We're all goin' on a summer holiday
No more workin' for a week or two
Fun and laughter on our summer holiday

When you work in Formula 1, a holiday doesn’t appeal too much, but following this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, we’ll be taking a well-earned, much-needed break from any form of racing activity – whether we want to or not.

At least we’ll be going into it with a smile on our faces, following two podiums in as many races and four top-five finishes. Given our turnaround of form in the past few weeks, no one can say we’ve not earned it.

But before anyone sails off to Spain for a few weeks or takes a bus to Brighton Beach, we’ve got one more jam-packed weekend of glorious papaya racing action for you to sink your teeth into. Traditionally, F1’s summer shutdown takes place right after the Hungarian Grand Prix, but this year you’ll be treated to another grand prix before we all head off on our holidays.

In between packing for their holidays, we managed to catch Lando and Oscar to get their thoughts on Spa-Francorchamps, as well as some words of wisdom from Team Principal Andrea Stella. We’ve also compiled a track guide, a handy explainer for the F1 Sprint and some tips on what to wear.

Critical info

Round	13
Where	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
When	28 - 30 July
Lights out	15:00 local / 14:00 MTC
Follow	The website and the McLaren App for LIVE commentary and team radio

“Back-to-back podiums! It feels good to be back where we belong, but we still have more work to do to keep it consistent for the rest of the season.

“I’m looking forward to racing in Spa. It’s one of my favourite tracks and it should be a good circuit for us. Of course, it can be challenging depending on the conditions, but we will do our best to finish the first half of the season in a strong position.”

“Belgium up next. It’s always good to go racing in Spa, it’s a really great track, and I enjoy a Sprint weekend. The car has been good to us in the last two races, which is positive, but there’s a lot of learning to take into this weekend.

“I was back in the sim at the MTC this week to make sure we extract all the data. Hopefully, we have another good weekend ahead of the summer break.”

Time for a Spa day

It might not span nine miles like when it was originally designed in 1920, but Spa-Francorchamps is still the longest track on the F1 calendar, and it packs a lot into that.

It’s a circuit of two halves, with the first and final sectors very much in the fast and flowing category, and the middle sector much tighter and more technical. Teams must decide which of these sections they set up better for: lower downforce will make a car more competitive on the straights and high-speed corners, but tough to handle in the middle sector, whilst higher downforce will increase performance in the tight and technical sections, but slow the car down on the straights and through the high-speed corners.

Although its middle sector has some similarities to the Hungaroring, teams will find Spa-Francorchamps much easier to overtake on than the Budapest-based circuit we raced on last weekend.

The opening corner, Le Source, provides the first chance to make a move, followed by another opportunity at Les Combes after the DRS zone on the Kemmel Straight. There is then a third overtaking spot at the Bus Stop chicane, which follows the track's fastest corner, Blanchimont, taken flat-out at around 310kph.

Spriiiiiiiiiiiiint

You can get the full lowdown on the Sprint format here, but the big change for this year is that it is now a standalone event, which does not affect the starting grid on Sunday. That means that we get two qualifying sessions, one for the Sprint and one for Sunday’s grand prix.

The actual Sprint race will follow the same format as in 2022, with points handed out to the top eight finishers: the winner taking home eight points, and the driver in eighth gaining just one point. Unlike in 2022, the finishing order of the Sprint Race will not affect the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix. The race on Sunday will then take place as usual… Make sense? Good.

Last time out

These sections are becoming kinda fun, don’t you think? For the first time in his career, Lando scored successive podiums, finishing second to Max Verstappen at the Hungarian Grand Prix. It was also our first back-to-back podiums in nearly 11 years.

Oscar notched a first of his own, with the Aussie rookie taking consecutive top-five finishes for the first time in his short F1 career. He held onto fifth despite suffering from floor damage, helping us to bring home a combined haul of 28 points, which moves us 40 clear of sixth-placed Alpine in the Constructors' standings.

Setting the scene

Located around 40km from the closest city in the stunning Ardennes region, a trip to Spa-Francorchamps makes for a great escape from reality. Whilst there you’ll be surrounded by some real natural beauty, with forests, hills and rivers to explore, as well as several small, quaint villages to wander around.

Despite its ruralness, the area isn’t short on amazing food. As well as heartwarming stews such as Waterzooi and Carbonnade Flamande, Belgium does the simple stuff brilliantly: Belgian fries (frites), waffles and chocolate should all be high on your list for snacking.

“Another strong weekend from both drivers in Hungary and a further data point to help us analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the car. It’s good to be in this position and the team have worked hard to get us here. However, while we can be more optimistic about the rest of our season, we know the other teams won’t stand still. Our plans and ambitions remain the same, we continue to push forward with the development of the MCL60 this year, and ultimately aim to be in a position to achieve race wins in the near future.

“Meanwhile, before the summer shutdown, we head to Belgium. Spa is another popular circuit with the drivers. It has a nice mix of long straights and corners at all speeds and can be even more challenging if affected by the weather. It’s also a Sprint weekend, which adds to the challenge and the opportunities. As always, our team, together with our drivers, remain focused on the task at hand and are ready to give it their all.”

Set your alarms

Free Practice 1	07:30 ET / 12:30 BST / 21:30 AET
Qualifying	11:00 ET / 16:00 BST / 01:00 AET
Sprint Shootout	06:00 ET / 11:00 BST / 20:00 AET
Sprint	10:30 ET / 15:30 BST / 00:30 AET
Race	09:00 ET / 14:00 BST / 23:00 AET

Stat pack

• Bruce McLaren scored McLaren’s first Formula 1 victory at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix

• We’ve won the Belgian Grand Prix 14 times, making us the second most successful team there

• We won the race five times in a row between 1987 and 1991

• Emerson Fittipaldi, John Watson, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, David Coulthard, Mika Häkkinen, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have all won for McLaren in Belgium  

• Button scored his only pole for McLaren at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix

• Designed in 1920, the original Spa-Francorchamps layout was 9-miles long. It is now 4.352 miles

• The Belgian Grand Prix is technically a home race for Lando, as his mother was born in Flanders, Belgium

• Lando won here in European Formula 3 in 2017

• Oscar won here in Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019

The fit: Summer essentials

Among the benefits of being a McLaren Formula 1 driver is getting your hands on new merch drops before anyone else. Lando and Oscar both got their orders in ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix and have already packed their bags to the brim with sliders, shades, shorts and t-shirts. And now it’s your turn to shop the collection here.

Your hot F1 fan summer is just around the corner.

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