Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team was completely unstoppable at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix, taking a commanding 1-2 victory with Max Verstappen leading Sergio Perez over the finish line. Verstappen started the race in 14th after power unit penalties were imposed, but needed only 12 laps to get into the top 3.
With Perez keeping close contact with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Verstappen quickly dispatched both to lead the race.
Behind them, championship contender Charles Leclerc had a tough time in his Ferrari, eventually settling for sixth place. The driver had a late pit stop, but received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. It saw him relinquish fifth place to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. Alonso’s teammate, Esteban Ocon, was seventh.
Here are three key talking points from the race.
Unstoppable Max
Verstappen has been the prime driver throughout the Belgian GP weekend. Though he didn’t feature much during the first practice session, it was all about his impressive form for the remainder of the weekend. In qualifying, Verstappen managed to qualify in first place, but dropped to 14th after power unit-related penalties were imposed.
Then came the race, and Verstappen needed only a dozen laps to find himself inside the top 3. And from there, the race lead. He quickly established a significant gap between him and whoever was in second place, and made his final pit stop with a 28-second advantage over Perez. The Dutchman secured the win and scored the bonus point for setting the race’s fastest lap.
He now leads Perez in the Drivers’ championship by 284 points to 191 – a massive 93 points!
WRAP | Verstappen wins Belgian Grand Prix with dominant performance
Verstappen said of his win: “It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble. So many things were happening in front of me. But once we settled in after the Safety Car, the car was really on rails, we picked the right places to pass people, and we could look after our tyres and that is how we made our way forward.
“After that, once we were in the lead, it was all about managing everything – but this whole weekend has been incredible. It’s been a weekend I couldn’t imagine before, but I think we want more of them, so keep working hard.”
Ferrari’s new focus
After the fiasco in Hungary, one would think that the Ferrari team would get its troubles sorted out. But alas, they have lost even more ground to Red Bull and Verstappen. Though Sainz qualified in second, inheriting the first starting position from Verstappen, his race went backwards – despite leading it until Verstappen passed him.
And Leclerc? Well, he also faced penalties and started down in 15th – one position behind Verstappen. But while Verstappen raced towards the front of the grid, Leclerc struggled past the cars ahead of him. The team then tried to steal the point for the fastest lap from Verstappen by pitting Leclerc and fitting his car with the Soft tyre, but that also failed spectacularly. Leclerc’s fastest time on the final lap was 0.6 seconds off Verstappen’s.
Further exasperating the situation was Leclerc incurring a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, dropping him from fifth to sixth.
Though Sainz came home in third, it’s fair to say that Red Bull has both 2022 F1 championships in the bag, and Ferrari should shift their focus to 2023.
Backmarkers score points
The race was especially good for those not finishing inside the top ten too regularly. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), and Alex Albon (Williams) completed the top ten in Belgium, but it was an impressive showing by each around Spa-Francorchamps.
Albon managed to qualify in ninth, but moved up to sixth after the penalties on Verstappen, Leclerc, and Ocon. His Williams was perfectly suited to the track conditions to secure tenth when the chequered flag dropped.
Gasly and teammate Yuki Tsunoda started from the pitlane, but Gasly was the one dragging the AlphaTauri up the grid. Ninth was probably the best he could have done, but his performance was commendable and indicative of him deserving a seat in a race-winning team.
For Vettel, eighth would have been a sweet reward. Following a difficult campaign in 2022, the German is on his way out of F1. Vettel qualified 16th, but he made the most of the opportunities presented to him during the race to secure the position. A late pit stop saw him come under pressure from both Ocon and Gasly, with both drivers passing him down the Kemmel straight. Vettel managed to pass Gasly on the next lap.
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