Oracle Red Bull Racing

Race Changing Moments: Belgian Grand Prix 2023

It was a classic Spa weekend with rain, rain, and more rain… but amid the downpours there was some good old fashioned racing.

The

weather

played

its

part

the

2023

Belgian

Grand

Prix,

but

the

rain

couldn’t

cooldown

the

excitement

the

track.

Here

are

the

good

and

bad

moments

that

made

the

Belgian

Grand

Prix.…

MaxBouncingBackAfterQ2

Friday’s qualifying session seems like a lifetime ago already. In trying conditions, it was looking tough out there and Max looked like he might suffer from it. At the end of Q2, Max squeaked into the final qualifying stint by taking P10 – the last place. But then in Q3 he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and took pole away from Charles Leclerc by 1.82s!

Relaxed, Focused And Ready

ToughSaturdayForCheco

Sprint Saturday was tough for Checo. In SQ3 he was on a flying lap and as he was heading towards the final few turns he caught up with a train of rival cars waiting to start their push laps. He threaded his way expertly through the slow-moving traffic, but it clearly impeded his time and he had to settle for P8.

It got worse for the Bull though. In the sprint race he managed to advance two places early on and was attacking, when the front left wheel of Lewis Hamilton careened into the side of Checo’s car. The collision ripped a huge hole in the Bull’s sidepod and due to this he started dropping down the leader board. After trying to compete but losing out to other drivers, Checo’s Race Engineer Hugh Bird radioed to say they were going to have to retire the car. Spoiler alert his weekend did turn around though!

Would It Be Spa Without Some Rain?

StrategySaviourInSprint

The weather often plays a part in Spa – it’s be more unusual if it didn’t rain at some point... Saturday’s sprint race began behind the Safety Car due to the wet conditions, andevery car was on the blue-banded wet tyre. As the safety car pulled away into the pits most of the grid followed to change for the green intermediate tyres as the track was drying. Max stayed out to keep clear of a packed pitlane, but he knew he needed to pit the following lap. He pulled in and came out in P2 behind Oscar Piastri, but the Bull kept his cool and by lap six he took P1 from the McLaren rookie and disappeared into the distance. He won by 6.6 seconds and took his second sprint win of the season.

Full Wet Tyres Being Used

SixthSense

With Max having to start P6 for Sunday’s race, there were whispers of uncertainty of whether or not he’d be able to pull off his eighth win in a row… But from Max’s point of view, it was never in doubt. He was able to stay out of trouble at the turn one collision that saw both Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz retire due to the damage caused to their cars, and was up to P4 before the end of the opening lap. On lap six he took Lewis Hamilton on the inside, then Charles Leclerc on the outside on lap nine, placing him in second.

After settling into the race, Max and Checo sat in P1 + 2, so it was looking like a good day for the Team no matter what.On lap 17 Max slipped past his teammate and the pair then settled into their positions for the rest of the race.

ChecoBackToHisBest

After a series of unfortunate qualifying sessions, Checo was back on form and found himself on the front row alongside Leclerc. It didn’t take him too long to make his move and even before DRS was enabled, Checo took the lead from the Ferrari driver.By the end of the lap he was 1.289s ahead, andfrom there the Mexican Bull was solid and handled the rest of the race perfectly. His teammate took the lead on lap 17, but Checo was able to claim P2 and his 7th podium of the season.

Fireworks For The Team Work