MOTORSPORT: Verstappen makes it eight straight in Belgium

Max Verstappen’s domination of the 2023 Formula 1 season continued in the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, where Red Bull claimed another one-two result, while Aussie young gun Oscar Piastri shone on Saturday, securing his first F1 podium in the Sprint.

Sergio Perez’s second-place finish was the first for the Mexican since Miami, when Verstappen’s winning streak kicked off at the start of May.

“I knew that we had a great car, it was just all about surviving turn one,” said Verstappen after starting from a lowly sixth on the grid.

“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, I just got a little bit stuck in the beginning in a DRS train.

“Once that [was] clear I could do my own pace.”

Earlier in the weekend, McLaren driver Piastri qualified second to Verstappen for the third F1 Sprint of the season, which was held on a wet track.

With mixed pit stops near the start, Piastri found himself in the lead, with the Dutchman reclaiming the top spot following a safety car after Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) spun off the circuit.

At the finish, it was Verstappen from Piastri, Pierre Gasly (Alpine), then the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) just missing out on the points in 10th.

Leclerc started from the Sunday pole but was passed on the opening circuit by Perez, while Piastri’s dream weekend ended after contact at the first corner with Sainz saw the McLaren pinched into the wall.

Piastri couldn’t complete the first lap and registered his second non-finish of the year, while Sainz retired mid-race.

Meanwhile, Verstappen had worked his way through to fourth at the end of lap one, then third on lap six of 44 by passing Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), and Leclerc for second on lap nine, before finally sweeping past Perez for the lead on lap 17.

Shortly afterwards, light rain began to fall, however, all of the teams resisted fitting grooved tyres, with DRS paving the way for multiple entertaining battles down the leaderboard.

At the chequered flag, Verstappen’s victory margin was 22sec from Perez, then Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, George Russell (Mercedes), Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), who this week got the upper hand on Daniel Ricciardo as the Aussie battled throughout the race to eventually claim 16th.

In other good news for Aussies at Spa, Jack Doohan’s bid for an F1 seat received another boost with his second feature race win in as many weekends, moving up from 11th on the grid with help from a well-timed safety car appearance.

Following F1’s mid-season break, the championship reconvenes at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix on August 27.

2023 Belgium Grand Prix results:

2023 Formula 1 championship standings:

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