Max Verstappen stormed from P13 on the grid to claim a dominant victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The reigning champion was unstoppable as he made his way through the field in the early laps, taking the lead well before half distance.
From there, it was plain sailing as Verstappen crossed the finish line ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in second.
Carlos Sainz held the lead from pole, but simply couldn’t compete with Red Bull’s pace as instead, he had to hold off George Russell to claim third.
Race Review
Carlos Sainz kept the lead into La Source as a poor start for Sergio Perez dropped him down to fifth.
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton jumped into the podium places but would collide at Les Combes, as the Mercedes was pitched into the air.
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
The resulting damage caused Hamilton to stop at Blanchimont, leading to his first retirement of the season while Alonso continued.
On the second lap, Nicholas Latifi spun at Les Combes with Valtteri Bottas losing control trying to avoid the Williams and finding the gravel requiring a Safety Car.
Max Verstappen benefitted from the chaos to move up to P8 from 13th on the grid, but there was a problem for Charles Leclerc as a tear-off in his brake duct forced him to pit early, dropping him back down the field.
At the restart, Sainz continued in P1 ahead of Perez, but all eyes were on Verstappen as he stormed through the field up to third place by Lap 8!
Up next for the Dutchman was his Red Bull teammate, who he dispatched on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead after Sainz pitted ahead.
LAP 12/44
Verstappen gets past his team mate Perez and now leads the race#BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MzpmPa9eqe
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 28, 2022
Four laps later, Verstappen would pit and put in several blistering laps to catch and pass the Ferrari and sweep back into the lead well before half distance.
Red Bull then asserted their dominance as Perez moved ahead of Sainz to make it a one-two out front as the Ferrari driver’s pace faltered mid-race.
Behind, Leclerc’s early stop saw him move up to P5 when those around him pitted. And with clear air, the Monegasque was able to pull clear of the midfield, as he resumed seventh after his second pit-stop.
Ahead, the three leaders all made their final stops without drama as Verstappen held a comfortable advantage, taking the win by 18 seconds over teammate Perez.
The main battle was for third place as Russell closed in on Sainz, but a mistake at Stavelot cost the Mercedes driver as he settled for fourth.
Leclerc looked on course for fifth but a late attempt at fastest lap backfired as he was overtaken by Alonso exiting the pits.
Though Charles got ahead on the final lap, he not only failed to beat Verstappen’s best time, but was also penalised for speeding in the pit-lane dropping him back behind in the Alpine into sixth.
Ocon was just seven-tenths behind the Monegasque in the final standings in seventh ahead of Sebastian Vettel in eighth.
Pierre Gasly took ninth with Alex Albon leading a DRS train but holding on to score the final point in 10th for Williams.
McLaren were the big losers of that DRS train as Lando Norris finished 12th and Daniel Ricciardo 15th.
The two Haas’ were 16th and 17th with Nicholas Latifi the final driver in 18th.
