Bienvenue Ă Spa-Francorchamps pour le Grand Prix de Belgique Formule 1 2018
Welkom bij Spa-Francorchamps voor de Grand Prix Formule 1 België 2018
Willkommen in Spa-Francorchamps fĂĽr den Formel 1 Belgien Grand Prix 2018
I’m so excited that we’re back to racing after the looooong mid-season break, that I’m using all 3 of Belgium’s official languages to welcome you to the iconic Spa circuit for the 2018 Belgium Grand Prix.
Here’s when the action happens:
And here’s the circuit where all that action happens:
Belgian homeboy Stoffel Vandoorne takes us around the circuit for a virtual lap:
(The F1 2018 game is also being released this weekend, so y’all can start doing your own virtual laps to compare if you want. hint, hint @DieGrootHammer - how about you provide the virtual laps for the rest of the season?)
Pirelli share their tyre thoughts via infographic as usual:
And F1.com provide some pre-race braai talking points:
- This weekend will be Hamilton’s 111th start for Mercedes, surpassing his career total at McLaren (110). He is the only man to make 100 Grand Prix starts for two different teams and the only driver to make 200 starts for one engine manufacturer.
- Vettel is currently tied on wins (51) and podium finishes (106) with Alain Prost, while a top-eight finish this weekend will take the German through the 1,000-point barrier for Ferrari.
- Raikkonen is seeking the 100th podium finish of his career this weekend, something only previously achieved by Schumacher (155), Hamilton (126), Prost (106) and Vettel (106).
- Despite a good finishing record here (with one win and two more podium finishes), Ricciardo has never started in the top four on this track and has only outqualified a team mate once (Daniil Kvyat in 2015).
- Verstappen (below) has never finished higher than eighth in three starts at Spa and has never completed a lap in a top four position here.
- The most successful track of his F1 career so far, Hulkenberg has twice finished fourth twice at Spa (2012, 2016) but only once at any other circuit (Korea 2013), and he’s still never had a podium finish after 147 starts.
- Grosjean finished third for Lotus (Enstone) at the 2015 Belgian GP, which is the Frenchman’s only podium finish in the turbo hybrid era.
- Alonso has never won at Spa, and has failed to finish here six times in his career, more than at any track other than Montreal (8 times).
- Force India’s Perez has only reached Q3 once in the last five races (Hockenheim) - his worst run since mid-2016 - but he has qualified in the top four twice here (2012, 2015) - something he’s never done anywhere else in his F1 career.
- Stroll took one of his 15 European F3 wins at Spa in 2016 on his way to winning the title, a race in which seven of the 12 laps were run behind the Safety Car due to rain (Stroll claimed a hat-trick with pole and the fastest lap).