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Just one more race before F1 goes quiet for the summer shutdown
Formula 1’s summer shutdown is right around the corner, but before the grid goes quiet for a few weeks, there is one last matter of business.
The Belgian Grand Prix.
The circuit heads to the famed Spa-Francorchamps, for the third F1 Sprint weekend of the season. That means just one practice session on Friday before qualifying for the Grand Prix itself.
Not a lot of time for the teams, particularly those with some work to do, to get things right.
Here’s how to watch, and what to watch for, this weekend.
How To Watch (all times Eastern):
Practice 1 – Friday July 28 – 7:25 a.m. – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN
Grand Prix Qualifying – Friday July 28 – 10:55 a.m. – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN
F1 Sprint Shootout (Qualifying) – Saturday July 29 – 5:55 a.m. – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN
F1 Sprint Race – Saturday July 29 – 10:25 a.m. – ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN
Grand Prix Race – Sunday July 30 – 8:55 a.m. – ESPN/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN
What to Watch:
The famed Spa-Francorchamps, consisting of 19 turns, two DRS zones, a heavy dose of elevation changes and some of the most thrilling sequences of the season.
Drivers have a fondness for the track, and its combination of fast straights and high-speed corners. “Coming into Spa, it’s a great circuit and one of my favourites to visit,” Alex Albon said in the Williams race preview.
“Spa is one of the big, iconic tracks with a great layout which is embedded in nature, with all the great elevation changes,” said Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg. “It has a nice flow, like a rollercoaster feeling, and personally I enjoy it a lot there.”
“Like everyone, I really like Spa, and with the car we have right now, the main challenge will be finding a set-up that gives us the best possible straight-line speed and as much downforce as possible for the high-speed corners,” described Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri.
Weather is often a factor at Spa, and the size of the track — it is the longest on the calendar at a hair over seven kilometers — means you might face rain in one sector, and dry conditions in another. That will make it tricky for the teams this weekend, given rain is in the forecast, especially with just the one practice session to get everything right.
That is just one of the storylines this week. Here are some others.
The major storylines facing F1 as the grid heads to Spa, including McLaren’s recent hot streak
As this is a F1 Sprint weekend, a refresher on the format
Lando Norris: Podium Menace
Red Bull made history last week, now they’re hoping to avoid repeating it
F1 announced a new partnership with F1 Academy
All the F1 terms you need to know before the weekend
