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Sebastian Vettel had a successful final Belgian Grand Prix of his Formula 1 career, after the four-time World Champion claimed a solid eighth place finish at Spa-Francorchamps.

The German did well to avoid the opening lap carnage, which saw Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso collide. Vettel at one point early on find himself in fifth, before the charge of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc dropped the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team driver down a couple of spots.

Vettel did well to recover eighth late on, after coming out of the pits behind Pierre Gasly. This put the Aston Martin driver at risk of being caught by Esteban Ocon; however, the German dealt with Gasly to recover eighth.

Vettel was pleased to see his car being “more competitive” during the race, with finding a “decent rhythm” having been key to the strong result.

“Eighth is a solid result. I was a little bit unlucky with the timing for the second stop. I came out just behind Pierre [Gasly] and lost a lap behind him, which allowed Esteban [Ocon] on new tyres to close down the advantage I had built up during the middle stint.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team‘s Toto Wolff is, understandably, disappointed with the outcome of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after suffering an early retirement on Lewis Hamilton‘s side of the garage, and finishing a decent fourth place with George Russell – but a long distance away from the leaders in race and single-lap pace.

The Belgian Grand Prix started off well when Hamilton was able to jump Sergio Pérez at Turn One and challenge Fernando Alonso on the run up the hill. However, after misjudging a move around the outside as a result of Alonso being in his blind-spot, Hamilton would make wheel-to-wheel contact with the Spaniard and launch the rear of his car into the air at Les Combes.

The Briton pulled over in the third sector, retiring from his first race this year as a result of the damage, leaving Russell as the only hope at a good result at the high-speed Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Russell had a relatively lonely race, finishing fourth after trying his best to catch Carlos Sainz Jr up for the final podium place in the dying laps of the race. Wolff is not happy with the gap to the dominant Oracle Red Bull Racing as the Silver Arrows prepare to race at Zandvoort next Sunday.

“I don’t think we can be satisfied with this weekend – if you see Verstappen, he has leaped above us all. We really need to find out how we can improve our car because the gap is just too big.

Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner was thrilled with the team’s result at the Belgian Grand Prix, where the team pulled off a 1-2 finish and fastest lap. With Max Verstappen taking victory after starting fourteenth due to an engine replacement penalty, Spa marked the lowest starting position the team had ever won from. 

“This was our biggest ever achievement to date. We have never won a race from as far back as P14 and to take a 1 – 2 with Checo, along with fastest lap, is an outstanding achievement.”

Horner said that Verstappen had performed incredibly, as the Dutch driver was able to advantage of the chaotic first lap to move himself up the ranks, and overtook the rest of the grid with his great pace and solid tyre management. 

On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez maintained his position against the rivaling teams of Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team with a solid effort to ensure a second place finish.

Horner acknowledged the efforts of the entire team for having been able to foster such an outstanding result, including the all the great work done “behind the scenes”.

A strong weekend from both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon ensured that the BWT Alpine F1 Team‘s lead of fourth place in the Constructors’ over McLaren grew by sixteen points, this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Starting in third place, Alonso’s race was nearly undone from the get-go as Lewis Hamilton squeezed the Spaniard into Turn Five with contact between the two resulting in Hamilton having to retire on the opening lap.

Speaking on the incident, Alonso declared the collision between the two as simply a racing incident.

With Alonso escaping from the incident seemingly unharmed, the Alpine driver was able to go about his race around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit to come home for what at first appeared to be a sixth-placed finish.

However, a five-second time penalty for Charles Leclerc for speeding in the pit-lane gifted Alonso a late fifth-place finish.

Reflecting on another strong race day for the BWT Alpine F1 Team, Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has stated that his team should be ‘exceptionally pleased’ with their efforts.

With the Enstone-based team locked in battle with the McLaren F1 Team for fourth in the Constructors’ standings, the sixteen-point haul the team takes home with them compared to McLaren’s point-less showing will likely serve as a huge confidence boost to the team for the remainder of the season.

