Smooth win for cocky Verstappen in shower-hit Belgium GP

Max Verstappen was fully in charge of the Belgian Grand Prix, having no trouble overcoming a grid penalty to pass Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez for victory at a shower-hit Spa-Francorchamps, making Red Bull the first team in F1 history to win 12 races in a row in the same season.

Leclerc started from pole but had no chance of staying ahead of the two rampant Red Bulls. The Ferrari had more success fending off Lewis Hamilton to finish on the podium, with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso claiming a late fifth from George Russell in the second Mercedes.

Leclerc's team mate Carlos Sainz was involved in a first corner collision at La Source with McLaren's Oscar Piastri that left both cars with damage, resulting in subsequent early retirements but no safety car in a race that saw brief shower midway through.

• 2023 Belgian Grand Prix - Race results

Rain had been a factor on both Friday and Saturday, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the cars lining up on a dry grid for the start of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc taking point for Ferrari alongside Sergio Perez on the front row, and Lewis Hamilton next to Carlos Sainz behind them. Despite having been quickest in qualifying Max Verstappen was down in sixth due to a penalty for taking an extra gearbox this weekend, while Nico Hulkenberg was starting from pit lane after the Haas team made overnight changes to the car. The engineers also had to attend to a minor issue on the VF-23 after smoke on the way to the grid initially.

When the race got underway, Leclerc led the charge into La Source and made it through the hairpin ahead of Perez, who swept across the front of Hamilton. Oscar Piastri tried to squeeze Sainz but got squeezed out inflicting damage on both cars while allowing Verstappen to move into fourth place. After that, Leclerc's grip on the lead didn't last long with Perez successfully attacking into Les Combes and snatching control of the race.

The damage to Piastri's car forced the McLaren to pull over and retire moments later, but it didn't trigger a safety car. Perez already had a two second lead over Leclerc by the time DRS was enabled, with Hamilton maintaining a small advantage over Verstappen and Sainz wounded but able to continue for now in fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll. A struggling Lando Norris - so good in the wet up to now - lost multiple positions on the hard compound and dropped out of the top ten after being passed by George Russell on lap 5.

Verstappen was late on the brakes and used DRS to dispatch Hamilton at the end of the Kemmel Straight to move into third place on lap 6. The leaders all had opted to start on soft tyres, with Alonso and Tsunoda the top runners on mediums ahead of Albon. Sainz had now dropped to eighth and was easy meat for Stroll and Russell to pick off on lap 7 at which point a number of drivers opted to pit earlier than expected, including Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen. Next time round it was Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas who exchanged softs for mediums.

After being passed for position by Williams rookie Logan Sargeant, Sainz finally came in. There was nothing that could be done about the bodywork damage, so it was a simple change to a new set of medium tyres. Moments later, Leclerc was picked off by Verstappen around the outside into Les Combes leaving the Red Bulls running 1-2. Leclerc didn't resist, knowing his true battle this afternoon was with Hamilton for the final podium spot.

Alonso pitted on lap 10 and came out in front of Hulkenberg, who had the speed to blast his way past - although he was yet to make his first stop. It meant that the top eight - Perez, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Stroll, Russell, Gasly and Hulkenberg - were the only cars yet to pit. Next time by, Alonso was up to temperature and able to use DRS to get his position back from Hulkenberg.

Everyone was holding their breath for sign of any rain moving across the Spa-Francorchamps. Despite the build up of cloud it was slow in materialising, and Hamilton couldn't wait any longer before pitting for a set of mediums on lap 13, coming out just ahead of Stroll who accepted the inevitability of the situation and didn't try to fight back. Perez was in on lap 14 along with Leclerc leading to a close encounter on pit lane as they were released, handing the lead to Verstappen who was grumbling about Perez getting first call on the pit strategy. "Just trust me", insisted race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase sounding unhappy with his driver's truculence.

The weather was closing in and Red Bull had a decision to make, whether to keep Verstappen out for another ten minutes to wait for wet weather tyres, or come in now. Lambiase offered Verstappen the choice, and Max's response was a terse "I can't see the weather radar, can I?!" Eventually the call was made to bring him in and not try and wait for the weather. He came back out two seconds behind Perez, but it took no time at all for Verstappen to chase down his team mate and wrest the lead away with the help of DRS exiting La Source at the start of lap 17. The matter of today's win was seemingly decided, with the inevitable victor already two seconds ahead of Perez just one lap later.

