Max Verstappen

The talk ahead of the start of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix was who would finish behind Max Verstappen, even though the Dutch driver was starting from the ...

Leclerc eventually got past the Spaniard and into fifth place again, only to find out at the race's finish that he had sped down pit lane and received a penalty. Except they timed it wrong and instead of coming out ahead of Alonso, who was running behind Leclerc when they pitted, they came out with Alonso right on top of them. If Ferrari or Mercedes are going to climb back into the battle for the title with Red Bull Racing, they have got to figure things out and fast. And for that to happen, at least at Ferrari, there has to be a lot less second-guessing going on. More than likely they heard a lot of the chatter during the summer break from the other teams and the improvements they were bringing to Spa. "The pace was just not there," Sainz said.

Max Verstappen fought back from 14th on the grid to win the Belgian Grand Prix and stretch his lead in the drivers' championship.

His teammate Russell made it to fourth but was as far from the leader’s pace as Mercedes have been all season. I was overtaking one car every lap and I knew there was a good possibility I could win the race.” His passing was exemplary, albeit in a car that was demonstrably quicker than the midfield he was dispatching. Within moments of the flag falling in Belgium the talk began of when, not if, he will secure his second title. From there he was unassailable, cruising to the fastest lap and opening a gap of almost 20sec while barely breaking sweat, which perversely made what was quite some achievement seem less impressive. On a high after success at the last round in Hungary, here they were woefully down on pace all weekend which was exacerbated when Hamilton clashed with Fernando Alonso, who finished fifth, on the opening lap. He had been quietly confident of coming back and such is his precision and composure at his point in his career that few doubted he would at least make it to the podium. “If you look at the whole race weekend, then yes it was the most dominant of my whole career,” he said. He was untouchable, as he acknowledged. For Verstappen at the sharp end of the title fight, his pace and control would have left little but despair for his rivals; while for On paper Verstappen’s win should have been the stuff of a classic. As it transpired, the sanction was but a minor inconvenience.

Max Verstappen tightened his grip on the Formula 1 world championship with a stunning victory from 14th on the grid, as Red Bull sealed a dominant one-two ...

"On the other hand we were just not quick enough this weekend and this is the big problem more than anything, so we need to work on that." "I was frustrated in that moment, for sure," Alonso said. He would briefly give it up as he pitted a few laps later, but eased past Sainz on track on lap 18 and cruised into the distance from there. It promises to be a thrilling weekend in Zandvoort as Max Verstappen races in front of his home fans as a world champion for the first time. It's a mistake and that's it," Leclerc said. He was eighth by the time the safety car emerged with Hamilton pulled up on the side of the track, and rose to sixth with two overtakes on the first lap after the resumption.

Max Verstappen celebrated an 'incredible' weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa as he came from 14th to win.

Belgian Grand Prix Max Verstappen celebrated an "incredible" weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa

Formula One champion Max Verstappen quickly carved his way through the field from 14th to win the Belgian Grand Prix and widen his lead in the standings.

Later, Ferrari made yet another bizarre call in this strange season of botched strategy decisions when the team called in Leclerc for new tires with one lap remaining in a futile bid to score the fastest lap. He was later issued a warning for refusing to visit the medical centre. “We had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.” Leclerc started 15th and finished fifth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, but Leclerc dropped to sixth after he was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. “It was my fault,” Hamilton said. Race stewards reviewed and took no action, though Alonso clearly felt Hamilton had not left him enough room as he tried to regain the position. Verstappen was leading the race by Lap 12, and he earned a bonus point for fastest lap. [Sainz started from pole](https://apnews.com/article/sports-auto-racing-belgium-max-verstappen-389411a646d4bc56d9e485d99d39b2c2) because Verstappen and Leclerc were among several drivers to be hit with grid penalties. “We need to know why we’re so far away." So many things were happening in front of me, picked the right places to pass people, looked after our tires," Verstappen said. "Once we were in the lead, it was all about managing everything but this whole weekend has been incredible.” started from pole for Ferrari and finished a disappointing third.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen quickly carved his way through the field from 14th to win the Belgian Grand Prix ...

“We had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first.” He was later issued a warning for refusing to visit the medical center. Later, Ferrari made yet another bizarre call in this strange season of botched strategy decisions when the team called in Leclerc for new tires with one lap remaining in a futile bid to score the fastest lap. “It was my fault,” Hamilton said. Leclerc started 15th and finished fifth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, but Leclerc dropped to sixth after he was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Verstappen was leading the race by Lap 12, and he earned a bonus point for fastest lap. Race stewards reviewed and took no action, though Alonso clearly felt Hamilton had not left him enough room as he tried to regain the position. Sainz got away at the start and Russell and Hamilton zoomed past Perez and behind Alonso. “We need to know why we’re so far away.” So many things were happening in front of me, picked the right places to pass people, looked after our tires,” Verstappen said. “I’m not focusing so much on the championship now. “It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble.

In the words of Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen “was flying. He was on another planet” during Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. The Dutchman faced an uphill battle ...