Starting third on the grid, Fernando Alonso was always expected to take home a strong haul of points from today’s Belgian Grand Prix; however, contact with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap threatened to stunt any progress around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit.

Alonso was able to escape unharmed from the collision and went about his race to claim an eventual fifth-placed finish. The Spaniard was gifted fifth place late on as a result of Charles Leclerc’s five-second time penalty.

For Esteban Ocon, despite an impressive showing in qualifying, the Frenchman started from towards the back of the grid due to a number of new engine components on his A522.

Lewis Hamilton has acknowledged his fault for an incident at Les Combes with Fernando Alonso on lap one of Sunday’s Belgium Grand Prix, that saw him retire from his first race of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

The seven-time World Champion got a good start and was able to pass Sergio Pérez at Turn One, as did Alonso. Hamilton got a good run up the hill and attempted a move around the outside of Turn Five, but didn’t leave enough space for his former team-mate. Hamilton’s rear-right wheel made contact with Alonso’s front left, sending the rear of the Briton’s car high in the air, before landing heavily.

Hamilton limped around the circuit, dropping positions, but was instructed to pull over by his team in the final sector. The accident was completely the Mercedes driver’s fault, and no further action was necessary as it was a lap one incident; however, Hamilton would later be warned by the FIA for not attending a mandatory check-up at the medical centre as instructed by a light on his steering wheel. Alonso was able to continue the race and would finish fifth.

Hamilton was understandably disappointed in his post-race interview, explaining that Alonso was in his “blind spot” as he swooped around the outside.

“Looking back at the footage, Fernando was in my blind spot and I thought I left more room than I did, so it was my fault and I paid the price. I’m just sorry for the team, we had a chance of P3 and P4 today,” the number forty-four driver explained.

The Belgian Grand Prix was another event that didn’t quite go the way of Scuderia Ferrari. Oracle Red Bull Racing have extended their lead in the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship with an impressive one-two finish at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, while the Italian outfit were only able to finish third and sixth.

Ferrari went into the weekend knowing a good result wouldn’t be easy, as Charles Leclerc had a grid drop as a result of changing some components on his power unit; however, Max Verstappen would also take a penalty for the same reason, somewhat balancing the two teams out. Carlos Sainz Jr was promoted to pole position after Verstappen’s grid drop was applied after qualifying, but was eventually caught up to and passed by both Red Bull cars as a result of having less pace on Sunday afternoon.

Leclerc would suffer from bad luck when a tear-off visor strip would get caught in his brakes in the opening laps of the race, forcing an early pitstop. The Monégasque worked his way back up to fifth place, before pitting on the penultimate lap in an attempt to take the fastest lap.

The plan; however, failed as Leclerc was passed by Fernando Alonso on lap forty-three, before re-overtaking the BWT Alpine F1 Team driver on lap forty-four, costing him the fastest lap. Leclerc also received a five-second penalty at the end of the race for speeding in the pit-lane, demoting him to sixth place overall.

Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, says the team need to “roll up [their] sleeves” if they want to catch up to the huge points deficit between themselves and Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz Jr finished the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix in third place, hanging on to the final podium spot after struggling to match the Oracle Red Bull Racing cars throughout the entirety of Sunday’s event. The Spaniard started the first race back after summer from pole position, after Max Verstappen was demoted to fourteenth as a result of a power unit penalty.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver was able to get a good start and avoid the early race drama between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso behind, before being caught by the Red Bull drivers of Sergio Pérez and Verstappen. Sainz struggled with his tyres towards the end of the race and looked to be under pressure from George Russell, but was able to hold on to take his seventh podium of the season.

“The car felt quite good today and we did our best, but our pace just wasn’t quick enough this weekend to hold on for the win,” said the number fifty-five driver.

“We ran a solid race from start to finish, with good pit stops and strategy calls, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Red Bulls behind, as they simply had more pace.

“Time to analyse and prepare the next week’s race at Zandvoort.”

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took victory at the Belgian Grand Prix, recovering from an engine replacement penalty that saw him start fourteenth. A masterful charge through the field saw him finish the race nearly eighteen seconds ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez in second place. 

