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What We Learned: A few of the big storylines from Round 10 at Spa-Francorchamps
It was a big weekend in both Championships as each team and their drivers looked to steal a march on their rivals heading into the summer break.
There are still four rounds to go in the year so nothing has been decided, but our three days at Spa-Francorchamps were certainly ones to remember.
So, let’s look back on a dramatic weekend by picking through a few of the key talking points…
HADJAR IS SUNDAY’S BEST
Isack Hadjar was at his supreme best on Sunday, taking his fourth Feature Race victory of the season, beating his Championship rivals Gabriel Bortoleto and Paul Aron to the top step.
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The Campos Racing driver said afterwards “I felt like I drove the perfect race”, and it is hard to disagree with him, as he got ahead of Bortoleto and Aron within the first few laps to claim the win.
This puts him on 169 points, and he now has a lead of 36 points over second place heading into the summer break.
Hadjar’s four Feature Race victories means he has as many wins in the longer events as George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Felipe Drugovich had in their title winning campaigns.
He is now just one short of Charles Leclerc’s five Feature Race wins from 2017, and he will no doubt be keen to equal that number before the end of the season.
Hadjar now has a healthy lead and while he knows that it is not over yet, he has certainly put himself in the driving seat heading into the final four rounds.
BORTOLETO’S CONSISTENCY PAYING OFF
After this weekend, Hadjar’s closest rival is Bortoleto with the Invicta Racing driver finishing second in the Feature Race.
Bortoleto has been incredibly consistent, scoring points in 10 of the last 12 races, and during that time he won the Spielberg Feature Race and finished second three times.
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The Brazilian was in fine form at Spa, missing out on pole by 0.168s to Aron, while his pace on Sunday was also superb. He was regularly the quickest driver in the first and third sectors, but he just did not have enough to get ahead of Hadjar for the win.
Bortoleto has quietly made his way up the Standings since the Barcelona in-season test and is now firmly in the title fight. If he can continue performing like he has off late, he will be confident of closing that gap to Hadjar in the final part of the campaign.
ART SHOWING GOOD PACE
It was a bit of a mixed weekend for ART Grand Prix in terms of results, but their performance at Spa did not go unnoticed.
They did not get off to the best start as Victor Martins stopped on track early on in Qualifying with an issue, while Zak O’Sullivan left it late to qualify P10.
He used that position to win from reverse grid pole in the shortened Sprint Race. Speaking afterwards, he believed that if the race had continued, the two second gap he had built would have only grown.
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Looking at Martins’ pace, it is hard to disagree as starting from the back, he was up to P12 by the end of Lap 5, putting pressure on the drivers in the top 10.
O’Sullivan proved his point even further by finishing fourth in the Feature, while Martins was unfortunate to get caught up in an early collision with Rafael Villagómez that knocked him out of the race.
Even looking at their pace in recent rounds, Martins came to Spa on a run of three points scoring results in a row, two of which were second place finishes in Budapest.
They will definitely be eyeing up more victories after the summer break.
ARON AND HITECH GET A BREAK
Aron and his Hitech Pulse-Eight team were the pair to beat in the first half of the year, becoming the picture of consistency – the Estonian achieving a podium in each of the first seven rounds.
But since the second half of the season kicked off at Silverstone, results have not gone in their favour.
One thing is clear though, the pace is there and Aron is driving beautifully as shown by his pole laps in Spa and Budapest.
Unfortunately, he was running in third when he stopped with an issue on the final lap, but again he was set for a podium.
The summer break might be the best thing for them, as it gives them a chance to hit the reset button and start again.
Aron is now 41 points behind Hadjar in third place, but their pace has still been strong, so a nice break before returning to fight in Monza could be what both he and Hitech need.