McLaren and Ricciardo “mutually agreed” [to split](https://www.si.com/formula1/2022/08/24/daniel-ricciardo-to-leave-mclaren-at-end-of-f1-2022-season) at the end of the 2022 season, the two parties confirmed on Aug. [summer shutdown](https://www.si.com/tv/formula-1/2022/08/25/f1-formula-one-grand-prix-schedule-guide-second-half-break) happened, but that didn’t mean the debacle would disappear during the 14 days. Only the 21-year-old refuted the claim, going as far as to tweet, in part, “I will not be driving for Alpine next year.” By the end of that week, it had been widely reported that McLaren informed Ricciardo that it intended to replace the eight-time race winner with Piastri next season. “He’s a promising young driver, he hasn’t driven in Formula One yet, and my wish for Oscar is he had a bit more integrity,” Szafnauer said to Sky. But when you have a train, everyone has to follow the speed and they can’t afford to cool the tires down, the brakes or whatever it may be. [a pit lane start](https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1563920384390463489?s=20&t=8-iwSsaUwy8a8nXQcvnsjQ) to a points finish in his 100th Grand Prix. After all, Verstappen said it himself over the team radio—“car was a rocket ship all weekend.” Pirelli have a very high minimum pressure limit and it just really doesn’t suit us with the downforce set-up that we had in the car.” Albon started on mediums and used a two-stop strategy, arguably delivering one of his best race performances thus far in his career. just because of the track layout, more downforce on the car to get round, less straights as well.” Fans and the paddock could tell a storm was brewing from the moment Red Bull hit the track for practice on Friday. “Then you know it calmed down with the Safety Car, and basically from there, it was literally trying to overtake a car every lap. George Russell and Alonso rounded out the top five after Leclerc, who finished fifth, was dealt a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Max Verstappen has insisted he and Red Bull "want more" success and will not lose focus after a dominant display at the Belgian Grand Prix.

"And you kind of think where is the end going to be with this? "I never expected Max to win that race, and particularly get to the front so quickly. "Where would they be if he was in the Ferrari? "This is the best I've seen Max I drive I think at the moment. "It's an outfit that was performing last year, and they've kind of had this momentum," Di Resta said. At the moment we are achieving that, but we always want more."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took another giant stride towards a second successive Formula One title with a dominant win from 14th on the grid in Sunday's ...

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Formula One now heads to Zandvoort for Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix, the second of a triple header that will bring the curtain down on the sport’s European season at Italy’s Monza. The Monegasque, who was the championship favourite early in the season, dropped to third overall and 98 points behind Verstappen with eight races remaining. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who started one place behind Verstappen in 15th after collecting similar grid drops, finished fifth on the road but was demoted to sixth after a penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on from the. Dan Mullan/Getty Images. I feel like I ...

That it has a driver at the helm that is both the best currently on the grid and one of the best young drivers in history only makes this even more of a procession. There will be plenty to gossip about from here on out, and thank the racing gods for that, because the actual races at the top feel like they are all rubber-stamped for a Verstappen win. Once Verstappen got up into third a quarter of the way through the race, it was all done but the crying (for everyone else). That’s not really those drivers’ fault; at each of the practices this weekend, as well as Saturday’s qualifying, Verstappen was clearly the fastest driver on the grid, driving a Red Bull rocket that is made for a fast track like Spa. It took all of eight laps for Verstappen to move from 15th to 3rd, aided slightly by the early retirement of Lewis Hamilton after the Mercedes driver bumped into Alonso on the very first lap. The Formula 1 crazy train rolled into Belgium this past weekend for the 78th running of a Grand Prix at the historic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, one of the fastest and longest races on the calendar.

Max Verstappen looks unstoppable at the moment. While Red Bull clearly took a step forward at Spa-Francorchamps, the Max Factor seems to be getting more ...

We saw the atmosphere last year and I think it's only going to step up again this year." "I think we have seen that already this year when we run a higher ride height, our philosophy is probably slightly different to some of the others," Horner said. In order to protect the plank, all teams had to run higher ride heights at Spa and it seems that Red Bull lost the least performance as a result. This year, not only will the race be a sell-out but the home fans will arrive knowing Verstappen has all but sealed this year's championship. But even if the track layout and setup intricacies of Spa-Francorchamps did play to the strengths of the Red Bull, it should take nothing away from Verstappen's performance. In this context, when Binotto says "efficiency" he is referring to the amount of downforce a car can generate while minimising the level of drag. It's right up there with that period and I don't think we've ever won a race starting 14th on the grid." The new technical directive was designed to prevent teams from protecting the areas where the measurements are taken and ensure that the measurement is consistent across the plank. "I think there has been a true difference [in performance] between us and the Red Bulls this weekend," Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said on Sunday night. It's hard to believe that Leclerc's Ferrari is the same one that just last month at Paul Ricard took pole position ahead of Verstappen and looked set to win the race before he lost control and His performance in the race then doubled down on that advantage and left Ferrari not only trailing in terms of outright lap time but also tyre degradation. "I don't think we expected it to be like this," he said after winning the race on Sunday.

The coming week, the agenda of former F1 driver Jan Lammers will probably be overflowing. As sporting director of Zandvoort circuit, he is organising the ...

[Red Bull Racing](/en/f1-teams/red-bull-racing)) had the idea for a long time that they could win, although they were talking about the podium. With the many tens of thousands of orange-coloured Dutch in the stands, he is undoubtedly hoping for a new victory for [Max Verstappen](/en/f1-drivers/max-verstappen), as happened in Spa. As sporting director of Zandvoort circuit, he is organising the [Dutch Grand Prix](/en/grandsprix/dutch-grand-prix) for the second year in a row.