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The Grand Prix of Belgium – Information, schedule, stream

The Belgian Grand Prix, the twelfth of the originally planned twenty-three races, is scheduled for the weekend of 28-30 July. So what is the programme and where can you follow the race weekend?

Published

12 months ago

26. 7. 2023

Tomáš Myšák

Zdroje: Dan Mullan, Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

The Belgian Grand Prix, the twelfth of the originally planned twenty-three races, is scheduled for the weekend of 28-30 July. So what is the schedule and where can you follow the race weekend?

The Belgian Grand Prix has been on the Formula 1 calendar since the official foundation of the World Championship, in 1950. Its first winner was the famous and legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, who won a total of three times.

However, Michael Schumacher still has the most victories at this circuit (6), with the equally famous driver Ayrton Senna in second position with five wins. Ferrari is the most successful team at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with 18 championships.

Since then, the track has undergone various changes and has offered not only plenty of exciting racing, but also major, albeit fatal, accidents. In any case, Spa-Francorchamps is rightly one of the most legendary and traditional circuits not only in F1, but in motorsport as a whole.

Spa-Francorchamps

The track itself is currently 7.004 km long and consists of nineteen corners. The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, as the official name of the circuit goes, offers two DRS zones with two detection points.

In addition to the detection points, you can also see the average speeds that the drivers reach in each corner and which gear they usually shift into in that corner.

Belgian Grand Prix – programme

The third sprint weekend of the season. The action at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit will begin on Friday 28 July, specifically at 13:30, with the first free practice (officially called Free Practice 1 – ed. note). This will last the standard one hour.

However, Friday’s qualifying will follow at 17:00, which will determine the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. On Saturday 29 July, there will be no second free practice, instead everyone will take part in a qualifying session (Sprint Shootout) which will determine the starting order for the subsequent sprint.

This is scheduled for 12:00. We have already covered the new rules in more detail in a previous article with regard to the sprint format of the race weekend.

At 16:30 the race weekend programme will continue with a 100km sprint. The main race is scheduled for Sunday, July 30, as usual. All five lights will go out at 15:00 sharp.

Belgian Grand Prix – stream

Live coverage of the F1 races can be watched on Sport 1 and Sport 2 TV stations, where you can switch between Czech or Slovak audio tracks. But there is also F1 TV, where you can switch between the onboard cameras of the individual drivers.

But F1 TV also offers other features, such as livetiming and detailed telemetry. In addition to the full F1 programme, you can also watch press conferences or practice sessions and F2 or F3 qualifying.

Belgian Grand Prix – odds and predictions

As is perhaps almost routine this season, Max Verstappen will be the biggest favourite to win at Spa-Francorchamps. He absolutely dominates the entire starting field and is on course to win his third consecutive title.

As for Sunday’s race, the odds are 1.30 for Verstappen, 10 for Perez, 12 for Norris and 15 for Hamilton. Also in the top 100 are George Russell (20), Oscar Piastri (22), Charles Leclerc (25), Fernando Alonso (30) and Carlos Sainz (40).

In dry conditions, the clear favourite is of course the reigning champion. Typologically, this circuit is similar to Silverstone, so McLaren should be very strong again.

So, if you were thinking of betting on a battle between the two drivers, both McLaren drivers have the chops to beat everyone else, except of course the Red Bull drivers. While the fact remains that Pérez is not in the best of form at the moment, he needs good results like salt.

In terms of performance, the factory Mercedes could be right behind McLaren, while Ferrari and Aston Martin are completely lost. But it’s important to point out that this prediction is only valid in dry conditions. In fact, rainy weather is forecast for the weekend in Belgium, which could totally shake things up.