Max Verstappen easily wins Belgian Grand Prix
Sean Clark recaps Max Verstappen's win at Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Before the race weekend, Max Verstappen took additional power unit elements and had to start at the back of the grid alongside five other drivers. Despite a P14 start, Verstappen seemed to be on rookie mode as he easily made his way through the field and permanentely took the lead on Lap 18.
It is the ninth win in 2022 as the Dutchman continues to extend his championship lead over Sergio Perez by 93 points.
With six drivers (Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris, Zhou Guanyu and Mick Schumacher) all taking new power unit elements, not a single driver started in the same position where they qualified.
Carlos Sainz, who qualified P2, started on pole position for the first time since achieving his maiden F1 win at Silverstone. He got away with a huge advantage during the first two laps, but lost it after two collisions brought out the safety car.
First, Lewis Hamilton got too close to Fernando Alonso on the opening lap, causing a collision that forced him to retire for the first time in 2022. After his retirement, every driver on the starting grid has now suffered a DNF this season.
An infuriated Alonso took to the radio to voice his displeasure of Hamilton’s positioning.
"What an idiot!” Alonso yelled. “Closing the door from the outside. We had a mega start, but this guy only knows how to start and finish first.”
One lap later, Nicholas Latifi ran wide into the gravel, forcing him to spin. Valtteri Bottas spun while trying to avoid the Williams Racing driver and also spun off the track. The safety car was brought out and Verstappen was able to restart closer to his other competitors.
He restarted P8 on Lap 4 and took the lead from Carlos Sainz on Lap 18 after being the last of the frontrunner to pit. A few laps later, Sergio Perez passes Sainz to give Red Bull Racing a 1-2 advantage. They held this through the remainder of the to gain maximum points after Verstappen ran the fastest lap of the race.
“The car was really on rails,” Verstappen said. “This whole weekend has been incredible.”
Sainz held the final podium position depsite George Russell slowly gaining on him as the final laps commenced. It is the Spainiard’s seventh podium of the season. Russell finished P4, maintaining his consistent run of form where he finishes in the top five in races he completes.
Leclerc was one of the drivers that started at the back of the grid. With his pace, he got back up into the top five, but could not fight for a podium position after being stuck in midfield traffic after his first pit stop.
There seemingly cannot be a 2022 Formula 1 race without a questionable decision from Ferrari. Leclerc made a third pit stop with two laps to go after holding a 20-second gap over Alonso in an attempt to take away the fastest lap of the race point from Verstappen.
It backfired as Alonso passed Leclerc after the Ferrari came out of the pits. While Leclerc ultimately retook P5 from the Alpine driver, he not only failed to gain the fastest lap of the race, but also sped on pit road. The stewards issued a five-second time penalty for Leclerc, putting him P6 behind Alonso.
Alonso’s P5 finish is tied for his best result in 2022 (Silverstone).
One source of entertainment was the midfield consistently switching places. Ocon, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly had a three-wide battle with a few laps to go with Ocon performing the double overtake. Ocon took home a P7 result with Vettel and Gasly finishing P8 and P9 respectively.
Alexander Albon, who reached Q3 for the first time this season on Saturday, finished P10 for his third points finish of the season.
The 2022 F1 season will continue with their stretch of European races as on Sunday Sept. 4, the teams will head to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix, the home race of championship lead Max Verstappen.
Race results:
