Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the rest of the field to win the Belgian Grand Prix.
The world champion was in a class of his own, charging from 14th to take a commanding lead by lap 18 and fade into the distance.
Verstappen was a second or more faster per lap than teammate Sergio Perez, who completed a one-two for a dominant Red Bull.
Carlos Sainz of Ferrari finished third, just ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Verstappen’s ninth victory in 14 races extended his championship lead.
His only rival, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, finished fifth, but was demoted to sixth by a penalty for speeding in the pit lane and has now dropped to third place in the standings, five points behind Perez, with a 98-point deficit to Verstappen that is now surely unrecoverable.
Verstappen went into the summer break on the back of one of his greatest victories, winning in Hungary from 10th on the grid, thanks partly to the latest in a series of Ferrari strategy mistakes for Leclerc.
And the Dutchman began the run-in to the end of the season with an even more emphatic statement of his and Red Bull’s superiority.
From the moment Verstappen took to the track in practice on a dank Friday afternoon, he looked imperious, and even a grid penalty for using too many engine parts could not stand in his way.
Verstappen – one of seven drivers who suffered penalties that put them to the ‘back of the grid’ – took a stunning pole position by nearly 0.7secs from Sainz, and his pace led to predictions from many in the paddock, including Russell, that he would win despite his penalty.
