Verstappen won his ninth race of the season and is more leader than ever. Photo EFE / EPA / CHRISTIAN BRUNA
it was unstoppable Max Verstappen this Sunday at the historic circuit of Spa-Francorchampsaboard a Red Bull which is, without a doubt, the best car on the grid. The Dutchman started 14th, after being sanctioned for introducing new components to his power unit (like many other drivers) and gave a lesson in handling and temperament to prevail in the Belgian Grand Prix of the Formula 1, in a race that started with strong emotions, but which showed the absolute domination of the reigning champion for most of the competition. not even the Mexican Sergio Perez managed to give him a fight with the other car of the Austrian team. “Max was flying, he was on another planet. He was untouchable,” he acknowledged. Czech on your teammate.
The Mexican had to settle for second place on the podium, completed by the Spaniard Carlos Sainzwho started first but couldn’t keep up with his ferrari and then he admitted almost resigned: “Red Bull is in another league”.
Verstappen thus achieved his ninth win of the season and third in a row, having won in France and Hungary before the summer break. And it became the second driver in Formula 1 history to add two wins in a row starting from the races from 10th place (the one from which he started at the GP of Hungary) or lower. The other was the New Zealander Bruce McLarenwho won the last round of 1959 in the United States (10th place) and the first of 1960 in Argentina (13th).
Verstappen also greatly increased the gap with his rivals in the title fight. With 284 pointstook him out 93 in front of Pérez e 98 a Charles Leclercthat this Sunday did not even manage to finish in the top 5, in another rare maneuver for which the Ferrari team is responsible.
The Monegasque had started the year as the great candidate to steal the crown from Mad Max. With a 1-2-1 in the first three dates of the year in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia Y Australia, finished at the top of the standings with 46 points more than the Dutchman. But Ferrari started showing reliability problems and losing competitiveness as the dates went by, while Red Bull did nothing but improve. And today, those hundred units that separate Verstappen from Leclerc seem like an abyss that will be very difficult, perhaps even impossible, for Charles to overcome.
“The hardest part was the first lap where I had no problems, because there was a lot of commotion ahead of me. But after the Security machine, the car was on rails. I picked the right spots for overtaking, I was able to take care of the tires and that’s how I advanced. Once I was in charge, I just handled everything, “she said. the winner, perfectly summarizing what happened on the track.
In the first laps, everything happened. Pérez started second but dropped to fifth after being overtaken by Fernando Alonso and the two Mercedes. The Spaniard remained as an escort for the leader, Sainz, followed by Lewis Hamilton. But the Brit was very ambitious in trying to secure the sixth consecutive podium from the start and, in an attempt to overtake the Alpine, his right rear wheel mounted on the front of the Spaniard, causing the Iberian to anger and a jump of several meters to the seven-time champion It was the end of Sunday for Lewis, who returned to the pits upside down.
The competition continued, but only for one more lap. Because in round 7 of the second round, they collided Nicola Latifi Y Valtteri Bottas. the Canadian of Williams he left the track and when he returned he faced the Finn from Alfa Romeo, also confused. Then the pace car came on and the action was neutralized for a couple of laps.
As the public eye closely followed those two incidents, Verstappen had quietly begun to build his comeback. After starting 14th, he overtook four cars at the start and, when he got back to speed, he was already fifth. In the round 12 climbed for the first time first place and lost it momentarily when he returned to the pits on lap 16 to mount medium tires (the soft ones he started with degraded very quickly). But he recovered it in 18th place, with a great maneuver on Sainz’s Ferrari, who could not do anything to avoid being overtaken. From then on, he was widening his difference and his victory was never in danger.
His dominance was so great that in 31st place he stopped to change tires but still kept the first place, with eight seconds ahead of Pérez. With four laps to go, he was running alone in the middle of the track, with the Mexican 17 seconds behind. And he ended up crossing the finish line, slipping in the last meters, escorted by the Haas, two latecomers to whom he took a lap. Checo finished almost 18 seconds behind his partner. Sainz, at 27.
“The whole weekend was incredible. The car worked perfectly right from the first free practice. It was a fantastic Grand Prix, as I couldn’t even imagine,” acknowledged the Dutchman, who was also the fastest on Saturday and was stayed with the polo. And this Sunday he also took the extra point to set the lap record.
Could Sunday be sweeter for him? Yes. Because after finishing the fifth race, Leclerc was sanctioned with five seconds penalty for exceeding the speed limit pit lane in his last entry to the pits, on lap 43. The Monegasque thus dropped to sixth place, behind Alonso, and took eight points, instead of 10, so a little further Crazy Max in the standings. The one of Red Bull, the same, is not confident.
“We have opened a bigger gap again, which is very good, but we know we have to score points every round. And I don’t expect every weekend to be like this,” he said cautiously.
Regardless of his caution, the Dutchman must know internally that this advantage of almost 100 points, with just eight races to go, is starting to seem insurmountable for his rival. Also, now “his career of him” is coming to him, the Dutch Grand Prixin Zandvoort, where he won last year and where he will have the public on his side.
With that scenario ahead, Ferrari will have a hectic week. In just seven days he will have to analyze what happened on the Belgian track – where in addition to Sainz’s third place the sensations were not positive – and find a way to get around some cars that, at least from what we saw this Sunday, are not rivals on the track for the fast Red Bull.
Meanwhile, in the Austrian team, they will be able to take a few days to enjoy a new 1-2 in a Formula 1 Grand Prix – the fourth of the season – and another extraordinary performance by Verstappen, the unbeatable, who flew to Spa, protagonist of an epic comeback and begins to move decisively towards the bi-championship.
Source: Clarin
