Looking for a very powerful amulet to straighten Carlos Sainz’s palmares in the Belgian GP. Because, so far, for Carlos there has been no way to obtain results at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps that match his possibilities.
It begins in 2015 with Toro Rosso: excellent result in qualifying, 10th, ahead of Verstappen. Yes, but it doesn’t matter because the Dutchman has to change the Power Unit. Maybe Carlos should have changed it too, as the car fell silent on the grid and had to start from the pits two laps late. It was not worth racing and Carlos retires to save the Power Unit.
14th on the grid but already 7th on the first lap: fantastic start in 2016, however on the next pass he got a puncture on Kemmel straight. He tries to continue, but destroys the rear wing and retires.
2017 is the right time: he is only 16th on the first lap, but he climbs up and finishes in the points zone, indeed, scoring a point, because the 2017 one is the only point he has won out of 6 GPs so far at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
In 2018 he has to use additional components and start from the back of the grid: he finishes 11th, just off the points.
Then? Carlos ends up in the realm of the absurd. In 2019 he remains stationary on the grid, again due to a Power Unit issue and last year he doesn’t even see the grid, because he breaks a drain half an hour from the start and doesn’t leave the garage …
Hamilton looking to match Senna
What if Hamilton wins? It would be the 5th victory at Spa, and it is not just any number: it is the number of successes of Ayrton Senna on the legendary Belgian track, but not only that, it would take place 30 years after Ayrton’s last victory here, in 1991.
And indeed 1991 was a special race: in that edition Michael Schumacher made his debut in F1. Michael is a multiple winner here with 6 victories. In short, all coincidences lead here, to this Hamilton-Senna-Schumacher triangle at Spa.
Ferrari: a GP not to be repeated
Unfortunately, there are no other ways to define it: that of 2020 was the worst Belgian GP in the history of Ferrari. They arrived here as winners, after the successes of 2018 and 2019, so with the hope that the SF1000 could have its say, but instead it was the confirmation that, not even on the once friendly tracks, the 2020 car was up to par.
From the front row lockout of 2019, Ferrari was not able to fight for a top-10 finish at Spa last year: 13th and 14th after qualifying, which highlighted the lack of engine power. The race marked the first case in which no Ferrari motorized car managed to qualify in the top-10 in the history of the Belgian Grand Prix. This year the prospects are of course a lot better to fight at least for a top 5 finish and put the 2020 event in a distant corner of the memory of the Maranello team’s fans.
Leave a Reply