2021 F1 Belgian Grand Grand Prix: Winners And Losers

Formula One’s return from the summer break quite possibly saw the most bizarre turn of events at Spa Francorchamps in the Belgian Grand Prix. Treacherous weather conditions saw enormous delays, and the race was reduced to a measly two laps under the safety car. This meant only half points were awarded to the top ten finishers.

Sure, we were robbed of racing action, but there were still some shock results, thanks to a manic qualifying session the day before. Here are all the winners and losers from the shortest race in F1 history.

Winners

George Russell 

The previous race at Hungary was already quite the result for Williams, but the Belgian Grand Prix was even better. A wet qualifying saw George Russell put in the lap of his career to line up an astonishing second on the grid in possibly the ninth quickest car in the field. And with what transpired in the race, Russell kept that second place to score not only his maiden F1 podium but also Williams’s first since Baku 2017. Sure, there was no racing, but it's still a big result for Williams in their quest to seal the eighth spot in the constructor standings. 

Max Verstappen 

Verstappen couldn’t have asked for a better return from the summer break in what was unofficially his home race (Max is Belgian-Dutch). Qualifying on pole and essentially keeping the race win, the Red Bull Racing Honda driver has closed the gap between the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton to just three points in the drivers’ standings.

Daniel Ricciardo

After struggling against teammate Lando Norris for most of the season, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo had some consolation at Spa by qualifying and securing the fourth spot in the race. 

Losers

Lando Norris

Mclaren’s Lando Norris was in prime form and was certainly the favorite for pole position until a costly crash at Eau Rouge in Q3, which eliminated him from qualifying. His problems were compounded by a 14th-place grid slot, thanks to a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. With how the race panned out, this was a crucial miss for Norris as he could’ve secured a top-three result.

Valtteri Bottas 

A poor qualifying and a five-place grid drop for the Hungarian Grand Prix incident saw the Mercedes of Valterri Bottas finish a lowly 12th place. This doesn’t help his attempts to save his seat for 2022 considering how George Russell fared. 

Sergio Perez 

On the other side of the Red Bull Racing Honda garage was Sergio Perez, who had another weekend to forget. Qualifying seventh and then binning the car on the way to the grid meant he was provisionally out of the race before it even started. But due to the long delays, the team managed to get his car ready for the race. Unfortunately, it was all for nothing, as he was relegated to 19th position and had to settle there. 

While the Belgian Grand Prix was a major downer for F1, racing action will return in less than seven days' time with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. It is scheduled to run from September 03- 05.