Spa-Francorchamps (DPA)
Dutchman Max Verstappen won the Belgian Grand Prix today at Spa-Francorchamps in the Formula One World Championship, despite starting from 14th place.
Verstappen took the first pole position following setting the best time in qualifying yesterday, but he started today from 14th place following the penalty imposed on him for exceeding the number of times allowed to make changes to the components of the power unit in his car.
Verstappen, the world champion, strengthened his position at the top of the drivers’ category in the championship, expanding the difference that separates him from his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez to 93 points.
Sergio Perez managed to snatch second place in the general classification from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, from the French principality of Monaco, by five points, as Perez won second place in the Belgian race, but by a large margin of Verstappen by 17.8 seconds.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third place in today’s race at the 7,004-meter Spa-Francorchamps, followed by Britain’s George Russell for Mercedes and Spain’s Fernando Alonso for Alpine, who advanced to fifth following Leclerc was penalized for a five-second delay for a foul.
Today, Verstappen achieved his ninth victory in 14 races held so far out of a total of 22 races in the world championship this season, and Verstappen repeated the brilliance witnessed in the Hungarian race four weeks ago, when he won it despite starting from tenth place.
After the race, Verstappen said: “Once we came out on top, the important thing was how we managed it, and it went really well for us this week.” He added, “We made offers earlier this week that I did not imagine, but we would like to repeat these offers, so we will continue to work hard.”
For his part, Perez said: “Max was on another planet today, he was flying, and he mightn’t catch him.” Sainz said the competition was fierce, but he was satisfied with being on the podium.
Sainz started from pole position, while Perez slipped from second to fifth, but took the lead once more following a collision between Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Britain’s Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes.
Hamilton’s car was raised as the damage caused to him forced him to withdraw, knowing that the seven-time world champion has been on the podium in the past three races.
Hamilton admitted that the accident occurred due to a mistake on his part, and said in statements to the “Sky” television network that Alonso “was in the blind spot for me, and I did not give him enough space.” The safety car intervened on the second lap following Canadian Nicholas Latifi collided with Alfa Romeo’s Finn Valtteri Bottas, which forced Bottas to retire as well.
