| 2020 Belgian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 7 of 17[a] in the2020 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 30 August 2020 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 RolexBelgian Grand Prix 2020 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps,Stavelot,Belgium | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 7.004 km (4.352 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 0[b] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:41.252 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Daniel Ricciardo | Renault | |||
| Time | 1:47.483 on lap 44 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Red Bull Racing-Honda | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2020 Belgian Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2020) was aFormula Onemotor race held on 30 August 2020 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps inStavelot,Belgium.[3] The race was the seventh round in the2020 Formula One World Championship.
A minute of silence was held before the race to mark the one year anniversary ofAnthoine Hubert's death.Pierre Gasly, one of Hubert's closest friends wore a tribute helmet for Hubert and all teams and drivers sported a star sticker on their chassis and helmets in tribute to Hubert.[4]
The opening rounds of the2020 championship were heavily affected by theCOVID-19 pandemic. Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the plannedopening round inAustralia was called off two days before the race was due to take place, prompting theFIA to draft a new calendar. However, the Belgian Grand Prix was not impacted by this change and kept its original date.[5]
In April 2020, the Belgian government extended a ban on mass gatherings until 31 August 2020 in a bid to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the race later received permission to be heldbehind closed doors.[6][2]
The drivers and teams were the same as those on the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for either the race or practice.[7]
Pirelli brought forward the C2, C3 and C4 tyres for the race weekend, the second, third, and fourth hardest tyre compounds available.[8]
The first practice session took place without major incident and ended withValtteri Bottas fastest forMercedes ahead of teammateLewis Hamilton andRed Bull driverMax Verstappen.Haas driversKevin Magnussen andRomain Grosjean andAlfa Romeo’sAntonio Giovinazzi were all unable to set a lap due to power unit issues for the Haas cars and unexplained issues for Giovinazzi's Alfa car.[9]In the second practice session, Max Verstappen was fastest for Red Bull, ahead ofRenault’sDaniel Ricciardo and Hamilton in the Mercedes.[10] Daniel Ricciardo suffered a hydraulics issue on the Kemmel straight shortly after setting the second fastest time resulting in a virtual safety car. A short red flag period followed soon due to an advertising billboard coming loose and falling on the track at turn 1. In the third and final practice session, Hamilton was fastest followed byEsteban Ocon for Renault andLando Norris forMcLaren.Ferrari, who had won the previous Belgian Grand Prix struggled in third practice withCharles Leclerc 17th andSebastian Vettel last.[11]
Lewis Hamilton took pole, 0.511 seconds ahead of teammateValtteri Bottas in Q3 (the third part of qualifying) withRed Bull’sMax Verstappen only 0.015 seconds behind Bottas in third. Hamilton dedicated his pole position toChadwick Boseman, who had died in the days preceding the race.Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth forRenault withAlexander Albon fifth andEsteban Ocon sixth. The rest of the top 10 wereCarlos Sainz Jr. forMcLaren, theRacing Point duo ofSergio Pérez andLance Stroll followed byLando Norris in the other McLaren. TheAlphaTauri’s ofDaniil Kvyat andPierre Gasly were 11th and 12th, followed by the Ferrari’s ofCharles Leclerc andSebastian Vettel. This was the first time since the2014 British Grand Prix that Ferrari took no part in Q3.George Russell impressed in 15th, getting through to Q2 (the second part of qualifying) for the fifth time this season forWilliams. Out in Q1 (the first part of qualifying) were bothAlfa Romeos, bothHaas drivers and the Williams ofNicholas Latifi.[12]
McLaren’sCarlos Sainz Jr. suffered a power unit issue which also damaged his exhaust, meaning he was unable to start the race.[15][16] On lap 10,Alfa Romeo'sAntonio Giovinazzi lost control of his car coming out of turn 14 and crashed into the wall. One of his wheels detached from the car which subsequently hit the front right suspension ofGeorge Russell'sWilliams forcing both drivers to retire from the race.[17][18]
This caused significant debris resulting in a safety car. All drivers exceptPierre Gasly andSergio Pérez pitted under safety car conditions. At the end of the safety car period the top 6 wereLewis Hamilton,Valtteri Bottas,Max Verstappen, Gasly, Pérez, andDaniel Ricciardo.[19]
On older tyres and out of position due to not pitting under the safety car, Pérez and Gasly both began to fall down the field. Nonetheless, by the time Ricciardo had passed them a few laps later, he was over 10 seconds behind third placed Max Verstappen and despite a much praised race Ricciardo would be unable to challenge for third.[19][20]
Sergio Pérez pitted at the end of lap 18 for new hard tyres dropping him to 17th, the last of the runners still on track, before starting to gradually make his way up the field using his newer tyres.[19] On lap 26 Pierre Gasly pitted from 10th position and put on a set of medium tyres that were to see him to the end of the race.[19] He came out in 16th position, behind every driver other thanCharles Leclerc who had been forced to make a second pit stop due to a pneumatics issue.[19] Similarly to Pérez before him Gasly used his newer tyres to start to make his way though the field, by lap 36 he was in 10th position behind Pérez in 9th. Gasly passed Pérez on lap 39 before closing the gap toLance Stroll whom he passed on lap 42 to take 8th position where he finished.[19]
Hamilton won the race, having led for every lap, followed by Bottas and Verstappen who had also held second and third respectively for the entire race.[19] Ricciardo completed the fastest lap, a 1:47.483, on the final lap of the race for an extra championship point and closing the gap to Max Verstappen in third to just over three seconds.[21][22] He finished in fourth, a position he had held the entire race other than briefly during and immediately after the safety car due to Gasly and Pérez not pitting. Ocon was able to overtake Albon on the last lap. The race was also notable forKimi Räikkönen finishing ahead of both Ferraris, including his former teammate Vettel.[23]
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| Previous race: 2020 Spanish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2020 season | Next race: 2020 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2019 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 2021 Belgian Grand Prix |
