2024 Belgian Grand Prix Heroes and Zeroes

[Jericoke]

Heroes
Russell.  A single stop in a race of two stoppers.  Interesting call, and certainly lucky that Hamilton was pursuing him and not Piastri.  A well driven win.   Too bad his tires wore out and didn't weigh enough.

Hamilton.  He's been energized by the car that Mercedes is giving him, a well raced afternoon, and a well deserved, if inherited, win.

Piastri.  A solid race, a few moments in the race might've been the difference between a win and third second

Verstappen.  Starting 11th and fighting up to fifth fourth is great.  He got ahead of race winners in race winning cars

Zeroes
Perez.  His job is to be in the fight when Verstappen can't.  He's not doing it.  Starting second and finishing with single digit points isn't enough.

I don't think anyone else had an especially 'bad' day. I was hoping for points for Albon, but Williams continues to not really be there. Alpine is the Jekyll and Hyde team of the season, although Haas having a lackluster day fits that too.

[Dare]

Jeri covers the race so well there's not much to add.

I guess Lewis was lucky they went for a 2 stopper and not
the 1 stopper he wanted. Oscar could have had 2 wins in a row

[rmassart]

Whilst not exactly a Zero, I think Norris should have been doing better. He will be disappointed not to finish ahead of Verstappem when Piastri was almost going for the win.

[Robem64]

Surely this race should be the final nail in the coffin for Perez - I for one am tired of hearing his excuses. Funny it never seems to be him at fault!

Starting second, he should have quite simply won this race. To finish behind Max, starting 9 places behind him - well he should be embarrassed.

I can't understand why they have given Perez so much time (and a new contract) to improve when Gasly and Albon were shown far less patience.

[Jericoke]

Surely this race should be the final nail in the coffin for Perez - I for one am tired of hearing his excuses. Funny it never seems to be him at fault!

Starting second, he should have quite simply won this race. To finish behind Max, starting 9 places behind him - well he should be embarrassed.

I can't understand why they have given Perez so much time (and a new contract) to improve when Gasly and Albon were shown far less patience.

Once upon a time Perez did help Verstappen win a championship through his driving skill.  Even though F1 is very much a 'what have you done for me lately' enterprise, it's run by human beings, and when you can look back on 'the good old days', it gives Perez an edge that Gasly and Albon never earned.

Further, I think the consensus was that RBR was putting too much pressure on drivers, such as Gasly and Albon, and forcing them out without giving a fair chance.  I think anyone who took that seat was going to be given longer, and Perez just so happened to be the beneficiary of that.

Lastly, Perez has a massive following and marketability in Mexico and Latin America.  He makes RBR more money than Gasly or Albon could at that point in their careers.  Mexico is basically a 5th home race for RBR, and I feel that the team thrives off being the celebrated hometown heroes.

So while I'm personally not a fan of Perez, and feel that Albon, who I am a fan of, has gotten the short end of the stick here, I can understand 'why they have given Perez so much time'.

PS, at the beginning of the year when there seemed to be a power struggle between the Austrian and Thai halves of Red Bull, that might point to reasons why a Thai driver was hired/fired so easily in the past.

[cosworth151]

It was a really fun weekend. Something sadly rare in F1 these days. A truly great circuit, changeable weather and 3 cars in contention for the win right up to the end. No team orders from Mercedes. Good sportsmanship all around. Even the disqualification, a bad way to end any race, was for something clear cut and easily understood. I wish they could all be this way.

(Except with a better finish for Haas    )