Verstappen dominates in Red Bull 1-2 at the Belgian GP

Starting the Belgian Grand Prix from sixth on the grid, Max Verstappen put on yet another masterclass display of racing, taking his eighth victory in a row around the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps ahead of the sport’s three-week Summer break.

With a rare bout of blue sky shining over the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, 19 cars filed onto the Belgian Grand Prix starting grid, eyes set on Turn 1 as the five lights ticked down.

Nico Hulkenberg’s P20 grid box was left unoccupied at the start, the German starting his race from the pitlane after the rear of his Haas started billowing smoke on the installation lap.

Starting from pole for the second time this season, Charles Leclerc held his own during the short run to the first corner, maintaining his lead over Sergio Perez into La Source. 

Not too far back, however, his teammate found himself wounded at the start after a lockup ruined his entry to Turn 1.

Taking avoiding action from a closing in Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz was squeezed into the inside of the first corner, ricocheting into significant contact with Oscar Piastri.

On their first trip down the Kemmel Straight, the Red Bull drivers simultaneously cruised past the respective Ferraris ahead of them, seeing Perez take the lead and Verstappen take P4.  

Piastri, having started from P5, was forced to pull over on the side of the road after the contact in what he and the FIA deemed a racing incident left him unable to continue his Belgian GP campaign.  

With the #55 car running at a 5% loss of aero balance, he quickly fell within a second of Fernando Alonso behind.

Despite his best defensive efforts and DRS not yet being enabled, the hole in Sainz’s right sidepod proved too impactful, seeing Fernando Alonso pass him within the span of a lap.

Alex Albon had a great start to his Belgian Grand Prix, making up seven places in the opening 5 laps of the race to be running behind Yuki Tsunoda.  

A 4.3-second pitstop added to Lando Norris’s woes, with the McLaren having tumbled down the order from P7 to P11 by the fifth racing lap. 

Now on a fresh set of hard tyres, Norris wasn’t out of danger, losing more time in his MCL60. 

On Lap 8, new medium tyres and a helping of tape were a last-ditch attempt to rescue Sainz’s race.

Running in P18 behind Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo, the Spaniard failed to cut the gap down in his wounded Ferrari, instead drifting down the order to the point where a Lap 25 retirement was the most enticing end result for his race.

Under braking into Les Combes, Verstappen breezed by Leclerc to take P2, running less than 3 seconds behind his teammate in the lead on Lap 9.

Daniel Ricciardo, starting from P19, demoted his former McLaren teammate 10 laps into the race, with Norris’s tyre wear only worsening from that point forward. 

Hamilton was the first of the top four drivers to pit, keeping place P4 as he made the switch to the medium compound.

Leclerc was the next to stop, also maintaining his position in third place.

Pitting from the lead, Perez pulled into the pits for what was a slow stop by Red Bull’s usually flawless standards, however, enough to keep Verstappen behind after the Dutchman’s stop had been made. 

On lap 16, Verstappen was a scary three-tenths behind his teammate on their new tyres, and with the aid of a DRS advantage, the #1 car took the #1 spot down the Kemmel Straight.

Despite the radar and reports from Sainz highlighting rain shortly arriving, McLaren called Norris in for his second stop for the soft compound on Lap 18.

With umbrellas and raincoats activated in the stands, the radio waves shortly became flooded with warnings of a 10-minute stint of rain.

Norris’ increased pace on the red-marked tyre inspired the likes of Russell to also make the rewarding switch, seeing the Mercedes overtake a handful of cars on his fresh tyres.

After reporting that it was “raining quite a lot”, Verstappen nearly had a big moment through Eau Rouge, twitching through the iconic corner.

Pierre Gasly had a slow stop on his second visit to the pitlane due to a stubborn front tyre, costing him a position as he rejoined behind Albon.

He was held up behind the Williams in P11 for much of his medium tyre stint, also losing out to his teammate on Lap 30.

The top four again made their second stops in cohesion, the order and gaps remaining relatively unchanged as they all put on the soft tyre.

With 10 laps to go and over 24 seconds behind Hamilton, Alonso was leading the rest of the pack in P5, heading a haul of exciting battles for the final points positions.

Further back, Ricciardo was running behind the Haas duo in P15, one of four drivers still sporting the medium compound on Lap 35. 

Ocon made a brave move on Tsunoda into Les Combes, charging ahead to his next target in that of Stroll.

Finding himself bordering on the limit of Hulkenberg’s DRS range, the move for P14 was harder than anticipated for Ricciardo, allowing Zhou to join the fight and eventually demote the Australian.

Ricciardo remained down in P17 until Lap 43, successfully making the move on Hulkenberg into the first turn. 

Despite Leclerc taking some fuel-saving precautions, he was seemingly safe in P3 in the closing stages of the race leaving the Mercedes in fourth. 

On the last lap, Hamilton pulled into the pits ready to take on the task of beating Verstappen’s fastest lap. 

Attempting to do better than a 1:48.900s, Mercedes put the seven-time world champion onto the medium compound, a choice that proved correct as he crossed the finish line with a time of 1:47.305.

Norris ended the Belgian Grand Prix in an impressive P7 given the McLaren’s lack of genuine pace, his race having taken a turn for the better following a successful undercut after running with the backmarkers at the midpoint of the 44-lap race.

With the chequered flag waving, the Belgian-born Max Verstappen took his eighth victory in a row, adding a haul of 25 pts to his already extreme lead in the driver’s championship, despite a few lippy exchanges with his race engineer throughout the race.

Over 20 seconds behind, Sergio Perez came home in second place, a much-needed result in his quest to keep his Red Bull seat into 2024 and beyond. 

Rounding out the podium was Charles Leclerc, getting his hands on a trophy for the third time this season. 

The drivers and teams will take a well-earned reset over the next three weekends before heading to Verstappen’s home race in Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix from August 25-27. 

Belgian Grand Prix Results:

Download the full F1 Belgian Grand Prix event guide HERE with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.

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