Verstappen said that the result was not without difficulty, as he had to be careful to not get tangled up in the first lap incidents. From there, he said that he was able to gain positions with strategic overtakes and good tyre management. 

“This whole weekend has been incredible. It’s never easy though, it was quite a hectic first lap staying out of trouble, so many things were happening in front of me and everyone was trying to maintain their spot. After the safety car and when it had all calmed down, we made our way forward by picking the right places to overtake and we could look after our tyres.” 

Looking ahead to his home race and beyond, Verstappen said that finishing every race strong will be key, even if the team doesn’t win every weekend– they do, however, want to strive for every victory possible. 

“Now we need to keep on working hard and focus on each race ahead of us. We know that we have to finish every race, we don’t need to win every race but we want to as a Team. Let’s see what we can do in Zandvoort.”

Josh Cook is known as the King of Thruxton and for good reason as he added a positive after his poor start to a potentially promising weekend with Race Three honours as the latest weekend of BTCC action concluded.

It is now 10 out of his 18 victories that have been secured around the Hampshire circuit as he showed his class is still there after a few testing weekends which have dented his Drivers’ Championship credentials.

Starting the race, Stephen Jelley and Colin Turkington started up front but with the BMW’s well known over the course of this weekend to take a while to get up to temperature, the chances were presented on the opening lap with the Honda Civic Type R finding his way past Turkington before braking late on Lap Two to take the lead and top spot off Jelley.

Team orders again were the order of the day this time for Team BMW as Jelley let Turkington through into second to gain more points and challenge Cook but this never materialised as the order stayed the same from there on out.

Ash Sutton was also superb once again as he made place after place moving up to seventh and up four places on the first lap before finding himself in fifth by the end of the race battling with Rory Butcher but only finished just ahead of Dan Rowbottom with a potential issue on the final lap mooted but he still gained valuable ground with the lead only sitting at six points for Turkington heading into Silverstone.

Nico Stijnen has worked with Eurol Rally Sport for nearly a decade as a mechanic. In 2023, he will be rewarded for his contributions by getting a chance to race in the Dakar Rally for the first time. He will pilot an IVECO Trakker with Christiaan van der Haar and Joël Ebbers riding as co-driver.

Though he resides in Belgium, Stijnen commutes to the neighbouring Netherlands for his day jobs with the team in Harskamp, and he also owns a CAB Trucks construction vehicle dealership in Weert. He has attended the Dakar Rally in the past with the team, though exclusively in support roles by driving a bivouac truck.

“I have long been involved with the Harskamp team,” Stijnen told Dutch media outlet Transport Online. “In addition to being a sponsor, I am also an enthusiast and volunteer. If possible, I am present in Harskamp every week to work on the trucks together with team members, all volunteers, or to help where possible. I’d gladly pay the rides from Weert or Maaseik to Harskamp for that. I’m quite well-rounded technically and want to know everything about the trucks. I’ve been in the world of trucks for almost forty years now.”

In 2015, when Eurol Rally Sport was known as Mammoet Rally Sport, he served as the on-board mechanic for Pascal de Baar at the Oilibya Rally (now Rallye du Maroc) who finished seventh, while team-mate Martin van den Brink scored Mammoet’s maiden international victory. Van den Brink and his son Mitchel will have their own trucks for Dakar, both driving IVECO Powerstars; Mitchel drove the Trakker at the 2022 Rally. Stijnen pointed out that his birthday falls on 15 January, the final day of the 2023 Rally and a day after Mitchel’s, and “it would be a wonderful gift if we could both drive onto the finish podium on 15 January.”

Eurol Rally Sport assumed the current identity in July after Eurol Lubricants acquired the title sponsorship from Mammoet. The team has an alliance with Team de Rooy, which was born in 2022; Martin finished sixth in the Truck category at that year’s Dakar Rally while Mitchel was tenth.

