Verstappen overcomes grid drop to win Belgian GP by 18 seconds

F1 championship leader Max Verstappen made light work of winning the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, despite having served a back-of-the-grid penalty.

Verstappen, having already shown dominant pace in Saturday qualifying, established himself as the genuine race leader even before the halfway point in the 44-lap race, and managed the event from there.

The Dutchman now possesses a 93-point lead over Red Bull team-mate Perez with eight races left to run.

As the sole driver starting on the soft tyre among the top 11, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz comfortably maintained his lead off the line, aided by a slow getaway for fellow front-row starter Perez – who then desperately tried to chop across Fernando Alonso’s Alpine and instead twitched sideways, letting the two Mercedes cars through as well.

Behind them, the other Red Bull of Verstappen – also starting on the softs – was already going in the opposite direction. Having been slated to line up 15th, he inherited two laps before any racing took place, courtesy of two AlphaTauri pitlane starts – brought on by engine penalties for Yuki Tsunoda and an electrical issue on the grid for Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen was up to 10th after the start, and was about to gain further ground as up ahead sometime McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Alonso came to blows battling for second into Les Combes.

Hamilton tried to pass Alonso round the outside on entry but was punted off by the Spaniard, who appeared to be completely squeezed onto the inside kerb and subsequently lambasted Hamilton as an “idiot” and someone who “only knows how to drive starting first”.

Hamilton gets airborne in the clash with Alonso 👀

The Mercedes driver has damage and his team tell him to stop. Hamilton is out of the race. #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/HGrde2u5BN

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 28, 2022

Both cars carried on, albeit having allowed Perez and George Russell through – with Perez having just re-overtaken Russell on the Kemmel straight for what would immediately become second. But while Alonso managed to carry on, Hamilton was soon instructed to park up his ailing Mercedes W13.

The second lap brought another retirement, which this time triggered a safety car, erasing the two-second lead Sainz had built up. The culprit, effectively, was Williams driver Nicholas Latifi in tagging the gravel on exit of Les Combes and spinning – but it was birthday boy Valtteri Bottas who paid the bigger price. Desperately trying to avoid the spinning Williams, Bottas got his Alfa Romeo beached in the gravel, whereas Latifi was able to continue.

LAP 2/44

More contact, this time between Latifi and Bottas at Turn 7. Both drivers are ok.

The collision brings out the Safety Car#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GoL3IKx5oK

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 28, 2022

Once the safety car was withdrawn two laps later, Verstappen – up to eight by the restart – immediately picked off Alex Albon (Williams) and then Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) within one lap. The next time around, he dealt with Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) into Les Combes, before completing uncontested Kemmel straight overtakes over two successive laps on Alonso and Russell, moving into a podium position.

By lap 12, Verstappen was in the lead. Having caught the medium-shod Perez, he told the team he was losing “silly amounts of time” – and moments after Sainz pitted out of first place, Verstappen breezed his way past Perez on the straight.

Remarkably given the respective tyre compounds, Perez was the first of the two Red Bulls to pit, on lap 14 – presumably to cover off Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque having fought through after pitting during the early safety car as he had a stuck visor tear-off removed from the front right.

Perez fought Leclerc off aggressively into Les Combes, angering the Ferrari man over the amount of space left, before Verstappen emerged ahead of both yet behind the undercutting Sainz – who he would reel in and pass with ludicrous ease just a handful of laps later.

LAP 18/44

And quick as you like Verstappen gets past Sainz to retake the lead #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/izNXHfsjzO

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 28, 2022

A copy-paste move soon followed from Perez, but by then Verstappen had already pulled away to the tune of six seconds. By the time the Red Bulls were pitting again, that lead had almost doubled, and Verstappen was never under any real threat for the rest of the grand prix.

The two Red Bulls wound up separated by 17.841s at the chequered flag.

Sainz finished nine seconds behind Perez in third, having resisted the faint hint of a late challenge from Russell.

Leclerc was on course to finish a lonely fifth when he pitted for fresh softs with two laps to go, coming out just ahead of Alonso – who then overtook him on the Kemmel straight.

But the fresher-tyred Leclerc got back past on the final tour – albeit was still unable to take the fastest lap point off Verstappen. He was also then pinged for a breach of the pitlane speed limit and duly moved behind Alonso.

Alonso’s team-mate Esteban Ocon, having himself served a back-of-the-grid penalty, pulled off a highlight-reel two-in-one pass into Les Combes late on to secure seventh place.

LAP 35/44

Gasly ⚔️ Vettel ⚔️ Ocon 🍿#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/CZxOTNeO6Y

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 28, 2022

Vettel was eighth, while Gasly converted his pitlane start into ninth place and Albon was 10th for Williams, having fought off Vettel’s Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll late on.

Race Results