Belgium GP : Max takes another victory

It did not matter that Max started from P6 in Belgium. The win was inevitable. Checo finished P2 and Charles P3.

Sublime Max at Belgium

It doesn’t matter anymore from which position Max starts. He will eventually find his way to the top. This time starting from P6, thanks to the 5-place grid penalty for gearbox change, Max moved up slowly but smoothly and got his 8th consecutive victory. Just on the starting lap he moved up two places and then overtook Hamilton, Charles and team-mate Checo to be the race leader and then win the race. He did not get the fastest lap though, as it went to Lewis who put on fresh tires in the final laps. As the first half 2023 season comes to an end, it has been a dream run for Max. He is in prime form and is driving the fastest car on the grid. Everything seems to be going his way and there are no signs of things moving in any other direction. We now have a 4 weeks summer break and the next race will be at his home-ground. Expect nothing short of a record equaling 9th consecutive win there.

Sergio Perez would be happy with P2 finish. The Sprint Race did not go well for him, nor did the few previous races, where he did badly in Quali and had to work hard to move up the grid. Sergio had a great start from the front row and very soon overtook Max on the first lap. However he had no answer to the juggernaut that is Max Verstappen as he took the lead on lap 17 of 44. Sergio would be looking forward to the break and hoping for a more consistent performance in the second-half.

Ferrari extreme at Belgium

Ferrari had a good starting position, right there in the mix with McLarens and Merc. However things went bad for Sainz right at the start as he tried to jump Hamilton and take a sharp right, not realizing that Oscar was right there and crashing into him. This lead to Oscar retiring immediately and Sainz lost Aero-performance and eventually he had to retire too. Charles meanwhile had a decent race as he managed to hold on to P3 position, behind the Red Bulls, despite starting from Pole Position. He will be happy with the podium position, given that no team has the car to match the Red-Bulls currently.

Nightmare for Oscar

Rookie Oscar Piastri was the star of the weekend, until the first lap of the race. He started P2 in the Sprint and managed to finish in that position. Even in the main race P5 was a good position to be in, besides the Mercs and Ferraris. However at the first turn of the starting lap he went deep to the right and Sainz didn’t see him there, causing a collision and ending the race. Still McLaren would be happy with their rookie. Meanwhile, Lando did a meg-stint of 27 laps on the laps and managed to finish a decent P7.

The Mercs did a decent job too. They had the pace but couldn’t capitalize on it. Lewis finished a respectable P4 and got the fastest lap too. George finished P6, behind Alonso. Ocon did a good job and finished P8. Stroll finished P9 and Tsunoda got the final point at P10.

Belgium GP : Max and Red Bull leading after the first half of 2023