Ash Sutton keeps his title fight very much up and running after being handed the win in Race Two at Thruxton by his team-mate Dan Cammish in a one-two for NAPA Racing UK which hasn’t been seen yet in the BTCC.

Cammish dominated proceedings as the Yorkshireman who has been dogged by bad luck this season looked to double-up but team mode was in full effect as they made the decision to let the reigning champion Sutton through with two laps to go.

Gordon Shedden dropped to third in the early running and remained throughout, while Jake Hill also concluded proceedings fourth as he continues to bank important Drivers’ Championship points as does Tom Ingram who sat sixth behind Rory Butcher.

While Dan Rowbottom, Josh Cook and Michael Crees were next in the order. Ash Hand continued his brilliant weekend to start the race but mechanical issues saw him out after sitting sixth. Colin Turkington pipped Stephen Jelley to tenth but roles will reverse in Race Three with the two BMW’s on pole spearheaded by the latter. Will it be another team game or will Jelley take another race win?

2022 British Touring Car Championship – Race Two – Thruxton

Max Verstappen led an Oracle Red Bull Racing 1-2 as he clinched a dominant win at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. The Dutchman also took the extra point for fastest lap as he won his ninth race of the season.

Sergio Pérez battled back after a bad start to finish in second position. Carlos Sainz finished on the podium after he started from pole position. The Scuderia Ferrari team was no match for the pace of the Red Bull team on this day.

George Russell and Fernando Alonso rounded off the top five positions.

The starting grid was highly mixed after all the penalties were imposed. Sainz and Pérez started on the first row. Alonso and Lewis Hamilton started on the second row. Russell and Alexander Albon started on the third row.

Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel started at the sharp end of the grid. Verstappen and Leclerc started fourteenth and fifteenth on the grid after power unit-related penalties. Yuki Tsunoda started from the pit lane.

After a brilliant pole position on Saturday, Dan Cammish sealed his ninth victory in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and his first of the 2022 season cruising lights-to-flag to begin Sunday’s proceedings at Thruxton.

This after a frenetic opening lap which saw contact between the chasing pack of Jake Hill, Ash Sutton and Josh Cook into the first chicane which saw the trio sliding around the track and in the end all three unscathed initially until the latter tangled with his best friend Sutton to send him tumbling down the order and potentially end his title charge.

Everywhere there were incidents on this following lap with Tom Chilton‘s Hyundai going across the grass at a very high speed, whilst contact at the first corner between Ricky Collard and Michael Crees was another incident on the opening lap.

This incident between Sutton and Cook though allowed Gordon Shedden up from fifth to sneak past the former into second, while despite some late pressure with Cammish’s gap dropped, the podium settled.

Further down, Power Maxed Racing ace Ash Hand sealed a career best fifth place ahead of Rory Butcher, Dan Rowbottom and Michael Crees with title contenders Tom Ingram and Colin Turkington finalising the top ten to keep adding points.

After a strong showing across all three-practice sessions around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team will be left disappointed as both drivers failed to make it into Q3 at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The team has struggled throughout the season with generating one-lap pace and has only made it into Q3 on three separate occasions this season.

Lance Stroll was able to successfully make his way into Q2 but was then unable to generate further pace as the Canadian driver set the fourteenth fastest time of the session.

However, with a number of grid penalties ahead due to new engine components, Stroll has been promoted to ninth on the grid ahead of tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix.

With the team finally securing a strong starting position and the AMR22 showing strong race-pace across the season, Stroll will have every belief that he can contend for the points tomorrow.

Speaking on his qualifying performance today, Stroll noted how tricky conditions around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit played it’s part in his struggles today but the Canadian is still expecting to be in a position to fight for the points in tomorrow’s race. 

“It was tricky out there today. There was a general lack of grip, but we need to look at why we lost time as qualifying progressed. We had hoped to be better than 14th.

“However, we normally race better than we qualify, and we will gain a few extra positions due to the grid penalties given to some of the cars in front of us, so I am confident that we are in a solid position to score some points tomorrow.”

Sebastian Vettel: ““I know I could have gone faster today”