Formula 1 is a sport that opposes around twenty drivers and where Max Verstappen wins in the end. On Sunday July 30, the Dutch driver won easily on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit (Belgium), 22.3 seconds ahead of his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez. It is his 10th victory this season, the eighth in a row.

The Dutchman is on course to break his record of 15 wins in a season set last year. In the world championship standings, he is now 125 points ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez. Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine straight wins is also in his sights.

Verstappen now has 45 wins in his career. His performance on the day is all the more remarkable as he had to start in 6th position on the starting grid, an unusual place for him, after receiving a five-place penalty for an untimely gearbox change. allowed.

“I had a good car today. You just had to try to survive the first corner. We made good overtaking. It was easy, I really enjoyed this race. You could see it was raining, but it was hard to tell how much,” Max Verstappen summed up on arrival.

Starting from pole position, Leclerc and his Ferrari quickly had to drop the flag against Red Bull. “We had the right pace, but they are still far ahead of us, especially in terms of tire degradation,” said the Monegasque.

The rain bet

It is true that the suspense did not last long. After a kilometer of racing, Sergio Pérez overtook Charles Leclerc to take the lead. On the 9th lap, the latter was also overtaken by Max Verstappen (Red Bull). The fate of the Grand Prix already seemed sealed and, apart from a thunderstorm, it was hard to see what could prevent the Red Bulls from achieving the double. On lap 14, with the simultaneous pit stops of Pérez and Leclerc, the Dutchman temporarily took the lead of the race.

The weekend was all the more fruitful for the Red Bulls as Verstappen also won the sprint race on Saturday and Sergio Pérez finished on Sunday clearly ahead of his rivals Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) missed his race. At the start, the Spaniard crushed Oscar Piastri (McLaren) against a low wall. Spoiler broken, the young Australian, who had created the surprise by finishing 2nd in the sprint race, had to retire. Sainz tried to continue, but the side of his car was too damaged to go to the end.

The weather played an important role in this race as a downpour was expected during the Grand Prix. Although all the drivers started on dry tyres, three took the gamble of waiting for the arrival of the rain to make only one pit stop: Pierre Gasly (Alpine), George Russell (Mercedes) and Lance Stroll (Astron Martin). A strategy that paid off, as Russell finished 6th, Stroll 9th ??and Gasly 11th. After a summer break, the Formula 1 championship will resume on August 27 with the Dutch Grand Prix.