Charles Leclerc may have stated he is still in the championship fight as Formula 1 emerged from its summer slumber and took to the track in Belgium. But Max Verstappen seemed to aver that the title is already his. Starting 14th,because of changes to his power unit, Verstappen made his drive look easy and essentially cruised to the front, claiming victory at the Belgian Grand Prix. The win marks his ninth of the season, third consecutive, and 29th of his career.
Verstappen now leads the championship by 93 points (284–191) over … teammate Sergio Perez. Perez finished second in Belgium and moved into second place in the standings. The result cements Red Bull’s place at the front of the field and makes any challenge from Ferrari come as improbable.
Carlos Sainz drove what could be said his level best and finished third. Since Azerbaijan, where both Ferrari drivers endured DNFs, Sainz has marginally outperformed Leclerc (88 points to 70). George Russell enjoyed a solid start and then held on to finish fourth (which is also where he sits in the driver’s standings).
Fernando Alonso should have earned the spotlight driver of the GP by battling with Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and then holding off Leclerc on the final lap. Leclerc became the victim of a strange call from the Ferrari pits that dropped him a spot on the final lap, placing him behind Alonso in sixth.
Esteban Ocon finished seventh, which – with Alonso’s fifth – earned Alpine an excellent points haul that pushed them ahead of McLaren by 20 points in the standings.
Sebastian Vettel, looking more like the fifth member of the jam-band Phish than a steely F1 driver, took eighth. Pierre Gasly, who started the race from pit lane, managed to work his way through the field to make it to ninth, with Alex Albon scoring the final point of the race on the heels of extending with Williams.
The Belgian GP is the start of three straight race weekends of racing for F1, with the Dutch and Italian stops filling the next two. Should Red Bull continue its torrid pace, the championships will feel like they are over by the middle of September, and at the moment, there is little reason to think otherwise.
The Race
Starting 14th, Verstappen had navigated his way to eighth by the end of the first lap. While the race began with a clean start, Hamilton’s attempted pass on Alonso during the first lap ended poorly for the seven-time champion Hamilton and put him out of the race. Following the safety car…
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