castdude wrote: Where the "heck" is JAE?
I was supposed to be vacationing near Jupiter Inlet, but
Dorian has caused me to spend the first weekend of my vacation in
Tyria, instead.
It was good to see Charles LeClerc get a well-deserved first victory after missing out on at least two opportunities earlier this season.
It was a really tough break for Lando Norris that his Renault engine gave up one lap short of the finish. He was all alone in P5 all day, easily clear of the rest of the pack and easily far enough behind Ferrari and Mercedes that he wasn't trying to mix it up with them.
Expect Ferrari to be even stronger next week at Monza, the one race of the season that most favors high horsepower and low drag. Although the customer cars at Haas and Alfa Romeo took the new upgraded Ferrari engine this week, the works team saved the introduction of the fresh powerplant for their home race. Maybe Vettel will break his year-long win drought or maybe Leclerc will get his second win.
Watching the excellent racing in the mid-field makes me wish even more fervently that the people running the sport manage to right the ship and make distributions to the teams more equal instead of allowing Mercedes and Ferrari to spend their way to massive performance advantages. I'd be fine with the cars being slightly slower overall if the racing were closer. Since the mid-field racing is so close, one mistake in driving or in strategy can result in a significant change in positions. What do you suppose Danny Ricciardo was thinking as everyone but the two Williams passed him near the end of the race to drop him out of the points? He dropped from P7 on lap 33 to P15 on lap 42 as he was passed by Kvyat, Albon, Giovinazzi, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Magnussen and Grosjean.
I didn't get the Formula 2 race here, but folks need to remember the risk of fatalities when we're arguing about stewards' penalties for unsafe driving.
Results for 2019 Belgian Grand Prix1 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari - 3rd youngest F1 race winner
2 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - 7th youngest (2007)
3 Vatteri Bottas, Mercedes
4 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - 2nd youngest (2008)
5 Alexander Albon, Red Bull / Honda - not bad for starting from 17th place
6 Sergio Perez, Racing Point / Mercedes
7 Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso / Honda
8 Nico Hulkenberg, Renault
9 Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso / Honda
10 Lance Stroll, Racing Point / Mercedes
DNF Lando Norris, McLaren / Renault - engine failure 1 lap short of the finish
12 Kevin Magussen, Haas / Ferari
13 Romain Grosjean, Haas / Ferrari
14 Daniel Ricciardo, Renault
15 George Russell, Williams / Mercedes
16 Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo / Ferrari - 8th youngest (2003)
17 Robert Kubica, Williams / Mercedes - 9th youngest (2008)
DNF Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo / Ferrari - crashed with one lap to go.
DNF Carlos Sainz, McLaren / Renault - engine failure
DNF Max Verstappen, Red Bull / Honda - youngest (2016) - crashed with Kimi on the 1st lap
). Ouch, not a good time to be him. That said, I feel for him, given the immense pressure he finds himself under. 
