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2020 Belgium Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: We criticized the other teams in the past for being the reason nobody can beat Mercedes. But, we also have to criticize the FIA who keeps putting in all these ridiculous development freezes, locking in Mercedes' advantage. Because of that, we already know how 2021 is going to play out...

EVENT: Once again, we sure missed those crazy Dutch fans.

TRACK: It's so thrilling to simply watch an F1 car negotiate Spa-Francorchamps. Just thrilling.

QUALIFYING: Mercedes enjoys party mode for the last time, Red Bull does their usual, Renault surprises with their speed, McLaren now trailed the factory team, Racing Point lost some speed since Friday, and Ferrari is just pathetic.

RACE: Well, yeah, not much to stay about this one. No rain. No tire blowouts. No unpredictability.

START: Ricciardo and Verstappen have a thrilling battle, Stroll gets another great start, Leclerc is even better, Albon falls back, Giovinazzi keeps his perfect record of gaining spots, and the Mercedes play it clean and avoid the slipstreamers.

HAMILTON: The restart lap shows you how dominate Lewis can be. To open up over a second lead, and thus out of DRS range, in one lap from a restart after the tires have cooled down is spectacular.

BOTTAS: Let's face it. Valtteri is no Nico Rosberg.

MERCEDES: And because there is no competition within the team, it makes it more boring than when you had Nico and Lewis going at it tooth and nail.

VERSTAPPEN: What can you say? Max will finish third every race unless something out of the norm happens.

ALBON: Alex just can't completely get the handle on a car that is very unstable, which his teammate doesn't mind.

RED BULL: For the first time, they acknowledge they may go out of their system to bring in a driver. If so, Nico Hulkenberg or Sergio Perez have a solid option.

RICCIARDO: Pierre Gasly may have been voted driver of the race by the fans, and we have no problem with that. However, we would have voted for Daniel. He showed his old brilliant self. And topped it off with a fastest lap on 33-lap old hard tires.

OCON: Another great weekend. But we can't shake the fact that Esteban can't outrun his teammate.

RENAULT: Another huge step forward. They should also look good at Monza.

GASLY: To think, Pierre should have finished even higher because the timing of the safety car ruined his strategy. He continues to be the most inspiring story of 2020.

VETTEL: Started 14th. Finished 13th.

LECLERC: Started 13th. Finished 14th.

FERRARI: How much more wretched can this team get?

RUSSELL: One of the worst fears for any driver is to suddenly see a loose wheel bounding in his path.

SAINZ: Last year, Carlos stalled on the Spa grid. This year, he doesn't even make it to the grid. Maybe next year, he should just feign an illness and stay home...

WILLIAMS: No longer a family owned team as they sell to a mysterious entity. But, will they still be a family run team...?

CONCORDE: It's good everyone signed the new Concorde Agreement. It's good the money distribution will be more equitable. It's not so good that Ferrari still gets the extra payout, but it's lower than before, and we can live with it. But, how in the hell does Libery Media allow Ferrari to keep their veto power? No other sport in the world would ever stand for such shenanigans.

F2: The series paid tribute to Anthoine Hubert in their return one year after the tragic day at Spa. Brit Callum Ilott only got one point on the weekend, losing his championship lead. Russian Robert Schwartzman regained the lead by 10 points thanks to a fifth and first.

F3: A sour engine caused American Logan Sargeant to drop down the field and finish eighth in the first race losing the championship lead. However, the reverse grid put him in an excellent spot to eventually grab the win on Sunday as well as the bonus points for fastest lap, reclaiming the top position. This time by seven points.

INDY 500: We had to wait a week to say this -- Sato-Mania!!

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Predictable.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 1.744 -- The amount in seconds between the fastest Mercedes qualifying time and the fastest Ferrari qualifying time.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: In 1969, Ferrari was in regroup mode. After financial issues were solved when Enzo sold the road car division to Fiat, he set about rebuilding the famed F1 team. Thus, 1969 was a throwaway year. So much so, that Ferrari did not even enter the German GP. After entering the next race because it was the Italian GP (Pedro Rodríguez finished sixth), they did not even bother sending their factory team to North America for the last three rounds. They allowed NART (North American Racing Team) to field one of their cars for Rodríguez (who retired from Canada and finished fifth and seventh in the USA and Mexico, respectively). In all, Ferrari only finished four of the 11 races, scoring in three of them (Chris Amon got a third in the Netherlands).

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Romain Grosjean on the thrills of driving Spa, "Spa is absolutely mega. Even if you're 17th it feels fast!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Daniel Ricciardo on not completely, 100% pushing the issue against Max Verstappen on the first lap, "I was keeping that one percent of maturity!"

SCHEDULE: Monza is an even more high speed, high horsepower track. Perhaps, it's a good thing the Tifosi can't attend...

Copyright © 2020 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Hamilton 44
2. Bottas 44
3. Verstappen 44
4. Ricciardo 44
5. Ocon 44
6. Albon 44
7. Norris 44
8. Gasly 44
9. Stroll 44
10. Perez 44
11. Kvyat 44
12. Raikkonen 44
13. Vettel 44
14 Leclerc 44
15. Grosjean 44
16. Latifi(R) 44
17. Magnussen 44
NC Giovinazzi 9
NC Russell 9
NC Sainz 0

Time of Race
1:24:08.761

Margin of Victory
8.448 sec.

Safety Car
1 for 4 laps

Lead Changes
None

Lap Leaders
Lewis Hamilton

Fastest Race Lap
Daniel Ricciardo

Pole Position
Lewis Hamilton

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Hamilton 157
2. Verstappen 110
3. Bottas 107
4. Albon 48
5. Leclerc 45
  Norris 45
7. Stroll 42
8. Ricciardo 33
  Perez 33
10. Ocon 26
11. Sainz 23
12. Gasly 18
13. Vettel 16
14. Hulkenberg 6
15. Giovinazzi 2
  Kvyat 2
17. Magnussen 1

  Team Pts.
1. Mercedes 264
2. Red Bull 158
3. McLaren 68
4. Racing Point 66
5. Ferrari 61
6. Renault 59
7. AlphaTauri 20
8. Alfa Romeo 2
9. Haas 1
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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