BELIGAN GRAND PRIX

Two weekends ago in Belgium, Charles Leclerc dedicated his first F1 win to his friend and French F2 driver Anthoine Hubert, who died in a fatal accident there on Saturday. When Charles won on Sunday, he got out of his car and pointed to the sky. This hugely affected me and I was torn between the loss of a brilliant young man who se F2 career was inspiring to watch and the triumph and humility of this future champion who had just won his first F1 race. Tragedy and triumph came face to face for me here.

This is so much more than a sport. These are lives.

That's what I think this weekend in Belgium has come to mean for me. That moment when Charles, wearing his black armband, pointed to the sky is a moment I know I will never forget.

Charles Leclerc is now an F1 race winner, which was always his destiny. The future is here.

See my notes on the weekend below.

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Race Weekend dates: August 30 - September 1, 2019*

*Sorry this post is so delayed. I was overwhelmed by the double header right after the month-long summer break.

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Free Practice 1

- first thing you see is the big story: Alex Albon promoted to Red Bull over the summer break and Pierre back in the Toro Rosso OH MY GOSH the drama 

- Daniel is picking up 2 five place grid penalties for this weekend 

- So much news broke over the race. Albon promoted to Red Bull, Pierre demoted to Toro, Bottas announced another year, then announced Ocon is going to be Daniel’s teammate at Renault next year and now Hulk needs a seat

- Latifi is sitting in for George Russell at Williams this session 

- Hamilton’s just replaced his engine and now it’s already dying

- Virtually the whole field is in line for grid penalties this weekend

- Who is this deep voices Scottish man commentating that I don’t recognize? 

- Stroll lost a bunch of parts that went flying behind his car

- Will Grosjean or Hulk go to Haas next year? 

- Ericsson got called in as a reserve driver for Sauber cause Kimi hurt himself motocrossing but then it turned out that he wasn’t needed at Spa so then he missed an Indycar race for no reason 

Free Practice 2

- Charles is fined 600 euros for “speeding in the pit lane”

- Had get lance out of his car because he smells burning but everyone was kind of like why isn’t he getting out that car faster 

- Perez’s car is on fire and it was not a good reaction for him 

Free Practice 3

- HAMILTON IS IN THE WALL! Medical car deployed and possible need for chassis change which would mean a pit lane start which would be WONDERFUL

Quali

- Q1, Kubica is pulling over with smoke pouring out of back and now it’s on fire. That’s the second Mercedes powered car this weekend that has caught on fire for no foreseeable reason. Almost the exact same thing as happened to Perez!! 

- Now a bunch of people are crowding in front of Charles garage like the FIA is gonna have a problem with only this Ferrari again 

- Max reporting a problem

- Gio has an engine blow and a big puff of smoke and a red flag with 43 seconds left in Q1 and so that cuts off everyone cause Q1 won’t be restarted and Maxy just got through thank God.

- So the last five, Gasly Sainz Kvyat Russell and Kubica, are out. The surprise there is Sainz Start of Q2 delayed so they can clean up Gio’s car Out in Q2: Grosjean, Norris, Stroll, Albon, Gio Charles sets the fastest overall at end of Q2

- Charles on pole for the third time!! Then Seb, then Hamilton 

- NOW DON'T MESS THIS UP FERRARI

Pre-Race

- Antoine Hubert was tragically killed in the F2 race the day before and they did a tribute to him and moment of silence 

Race

- Max and Kimi collide on the first lap and Max didn't leave Kimi space so he drives for a little longer then the car dies and he has to stop, so Max is out on the first lap, heartbreak

- Kimi is not happy about Max hitting him

- Max getting out right away is certainly the home race curse

- Sainz is just parked on the side

- People were getting shunted left and right on the first lap

- nobody said anything about Lance Stroll running straight into people on the first lap like we've all just gotten used to it

- Lap 27 / 44 and it seems like Ferrari is going to screw this up again because even though Charles kept the lead, they pitted Seb first and you usually pit the leader first to avoid an undercut, but they pitted Seb first so now they have to radio in and tell Seb to let Charles back in front. But this whole stress would have been avoided if they had just pitted the right person first

- Seb5 is the best teammate on the grid right now, hands down, for just supporting Charles like this

- There's an incredibly stressful Charles / Hamilton battle for like FOREVER in this race

- CHARLES WINS FOR THE FIRST TIME! AFTER HAVING AT LEAST TWO OTHER RACES STOLEN FROM HIM THIS SEASON BY NO FAULT OF HIS OWN

- Thank GOD Charles won today after the loss of his friend Anthoine. Now Charles will always remember Anthoine when he thinks of his first win.

- When Charles gets out of the car, he showed the camera the "Racing for Anthoine" sticker on the side of his car and pointed at the sky to show that he was dedicating this win to his friend. I don't think I"ll ever forget it for as along as I live.

- All the celebrations are muted because of the death of Anthoine. I am torn. this is the most emotional win I've ever seen.

- This is Ferrari's first win of the year and I am shocked that they didn't manage to screw it up.