2024 Belgian Grand Prix

2024 Belgian Grand Prix
2024 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 24 in the 2024 Formula One World Championship
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	Layout of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Race details
Date	28 July 2024
Official name	Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps; Stavelot, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	7.004 km (4.352 miles)
Distance	44 laps, 308.052 km (191.415 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Attendance	380,000
Pole position
Driver	Charles Leclerc;
Time	1:53.754
Fastest lap
Driver	Sergio Pérez
Time	1:44.701 on lap 44 (lap record)
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton;
Second	Oscar Piastri;
Third	Charles Leclerc;
	Lap leaders ;

The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Rolex Belgian Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 28 July 2024 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. It was the fourteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

Max Verstappen set the fastest time in qualifying, but was relegated to eleventh following a grid penalty, with Charles Leclerc inheriting pole position in his place. George Russell of Mercedes crossed the finish line first, but was disqualified after the race because his car failed to meet the minimum weight requirement. The race was won by Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton, his second victory of the season and his last for Mercedes before his move to Ferrari, ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari.

Background

The event was held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot for the 57th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 26–28 July.^[6] The Grand Prix was the fourteenth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 69th running of the Belgian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.^[7]

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 265 points, 76 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 103 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Red Bull Racing, with 389 points, led the Constructors' Championship from McLaren and Ferrari, who were second and third with 338 and 322 points, respectively.^[8]

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[9]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C2, C3, and C4 tyre compounds (the middle three in their range), designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[10]

Track changes

The DRS zone leading in to turn 5 was shortened by 75 metres (246 ft).^[11]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 26 July 2024, at 13:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing ahead of Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Alexander Albon of Williams. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time, and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of his teammate Piastri and Verstappen. The third free practice session was held on 27 July 2024, at 12:30 local time, and was topped by Verstappen ahead of Piastri and Pierre Gasly of Alpine. Further running was curtailed due to bad weather conditions. The session was suspended earlier as Lance Stroll crashed his Aston Martin at Raidillon, damaging his front-left suspension and front wing.^[12]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 27 July 2024, at 16:00 local time (UTC+2).^[12]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Final grid
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:54.938	1:53.837	1:53.159	11¹
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:55.349	1:54.193	1:53.754	1
3	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:55.139	1:54.470	1:53.765	2
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:55.692	1:54.037	1:53.835	3
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:55.582	1:54.358	1:53.981	4
6	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:54.835	1:54.136	1:54.027	5
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:55.353	1:54.095	1:54.184	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:55.169	1:54.112	1:54.477	7
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:55.489	1:54.258	1:54.765	8
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:55.417	1:54.460	1:54.810	9
11	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1:55.722	1:54.473	N/A	10
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1:54.911	1:54.635	N/A	12
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1:55.451	1:54.682	N/A	13
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:55.531	1:54.764	N/A	14
15	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:56.072	1:55.716	N/A	15
16	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1:56.308	N/A	N/A	16
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:56.500	N/A	N/A	17
18	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1:56.593	N/A	N/A	20²
19	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1:57.230	N/A	N/A	18
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:57.775	N/A	N/A	19³
107% time: 2:02.873⁴
Source:^[13]^[14]

Notes

^1 – Max Verstappen received a ten-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of internal combustion engine components.^[14]
^2 – Yuki Tsunoda was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[14]
^3 – Zhou Guanyu received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen in Q1. He gained a position as per Yuki Tsunoda's penalty.^[14]
^4 – As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.^[15]

Race

The race was held on 28 July 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 44 laps.^[12]^[16]

Race report

George Russell, who started fifth, initiated a one-stop strategy in which he held off his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri to cross the line in first. However, he was disqualified following the race, as his car was 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) under the 798 kg (1,759 lb) minimum weight.^[17]^[18]^[19] Hamilton inherited the win, which was the 105th of his career, with Piastri being promoted to second and Charles Leclerc, who had finished fourth before Russell's disqualification, being promoted to third, which marked his first podium finish since his win at the Monaco Grand Prix. Championship leader Max Verstappen finished 4th, extending his lead over Lando Norris, who finished fifth, to 78 points. Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sergio Pérez, the latter starting second following a spell of mediocre qualifying results, finished 6th and 7th respectively, with Fernando Alonso claiming 8th. Esteban Ocon finished 9th, scoring his first points since the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo taking his final career point with tenth. Zhou Guanyu was the only driver who retired from the race following a hydraulics failure.

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	44	1:19:57.566	3	25
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	44	+0.647	5	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	44	+8.023	1	15
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	44	+8.700	11	12
5	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	44	+9.324	4	10
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	44	+19.269	7	8
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	44	+42.669	2	7¹
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	44	+49.437	8	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	44	+52.026	9	2
10	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	44	+54.400	13	1
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	44	+1:02.485	15
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:03.125	10
13	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	44	+1:03.839	12
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:06.105	17
15	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	44	+1:10.112	14
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	44	+1:16.211	20
17	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	44	+1:25.531	18
18	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	44	+1:28.307	16
Ret	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	5	Hydraulics	19
DSQ	63	George Russell	Mercedes	44	Underweight car²	6
Fastest lap: Sergio Pérez (Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT) – 1:44.701 (lap 44)
Source:^[14]^[20]^[21]^[22]