The Belgian Grand Prix 2023 was the 12th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium, during the weekend of the 28th to the 30th of July.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 6th position, followed by Sergio Pérez, and Charles Leclerc, who originally had the pole position, completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 37 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 5-10: 11 stops
- Laps 12-14: 5 stops
- Laps 22-25: 11 stops
- Laps 27-30: 5 stops
The fastest pit stop was Yuki Tsunoda's, stopping the clock at 22.610 seconds during his pit stop on lap 9, while the slowest one was was Pierre Gasly's, who stopped the clock at 25.664 seconds, 3.054 seconds slower than Tsunoda, during his pit stop on lap 23.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 4 drivers tried a 1 stop, and 3 drivers tried a 3 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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15Carlos Sainz
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1Lance Stroll
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2George Russell
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1Pierre Gasly
2 stops
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3Daniel Ricciardo
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1Kevin Magnussen
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-Lando Norris
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1Valtteri Bottas
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6Esteban Ocon
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4Guanyu Zhou
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1Yuki Tsunoda
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4Fernando Alonso
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18Nico Hülkenberg
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-Sergio Pérez
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2Charles Leclerc
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5Max Verstappen
3 stops
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1Alexander Albon
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1Logan Sargeant
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1Lewis Hamilton
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.33 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 0.42 positions, while those on a 3 stops strategy lost an average of 0.33 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 2 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, .
Collision damage
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Carlos SainzLap 23
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Oscar PiastriLap 0
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.82 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:46.168. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Charles Leclerc.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 14 out of the 15 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.