Belgian Grand Prix: Race Recap

Both Hulkenberg and Magnussen started the race on the Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires, Hulkenberg from 16th, and Magnussen from 17th, and maintained their positions through the course of the opening laps.

Magnussen prolonged his first stint until lap 18 before coming in for a set of hard tires and battled in the midfield while nursing his set of tires as one of the only drivers to manage a one-stop strategy, eventually classifying in 15th position.

Hulkenberg meanwhile adopted a two-stop strategy, coming in on lap seven for White hard tires, before taking on another set of mediums at his second stop on lap 21. Hulkenberg saw the checkered flag in 19th position.

Up front Mercedes driver George Russell claimed victory, the third of his career, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri third.



Nico Hulkenberg:

“We had no pace, no harmony, no rhythm. I just didn’t get off on the right foot with the car all weekend and we didn’t manage to find a sweet spot across the sessions, and we need to look a little into why, but also forget this weekend and go again after the summer break. Kevin looked a bit better and pulled off the one-stop which was decent. Overall, we need to look into our low-downforce performance.”

Kevin Magnussen:

“I think we had a decent race, we just didn’t have the pace to fight further up today. We took what we could and did a one-stop, which was fine. I can’t say we did anything wrong, we just weren’t fast enough. We thought this track was going to be good for us, but we’ve been surprised many times, and this is the worst race we’ve had in a while. I’m looking forward to the summer break – everyone is – and then looking forward to some races where we’ll score some more points.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal:

“It was a tough race today, we didn’t have the pace. On Kevin’s side, he drove a really good race and we managed to do a one-stop strategy. Russell did a one-stop and managed to win the race compared to his teammate who two-stopped, so track evolution was actually pretty big and tire degradation was lower than expected. We reacted well converting Kevin’s strategy from two stops to one, and he drove well. Nico struggled a lot more and we couldn’t have done a one-stop strategy with him due to the degradation he had. We need to investigate why but all in all, it’s not the way we want to finish the last race before the summer shutdown, but we have to look at the bigger picture. Across 14 races, we’ve scored 27 points and we’re P7 in the Constructors’ Championship – so we need to look at the positives.”

Today's Data:

Event: Belgian Grand Prix – Sunday July 28
Location: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Layout: 7.004-kilometer (4.352-mile), 19-turn circuit 
Weather: Sunny
Air Temps: 21 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Race Winner: George Russell of Mercedes
Team Result:    
Kevin Magnussen – Started 17th / Finished 15th (Running – completed 44/44 laps)
Nico Hulkenberg – Started 16th / Finished 19th (Running – completed 44/44 laps)