Just eight points separate Max Verstappen from title leader Lewis Hamilton as F1 returns from the summer break with a tricky trio of tracks. Featuring Autosport’s Luke Smith and Motorbox’s Luca Manacorda.

There are just 15 weeks to go until F1 crowns its champion for 2021, but there’s plenty more to work through between now and the grand finale.

Ahead of his 200th Formula 1® start at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo reflects on his career by taking a trip down memory lane to discuss five important races on the way to his milestone.

The F1 calendar is in crisis, but luckily cricket and greyhound racing have the answer. Rob records from inside his bedsheets. Michael laments the demise of an office furniture company.

Lewis Hamilton won his fifth race of the season to extend his championship lead to nearly two clear race victories at the Belgian Grand Prix, but the biggest story of this staid Sunday came at the back of the field and well out of the points.

Ferrari, motorsport’s most famous and best-funded team, lumbered home to its worst result in a decade in a hellish weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc crawled to 13th and 14th, beaten by Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and only five seconds ahead of Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi in its lowest meritorious double finish since 2010.

Ferrari is cooked. Like, really cooked. Lewis Hamilton won the race but Ferrari is absolutely roasted. Did you see it? It’s no good. That guy supporting Max Verstappen but doing a shoey was also questionable, but that still wasn’t as bad as Ferrari.

I review the action from the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix with Luke Smith from Autosport.

The Belgian Grand Prix might’ve fizzles over a poorly timed safety car, but there was no disputing another spotless performance by Lewis Hamilton, who extended his championship lead to almost two clear race wins.

The lap 10 intervention to collects the crashed cars of Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell came just late enough to prompt almost every driver to make their sole pit stop, but it meant the race devolved into a long single stint of unappealing tyre management largely devoid of action.

But a Mercedes one-two was always on the cards at a circuit that heavily favours engine performance. The Mercedes power unit has comfortably regained its status as the formula’s best, allowing the works team to pile downforce onto the car to protect its tyres through the middle sector without sacrificing straight-line speed to Red Bull Racing, effectively securing the result once the front row of the grid was locked out.

Lewis Hamilton is almost two clear wins atop the F1 championship standiings after breezing to a comfortable victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was peerless at Spa-Francorchamps, leading every lap of the race from pole to beat teammate Valtteri Bottas by almost nine seconds.

The win was Hamilton’s 89th, just two shy of Michael Schumacher’s record 91 victories.

Lewis Hamilton won his 89th Formula 1 race with a comfortably margin over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at the Belgian Grand Prix.

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Mercedes locked out the front row for the Belgian Grand Prix, but the form guide for the super-fast Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is precariously set.

The Iconic Spa-Francorchamps presents teams with a compromise quandary. The first and last sectors are all about straight-line speed, comprising only three genuine corners, but the middle sector is slower and twisty, putting a premium on downforce.

More downforce can yield decent gains and better tyre life through that middle sector alone, but the sheer length of the straights here — particularly Kemmel, which in effect runs from La Source, through Eau Rouge and all the way to the braking zone at Les Combes — risks leaving you a sitting duck to the powerful slipstream even to an overall slower car.

Lewis Hamilton has broken the track record at Spa-Francorchamps to beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix.

The world championship leader was untouchable in the top-10 shootout, setting two laps quick enough for pole to keep Bottas at bay by a whopping half-second.

“Very, very clean session,” he said. “Every lap was just getting better and better.”

Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix with pole position and a new track record.

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Lewis Hamilton wrested back control of the practice times for Mercedes while Ferrari slumped to last leading into qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.

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Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of Friday practice at the Belgian Grand Prix while Ferrari-powered cars continued to struggle at the back of the field.

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Valtteri Bottas topped the first practice time sheet for Mercedes at a chilly Spa-Francorchamps at the Belgian Grand Prix.

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I preview the upcoming Belgian, Italian and Tuscan grands prix with last year’s podcast guests Jack Nicholls from BBC F1 and Luca Manacorda from Motorbox.com.

Heikki Kovalainen is faster than you. Williams is more cashed up than you. Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps has more rain than you.