?? THE 2019 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX
ROUND 13. 30th August – 1st September.
1010TH F1 GRAND PRIX | 75TH BELGIAN GRAND PRIX | 52ND GRAND PRIX AT SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
2018 POLESITTER: LEWIS HAMILTON | 2018 WINNER: SEBASTIAN VETTEL
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday 30th August
Free Practice 1 (11am Local Time/ 10am UK Time)
Free Practice 2 (3pm Local Time/ 2pm UK Time)
Saturday 31st August
Free Practice 3 (12pm Local Time/ 11am UK Time)
Qualifying (3pm Local Time/ 2pm UK Time)
Sunday 1st September
The 2019 Belgian Grand Prix (3:10pm Local Time/ 2:10pm UK Time)
?? WEEKEND MILESTONES AND RECORDS
This weekend, Toro Rosso will equal the Benetton team’s number of Grand Prix appearances.
If Ferrari lead 25 laps of the race, they’ll become the first team to have led 6,000km of the Belgian Grand Prix. If they score 6.5 points, they’ll become the first team to have scored 500 points at the Belgian Grand Prix.
If Lewis Hamilton out-scores Sebastian Vettel, he’ll become the driver to have scored the most points at the Belgian Grand Prix. Vettel has scored 139 points here compared to Hamilton’s 134. Meanwhile, a podium finish for Kimi Raikkonen would see him become the fifth driver to have scored 100 points at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Should he win, Sebastian Vettel will become the eighth different driver to have taken consecutive victories at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. If Kimi Raikkonen were to win, he’d be only the second driver to have taken consecutive victories on multiple occasions at the track. Michael Schumacher is the only other driver to have done so.
If Lewis Hamilton takes pole this weekend, it’ll be only the third time in F1’s history that a driver has taken pole at the Spa Francorchamps circuit in three consecutive seasons. Ayrton Senna and Mika Hakkinen are the only the other drivers to have taken more than two consecutive poles at the circuit.
You can find more information about the records which could be beaten this weekend in our Milestones and Records to Beat post.
ALL THE INFO
Click the links below to see all the stats and circuit history you could need ahead of the 2019 race!
- The Ultimate Track Guide
- Track Stats (Coming Soon)
- Team Form (Coming Soon)
- Driver Form (Coming Soon)
- Lucky and Unlucky Grid Positions (Coming Soon)
2018 RACE RECAP
Lewis Hamilton came out on top in qualifying, but Sebastian Vettel took the spoils on Sunday as he secured Ferrari’s first win at Spa since 2009.
The second part of Qualifying saw a close fight as the top three were separated by less than a half of a tenth of a second. As is usual with Spa’s micro-climate, though, changeable conditions in Q3 saw Lewis Hamilton take pole by over seven tenths, as Esteban Ocon lined up a brilliant third on the grid on Racing Point Force India’s first appearance. The rain stayed away for Sunday’s Grand Prix, but the first turn was chaotic, with Nico Hulkenberg smashing into the back of Fernando Alonso, sending the Spaniard’s McLaren flying over the Sauber of Charles Leclerc. Sebastian Vettel overtook Hamilton just before the Safety Car was called, as the pair and the Force India team-mates went four abreast into Les Combes. Kimi Raikkonen picked up a puncture in the melee after Daniel Ricciardo had run into the back of him. Both soon retired with damage from their collision. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas – who had started at the back due to engine penalties – had got into another incident with Sergey Sirotkin’s Williams. As the race got back underway, Hamilton looked for a way past Vettel but failed. Mercedes pitted Hamilton, while Vettel came in on the next lap, narrowly maintaining his lead. Marcus Ericsson and Brendon Hartley gave most of the action in the mid-part of the race, exchanging places numerous times. Despite his first lap clumsiness, Bottas made his way through the field to fourth. Vettel won by over ten seconds from championship rival Hamilton, as Max Verstappen gave the partisan crowd something to cheer about with a podium finish.
PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULES
The world’s media will have the opportunity to talk to the drivers on the Thursday before the race. Appearing in the Drivers’ Press Conference for this race weekend will be:
Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
Sergio Pérez (Racing Point)
Alexander Albon (Red Bull)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
George Russell (Williams)
The media also be talking to prominent members of Formula 1’s teams on Friday. Appearing in the Teams’ Press Conference for this race weekend will be:
Guenther Steiner (Haas)
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda)
Otmar Szafnauer (Racing Point)
Cyril Abiteboul (Renault)
Franz Tost (Toro Rosso)
DRIVER STEWARD
Each weekend a former Formula 1 driver, or a driver from another prominent series of motorsport, joins the stewards to help judge any incidents from a drivers’ perspective. The Driver Steward this weekend will be Emanuele Pirro.
WEATHER FORECAST
The weather forecast for the week ahead at the circuit currently looks like this:
[wpc-weather id=”4355″/]
FASTEST EVER LAP
1:41.501
The fastest ever lap of the circuit was set by Sebastian Vettel in 2018. Will it be beaten over the race weekend?
TYRE CHOICES
Each weekend, the tyres will be known as Soft (red), Medium (yellow) and Hard (white), but the actual compounds will change each race weekend.
Pirelli will supply the C1, C2 and C3 compounds of tyre for this race weekend. Each driver’s selection of tyres can be found below:
2018 FASTEST LAP IN EACH SESSION
| Free Practice 1 | 1:44.358 (Sebastian Vettel) |
| Free Practice 2 | 1:43.355 (Kimi Raikkonen) |
| Free Practice 3 | 1:42.661 (Sebastian Vettel) |
| Qualifying | 1:58.179 (Lewis Hamilton) |
| Grand Prix | 1:46.286 (Valtteri Bottas) |
ON THIS DAY
The 2002 Belgian Grand Prix is the only other Formula 1 Grand Prix which has been held on 1st September. Michael Schumacher started from pole and won, while Ferrari secured a 1-2 finish.
