Formula 1 Live Ticker: Investigation against Lewis Hamilton

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The race stewards have now also explained this. There was a contact with Oscar Piastri. The judgment states:

“In the approach to turn 5, car 81 attempted to overtake car 16 on the outside. Car 81 partially overlapped car 16, but the front axle of car 81 was not ahead of the front axle of car 16, and there was no possibility for car 81 to complete an overtaking maneuver from this position.”

“According to the race stewards, car 16 did not intentionally push car 81 to the edge of the track. Car 16 followed the racing line before entering turn 5, moving slightly to the left to prepare for turn 5, resulting in a side contact between the two cars.”

“Under these circumstances, the race stewards decided to take no further action.”

Hamilton already received a penalty today, namely for the mentioned accident with Russell. The race stewards explain it in their judgment as follows:

“On the approach to turn 5 in the first lap, car 63 attempted to pass car 44 on the outside and had established sufficient overlap to claim the position.”

“Car 44 remained on the inside. During the cornering, car 44 understeered and despite attempting to avoid car 63 by counter-steering, its left front wheel made contact with the right side of car 63.”

“The race stewards found that car 63 stayed within the available space and that the collision was caused by car 44 being unable to maintain sufficient distance.”

“The race stewards acknowledge several mitigating circumstances. Car 44 was aware of car 63’s presence, tried to leave adequate space, and made a genuine effort to avoid contact.”

“The collision resulted from a loss of grip at the front axle and not from an aggressive or intentional maneuver. Additionally, the incident occurred in the first lap, where reduced grip and tight racing conditions are known.”

“For these reasons, the race stewards consider that – although car 44 is solely responsible for the collision – a five-second time penalty instead of the usual ten-second penalty according to FIA penalty guidelines is the appropriate sanction.”

The Mercedes driver says about his early retirement today: “I had a good start, got through the first corner excellently and was right behind Verstappen. But for some reason, the battery decided not to charge in turn 1.”

“So I went through the first corner, the battery didn’t charge, and I came out of the corner with only 35 percent charge,” says Russell, who was naturally an easy victim on the Kemmel Straight.

“I reached the highest point of Eau Rouge with zero percent battery charge. Honestly, that was dangerous. I was overtaken by three cars,” he reports. Then the accident with Hamilton happened.

You can find his full statements here.

Let’s take a breath first, because this weekend you again have the opportunity to rate the drivers for their performance with us. Who do you think were the best drivers in Spa? Vote now!

Race report

Results

Championship standings

The race in Spa starts in ten minutes and we are moving the action to our session ticker for now. So there is a short break here, after the finish line passage it continues here with voices about the Grand Prix.

And if you want to know how to watch Formula 1 live during the Belgium weekend, you can find out here.

Alexander Albon has already received an investigation before the start. We do not know exactly what it is about, the race control only reports “CAR SAFETY LIGHTS” as the reason, i.e. the safety lights on the car.

Probably won’t play a big role anyway, because Williams normally won’t be fighting for points here.

All 22 cars are on the starting grid. This is quite noteworthy, because for a change no one is starting from the pit lane today – despite the many grid penalties.

Quick weather update: We currently see a pretty dark cloud over the track. Rain is not actually forecast, but this might unsettle some people now. We keep an eye on it.

Read more Formula 1 live ticker: The race in Spa-Francorchamps now live!

You know the drill: 40 minutes to the start and the pit lane in Spa now opens. The drivers now have ten minutes to make their way to the starting grid.

We do not see the starting tires here yet. They will only be mounted shortly on the grid. We will learn the final tire choice only a few minutes before the start.

The BBC reports that Red Bull has found a quasi-successor for Helmut Marko. Gwen Lagrue is said to be moving from Mercedes to the Bulls and taking on a leadership role in the junior program.

Currently, Lagrue is still under contract as “Driver Development Advisor” at Mercedes. The move to Red Bull has not yet been officially confirmed.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton start only from P4 and P5. However, the Monegasque makes it clear that he still considers a podium possible today. “Overtaking will be difficult for us, though,” he also emphasizes.

Therefore, it will be important to get forward right at the start. “If we get the position on the track there, hopefully we have enough pace to stay up front,” says Leclerc.

Just under two hours to the start in Spa, where the driver parade has just begun. Here you can get some impressions and voices directly from the track again:

Carlos Sainz is the fifth driver to receive a grid penalty this weekend. He has received a new engine control electronics and must therefore drop ten places on the starting grid.

The updated starting grid can be found here.

Aston Martin is planning a big update for Budapest. Today’s race should therefore be the last where they are hopelessly behind. “We know there is not much to gain here,” says Lance Stroll.

“It’s about getting through this weekend and focusing on what awaits us in Budapest,” says the Canadian. And Mike Krack also emphasizes: “It will not be an easy race.”

“But we will focus on getting the best out of tomorrow. Only one more race, then we can focus on Budapest,” he stresses.

Let’s just hope the update really works as hoped …

Since we already talked about grid penalties this weekend: In Spa it is quite possible to win a race even from outside the top 10. The traditional track appears twice in this photo series:

Read more “A risky step”: Why Joan Mir wanted to switch to Gresini

Photo series: The greatest comebacks in Formula 1 history