SPA GP : Mad Max
Max Verstappen is in the form of his life as he wins the SPA GP while starting from P14. Ferrari just couldn’t mount a challenge.
Mad Max at SPA
Max Verstappen is currently the best driver on the grid, driving the best car on the grid. The days of a tight battle between rivals – say Max and Lewis in 2021 or Max and Charles in 2022 – are over. We are seeing complete dominance, reminiscing of Lewis in turbo-hybrid era or Vettel in 2013 or going further back like Schumacher from 2000 to 2004.
Max Verstappen looked strong in all the practice sessions at SPA. He was more than half a second faster than the Ferraris and even his team-mate Sergio Perez. So despite starting from the back of the grid, he was highly likely to win the race. And he did it in style, completely dominating the race. Starting from P14, he moved up the places quickly and was overtaking at least one car every lap. He eventually finished 20 seconds ahead of his team mate and even got the fastest lap. Max is close to 100 points ahead of Checo and Charles. The 2022 Championship is pretty much in his bag with 8 races to go.
Fumbling Ferrari
Ferrari just didn’t have the pace this weekend. They were behind the Red Bulls in terms of race pace and Quali. While Charles was starting from the back, Carlos tried to mount a challenge to the Red Bulls. He started from the Pole but couldn’t hold the Red Bulls for long. Eventually both Max and Checo passed him. In fact at times in the race his podium position was under threat from George Russell.
Charles LeClerc who everyone hoped to challenge Max in 2022, just couldn’t catch a break. While not as fast as Max in moving up the grid at SPA, he was doing decently well and found himself at P5. He however didn’t have the pace to move further up. A tear-off from Max got stuck in the brake duct. He thus had to pit to get it removed. But by then a sensor got burnt. Ferrari took a gamble with an extra pit-stop to go for the fastest lap. Unfortunately the burnt sensor caused Charles’ car to speed up in the pit lane and was handed a 5 second penalty. He thus moved one position down to P6 and did not get the fastest lap either. His title challenge is pretty much over.
Mixed Bag for Mercedes
Mercedes were in for a rude shock after finding that they were 1.8 seconds behind Red Bull in Quali. Their race pace was much better though. But Lewis Hamilton crashed into his old rival Fernando Alonso and thus had to retire. His team-mate George Russell did much better and took P4. In fact he was able to overtake Charles and was very close to the other Ferrari too. Mercedes would be quite happy seeing that.
Alonso despite the starting crash finished P5. His team-mate Ocon did a good job too and finished P7. Sebastian Vettel got P8 and Pierre Gasly P9. Alex Albon must be mighty happy, scoring the last point at P10 after signing a long term contract with Williams in the summer break. It was a day to forget for the McLarens. Same for HAAS and Alfa Romeo.
Top 10 at SPA : Max wins the race
