Formula 1

Belgian GP: Mighty Verstappen claims 10th win of 2023 at Spa

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Max Verstappen cruised to his 10th win of the 2023 Formula 1 season at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Starting sixth after a five-place grid penalty for a new gearbox, the reigning champion eased his way through the field with another unstoppable performance.

Sergio Perez completed a Red Bull one-two in second as Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari.

Race Review

Leclerc led away from pole at the start but it was Perez who took the lead on the Kemmel Straight approaching Les Combes.

Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri made contact at La Source with the Australian forced into retirement with damage in the McLaren.

Verstappen gained two places up to fourth from sixth after his gearbox grid penalty.

Fernando Alonso enjoyed a good start gaining four places up to fifth, while Alex Albon was the biggest gainer making up seven places from 15th to eighth.

Suffering from damage after his lap-one contact, Sainz became a cork in the midfield bottle as he dropped down the field in the Ferrari.

Ahead, Verstappen dove past Lewis Hamilton and then swept ahead of Leclerc at Les Combes to run second behind teammate Perez.

With no meaningful dry running all weekend, many in the midfield pitted early due to graining on the soft tyres and committed to a two-stop strategy.

McLaren's race disintegrated further as Lando Norris was one of the first to pit and fell to the back of the field as their high downforce setup left them vulnerable on the straights.

Hamilton was the first of the leaders to pit with Perez and Leclerc responding a lap later. Verstappen waited a further lap to lead the race for the first time but dropped behind Checo after his stop.

On fresh rubber, the reigning champion upped the pace to swiftly close in on Perez and take the lead with DRS on the Kemmel Straight.

All eyes then turned to the sky with rain closing in at Stavelot, slowing lap times by several seconds as the track became damp.

Verstappen had a spooky moment through Raidillon but continued as slicks remained the right tyre to be on despite the rain.

The changing conditions helped Norris as he pitted for fresh softs and used the extra grip to gain multiple positions to run in the top 10 again.

Pierre Gasly ran 24 laps on his first stint looking to capitalise on the rain, but as it cleared he was left fighting Albon just outside the points

Hamilton made his second stop onto soft tyres in the battle for third, but Leclerc covered the undercut to retain the podium place.

The two Red Bulls also completed their final stops with Verstappen going to claim victory by 22 seconds ahead of teammate Perez after a calm final stint.

Leclerc held off Hamilton for third, though the seven-time world champion did take the fastest lap on the final lap as a consolation.

Alonso followed in fifth, while George Russell ran sixth in the second Mercedes. Norris secured seventh, just a second clear of Esteban Ocon in eighth.

Lance Stroll took ninth, crossing the line just 0.8s in front of Yuki Tsunoda in P10, who had former teammate Gasly in 11th. 

Valtteri Bottas led Alfa Romeo teammate Zhou Guanyu in P12 and P13 as Albon rued high tyre wear in 14th.

Kevin Magnussen was 15th with Daniel Ricciardo a lowly 16th.

Logan Sargeant took 17th and Nico Hulkenberg was the last finisher in 18th.

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