What would have been remembered as Ferrari's comeback weekend quickly turned in one of the darkest moments in recent F1 history. F2 driver Anthoine Hubert lost his life in the Belgian GP’s Saturday. Ferrari had conquered a front row lockout, but Sebastian Vettel suffered tyre wear woes, losing on the podium on the second stint.
Belgian GP: Ferrari races for Anthoine
After observing a minute of silence in memory of Anthoine Hubert, the grid gets ready for a difficult race. The Frenchman was commemorated by the whole audience, who stood and applauded at lap 19, Hubert's racing number. In the first stint, the Ferrari guys (with Leclerc in front) hold up Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas by taking advantage of superior straight line speed.
Mercedes is also undertaking precautionary measures in using their updated engine specification. When the pit window opens, Sebastian Vettel emerges to lead the pack after mounting Medium tyres. The yellow compound, however, does not compliment the SF90's setup and quickly degrades. At this point, Vettel lets Leclerc through once again and holds Lewis Hamilton up to have the Monegasque bring home his first victory. The Belgian GP therefore sees Ferrari collecting a P1 and a P4.
Loss of luck
In the midfield, some adverse events really influence the final outcome of the race. Ferrari's engine superiority shines through a very strong performance from Alfa Romeo and Haas. However, the Alfa drivers are not so lucky. Raikkonen's race is ruined by a contact with Verstappen in the very early stages. Giovinazzi spins at the last lap, losing a precious P9. Hard to swallow race for Lando Norris, as his McLaren fails him at the last lap when he was running in P5.
The complete results are available through this link.
Written by Aurora Dell’Agli
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