Max Verstappen starts from far behind, but still wins with ease. Formula 1 is divided into two classes at the Grand Prix in Spa: the Red Bull driver and the others. The competition for Ferrari is at a loss. The reigning world champion doesn’t just look forward to defending his title.
The Red Bull driver was “like from another planet” in Belgium, said the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. He had started from far behind, he ended up right at the front. Verstappen was sometimes more than two seconds faster per lap than the fastest pursuers, that’s worlds in Formula 1. “It’s an ease with which he’s currently delivering these services, that’s unlikely,” said Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko at Sky. The Dutchman has already collected nine wins in 14 races. Nobody can have any more doubts about the second world title. From now on he chases more: In this form, Verstappen could break the record of 13 wins of the season set by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel in the remaining eight races. Also the most wins in a season, the most wins in a row, the most points in a season, the largest lead over the World Cup runners-up are all there. Everything seems possible.
The Scuderia was presented again in Spa. The distance to Red Bull shook drivers and those responsible. “We have to understand what we can improve for the next races,” lectured team boss Mattia Binotto. At first, none of the Reds was able to say exactly what that could be. After all, Red Bull had been superior in every respect. “I don’t think there will be a few miracles next week that we’re very close to Red Bull,” admitted Charles Leclerc, third in the World Cup, before continuing on to Zandvoort – for Verstappen’s home game.
But it’s also up to Ferrari itself: the F1-75 is no longer an opponent for Red Bull on high-speed circuits. Under the growing pressure, the strategists repeatedly make risky or incomprehensible decisions. And the drivers goof too. Like Leclerc, who received a five-second penalty at the end of a used day because he was one km/h too fast in the pit lane when chasing the fastest race lap. Not much was missing at this point to perfection – but just enough. As in (too) many areas.
The Haas driver urgently needs a few good arguments as to why his team or another racing team should give him a cockpit next year. It doesn’t help that his car was probably the slowest in the field despite a package of innovations in Belgium. And then the bottom of the 23-year-old was still glowing because his seat heated up a lot during the race due to a defect. “Good training for Singapore,” joked Schumacher, looking ahead to the sweat race in five weeks. On closer inspection, however, Belgium was perhaps worth a trip: At the finish, only three seconds separated him from his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who had started well ahead of him. And your team-mate is always the first benchmark.
Even four weeks after his resignation, Sebastian Vettel is a very popular man. It’s only marginally about sports, more about social issues, his plans as a Formula 1 pensioner or the prospects of his friend Mick Schumacher on a cockpit. But it would hardly be worth talking about sports either. Aston Martin has largely stopped developing the racing car, and the focus is on the coming season. Vettel takes it easy. He was on a Formula 1 podium 122 times, and there will not be another visit in his last eight races. Small successes like eighth place in Spa remain.
The constructors’ world champion of the past eight years has arrived in yo-yo mode. In Budapest, Mercedes was justifiably aiming for its first win of the year. In Spa, the Silver Arrows already knew in training that the top would be far away. Above all, something is missing that characterized the team in its most dominant times: consistency at a high level. Team boss Toto Wolff spoke of a bad weekend in Belgium. Record world champion Lewis Hamilton can hardly wait for a new season to start – with a hopefully more powerful car. After his departure, Hamilton resembled an astronaut in a lunar landscape as he defiantly trudged down a dry dirt track towards the paddock. He later received a warning for not attending the medical examination. It can only get better.
