Max Masterclass in Spa as Charles Leclerc Drops to Third in Championship
Podium Finishers
“Grid penalties, who?” said Max Verstappen (probably). His Red Bull literally had wings because the Flying Dutchman soared from P14 to P1 at Spa much to the Orange Army’s delight.
Verstappen was already up to P8 following the safety car on Lap 2 thanks to Valtteri Bottas’s race-ending spin avoiding the Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
At the restart, Max went into super-turbo-mode and made it up to P3 behind polesitter Carlos Sainz and teammate, Sergio Perez, by Lap 8. Next level sorcery, I tell ya! (Kidding – Max and the RB18 are just that magnificent.)
Sainz pitted for medium tyres on Lap 12 while Perez allowed Verstappen past to take the lead. (Serious question: will Red Bull let their drivers fight for the title now that Checo is second in the championship?) Max retook the lead on Lap 18 (over Sainz) with another free pit stop on Lap 31, taking the checkered flag over his teammate by an astonishing 18 seconds. The flying Dutchman took fastest lap of the race, much to the dismay of Charles Leclerc (we’ll get to the Ferrari Disasterclass in a minute).
Carlos Sainz rounded out the podium in P3, a mere two seconds ahead of the silver arrow of George Russell who finished fourth.
Best of the Rest
After a disaster of a day for Charles Leclerc (who pitted at the start thanks to a tear off in the brakes that caused his front right brake to overheat – he was already up to P9 from P14). Despite his comeback to P5, Ferrari pitted Charles on the LAST LAP of the race (you read that right!). Why, you ask? To get the bonus fastest lap point, of course! While Charles didn’t get the bonus point, he DID receive a five-second time penalty (moving him to P6 in the race) due to speeding in the pitlane thanks to a sensor malfunction. Whoever has Charles Leclerc’s voodoo doll, I beg you, please stop! The man has suffered enough!
The Alpine of Fernando Alonso took P5 as a result with teammate Esteban Ocon finishing an impressive P7 despite grid penalties at the start.
Sebastian Vettel crossed the checkered flag eighth for the day ahead of Pierre Gasly (P9), who started from the pit lane. I’m sure Alpine was paying attention to the Pit Lane to Points finish…
Alex Albon rounded out the points finishers for the day, thanks to his conductor-like duties of a DRS train fans witnessed for the majority of the race.
Looking Ahead
It’s round two of the post-summer break triple header in Zandvoort! Will hometown hero Max Verstappen soar to victory in front of his ever-growing Orange Army for a second year in a row? Can Charles Leclerc escape the tragedy that is the Ferrari strategists? We’ll find out with action starting Friday at the Dutch Grand Prix.
