Max Verstappen won the Belgian Grand Prix with an amazing comeback: Dutch Red Bull, who started at 14/o, was already in the lead after 12 laps and won ahead of teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari Carlos Sainz. Sixth place for Ferrari led by Charles Leclerc due to a penalty kick in the final. Verstappen once again made a show of strength, expanding the standings: now the Dutchman has 284 points, 191 Perez and 186 Leclerc. He almost looked like an alien Verstappen. Starting with the unusual seventh row after a penalty for a change of engine, the Dutchman crushed the competition and brought Red Bull back to the top of the standings, to its usual spot.
ANSA Agency
The Dutchman will have to send a penalty, like Leclerc
In front of his fans, as so often happens in Europe, the Belgian-born Dutchman to a Belgian mother had a lot to do to win his third straight victory, ninth success this season, and the 29th of his football career. He and Red Bull have once again confirmed their huge potential in this world championship. The current champion appears to have a 93-point lead over his first rival, teammate Sergio Perez, with Charles Leclerc, sixth, drifting away today. Monegasque started behind Verstappen in 15th, and was punished for the same reasons. When the traffic lights go out, two action-packed rides begin: Perez starts very poorly and is seen by Alonso, Hamilton and Russell, with the Spaniard and the British communicating: Mercedes crashes violently on the asphalt and is damaged, while the Spaniard must widen, all in the interest of a Perez comeback who returns second taking advantage of the chaos. in front of him. There is plenty of action behind, too, with Verstappen and Leclerc rising to eighth and ninth places respectively.
The duels continue for the first kilometres, until the race with the safety car is neutralized on the second lap due to contact, again at Les Combes, between Latifi and Bottas. At the end of lap three, Leclerc has to go into the pits to put on the middle rubber, stopping as a precaution due to smoke coming out of the right flank. Behind the safety car, the rating refers to Sainz, Perez, Russell, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Albon, Verstappen, Stroll, Magnussen, Ocon, Norris, Zhou, Schumacher, Tsunoda, Gasly, Leclerc and Latifi. From Bottas and Hamilton. At the start of the second half, Verstappen took over the chair, passing Albon, Ricciardo, Vettel, Alonso and Russell respectively to finish third behind Sainz and Perez already on the eighth lap. Leclerc also has some positions. From the twelfth lap the Dutchman leads the race. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), starting from pole position, stopped in the pit on lap 12. The Spaniard will then take control when Verstappen also stops to change tyres, three laps later. But he could only fool himself in front of the Dutchman’s massive pace, again first on lap 18. Grand Prix to forget him instead Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver collided with Fernando Alonso (Alpine) on the first lap and had to retire. F1 moves to the Netherlands next week. It would be an exaggeration to say the horizon is clear for Verstappen, who has been called to continue racing also in the home Grand Prix. In Zandvoort, a party is expected, as it was last year
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