2024 F1 Belgian GP race analysis by Peter Windsor

Lewis mentioned after the race that a 1 stop was discussed prerace as an option. When Russel was asked if the one stop was his decision he said it was the teams. Lewis complained that even after telling the engineers over the radio that his tires were good, they never discussed the one stop, only did with Russel, that's why Ham was so livid.

Very happy for Lewis, drove a great race...deserved the win.

LH's question about whether "'he was OK"" in the closing stages, was in regard to Piastri coz he was clearly closing down George (a teamate) but Piastri was closing rapidly. That was what was the real unknown. And also, that much weight difference is definitely significant in lap times.

Did you forget that Lewis didn’t know about George’s change in strategy? He was told to keep the car behind behind and never got information that he was also racing George. He had pushed faster and harder after the second stop had he known that GR was a threat.

Didn't Lewis also say he felt there was plenty of life in the tyres when he was pitted

Can't disagree with Peter any more . Listening to drivers interviews they seem to think a kilo or 2 would definitely be worth a tenth or 2 a lap.

If George would have pitted, he would have ended behind Lando. If the hards would dropped massively he would have ended third. Good call by George. It was his call. Unfortunately not the reward he deserved. But Lewis drove superbly, so good winner of a great race

There's no way George would've kept that position with an extra 1.5kgs

Lewis drove a fantastic race. I feel like he’s being under appreciated today

Lando has to work on his starts. Sainz also wanted to stay out longer for a 1 stopper. Toto needs to make them teammates.

It saved him over a second over the entire race. I dont understand why Peter would say it made no difference

Crowdstrike impacted George.

Strange, how since all the cars converged around Monaco/Canada, it’s Lewis Hamilton who has taken the most points in the Drivers’ Championship.

Nobody seems to mention that it was his one stop strategy that put him in a position he never looked like deserving, and ultimately cost him the win as Horner stated afterward that they were seeing degrading of up 2kg of tyre wear during practice. Mercedes messed up.

max is a class act, together with Hamilton.......these two are so different and always top with a lesser car.....true beast the both of them....

No offense there's no way GR was keeping his position with 1.5KG of weight, That's worth about 3-5 Seconds of overall race at Spa

Wow what a turn around Lewis,😢 for George

At the end of the race, Toto didn't look happy. The reason was probably twofold. First, Russell staying out for a one stop strategy was probably a hail-mary for second place, not the win. Hamilton effectively lead the entire race after passing LeClerc and deserved the victory. Now, instead, Russell was bringing home the 1-2. Meanwhile, Toto was certainly aware that Russell had seriously held up Hamilton with a slow-on-the-curbs, blast-down-the-straights tactic to hold off Hamilton in the same car. (Russell stated this in interviews after the race). As a result Piastri wiped out an almost 5 second deficit in almost as many laps. Put another way, just one more lap and Piastri would likely have breezed past both Hamilton AND Russell, whereas if Russell had let Hamilton pass the outcome would've been no-contest. Of course Toto didn't know the car was underweight, so that wasn't the reason he appeared so 'flat' after the win. Forever the analyst, Toto already knew how close they'd come to blowing the entire race, that Russell had essentially risked team victory for personal glory, and that Toto has allowed it. Still, no criticism of either Russell or Hamilton - this time the failures were purely on the track-side team. Both Russell and Hamilton executed a perfect race albeit on different strategies.

If George did a second stop he would ended up 20+ seconds behind Louis I don't understand what Peter is trying to tell us here with George. LOL

1.5 kg of weight is worth 2 to 3 seconds over a race distance at spa