2026 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, July 17 - 19

[dans79]

How Lewis got one I will never know. Russell was miles away when Lewis started braking, he made the corner and there was loads of space to the left of Russell. He just needlessly squeezed across into Hamilton. Hamilton was committed to that corner well before Russell appeared. It was textbook racing incident for me. The stewards definitely looked at the outcome instead of what actually happened. Even in their justification document, an entire paragraph is used to explain their decision and all it sounds like is they are saying its a racing incident. Baffling.

Yea, George was really deep and way off the normal racing line, it's like he thought whoever was there was just going to jump out of the way. Could have easily been Charles, Max, or Lewis.

[AnotherAlex]

Leclerc should have had a penalty, but the stewards used the wrong rule to write it off. They should have used the one about returning to the racing line after making a defensive move and leaving enough space on the outside. He failed to do that and drove into Piastri. It's a really easy penalty to give and I'm astounded they didnt.

Piastri didn't put any part of his wheel beyond the white line so Leclerc did leave a car's width (just ).
(Also, there's no need to avoid the outside kerb at that corner; Russell, for example, was 15 - 20cm further to the left when he turned in on the first lap, not that it helped him, and Gasly used even more of it when making space for Lawson and Colapinto.)

[Farnborough]

How Lewis got one I will never know. Russell was miles away when Lewis started braking, he made the corner and there was loads of space to the left of Russell. He just needlessly squeezed across into Hamilton. Hamilton was committed to that corner well before Russell appeared. It was textbook racing incident for me. The stewards definitely looked at the outcome instead of what actually happened. Even in their justification document, an entire paragraph is used to explain their decision and all it sounds like is they are saying its a racing incident. Baffling.

Yea, George was really deep and way off the normal racing line, it's like he thought whoever was there was just going to jump out of the way. Could have easily been Charles, Max, or Lewis.

Agree with you.

Who'd have thought, on a bunched high speed entry to early corner in first lap, with yet to be fully heated tyres .... that there was going to be any slip/correction etc of line with attendant risk in such a scenario ..... and why its ultimately a racing incident honest and true.
To give out penalty for this is just daft. LH had a little rear slide to correct, as we'd expect any driver going for it to experience at certain points, and just snagged GR. Thats a reality of close proximity first lap circumstances in my view.

We can see how it originated, do we want to see a "no after you dear sir" approach to first lap racing ? I don't.

Both GR here, and KA in ragging his car over curbs at Silverstone with attendant failure, need to look at who their direct opposition is (logically, each other, in this car ) and bring their own appetite for risk to their individual performance. Both, I believe, are playing a part in pushing themselves back into a chasing pack by inattention to their own singular aims in trying to get the WDC taped up.

Obviously GR was on edge with loss of potency between start line and this corner set on that first lap. Making all the loss up in that attempt was always going to bring his risk up significantly, as we saw there with a vulnerability to the inside car during that very bunched corner. Some level of maturity could have gone a long way to him living to fight on the following laps. Ultimately to keep his points rolling in.

I'm not "blaming " either (GR or LH) but George simply has much, much more to lose in a high potential championship available year. I'd say GR is deploying a niave approach to this potential WDC too, and needs to really define, to himself, his future approach.

[FW17]

You dont take the normal racing line when you are in the middle of the track. You can take it when you are on the outside turing in. To not take the normal racing line you need to brake harder or earlier. Neither was done by LH. This is not a racing incident, it was an error that should have been punished.

[SiLo]

Russell effectively made a divebomb, then squeezed Lewis to the inside. Expecting Lewis to account for Russell shoving his way in and then squeezing him is insane to me.

[CMSMJ1]

I'd suggest that Russell was well within his rights to be there and so was Lewis - they both would have expected to make that corner another 9 times of 10. Racing incident, --- happens..

[dans79]

You dont take the normal racing line when you are in the middle of the track. You can take it when you are on the outside turing in. To not take the normal racing line you need to brake harder or earlier. Neither was done by LH. This is not a racing incident, it was an error that should have been punished.

Lewis was there because he knew what would have happened if he tried to go around the outside of Max (or any other driver) at that corner. He checked up and was going to follow Max through the corner, and attempt an attack later in the lap.

[AR3-GP]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Ferrari drivers had the best deployment on lap 1. They are the only team that has been able to introduce an ADUO PU which included hybrid system upgrades. Everyone else is running gen1 hybrid system and carrying all of the gen1 issues.

[dans79]

We can see how it originated, do we want to see a "no after you dear sir" approach to first lap racing ? I don't.

That's the entire problem with the current first to the apex rules. A driver can brake super late on a horrible line, and then just push the other driver off. If George had magically survived the turn, He and Lewis both would have gotten jumped by Piastri, because George's turn exit would have been horribly compromised.

[FW17]

You dont take the normal racing line when you are in the middle of the track. You can take it when you are on the outside turing in. To not take the normal racing line you need to brake harder or earlier. Neither was done by LH. This is not a racing incident, it was an error that should have been punished.

Lewis was there because he knew what would have happened if tried to go around the outside of Max (or any other driver) at that corner. He checked up and was going to follow Max through the corner, and attempt an attack later in the lap.

Lewis was not racing Max in that corner, his eyes were on Piastri, outbraked himself and ended on the side of George.

Enough space was given, he was on the apex line and not even on the kerb. he just wished to bleed off the brakes early as his back end stepped out due to late braking to cover Piastri.

[Artur Craft]

It's ok not liking Hamilton but why make up stuff like this? Obvious damage to the car and obvious loss of performance accruing from that.

I watched the race on a secondary screen while doing something else on my pc, I didn´t pay attention to details. I vaguely followed the race. Other members already told me of the aero damage. I know it was substantial enough

[AnilP228]

We can see how it originated, do we want to see a "no after you dear sir" approach to first lap racing ? I don't.

That's the entire problem with the current first to the apex rules. A driver can brake super late on a horrible line, and then just push the other driver off. If George had magically survived the turn, He and Lewis both would have gotten jumped by Piastri, because George's turn exit would have been horribly compromised.

This section on bold is out of date and has been since the beginning of the 2025 season. The drivers and FIA met in Qatar 2024 and agreed to make changes to stop drivers 'racing to the apex'.

The changes made for 2025 included:

i) Have its front axle AT LEAST ALONGSIDE THE MIRROR of the other car PRIOR TO AND AT THE APEX

ii) Be driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex, and not have ‘dived in’.

iii) In the stewards’ estimation, have taken a reasonable racing line and been able to complete the move whilst remaining within track limits.

Here's a piece from Jon Noble from last year with more detail: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/reve ... h-penalty/

[dans79]

Here's a piece from Jon Noble from last year with more detail: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/reve ... h-penalty/

I generally don't care for Noble any more as he just doesn't do as good a job as he used to. for example this article explains it better in more detail.

https://www.racefans.net/2026/03/06/fia ... f1-season/


what's not covered is that a lot of drivers still pull a Senna, "you chose if we crash or not".