Raceday arrived and I was excited about the prospect of seeing another Ferrari victory in 2022. The day began early as I headed out from Hasselt to be at the circuit in time for Charles Leclerc's visit to the Ferrari F1 Club.
The early start helped me to avoid the long lines heading into the circuit.
So how was the race day experience at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix? Well, this is a humble attempt at covering such a memorable day. Photos were taken with both my Sony RX10 IV and Samsung S22 Ultra.
En route to the circuit and enter via La Source. Always a pleasant sight to behold Hotel La Source.
After the usual cardio workout through the woods, I finally reached the Paddock Club!
Sunday Morning views from the Ferrari F1 Club :
All the calories shed got recovered with some Belgian Ice Cream on Sunday Morning!
The Formula 3 race was underway when I arrived and it was yet another win for Prema Racing!
Formula 3 Feature Race Podium Finishers celebrating :
The F3 race got quickly followed by the Formula 2 Feature Race!
The Formula 2 drivers line up on the grid!
The Race is a go-go!
Video Link of the Start of the Feature Race :
Jack Doohan leading after a brilliant strategy call :
As the F2 race continued, I visited the Fan Zone. I had won a selfie contest and Spa Grand Prix had asked me to visit the fan booth to collect my prize. I won an Alpine F1 cap signed by both the drivers and a t-shirt with all the circuits printed from the 2022 season! Amazing!!
The F2 cars negotiate their way through Raidilion, onto the Kemmel Straight, a sight to behold indeed :
Jack Doohan celebrating with this team on Parc Ferme, his first-ever F2 Feature Race win, a deserved one indeed!
Parc Ferme Celebrations ( Video Link ) :
Getting onto the Podium to celebrate his success! Well done Jack Doohan!
Video Link to the Podium Celebrations :
The F2 Feature race got followed by a Red Bull Air Show!
Some stunts performed in the air :
Soon enough, it was time for Charles Leclerc to visit the guests in the Ferrari F1 Club for a quick Q&A!
Charles Leclerc Interview in the Ferrari F1 Club ( Video Link ) :
Post his interview, I decided to head down to the support race paddock to congratulate Jack Doohan on his maiden Feature Race win!
As I made my way down I bumped into someone famous!
Jacky Ickx, an F1 legend and six-time Le Mans winner :
Down at the support race paddock, I caught a glimpse of the vintage cars lined up for the Drivers' Track Parade!
More selfies followed!
Bernd Maylander, Formula 1 Safety Car Driver :
Paul di Resta, Ex-F1 Driver and Sky Sports F1 Presenter :
Finally, after waiting for the debrief to end, I had a chance to meet and converse with Jack about his weekend! Such an amazing human being and I wish him all the best for the future!
The man, with his spoils from the weekend!
As I legged it back to the Paddock Club, I realized that I had missed the only Pit Lane Walk on Sunday :(
Once I got back to the club, I quickly went through the menu to see what appealed to my palette...
Enjoying some lunch before the real action begins :
As the drivers headed out for their sighting laps, the mechanics made their way to the grid to get the cars ready for the race :
The activity on the grid is increasing steadily :
Running through the grid, through a series of photos :
National Anthem time :
The drivers make their way back to their cars to get ready for the Formation Lap :
Formation lap time :
Formation Lap ( Video Link ) :
Ready to race!
Race Start ( Video Link ) :
The Race gets underway :
End of Lap 1 ( Video Link ) :
A First lap collision between Hamilton and Alonso brought out the Safety Car, with the former bowing out of the race :
Safety Car Deployed in the Race ( Video Link ) :
Race Restarts after Safety Car period ( Video Link ) :
The Race restarts again :
Battles galore up and down the field :
Some more shots from the Race :
George Russell Pit Stop ( Video Link ) :
Sergio Perez Pit Stop ( Video Link ) :
Max Verstappen Pit Stop ( Video Link ) :
Pit Stop stills :
The Scuderia Ferrari F1 boys battling it out in the race :
Parc Ferme Interviews and Podium Presentations :
Parc Ferme Interviews ( Video Link ) :
The Lifting of the trophies! Well done to Verstappen, Perez and Sainz for their performances over the weekend!
Taking some photos of the Podium finishers :
Video Link - Podium Celebrations :
The fans invade the track and take over the start-finish straight as they hope to catch a glimpse of their favourite drivers :
As I made my way back to the Paddock Club, I met a Belgian superstar!
Belgian and Manchester City footballer Kevin de Bruyne :
With the Paddock Club shutting for the weekend, it was time to head downstairs to the Paddock.
The Paddock at Spa Francorchamps :
I met a host of famous people while I spent time in the Paddock.
Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team Principal :
Mats Hummels, Germany and Borussia Dortmund Football Team, my favourite centre-back :
Nicholas Latifi, Williams Racing F1 Team :
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo F1 Orlen Team :
Christian Horner, Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team Principal :
Yuki Tsunoda, Scuderia Alpha Tauri F1 Team :
A silver medalist at rowing in the Olympics and Daniel Ricciardo's Race Engineer, Tom Stallard :
A selfie, well not really, with the reigning World Champion Max Verstappen :
Esteban Ocon, Alpine Racing F1 Team :
Sergio Perez, Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Team :
Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren F1 Team :
Fernando Alonso, Double World Champion, Alpine Racing F1 Team :
Mara Sangiorgio and Federica Masolin, journalists from Sky Sports F1 Italia :
The hosts at the Ferrari F1 Club! Such a great bunch of people! So blessed to know this trio, always cheerful, and welcoming and giving me memorable race weekends!
The sun sets on the Belgian GP weekend. We had to vacate the Paddock area earlier than usual since the teams needed to dismantle and ship everything to Zandvoort.
Returning to Hasselt, through village roads, the main highway was full of traffic!
A Vlog on the Sunday Experience at the 2022 Belgian GP, uploaded on my Youtube Channel :
Although Carlos Sainz Jr couldn't convert his pole position to a victory, it was a fine drive to bag P3 on Sunday. The Red Bull cars had too much pace and Max Verstappen cut through the field to take victory from Sergio Perez.
Charles Leclerc tried to bag the point for the fastest lap by pitting on the last lap of the race, but due to speeding in the pit lane, the Monegasque incurred a time penalty and finished P6. Another disappointing weekend for him. It was another difficult weekend for Ferrari but both drivers tried to extract the maximum.
A big thank you to Edge Global Events for organising the race passes for the weekend. Thank you to Scuderia Ferrari and the hosts at the Ferrari F1 Club for always being so welcoming and hospitable! I can't wait to return in 2023!
The Paddock Club Diaries might have ended for 2022, but there will be more content coming your way on the Blog! Thank you for all your support and love and wishing you all a wonderful 2023! God Bless you all!