Formula 1: Ferrari finally get it right

After a year of blowing golden opportunities to win races, Ferrari finally got it right for the first time in the 2019 Formula 1 season in the Belgian Grand Prix.

Entering the 13th race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule and the first race following the summer break, the Belgian Grand Prix, at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Scuderia Ferrari had still not secured a victory since last October.

Kimi Raikkonen, who now drives for Alfa Romeo Racing after he was replaced by Charles Leclerc ahead of the 2019 season, won the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, October 21, 2018.

Much of what was a 15-race win drought stemmed as a result of the fact that Ferrari simply blew every great opportunity they had to get back in the win column.

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In a perfect world, through the first 12 races of the 2019 season, Ferrari probably would’ve had four or five victories. They should have had a win if not a 1-2 finish in the Bahrain Grand Prix, but Sebastian Vettel spun out in a battle for second place and Charles Leclerc’s engine failed with him seemingly en route to winning the race by a huge margin.

Leclerc appeared to be the driver to beat during the weekend of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as well, but he crashed in qualifying. That appeared to be the case during the weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix as well, but Ferrari misjudged the likelihood of his lap time in the first of qualifying being good enough to transfer him to the second round. As a result, he started that race in 16th place and crashed early trying to make up ground too quickly.

Then in the Canadian Grand Prix, Vettel took the checkered flag ahead of everybody else, but he was issued a post-race time penalty that stripped him from the victory, as he made a mistake and reentered the track in what was deemed to be an unsafe manner ahead of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who inherited the victory following a second place finish.

Leclerc dominated the Austrian Grand Prix as well, but poor tire strategy resulted in Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen overcoming a terrible start and a 15-second deficit and taking the lead away from him with under three laps remaining before going on to win.

Ferrari dominated the practice sessions leading up to qualifying for the German Grand Prix as well, but mechanical issues in qualifying relegated Leclerc and Vettel to 10th and 20th place on the starting grid, respectively.

But in the Belgian Grand Prix, they finally got it right.

Leclerc started this 44-lap race around the 19-turn, 4.352-mile (7.004-kilometer) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps road course in Stavelot, Belgium from the pole position, and Vettel started alongside him on the front row in second place.

The Ferrari teammates finished in the top two in each of the three practice session for this race as well, with Leclerc heading two of them and Vettel heading the other. They entered the race as the clear team to beat.

When Vettel came into the pits first and made up all kinds of time on new tires, it appeared as though Ferrari had designed their strategy with the focus of ending Vettel’s 21-race win drought as opposed to propelling Leclerc to victory for the first time.

That was not the case.

Vettel did become the leader, but Leclerc quickly ran him down on newer tires, and Ferrari actually ordered Vettel to let the 21-year-old Monegasque pass him. Vettel then served as somewhat of a roadblock ahead of Hamilton to help Leclerc build up his lead.

Hamilton ended up taking a huge chunk out of Leclerc’s lead as the laps wound down, but it wasn’t enough, in part thanks to Vettel. Leclerc held him off by 0.981 seconds to earn Ferrari their first victory in over 10 months and the first victory of his Formula 1 career.

Yes, Ferrari did sacrifice a potential double podium finish, as Vettel finished in fourth place after pitting for new tires once again late in the race, but at this point, their focus was nothing other than winning, and their strategy played out to perfection.

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With Ferrari having finally gotten the monkey off of their backs in the Belgian Grand Prix with their first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season, have the floodgates opened? Will they secure more victories before the season ends, perhaps even in the near future? How many more races will Charles Leclerc win this year? Will Sebastian Vettel win any one of the final eight races on the schedule, or will he experience his first winless season since 2016?

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