Ferrari’s Vettel Nabs Spa Lap Record From Porsche | Feature

We were suitably impressed when Porsche set a new lap record at Spa this past April, beating F1 cars with its derestricted 919 Evo. But the record didn’t last for long.

As Motorsport.com points out, three drivers lapped the Francorchamps circuit during this past weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix faster than Porsche’s prototype. The fastest of them was Sebastian Vettel, who clocked the fastest race lap at 1:41.501 – just ahead of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen and rival Lewis Hamilton, who both lapped within the same tenth.

Those times were enough to knock the 919 Evo and its 1:41.770 lap record off the top of the time sheet. The “tribute” prototype is based on the three-time Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid, but untethered to the restrictions set by the regulators at the ACO and FIA. With no regulations to keep it at bay, the Porsche managed to beat Hamilton’s best effort from the previous year by almost a full second.

The unbridled show car also beat Stefan Bellof’s outright Nürburgring lap record a couple of months ago, and that record’s likely to stand for the foreseeable future.

Following this past weekend’s race, Porsche driver Neel Jani (who had set the Spa record a few months ago) suggested that the 919 Tribute team could return to reclaim bragging rights. But we’ll have to wait to see if that comes to fruition. Even if it does, though, the quickening pace exhibited in Formula One each year likely means the record wouldn’t last for long.

Rain came too late and @circuitspa record went back to #f1 by only 0.27????! Close????! Might have to get the car back out of the museum????#919evo pic.twitter.com/Fll7B3Uhzb

— neel jani (@neeljani) August 25, 2018