MAX PULLS OFF A MASTER STROKE WITH SPA COMEBACK VICTORY
Penalties? No bother. Safety cars? Not an issue. Max is imperious.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner thinks his team is back to its dominant best after Max Verstappen overcame a penalty and powered from 14th on the grid to crush the opposition in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa last weekend.
Verstappen had qualified more than half a second faster than anyone else before he was pushed back down the grid order for taking new engine parts. He sliced through the field and went on to finish 17 seconds clear of his team-mate Sergio Perez.
Horner said: “That’s one of our biggest ever team performances. I never expected Max to win that race and particularly get to the front so quickly.
“With Checo [Perez] right there as well – fastest lap and 1-2 finish – it could not have been better for us. An amazing performance, right up there with the very best that we achieved back in 2010.”
Formula 1 might have returned from its summer break, but the story of this championship season continues where it left off. Max Verstappen and Red Bull are extending their advantage in the title race, while Charles Leclerc and Ferrari slipped up again.
It was an utterly dominant display from the World champion at Spa who finished nearly 20 seconds ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez. Cheered on by many thousands of Dutch supporters, who had made the short journey south across the border, they enjoyed a masterclass. In hot, dry conditions Verstappen was in a league of his own. With eight races to go, a second World title is now a formality.
His closest challenger in the championship is now his team-mate, as Leclerc has fallen to third, 98 points behind Max. And even starting the race in 14th did nothing to halt Verstappen’s progress on Sunday.
Ahead of the race, many were predicting a thriller, thanks to the topsy-turvy grid. No driver started in the position they qualified as eight runners opted to take a grid penalty for changing either power unit or gearbox components. So while Verstappen was the fastest man in qualifying – by some margin – he lined in 14th with Leclerc one place behind in 15th and their team-mates Carlos Sainz and Perez inheriting the front row.
Despite a hectic opening couple of laps, the ease with which Verstappen reached the front meant the interest on the track was reserved for the minor points-scoring positions.
At the start, Perez bogged down with wheelspin and Sainz converted pole into the race lead. Behind him Lewis Hamilton was battling with Fernando Alonso for second place on the run up to Les Combes. As the pair turned into the right hander, the Mercedes was launched into the air off the Alpine’s front-left tyre. Hamilton made it as far as Blanchimont before coming to a halt.
“What an idiot closing the door from the outside,” raged the Spaniard on team radio. “This guy only knows how to drive and start in first.”
Hamilton later admitted Alonso was in his blind spot and apologised for the contact. Surprisingly, the Alpine was relatively intact and Alonso was able to continued unharmed.
The start of the second lap was equally fraught and heading around Les Combes next time around, Nicholas Latifi spun his Williams across the track which Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas couldn’t avoid and he beached himself into a gravel trap. The safety car was deployed to remove the stricken Alfa and Hamilton’s damaged Mercedes.
Leclerc then reported some smoke from his right-front wheel and he pitted only for the team to discover a visor tear-off had entered his brake cooling duct. He continued but dropped to the bottom of the field.
When the safety car peeled in Sainz led ahead of Perez, but by lap 12 Verstappen had made his way into the lead, thanks to the performance advantage of his Red Bull. His two-stop strategy and no further on-track incidents meant he had a trouble-free cruise to the chequered flag, 17.8s ahead of Perez. His team-mate even admitted that Max was on “another planet” in Belgium and was “untouchable.”
“This was one of our biggest ever performances,” said Red Bull team boss Christian Horner. “We never expected Max to get to the front of the field so quickly. This weekend he was right in the window with the car and everything worked beautifully. Max has been exemplary and this is right up there with some of our best performances.”
Sainz was third for Ferrari, and was able to hold off another strong drive from Mercedes star George Russell. Running in fifth in the latter stages was Leclerc. He decided to pit two laps from the flag to bolt on a set of fresh soft tyres to try and secure a point for fastest lap. Usually this decision is made when there is a clear margin to the car behind.
But Leclerc emerged from the pits and was overtaken by Alonso. Even the Spaniard admitted his surprise at another bizarre Ferrari strategy decision.
Leclerc did manage to repass the Alpine on the final lap, but he was then struck with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
It’s another error to add to the growing list for Leclerc and Ferrari in 2022. Does he still think he’s in this championship fight? “It’s starting to look very difficult,” he said sheepishly after the race.