Adam Cooper

A brilliant drive by @PierreGASLY for @AlpineF1Team today. One of the first four drivers to pit for slicks, he jumped from P14 to P11, and then gained P10 after HUL pitted. He banked on a low downforce setup which was tricky in the wet but helped him to stay ahead of TSU et al.

'@LewisHamilton endured a nightmare first couple of days at Spa with a few challenges to overcome - however he turned things around with a charging drive in the race. Can he now build on that momentum?: adamcooperonf1.substack.com/p/how-hamilton…

'@LewisHamilton on the @fia call to start: "I think they still did a good job. Of course, we did miss some of the extreme wet racing, which I think would have been nice. But for some reason the spray this year, it's like going through fog."

'@LewisHamilton on tyre calls: "I'm really working to try to finesse that, to get it right each time. I would say that's been an area for me that's not always been the strongest. And in the last race I called it, it was maybe a one lap too early, and I think today was spot-on."

Some debate about the four SC laps before the race went green. Race control was assessing how wet the two grid 'lanes' were for a fair standing start, and wanted to do the right thing for fans. That used up an extra lap or two, but in the end the call had to be a rolling start.

'@LewisHamilton: "The car was so much better today to drive. I had a lot of fun trying to make my way through. We obviously started the race a little bit too late, I would say. I kept shouting, 'It's ready to go, it's ready to go!'. And they kept going round and round and round."

'@alo_oficial on his pitlane start changes: "We went for a full wet setup, with very big rear wing and things, looking at the forecast. And I think we did six laps on wet and then [34] on dry and sunny Spa. So we were slow...."

'@HulkHulkenberg on losing P10 with a 2nd stop: "My front tyres were giving up in that first stint, and I was picking up front locking, a lot of understeer. I don't think I would have survived in front of Pierre and that group, given also that we were on higher downforce."

Kimi Antonelli on aero changes: "The car felt better with a bigger wing. I felt much better in places where I was struggling a lot. It was a shame, because obviously with the delayed start it turns out it was a dry race pretty quickly, and we couldn't really use the bigger wing."

Andrea Stella on the @McLarenF1 stops for slicks: "We did consider double stacking. At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do."

Massive frustration for @Isack_Hadjar today, he was P8 when he lost straightline speed from lap 8 with an unspecified issue and then a late switch slicks and a second stop for hards left him back in P20.

'@OconEsteban another driver frustrated at being pitted too late. He couldn't come in on lap 12 as @HaasF1Team was servicing @OllieBearman, who was just ahead, so he stopped the following lap. He was also confused as to why he was given used mediums when a new set was available.

'@yukitsunoda07 is one of several frustrated drivers today, he says the call to pit on lap 12 came too late - hence he joined NOR, HAD and OCO in being among the last to pit on the following lap. He had been running P7 and he finished P13.

Just spoke to @LewisHamilton, not surprisingly he's buzzing after a charging race to seventh. Only frustration was the late call to start when he'd gone high downforce for the wet and couldn't fully utilise it. And he thought about going to slicks even earlier than he did.

Pitlane start for @LewisHamilton today. This was him getting back in to drive down and join the queue:

The rain has arrived early as drivers are on their laps to the grid - heavier stuff still to come...

Can't vouch for the rest of the track (or kerbs etc) but the grid is basically dry and the sun is peeking through. However rain is due to hit around start time...:

The FIA parc ferme document confirms that @Max33Verstappen has had a power unit change - to previous used elements.

Now hearing that a weather cell is on its way from the Brussels direction and could hit Spa around 3pm. If that happens a delayed start is an option for the FIA.

No rain at the moment and the track is drying, but the forecast says rain will return during the race. Tricky choice for the drivers starting from the pits and who can still adjust wing settings...