MOTORSPORT: Verstappen supreme at Spa

Max Verstappen’s march to successfully defending his Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship passed another milestone at the Belgium Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps with his ninth win of the season, leading home teammate Sergio Perez in a dominant display by the Red Bull squad.

With a glut of post-qualifying penalties mixing the starting order, Verstappen charged through from 14th to take the lead on lap 12 of 44, before ultimately claiming victory by 17sec.

“It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble,” said Verstappen.

“So many things were happening in front of me, but once we settled in after the Safety Car, the car was really on rails.

“Picked the right places to pass people and we could look after our tyres.

“That's how we made our way forward, and after that, once were in the lead, it was all about managing everything, but this whole weekend has been incredible.”

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) led the field away from pole at the start, gaining a handy early advantage, while behind him in the scramble at the end of the Kemmel Straight, Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes rode over the front wheel of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine while challenging for second position.

After gaining significant air, Hamilton attempted to return to the track, however, the Brit was forced into his first retirement since Monza last year.

The same section of track witnessed the next major drama of the race when Nicholas Latifi half spun his Williams, which speared into the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who crashed into retirement, necessitating a safety car appearance.

Under the interruption, Charles Leclerc headed into the pits on lap four to have an errant tear off removed from the brake duct of his Ferrari.

Verstappen stayed on track longer until taking his first service, with Sainz briefly regaining the lead before the Red Bull decisively swept ahead on lap 18.

The final major play in the race came on the penultimate circuit when Ferrari pitted Leclerc for new tyres in a bid to gain the fastest lap bonus point.

Re-entering the track in the vicinity of Alonso, Leclerc ultimately fell short of Verstappen’s benchmark time by 0.6sec, with a 5sec post-race penalty for speeding in the pits costing him a position in the final run down.

Behind the Red Bull duo on the podium was Sainz, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes), Alonso, Leclerc, and Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who gained two positions on lap 35 when he passed both Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) on the Kemmel Straight, while Alex Albon returned Williams to the points for the first time since Miami in tenth.

After starting from seventh, Daniel Riccardo faded to 15th as McLaren struggled for race pace.

In the title standings, the seventh podium of Perez’s season has elevated him to second ahead of Leclerc, who now sits 98 points adrift of Verstappen.

Meanwhile, earlier in the weekend it was an antipodean sweep in the F2 races, with Aussie Jack Doohan claiming his first feature race win of the season, after recently succeeding in the Silverstone and Hungaroring sprints.

In Saturday’s sprint, Doohan finished second to New Zealander Liam Lawson, who made his first F1 appearance in Friday’s opening practice session for AlphaTauri.

Elsewhere off track, it was announced that the revamped Spa Francorchamps has had its contract extended to next year, putting another piece of the calendar puzzle in place.

The Formula 1 season continues next weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort.

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