F1 Driver Form: Belgian Grand Prix

Until the Dutch Grand Prix joined the calendar in 2021, the Belgian Grand Prix was Max Verstappen’s de facto home race. In eight appearances, Verstappen has scored four podium finishes, winning at the track for the first time in 2021. He won again in 2022, this time doing so from 14^th on the grid. He finished third in both 2018 and 2020.

Verstappen has retired from the event twice: he suffered power unit problems after just seven laps in 2017 and crashed out on the opening lap in 2019 after making contact with Kimi Raikkonen.

2015 is the only year that Verstappen has not reached Q3 at Spa, as well as the only season that he has not out-qualified his team-mate. He took pole position here in 2021, which was his first front row qualification at the track since 2016. He also set the fastest qualifying time in 2022 but a penalty demoted him on the grid.

Sergio Perez recorded his first podium result at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2022, finishing as runner-up to his team-mate. Perez crashed on his way to the grid at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix and would have recorded a DNS if not for the extensive rain delay. He was allowed to start from the pit lane and finished the ‘race’ in 19^th place.

2021 is one of five occasions that Perez has not scored on his 12 appearances at the Belgian Grand Prix. Three of those occasions have been due to retirements – his most recent being in 2017.

2013 and 2014 are the only years that Perez has not qualified in the top ten at Spa. His best qualifying result at the circuit is third in 2022; though he started from the front row as the result of a grid penalty for his team-mate.

Charles Leclerc took his maiden Formula 1 victory at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix. He has scored here on two other occasions, finishing eighth in 2021 and sixth in 2022. He was eliminated at the first corner in the 2018 race, and finished only 14^th in 2020.

Leclerc took pole position in 2019 – but that was the only time he reached at the venue in his first four appearances. He qualified fourth last year, which was the first time he had been out-qualified by a team-mate at the track.

Leclerc has won at the track in F3, GP3 and F2, though he was stripped of his F2 Feature Race win in 2017 due to a technical infringement.

Carlos Sainz finished on the podium at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. It was the first time he finished in the top nine at Spa-Francorchamps. Prior to 2022, Sainz had scored just two points at the track, with tenth place finishes for Toro Rosso in 2017 and with Ferrari in 2021.

Sainz’s only other finish here is 11^th place with Renault in 2018, with all of his other four appearances resulting in DNFs. He failed to even start the 2020 race, as an engine issue put him on the sidelines.

2020 marked the first time that Sainz has reached Q3 at Spa since his debut season. After being out in Q2 in 2021, he recorded his best qualifying result to date at the circuit in 2022 with second place. As Max Verstappen had a grid penalty, Sainz inherited pole position.

Lewis Hamilton has won the Belgian Grand Prix four times and has finished on the podium in all seven seasons between 2015 and 2021. Aside from his five DNFs at the circuit and his fourth place in 2007, Hamilton has finished on the podium on every other outing at Spa.

Hamilton has had more retirements at Spa than at any other circuit in his career. He was out in 2022 following contact with Fernando Alonso at the same point at which contact with team-mate Nico Rosberg last ended Hamilton’s race at the track in 2014.

Hamilton has taken six poles at the Belgian Grand Prix, and 2009 and 2016 are the only times in fifteen appearances that he has not reached Q3 at the circuit. In total, Hamilton has had nine front row starts at the track. 2012 and 2014 are the only years that Hamilton has been out-qualified by a team-mate at Spa on pure pace.

George Russell recorded his first podium finish in Formula 1 with Williams at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. He had never previously scored at the track, having finished 15^th on his first Belgian Grand Prix appearance in 2019 and failing to finish in 2020, crashing as a result of another incident for Antonio Giovinazzi. Russell finished fourth last season.

Russell qualified on the front row for the 2021 Spa race with Williams, marking the first time he’d qualified above 15^th at the circuit. He qualified eighth last year, where he was out-qualified by his team-mate for the first time at the track.

Russell previously raced at Spa in F3, GP3 and F2, with the latter being the only junior category in which he failed to take a victory at the circuit. In 2018, Russell finished third in the F2 Feature Race at the track, and seventh in the Sprint Race.

Esteban Ocon made his Formula 1 debut with Manor at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix. From his six appearances at the track, that’s the only time that he has failed to score. Ocon recorded his best result to date at the circuit in 2020, finishing in fifth place. He’s finished seventh here in each of the last two seasons.

The Frenchman has reached Q3 on every appearance bar his 2016 debut, and recorded the best qualifying result of his career to date with third on the grid at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix. He recorded his second time five qualifying result at the track last year.

Pierre Gasly has scored on all five appearances at the Belgian Grand Prix, recording his best result to date with sixth place in 2021. He finished ninth on both of his first appearances at the circuit, before going one better in 2020 and finishing eighth. He came home ninth in 2022, becoming the first driver in F1 history to score on all of his first five appearances at Spa-Francorchamps.

Gasly reached Q3 at the circuit for the first time in 2021, qualifying in sixth place. 2020 is the only season in which Gasly has been out-qualified by a team-mate here. Prior to F1, Gasly raced at Spa in Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2. He won the GP2 Feature Race at the track in 2016.

Lando Norris scored at the Belgian Grand Prix for the first time in 2020, finishing in seventh place. That’s the only time he has scored so far at Spa. He was set for a strong result at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix but retired just before the finish line, seeing him classified outside the points.

In 2021, Norris was on course for a great qualifying result before crashing out in Q3. He finished only 14^th in the rain-shortened race. Norris has reached Q3 in all of the last three years, qualifying tenth in all of the last three years – though grid drops meant that he started 15^th in 2021 and 17^th in 2022.