Lap 18 saw coats going on and umbrellas up in the grandstands as the expected rain finally arrived. That was good news for Russell, Stroll and Gasly who had stayed out hoping to make a change to inters coincide with their first pit stops. However the rain wasn't hard, and nor did it last long to affect grip levels or demand that teams switch to wet weather tyres. The rain radar proved uniquely unhelpful as always at Spa, senior team personnel resorting to doing it the old fashioned way - looking up at the skies and holding out their raised hands from undercover.

The length of Spa-Francorchamps meant that conditions can be different in various parts so it was all a matter of guesswork now. Stroll had been losing positions on his old tyres and was forced to pit on lap 21, and he opted for a set of softs rather than inters. However a scare for Verstappen going through the compression at Eau Rouge showed that the rain was still coming down and indeed getting harder, and now had the potential to catch out even the best drivers.

Russell was in on lap 23, and like Stroll before him he stayed on slicks with a set of softs. Next time by, Gasly finally gave up his attempt to stay out on lap 24 and he made the same call to stay on slicks for now. However the delay coming in and a problem on the tyre change sent him plunging out of the top ten. Other cars were now back on pit lane for their second stops of the afternoon, including Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. Everyone was opting for mediums or softs, the threat of rain now lessening with no signs of puddles or standing water evident.

Sainz was the second retirement of the race on lap 25 as a consequence of the damage he incurred at the first corner of the race. Verstappen now had a seven second lead over Perez and there were big gaps back to Leclerc, Hamilton and Alonso, while Russell's long first stint had rewarded him with sixth ahead of Norris who was now more confident having switched to the soft tyres, keeping him ahead of Stroll, Tsunoda and Albon.

Hamilton was in again for another brisk service on lap 28 to put him on softs. Leclerc responded next time to cover off the move by the Mercedes, sticking to the same option. The exchange had enabled Hamilton to cut the gap between them having already dismissed Alonso who pitted on the next lap. Perez was in as well, leaving Verstappen serenely processing at the head of the field with a 27s lead before finally deigning to pit for the last time today on lap 31, the rain having now stopped and no more predicted to arrive during the remainder of the race.

Barring disasters, there seemed little competition: a long way behind Verstappen there was an average of three seconds separating Perez, Leclerc, Hamilton, and then another long gap back to Alonso, Russell, Norris, Stroll and Tsunoda. The two Alpines had been on the prowl, Ocon taking the final points spot from Albon on lap 31 and Gasly pulling off an audacious move to overtake Albon and then hold on to the position in the run down the Kemmel Straight into Les Combes. Albon subsequently pitted for a third time for a final set of softs, which landed him at the back with Sargeant, any hopes of points for Williams now firmly dashed.

The major battle with ten laps to go was not on track at all, but over the Red Bull team radio. "You used a lot of the tyre on the out lap Max, not sure that was sensible," noted Lambiase; Verstappen responded to that by instantly setting a new fastest lap of the race, and then suggested it would be good for him to pit and get fresh tyres to keep the bonus point. "No, not this time," was the reply from the pit wall, which was sounding distinctly frosty by this point. A further warning about degradation was similarly waved away by Verstappen: "Yeah, it's all good," And sure enough, he kept punching in the fastest laps oblivious to any warnings he was getting. Cocky he might be, but he more than has the talent to back it up.

Ocon made his way past Tsunoda on lap 39, and there was also bad news for Ricciardo in the second Alphatauri as he was picked off by Zhou Guanyu for 15th, who then quickly took care of business for Hulkenberg. Albon on fresh tyres was also on the move with similar rapid fire passes on Ricciardo and Hulkenberg to stay in touching distance of Zhou.

By the time the chequered flag came out, Verstappen's lead was 22s - so he would have had time to make an extra late stop after all, just like he had wanted. And Red Bull's conservative strategy did cost him the extra point in the end, as Hamilton made a late stop to switch to mediums to snatch it while still finishing in fourth behind Leclerc. Meanwhile Alonso took fifth after Russell's long final stint on softs proved a lap or two too far and the Mercedes slipped to sixth on the final laps still well ahead of Norris and Ocon, who had claimed the late scalp of Stroll. But Tsunoda held on to the final top ten from Gasly, earning his first points since Azerbaijan.

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