FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen frolicked to another dominant grand prix victory in Belgium yesterday (July 30) despite starting from sixth on the grid with a gearbox penalty.
Max Verstappen celebrates in the parc ferme after winning the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Spa yesterday (July 30). Photo: AFP
Sergio Pérez finished a distant second to cement Red Bull Racing’s first one-two finish since the Miami Grand Prix in May.
Verstappen jumped two places at the start to sit behind pole-getter Charles Leclerc, who was deposed from the lead by Pérez at the start, and Lewis Hamilton.
The battle was deadlocked by the powerful slipstream effect until Verstappen felt confident that his tyres were up to optimum temperature for a lunge on Hamilton into Les Combes on lap six.
His forward momentum was becoming overpowering, and three laps later he picked Leclerc’s pocket at the same corner with a gutsy late-braking move around the Ferrari’s outside.
The gap to teammate Pérez was stable at around three second to the end of the opening stint as the pair conserved their tyres, but a slightly slower stop for the Mexican shrunk the interval to 2.2 seconds after both took their first tyre changes.
Verstappen was immediately onto the attack. A blistering lap 16 go the margin to less than a second, and he made an easy pass for the lead down the Kemmel straight on the following tour.
His lead was never threatened despite a brief rain shower and another round of pit stops, and he cruised to a 22-second victory.
“It was really enjoyable to drive and once I got into the lead,” he said. “I was a bit unlucky, because I got stuck behind Lewis, because he was in the DRS of Charles. With [Hamilton] having the highest top speed this weekend, it was just impossible to pass.
“I had to wait for him to drop out of the DRS, and as soon as he didn’t have DRS anymore, I could pass, and then two or three laps later I could pass Charles.
“Once that cleared, I could do my own pace. It was really enjoyable.”
The victory was Verstappen’s eighth in a row and the team’s 12th in succession this season, a new F1 record that sees Red Bull Racing start the midseason break undefeated with 10 rounds to go.
Pérez was a distant second but claimed his best result since the start of May, when he finished runner-up to Verstappen before suffering a long uncompetitive streak that yielded only two podiums before this weekend.
“I think just getting that form back [is satisfying],” he said. “We were on the podium last weekend and now, and I think having these sorts of races in clean air is where you learn a lot and you make those steps in the coming races.”
Pole-getter Leclerc was satisfied to have maximised his chances in what became a battle with Hamilton for the final podium places behind the dominant Bulls, successfully covering a pair of Mercedes undercuts to seal the deal.
“This was the best we could achieve today, no doubt,” he said. “You always hope to try to win the race, but on the other hand, realistically, we knew that both of the Red Bulls would be much quicker.
“Our target was to maximise the points with the package we had and, honestly, I don’t think we could have done anything better today.”
Hamilton won the consolation of fastest lap after a late pit stop for fresh tyres propelled him to the bonus point.
Fernando Alonso was a distant fifth in a difficult race of unclear strategies owing to the heavy rain that affected both Friday and Saturday, depriving teams of practice running and representative data.
The Aston Martin driver had started ninth but owed his gains to a long middle stint that gave him fresh tyres at the end of the race defend against a surging George Russell in the second Mercedes.
Lando Norris started and finished seventh despite dropping out of the points and later to the back of the field thanks to a series of uncompetitive stints on the medium and hard tyres, but a switch to softs as some light rain arrived proved the antidote, allowing him to undercut his way back into the points and defend in the final phase of the race.
Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and an impressive Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz were the race’s only retirements after a first-lap crash that had the Ferrari pin the McLaren into the wall at the first turn. Piastri’s race ended on the spot, but Sainz was left out with heavy car damage until just after half distance in forlorn hope for a red flag that would allow for repairs.
