F1: The Guide to This Year’s Belgium Grand Prix

$RACE

Formula 1 returns from its Summer break this weekend with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps .

People will be focused on Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing in Belgium after he announced he would be leaving the team at the end of the season for Renault. The Aussie hot shoe will be replaced by Torro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly.

The other shock news came from McLaren driver Fernando Alonso says he will quit the sport at the end of this season. His replacement Carlos Sainz, currently with Renault, will also be in the spotlight.

But, it is Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) and MercedesAMG who will dominate the action at the Spa circuit and the focus will be back on the battle between Silver Arrow’s Lewis Hamilton and The Scuderia’s Sebastian Vettel. The Mr. Hamilton holds a 24-point advantage over Ferrari’s Mr. Vettel with 9 races left in the season.

It is a hard race to call says F1.com. Mr. Hamilton has had “mixed fortunes” at Spa. He has 4 retirements, the most of any circuit, and 3 victories at Spa.

“Should he triumph for a 4th time this weekend, he will equal the Spa record of Jim Clark and current Ferrari rival Kimi Raikkonen,” says F1’s website.

“Raikkonen’s team mate Vettel will be desperate to bounce back from his disappointing end to part one of the season, but the German hasn’t had the best of times when racing here. In fact, he’s won just twice at Spa, taken just 1Pole and has only led three laps in Belgium during the turbo hybrid era – all last year.”

MercedesAMG’s team boss Toto Wolff echoed those sentiments this week saying that the race was hard to call.

And to make things exciting, rain is forecast for the weekend, it is typical at Spa

The Big Qs: Can Kimi grab his 100th podium? Will Seb overtake Prost’s win record?

Some of the things you need to know

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 22, 2018

F1 Belgian Grand Prix guide

When: Sunday 26 August  Where: Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium Race start time: 2.10pm on Sunday  Last year’s podium: 1st Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes); 2nd Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari); 3rd Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)

Spa-Francorchamps circuit guide

First grand prix: 1950  Number of laps: 44  Circuit length: 7.004km  Race distance: 308.05km  Lap record: 1:46.577 by Sebastian Vettel (2017)  More details: f1.com

Let%u2019s start the #BelgianGP Week. #ForzaFerrari pic.twitter.com/G6WuIlzgQn

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 23, 2018

Belgian GP on-track schedule When is practice for the Belgian GP?

Friday will see 2 practice sessions in Belgium. FP1 runs from 10a until 11.30p UK time and FP2 is from 2:00p until 3.30p. Saturday’s practice three session starts at 11am and ends at midday.

Belgian GP qualifying

Qualifying for the Belgian GP begins at 2:00p Saturday.

The 2018 F1 Belgian Grand Prix takes place on Sunday 26 August and starts at 2.10p (UK time).

Belgian GP betting odds to win at Spa-Francorchamps:

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari): 6/4 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): 6/4  Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari): 9/1  Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes): 9/1  Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing): 16/1  Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing): 18/2  Kevin Magnussen (Haas F1): 1,000/1 Carlos Sainz (Renault): 1,500/1

How to watch the Belgian GP on TV

Sky Sports F1 and Channel 4 will bring live coverage from the practice sessions, qualifying and race in Belgian.

Belgian GP TV schedule UK only

Saturday, 25 July

Sky Sports F1

10.45a: Belgian GP practice three build-up  11am: Belgian GP practice three live  1:00p: Belgian GP qualifying build-up  2pm: Belgian GP qualifying live  5:00p: The F1 Show

Channel 4

10.55a: Belgian GP FP3 12.55p: Belgian GP qualifying

Sunday, 29 July

Sky Sports F1

12.30p: Belgian GP Pit Lane live  1.30p: Belgian GP On The Grid live  2.10p: F1 Belgian Grand Prix live  4.30pp: Belgian GP paddock live  6.35p: Belgian GP race replay

Channel 4

1:00p: Belgian GP live

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  belgium, bull, championships, F1, Ferrari, Grans, Hamilton, Kimmi, MercedesAMG, pole, Prix, Qualifying, race, racing, Red, Scuderia, season, Vettel, wins

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Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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