Max Verstappen wins the Belgian Grand Prix with an amazing comeback: the Dutch Red Bull, who started 14 / o, was already in the lead after 12 laps and won ahead of team mate Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. Sixth place for Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari due to a penalty in the final. Verstappen once again gave a show of strength, further stretching the standings: now the Dutchman has 284 points, 191 Perez and 186 Leclerc. He almost looked like a Verstappen alien. Starting from an unusual seventh row after a penalty for an engine change, the Dutchman crushed the competition and brought Red Bull back to the top of the standings, to its usual place.
In front of his audience, as often happens in Europe, the Dutchman born in Belgium to a Belgian mother had a lot to do to win the third consecutive victory, the ninth success of the season and the 29th of his career. He and Red Bull have once again confirmed their enormous potential in this world championship. The reigning champion now has a seemingly insurmountable 93-point lead over his first rival, team-mate Sergio Pérez, as Charles Leclerc, sixth today, moves away. The Monegasque started behind Verstappen in 15th place, penalized for the same reasons. When the traffic lights go off, two laps full of action start: Perez starts very badly and is seen by Alonso, Hamilton and Russell, with the Spaniard and the British coming into contact: the Mercedes slams violently on the asphalt and is damaged, while Spaniard must widen, and all this favors the return of Perez, who returns second taking advantage of the chaos in front of him. A lot of action also behind, with Verstappen and Leclerc rising to eighth and ninth position respectively.
Duels continue in the first kilometers, until the race is neutralized with the safety car on the second lap due to the contact, again in Les Combes, between Latifi and Bottas. At the end of the third lap Leclerc has to go to the pits to put on medium rubber, a stop as a precaution due to the smoke coming out from the front right. Behind the safety car the classification says Sainz, Perez, Russell, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Albon, Verstappen, Stroll, Magnussen, Ocon, Norris, Zhou, Schumacher, Tsunoda, Gasly, Leclerc, Latifi. Out of Bottas and Hamilton. At the restart Verstappen takes the chair, who in succession passes Albon, Ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso and Russell to take the third position behind Sainz and Perez already on lap eight. Leclerc also makes up some positions. From the 12th lap the Dutchman takes command of the race. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), started from pole position, stopped in the pits on lap 12. The Spaniard will then take control when Verstappen also stops to change tires, three laps later. But he could only delude himself in front of the frantic pace of the Dutchman, once again first on lap 18. A grand prix to forget instead for Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver collided with Fernando Alonso (Alpine) on the first lap and was forced to retire. F1 moves to the Netherlands next week. And it is an understatement to say that the horizon is clear for Verstappen, who is called to continue his race also in the home grand prix. In Zandvoort, a party is expected, as it was last year
Source: Ansa
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