F1 Paddock Notebook - Belgian GP Sunday

- The Spa-Francorchamps paddock returned to action on Sunday in Belgium following the tragic death of Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert on Saturday at the age of 22. The planned F2 Sprint Race was cancelled, but the Formula 1, Formula 3 and Porsche Supercup races went ahead as planned.

- The day was filled with tributes to Hubert. A minute’s silence was held before both the F3 and F1 races, with drivers from all three single-seater paddocks uniting at the front of the grid to observe it. Hubert’s mother and brother also appeared on the grid, holding one of his race helmets.

- A fan-led initiative saw a standing ovation begin on Lap 19 of the race – 19 being Hubert’s F2 race number – around the circuit. Fans also took to Twitter to post a single heart on Lap 19 in tribute to the late Frenchman, while a shrine to Hubert at the site of his crash was formed by fans following the race when they were allowed onto the circuit.

- FIA race director Michael Masi confirmed that the governing body’s investigation into the accident is underway, in close collaboration with the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium and the local authorities. The FIA will work with its technical and safety departments on the investigation.

- Charles Leclerc was quick to dedicate his maiden F1 victory to Hubert after crossing the line at Spa. Leclerc raced with Hubert in karting as they rose the ranks in French motorsport. “Losing Anthoine yesterday brings me back to 2005, my first ever French championship, there was him, Esteban [Ocon], Pierre [Gasly] and myself,” Leclerc said. “We were four kids who were dreaming of Formula 1. We grew up in karting for many, many years. To lose him yesterday was a big shock for me.”

- Leclerc became F1’s 108th different winner on Sunday, and the first new victor since Valtteri Bottas at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix. He is the first driver from Monaco to win a race, and the third-youngest race winner in F1 history, only trailing Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.

- Leclerc narrowly beat Lewis Hamilton to victory after the Mercedes driver went on a late charge after faring better on the Medium compound tyre, allowing him to get within a second of the win at the chequered flag. Leclerc said after the race that one more lap may have been enough for Hamilton to take the win.

- Leclerc’s charge was aided by Ferrari’s call to swap its drivers on-track, asking Sebastian Vettel to move aside for his teammate. Vettel had got the undercut on Leclerc after an early pit stop, but was much slower on the Mediums, allowing Leclerc to close up. Mattia Binotto said there was no point asking them to hold station as it would have cost Leclerc time. Vettel ultimately had to pit for a second time, leaving him fourth at the chequered flag. He did pick up a point for setting the fastest lap of the race, though.

- Hamilton was left lamenting his pit strategy in Belgium, believing he should have come in earlier than Leclerc in a bid to get the undercut. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said: ““If we would have really optimised our race, which you can only do post-race by being super intelligent and saying what could have been, then maybe we could have pitted one or two laps earlier.”

- Hamilton still managed to extend his championship lead to 65 points as teammate Valtteri Bottas finished third, finishing 11 seconds behind. Bottas said he switched to a “Sunday drive” in the closing stages to aid the life of parts on his car, knowing his chance to battle with the top two had gone.

- Arguably the more important points gain for Hamilton came over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who retired from a race for the first time since the Hungarian Grand Prix last year. Verstappen suffered damage in a first-corner clash with Kimi Raikkonen that meant his car went straight on at Eau Rouge, crashing into the barrier. Verstappen is now 87 points behind in the title race with eight races remaining.

- Alexander Albon put in an impressive drive for Red Bull on his debut for the team following his shock mid-season promotion. Albon recovered from a grid penalty that left him starting 17th to finish fifth, completing his charge on the final lap with a bold pass on Sergio Perez that required him to put two wheels on the grass. Perez was investigated by the stewards for forcing Albon off-track, but both drivers said it was “hard racing”, leading to no action being taken that meant Perez kept P6 for his first points since Baku.

- Perez and Albon both benefitted from Lando Norris’ late failure. Norris made a rocket start to rise from 11th to fifth, and remained at the head of the midfield until the very final lap of the race when he suffered a suspected engine failure. Teammate Carlos Sainz was sidelined early on by a loss of power, resulting in the team’s first point-less weekend since Canada.

- Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly both scored points for Toro Rosso in P7 and P9. Gasly had been struggling through the closing stages of the race, only to benefit from Norris’ issue and a crash for Antonio Giovinazzi, who had been running ahead in P9 before going into the wall at Pouhon on the penultimate lap.

- Gasly revealed after the race that he had told Leclerc to go and win the race for Anthoine Hubert: “I told Charles before the race: ‘Please win this race for Anthoine’, because we started racing in the same year, Charles, Anthoine and myself.”

- Nico Hulkenberg returned to the points after two races away by finishing eighth for Renault, with teammate Daniel Ricciardo fading to P14 in the final few laps due to a loss of downforce on his car. Ricciardo said after the race he had considered not taking part after Hubert’s death: “I don’t think that any of us actually wanted to be here or race. At least I am speaking for myself, but I’m sure I’m not the only one.”

- Haas had another day to forget as Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean finished one lap down and outside of the points. Grosjean had been running an impressive sixth until his pit stop, only to then fade badly on Medium tyres, so much so that he ranted at his engineer about their chances of getting back into the points. Grosjean also requested to retire the car late on. Magnussen was passed by numerous cars on the Kemmel Straight, leaving the team to digest another difficult weekend amid its yo-yoing form.

- Kimi Raikkonen ailed to P18 for Alfa Romeo after racing with a damaged floor following the first-corner clash with Verstappen. Raikkonen was left fuming by the move, and while it was looked at by the stewards, they deemed it to be a racing incident.

- Officials at Spa reported a race day attendance of 90,000, marking a “significant increase”. More than 10,000 people were present in the paddock, according to the same release.