiki
	2021 Spa Francorchamps Round

References

Images and Videos:

References:

v·d·e

Nominate this page for Featured Article