Norris previously raced at Spa-Francorchamps in Formula 3 in 2017. He won two of the races that weekend, and recorded a DNF in the middle race. In 2018, Norris competed here in F2, taking fourth place in the feature race and finishing as runner-up in the Sprint Race. Also at the track in 2018, Norris made his first appearance at a Formula 1 weekend, when he participated in Free Practice 1 with McLaren.

Oscari Piastri last raced at Spa in 2020, where he recorded two top six finishes in Formula 3. He has previously won at the track, taking victory in Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019.

Valtteri Bottas is yet to win the Belgian Grand Prix, but has finished on the podium three times and scored on all but three appearances. Bottas held a 100% finish rate at the track until 2022, when he collided with Nicholas Latifi on the second lap.His maiden outing here in 2013 with Williams, when he finished 15^th, and 2021, when he finished 12^th, are the only other times that the Finn has failed to score at the circuit.

Bottas qualified last in 2022, marking the first time since 2013 that Bottas missed out on Q3 at the circuit. 2020 is the only season in which he has started from the front row here. Bottas has only ever led one lap at Spa. That was with Williams back in 2014. He has not out-qualified his team-mate at the circuit since 2016.

Zhou Guanyu made his Belgian Grand Prix debut in 2022, finishing in 14^th place. He out-qualified his team-mate, progressing to Q2 and qualifying 13^th. A grid penalty dropped him to 18^th for the start on Sunday, meaning he made up four positions over the course of the race.

Prior to Formula 1, Zhou’s most recent experience at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps came in Formula 2 in 2020. Zhou finished seventh in the Feature Race and on the podium, in third place, in the Sprint Race.

Fernando Alonso has never won the Belgian Grand Prix – though he has had three podium finishes at Spa Francorchamps. He finished as runner-up in 2005 and 2013, and finished third in 2007.

Alonso has recorded no less than seven retirements at the track – notably being taken out in dramatic fashion at the first turn in both 2012 and 2018. In 2022, he finished fifth, scoring his first pints at the track since 2016.

Alonso has never taken pole or started from the front row at Spa. His best grid slot here is third, which is where he started in 2004, 2007 and 2022. He qualified sixth in 2022, reaching Q3 at the track for the first time since 2014. As a result of grid penalties for other drivers, he moved up to third for the start of the race.

Lance Stroll holds a 100% finish rate at the Belgian Grand Prix and has scored here twice. He recorded his best result so far at the circuit with ninth place in 2020.

2020 also marked the first time that Stroll reached Q3 at the circuit, qualifying in ninth place. He has not reached Q3 since, having been out in Q2 on his last two appearances. 2022 was the first time that the Canadian out-qualified his team-mate at this track.

He finished the 2021 rain-shortened race in last place after picking up a 10-second time penalty for an illegal rear wing change under the red flag.

Kevin Magnussen has scored only once from seven previous appearances at the Belgian Grand Prix. He picked up four points with eighth place in 2018. From his other five starts, the Dane has failed to finish only once. That was in 2016, when he suffered a huge crash at the top of the hill. Magnussen has qualified in the top ten here three times, with a best qualifying result of seventh in 2014. He recorded his first Q1 exit at the track in 2020 and was out in Q1 again in 2022.

From nine previous Belgian Grand Prix appearances, Nico Hulkenberg has picked up points at the event on five occasions. His best result at the track is fourth, which he recorded in both 2012 and 2016. Hulkenberg has failed to finish the Belgian Grand Prix twice – in 2015, when he failed to even start, and in 2018, when he crashed out at Turn 1.

Hulkenberg has reached the final part of qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix on four occasions. He qualified ninth in 2010 and recorded his best qualifying result of seventh three times – in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

2014 is the only year in which Hulkenberg has been eliminated in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix. He has out-qualified his team-mate at the circuit on only three occasions.

After exiting in Q1 and lining up 16^th on the grid, Yuki Tsunoda finished 15^th on his Belgian Grand Prix debut in 2021. He exited in Q1 again in 2022 and started the race from the pit lane. Tsunoda recorded his best Belgian Grand Prix result to date in 2022 with 13^th place.

Tsunoda has raced at Spa Francorchamps in F3 and F2. He has finished on the podium here twice, finishing in second place in the second F3 race in 2019 and winning the F2 Feature Race in 2020.

Daniel Ricciardo claimed the second victory of his Formula 1 career at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix. The 2014 race winner went on to secure a further two podium finishes at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in 2016 and 2017. He’s recorded two top four finishes here in the last three years. Ricciardo has also experienced bad luck here, recording three retirements from his 12 appearances. 2019 and 2022 are the only years in which Ricciardo has finished in a worse position than where he started at Spa.

2022 was the first time that Ricciardo failed to qualify in the top ten at the Belgian Grand Prix since 2013. In both 2020 and 2021, Ricciardo qualified fourth, which is his best Saturday result at the track. He’s not recorded a Q1 exit at Spa since 2013.

Alex Albon finished in the top ten on all three previous appearances at the Belgian Grand Prix. His best result here is fifth, recorded on his debut outing with Red Bull in 2019. He started from 17^th that year due to a grid penalty. He finished sixth in 2020 and tenth in 2022.

Albon reached Q3 at the circuit for the first time in 2020, qualifying in fifth place. He reached Q3 again in 2022, out-qualifying his team-mate at Spa for the first time.

Logan Sargeant has previously won at Spa, winning the 2020 Formula 3 Sprint Race at the circuit. He has secured further podium finishes here in F3 and Formula Renault Eurocup. In Formula 2 last year, Sargeant retired from the Sprint Race and finished fifth in the Feature Race.