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Always beautiful, Spa! A real race, a real track. It is no coincidence that he stressed that the pilot had blood, “hair” and brains. So, on the track, a fierce battle unfolded. Original. The result would have gone down in history: but after the race, the irregularities were discovered and the winner was disqualified, without protest from the team.
So, in the 2024 race, a hundred years after the first 24-hour race on this historic and beloved track, the third most famous and important after Le Mans and Daytona, Sunday confirmed the most obvious expectations after a wet qualifying session on Saturday that was already surprising in its own way. He upset the bets. In short, it brought a great show thanks to the ingenuity, energy and character of the drivers. Under the checkered flag: Russell, Hamilton, Piastri. Hamilton and Piastri were just a stone’s throw away, engaged in an unforgettable head-to-head battle. Far behind Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris. Sainz, seventh, started with a gap of around twenty seconds: too much, especially on a Sunday without laps. Yet two hours after the race, everything changed dramatically: the weight of the No. 63 car was one and a half kilograms below the stipulated 798 kilograms. Both scales came to a consistent result, one team confirmed that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was indeed a team error. Russell thus, who won the highest award of his career for the third time – the second in 2024, after Austria – saw the memory of a perfect score fade away on one of the most memorable Sundays of his life, where he taught a good “lesson” to colleagues and to his own wall. As a result, all colleagues saw their final arrival order archived with one less position.
Red Bull is getting less and less: World Championships reopen
If it weren’t for the disappointment of the disqualification, the race on Sunday went smoothly: there was no shouting, none of the “ugliness” seen recently on the track. Perhaps it was because the performances of the previous days were so unbearable that some people were justified in being scolded. Yet today, for example in the Red Bull race, both drivers could and perhaps should have driven in a more daring way. On the one hand, Verstappen was aware that he was the fastest in qualifying and he considers himself competitive at the highest level, but despite this he had to pay the price for the fifth power unit “accepted” for 2024 by paying a starting penalty of 10 positions. But he did not spend too much energy on exaggeration: he tested in an almost anonymous way, aiming for the overall points and content to be at least ahead of the only rival who could scare him so far: Norris.
However, Perez has a heavy weight on his shoulders: he has been warned that, on this evidence, Milton Keynes may no longer have him under contract from tomorrow. He starts from second: despite this, it does him no good. You don’t see it at first, then less. Eighth place – and eventual seventh – in the constructors’ standings means McLaren has regained some points. In short, it will come as no surprise to anyone if the dismissal comes soon, with Ricciardo promoted to the first team and Lawson to Faenza.
Red Bull is losing ground, both in individual and team results, further confirming that the era of the unreachable seems to be over. The “magic” of the Newey hybrid era, combined with ground effect, seems to have overcome the peak and started an unstoppable descent, with alternating slopes at the moment. There are few certainties about the future: many have rumored that the wizard will move to Maranello, but last week has been increasingly linked to the planet of Stroll and Aston Martin. Also because, in the absence of a good project, it would be a real waste to have hired a big name like Alonso and not to offer him (again) a competitive single-seater.
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