Rod Torque: Prancing horses find a way … at last

It was a weekend of sadness mixed with joy at the Belgian Grand Prix, held at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.

The winner Charles Leclerc lost a close friend when, in Formula 2 race Anthoine Hubert (22) was killed in a tragic and unusual accident last Saturday.

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His car slid off the track but bounced back into the path of the coming cars, causing the fatal accident.

Leclerc dedicated his race win to his friend.

Hubert was a French professional racing driver who won the 2018 GP3 Series champion.

The accident occurred during the feature race of the 2019 Spa-Francorchamps FIA Formula 2 round at Spa-Francorchamps.

Leclerc, from Monaco drove a great race in his Ferrari to win with championship leader Lewis Hamilton right behind, with the gap less than one second at the finish.

It was an exciting chase by the Brit with his teammate, Valtteri Bottas in third on the podium, some 11 seconds further behind.

This was a good comeback from the Silver Arrows team after both Ferraris had dominated in practice.

Unfortunately for Sebastian Vettel, his early tyre stop did not work out and he could only make it home in fourth spot.

Alexander Albon drove a good debut race in his Red Bul,l finishing fifth but his exciting teammate Max Verstappen was out of the race and into the barriers soon after the start.

It was a pity as we lost the spectacle of the Flying Dutchman giving us another exciting performance.

Sergio Perez and Danill Kvyat finished very close behind Albon, all being involved in a good tussle together in sixth and seventh positions, while the next trio, also in a close battle, were Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll, in eighth, ninth and tenth places.

Spa always provides us with a good race and offers the drivers a huge challenge at getting the most out of their cars around this magnificent high speed circuit.

It is great to see Ferrari back in contention as we move to Monza for their home race.

It should be another very exciting event with the Tifosi in its element as cheers for the beloved red cars ring out in the hope of a potential home victory this coming weekend.

DRIVERS

1 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 268

2 Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 203

3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 181

4 Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 169

5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 157

6 Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) 65

7 Carlos Sainz Jr (McLaren) 58

8 Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 33

9 Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) 31

10 Alexander Albon (Red Bull) 26

11 Lando Norris (McLaren) 24

12 Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) 22

13 Sergio Perez (Racing Point Force India) 21

14 Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) 21

15 Lance Stroll (Racing Point Force India) 19

16 Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 18

17 Romain Grosjean (Haas) 8

18 Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa) 1

19 Robert Kubica (Williams) 1

20 George Russell (Williams) 0

TEAM

1 Mercedes 471

2 Ferrari 326

3 Red Bull 254

4 McLaren 82

5 Toro Rosso 51

6 Renault 43

7 Racing Point Force India 40

8 Alfa Romeo 32

9 Haas 26

10 Williams 1

HAVE YOUR SAY

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