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In Pictures: Belgium 2020

The script didn't change much for the Belgian Grand Prix as the Mercedes dominated most of the sessions with Lewis Hamilton taking his 93rd pole position in F1. The biggest surprise was the lack of pace from Scuderia Ferrari. They finished P17 and P20 in the last free practice and were able to qualify P13 and P14 due to exceptional drives from their drivers.

On Sunday, on his way to the grid, McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. suffered an issue with his exhaust and was unable to start the race. The Grand Prix started as expected, with Lewis Hamilton racing into the distance followed by his teammate Valtteri Bottas. On lap 10, Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi lost control of his car coming out of turn 14 and crashed into the wall. One of his wheels came close which broke the suspension of George Russell's Williams forcing both drivers to retire from the race. This caused significant debris resulting in a safety car, and most of the drivers decided to pit, except for Pierre Gasly and Sergio Pérez.

The decision not to pit during the safety car meant that both Perez and Gasly had to take their scheduled pitstops during the race, falling down the order. Pérez pitted at the end of lap 18 for new hard tires dropping him to 17th. On lap 26 Pierre Gasly pitted from 10th position and put on a set of medium tires, he came out in 16th position, behind every driver other than Charles Leclerc who had been forced to make a second pit stop due to a hydraulics issue. Similarly to Pérez before him Gasly used his newer tires to start to make his way though the field, by lap 36 he was in 10th behind Pérez in 9th. Gasly passed Pérez on lap 39 before closing the gap to Lance Stroll whom he passed on lap 42 to take 8th position where he finished.

Hamilton won the race, having led for every lap, followed by Bottas and Verstappen who had also held second and third respectively for the entire race. Ricciardo completed the fastest lap, a 1:47.483, on the final lap of the race for an extra championship point and closing the gap to Max Verstappen to just over three seconds. He finished in fourth place. Pierre Gasly was voted Driver of the Day.

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2020 Belgian Grand Prix poster by Salracing