SPA FRANCORCHAMPS: Max Verstappen of Red Bull jumped from 14th to first to win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday with a commanding one-two finish, accelerating his ascent to a second Formula One championship.
The Mexican teammate Sergio Perez finished 17.8 seconds behind the Dutch driver, with the pole-starting Spaniard Carlos Sainz coming in third in his Ferrari.Max was on another world today, Perez said; he was soaring and unbeatable.
Verstappen now leads Perez by a whopping 93 points with eight races left in the season thanks to his ninth victory from 14 races this year. Verstappen now has nine victories altogether.Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fifth on the road but was dropped to sixth after receiving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Leclerc started the race one position behind Verstappen in 15th after experiencing similar engine and gearbox-related grid reductions.The Monegasque is currently third overall, trailing Verstappen by 98 points and receiving an additional point for the quickest lap.
Next weekend is followed by Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.Although his victory at Spa last year came after only three circuits of splashing in the rain behind the safety car, he claimed after his second consecutive victory there that “the car was a rocket ship all weekend.”
