F1 Belgian GP: Dominant Max Verstappen wins from 14th as Lewis Hamilton crashes out
Max Verstappen charged from 14th on the grid to claim a dominant victory at the Belgian Grand Prix and further extend his F1 championship lead.
Verstappen, who started 14th after being hit with a grid penalty for using too many engine parts, drove an outstanding race to carve his way through the field and take his ninth win of the season ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
The result leaves Verstappen with a 93-point championship lead over Perez with eight races remaining, with the Dutchman accelerating towards his second world title.
Starting on soft tyres, it took Verstappen just 12 laps to get into the lead after overtaking Perez. Verstappen briefly dropped to second behind Carlos Sainz when he came in for his first pitstop, but took just three laps to breeze back past the Ferrari driver.
From there, Verstappen was in a league of his own on his way to sealing the 29th victory of his F1 career by a margin of nearly 20s.
“It’s been a weekend I couldn’t of imagined before, but we want more of them,” Verstappen said after the race.
“It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble. But once we settled in after the Safety Car, the car was feeling on rials. We picked the right places to pass.
“And once we were in the lead, it was all about managing everything. This whole weekend has been incredible.”
10s behind the two Red Bulls, Sainz completed the podium, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Alpine after Ferrari’s decision to go for the fastest lap bonus point with Charles Leclerc backfired.
Leclerc, who had recovered to fifth after starting 15th due to an engine-related grid penalty, was called in by Ferrari on the penultimate lap to take on a set of softs in a failed bid to snatch the fastest lap.
But Leclerc only re-emerged just ahead of Alonso coming out of the pits and was overtaken by the two-time world champion along the Kemmel Straight.
Leclerc repaid the favour on the final lap to secure fifth on the road, only to be hit with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, dropping him back to sixth, leaving the Monegasque trailing Verstappen by 98 points in the championship.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon pulled off a sensational double pass on the run to Les Combes to beat Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly to a strong seventh.
Meanwhile, behind the squabbling trio, Alex Albon, who was one of the stars of qualifying, claimed 10th place and the final point on offer for Williams.
More misery for Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton’s 100 percent finishing record this season came to an end on the opening lap following a collision with former teammate Alonso.
Hamilton retired with damage after coming to blows with Alonso at Les Combes, with the two-time world champion left fuming at Hamilton, branding his former McLaren teammate as an "idiot" over the radio.
“Closing the door from the outside - I mean, we had a mega-start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first!” Alonso said.
Hamilton later took the blame for not seeing the two-time world champion in his blindspot as he attempted a move around the outside for second place.
It came a day after Hamilton said he “won’t miss” Mercedes’ W13 car after ending up 1.8s off the pace in qualifying, describing the session as a “kick in the teeth”.
Although he wasn't penalised for causing the collision, Hamilton did recieve a warning for refusing to visit the Event Medical Service following his crash. He did go for a medical check after the Race Director informed Mercedes that further action could be taken if he did not.
