Charles Leclerc takes second place at Spa and executes the Fastest Pit Stop

To be honest, Ferrari thought they had two tough weekends ahead of them in the shape of the two full-power circuits, Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, but Charles Leclerc put paid to any such fears. He followed up victory in Great Britain with a strong second place at the Belgian Grand Prix.

On lap 20, Ferrari took advantage of a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period to undertake a double pit stop. First, the pit crew serviced the better-placed Leclerc in a lightning-fast time of 2.30 seconds. The DHL Fastest Pit Stop helped their Monaco-based driver, Leclerc, to return to the track ahead of Kimi Antonelli and to take the lead. He managed to defend P1 until lap 34.

“It was really enjoyable to lead the race and fight for that position until the closing laps,” said Leclerc as he thanked his team, “even if it was down to a bit of luck on our side. Overall, we had good pace, which is something we didn’t expect on a track like Spa-Francorchamp. A big thank you to everyone at the track and back in Maranello for continuing to push so hard.”

Lewis Hamilton, who pitted directly behind Leclerc, had a scary moment when the automatic pit lane lights turned green while a mechanic was still making an adjustment to his front wing. Hamilton accelerated, knocking the mechanic over with his right front tire. He reacted immediately by braking and thus prevented anything serious happening; the mechanic was unharmed, fortunately.

The FIA race stewards deemed the incident an ‘unsafe release’ and imposed a €30,000 fine on Scuderia Ferrari. The outfit must now pay 20,000 euros at once with the remaining 10,000 euros suspended for twelve months provided they do not commit another such infringement during the period in question.