I was so happy, that Formula 1 was back from its four-week summer break! I was made even happier by the fact, that my son´s cancer treatments are now finally over! For the past 10 months Formula 1 has been my escape from the hospital world. I assume, that if you ask people, who have had to cope with cancer in their lives, what has helped them get through the difficult time, most of them won't probably mention Formula 1... But for me it has been the F1 action, that has helped me keep my head together even in the moments of despair.
Risk of rain was called at 90 % ahead of the qualifying. Both Ferraris headed out on the yellow-marked middle compound, and so did Hamilton in his W09. The legendary Spa Francorchamps seemed to suit the red cars perfectly, and Kimi "The King of Spa" Räikkönen went fastest. Hamilton was able to challenge the Ferraris in the first sector, but the Briton was struggling with his pace in the final sector. Teammate Bottas came out on the red-walled super-soft Pirellis not until at the end of the session. The Finn is to start to the race from the back of the grid, due to multiple power unit element changes. The Finn showed excellent form and went second fastest. Ricciardo was struggling heavily with the performance of his RB14. The Australian had to make two attempts on the super-softs to make it through into Q2. Teammate Verstappen had even more of a low-drag set-up on his RB14 and was matching the pace of the top two teams slightly better. The timesheets were topped by the two Finns, Kimi and Bottas, followed by their teammates Hamilton and Sebastian. Renault's Sainz, who is to move to McLaren for the 2019 season, was the first faller in Q1, which caught me by a surprise. Out with the Spaniard were the McLaren duo of Alonso and Vandoorne and the Williams duo of Sirotkin and Stroll.
Q2 saw everyone out on the softest rubber. With clouds beginning to darken but the rain holding off, Sebastian was the paceman in the second session. To my surprise, Mercedes opted to send out Bottas on the soft Pirellis at the end of the session. The team's call was based on the strategy to use the Finn as a tow for his teammate in the decisive last segment, if necessary. It was extremely tight between the top three. Sebastian was only three hundredths of a second faster than his teammate Kimi, and the Mercedes ace Hamilton was only five hundredths of a second off the Iceman. Red Bull had no chance to match the top two teams' pace, as Verstappen was almost a second, and teammate Ricciardo almost one-and-a-half seconds off the pace. Toro Rosso's Gasly, who is to be promoted to Red Bull next year, was the first driver to be eliminated from Q3. Out with the Frenchman were his teammate Hartley, the Sauber duo of Leclerc and Ericsson and Renault's Hulkenberg, who didn't set a time, as he,too is set to start from the back of the grid due to an engine penalty.
As Q3 kicked off, the drivers all headed out on dry tyres, but as the rain began to fall on their out laps, Bottas had a terrifying moment, losing his W09 at the fearsomely fast Blanchimont. Luckily it turned out to be a scary-but-harmless spin, and the Finn managed to avoid hitting anything. As the rain intensified lap by lap, all drivers had to pit for intermediate tyres. When there were about three minutes in the clock, Sebastian had his hands on the provisional pole, pipping his teammate Kimi by two tenths only. Red Bull's Verstappen is known as a wet-weather specialist, and the flying Dutchman had put his RB14 third. As the rain suddenly stopped, the track kept continually improving towards the end of the session. Sebastian managed to improve his lap time by 1.2 seconds, but the Red Team didn't get their timing right. Hamilton, who made his second attempt on the dying moments of Q3, set a mighty time, pipping second-placed Sebastian by massive 7 tenths! Kimi suffered from an even more fateful strategic mistake by his team. Unbelievable but true, the Red Team failed to fuel Kimi sufficiently to allow the Iceman more than one run after he had initially set the pace in the segment! At first I thought, that Kimi's SF71-H had been hit with a technical failure, as I saw Kimi at the garage, shaking his head frustrated. However, Ferrari wasn't the only team to make such a mistake, as Red Bull's Verstappen had run out of fuel as well, and had to settle for tame P7. On the other hand, Force India timed their runs to perfection, and the team in the pink cars were outstanding P3 and P4, Ocon heading teammate Perez. Haas' Grosjean made it impressive 5th, as the fuel-lacking Kimi dropped down to P6 at the end of the session. The Red Bull teammates had to be content with the fourth row, and Magnussen and Bottas rounded out the top ten. Hamilton's pole marked already the 7th straight pole position for a Mercedes-powered car at Spa.
The weather forecast predicts a dry race for tomorrow. Spa offers plenty of opportunities for overtaking, so the battle for victory will be wide open. With a possible safety car episode, even Bottas may have a chance to fight for the victory, even though he will start from the very back of the pack. Force India's or Haas' race pace is expected to be quite modest, so I'm sure Kimi will make his way past these midfield teams right at the start or soon after it. There's something magical about the combination of Kimi and Spa, so I would love to see Kimi win tomorrow! Maybe the victory would finally make the Red Team announce their renewed contract with the Iceman! ;) Forza Ferrari!
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