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Verstappen leads Red Bull 1-2 at Belgian GP

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Verstappen now holds a 125 points lead over Perez.

Max Verstappen overcame a five-place grid penalty to win the Belgian GP, scoring his eighth consecutive victory so far this season. His teammate Sergio Perez joined him on the podium, handing Red Bull a 1-2 finish, while Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari.

  1. Verstappen wins, 22.305 secs ahead of Perez
  2. Leclerc completes podium for Ferrari

Verstappen wins from P6 on grid

Heading into the weekend, Verstappen was hit with a five-place grid for taking new gearbox components. But given his recent dominant form, few expected this to hamper the reigning world champion.

Starting from P6 on the grid, he swiftly picked off his rivals. A strong out-lap after his first pit stop helped narrow the gap to Perez and on Lap 17, he cruised past his teammate to take the lead. With the threat of rainfall never materialising, Verstappen crossed the line with a 22.305 secs advantage. He’s now gunning for Sebastian Vettel’s all-time record of nine consecutive race wins.

Verstappen’s victory also ensured that Red Bull enters the summer break undefeated. With Perez finishing second, the team also scored its first 1-2 finish since the Miami GP in May.

“I knew that we had a great car, it was just all about surviving Turn 1,” said Verstappen, who also won the Belgian GP sprint race. “I could see it was all getting pretty tight. I’ve been in that position before myself, so I was just like, ‘I’m going to stay out of that’. So it worked out. I think we all made the right overtakes, moves. I just got a little bit stuck in the beginning in a DRS train. Once that [was] clear I could do my own pace.”

Leclerc on podium

Polesitter Charles Leclerc kept Lewis Hamilton at bay to secure the final spot on the podium. Hamilton did, however, bag an extra point after making a last-minute pit stop to set the fastest lap.

Aston Martin had both cars finishing in the top 10, with Fernando Alonso P5 and Lance Stroll P9. Lando Norris struggled at the back of the pack initially, reporting steering problems. But the McLaren driver had good pace after switching to softs, and recovered to finish P7, behind Mercedes’ George Russell.

The other points scorers included Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in P8, and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P10.

Piastri and Sainz out after first corner scrap

Oscar Piastri didn’t quite get the chance to fight for a podium. He picked up damage at the start after a first-corner clash with Carlos Sainz and retired soon after.

Sainz continued lapping with his damaged Ferrari, but the team eventually called him in to retire as well.

2023 F1 standings

Verstappen enters the summer break with a hefty 125 points lead over Perez in the championship. Up next will be his home race at Zandvoort (August 25-27) after a four-week break.

Alonso holds on to third in the championship, 40 points behind Perez. But Hamilton is just one point behind him in fourth place overall.

Also see:

Hungarian GP: Verstappen hands Red Bull record 12th straight win



from Autocar India https://ift.tt/hro58yg

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