F1: 'Untouchable' Verstappen cruises in Belgium to tighten grip on second title

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- World champion Max Verstappen blew away his rivals with a commanding performance at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday to take a significant step towards a second successive drivers' title as Red Bull celebrated a 1-2 with Sergio Perez finishing a remote runner-up.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who started from 14th on the grid, scorched through the field with devastating pace and elan to deliver crushing proof of his and Red Bull's superiority.

"It's been a weekend that I couldn't have imagined before," said Verstappen, who pulled 93 points clear of Perez in the drivers' standings.

Among those blown away by Verstappen's stunning show of superiority was his teammate.

"Max was flying – he was on another planet. He was untouchable," said Perez.

Verstappen has now won nine of this season's 14 races - this was the 29th of his career and completed a hat-trick of summer victories in Europe. 

In front of a packed crowd at the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit, including many fans from the nearby Netherlands, Verstappen came home 17.841 seconds clear of the pack with race pole-sitter Carlos Sainz finishing third for Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc, Verstappen's nearest challenger going into the race, struggled in the other Ferrari after starting 15th. 

He was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane and had to battle past Alpine's Fernando Alonso on the last lap to snatch sixth behind the Mercedes of George Russell and Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton retired on the opening lap after his Mercedes collided with Alonso's car.

- Flying Verstappen -

Verstappen was one of eight drivers to be relegated down the grid after taking new power-unit or gearbox components.

In spite of being quickest in qualifying he started 14th but quickly carved his way through the field to install himself in the easy chair up front.

The race began in bright and dry conditions following official confirmation that Belgium's place on the calendar was secure for next year at least with a one-year contract extension.

When the lights went out, Sainz made an excellent start, while Perez was slow to move and passed by Alonso, Hamilton and Russell. Verstappen rose smoothly from 14th on the grid to eighth.

As the field climbed through Les Combes, Hamilton collided with Alonso as he attempted to complete an impetuous pass, the Mercedes rising over the Alpine and falling violently. Both men continued, but Hamilton's race was done.

Alonso called Hamilton an "idiot" over the radio and the Briton later took full responsibility. 

"He was in my blind spot, I didn't give him enough space. It is my fault," Hamilton said.

This unscripted exit left the seven-time champion still searching for a first win of the season.

Shortly after, Nicholas Latifi went wide in his Williams and spun, taking out Valtteri Bottas's Alfa Romeo. 

A safety car was deployed and the field settled with Sainz leading Perez, Russell and Alonso.

Soon after the resumption, Verstappen cut his way through to reach third and a podium finish by lap eight.

The impatient Dutchman surged past Perez on lap 12 as Alonso pitted, leaving the two Red Bulls leading ahead of Russell and Vettel, a near-perfect scenario for the Milton Keynes-based team that made light of Verstappen's grid penalty.

Perez pitted after 14 laps, re-joining third in front of Leclerc as Verstappen came in from the lead on lap 15. He came out ahead of Perez.

The defending champion was in imperious mood and on lap 18, after following Sainz uphill from Eau Rouge, swept past to lead on the Kemmel straight.

Remarkably, to the delight of the orange-clad hordes packed into the circuit, Verstappen had demolished the field before half-distance.

Three laps later, Perez passed Sainz for second.

Further pit-stops shuffled the pack briefly, but Red Bull reigned supreme.

"It was quite a hectic first lap to stay out of trouble," said a composed Verstappen. "But once we settled in after the safety car, the car was really on rails."

He added that he knew his car was ‘super-competitive’ from the start of the weekend. “I could tell from the ‘get-go’ that we could get an amazing result.

"Now, of course, I am enjoying the moment, having a good time, but even with this amazing weekend, we are still focused on what we can achieve and we want more."

He will be counting on another big points pay day next weekend when the F1 circus pitches up at Zandvoort for his home Dutch Grand Prix.

Agence France-Presse

F1: Hamilton marks 200th race with victory in Belgium

Vettel finished second, Ricciardo third

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium-- Lewis Hamilton celebrated his 200th Formula One race in style on Sunday with a pole-to-flag Belgian Grand Prix victory for Mercedes that halved Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to seven points.


The Briton's fifth success in 12 races this season, and 58th of his career, came a day after he equaled Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 68 pole positions.

"Sebastian put a great fight on but this is what I said I was coming to do so I did it," Hamilton told the crowd from the podium.

Vettel finished second for Ferrari, 2.3 seconds behind, after pushing his rival all the way without being able to get close enough to make a move stick in what amounted to a two-horse race of relentless pressure.

"It was really intense because every lap I was waiting for Lewis to do a mistake. He didn't," said Vettel, whose next race is Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

"He was probably waiting for me to make a mistake. I didn't," added the German, who set a race lap record of one minute 46.577 seconds in the closing stages.

With eight races remaining, four-times champion Vettel has 220 points and Hamilton 213.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo took third place for Red Bull after a storming re-start following a late safety car period that had closed the gap to the frontrunners and triggered a flurry of pitstops.

Ricciardo, on fresh ultra-soft tyres, passed Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas to surge into the top three, with the Finn also losing out to the Ferrari of compatriot Kimi Raikkonen as he ran wide.

Germany's Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth for Renault, Romain Grosjean was seventh for Haas and Brazilian Felipe Massa took eighth for Williams.

MAX RETIRES

"It's pretty much for all the Dutch here, so thanks for hanging around," said Ricciardo, whose teenage team mate Max Verstappen retired shaking his head in sheer frustration after eight laps.

It was his sixth retirement in 12 races.

"There are so many fans paying a lot for the tickets and you finish like this. That cannot happen with a top team," said Verstappen, whose orange-clad compatriots accounted for a majority of the crowd.

While Hamilton and Vettel played out their own private duel, there was plenty of action further down the field with the Force India duo of Mexican Sergio Perez and Frenchman Esteban Ocon playing a starring role.

The simmering pair clashed twice, the second time bringing out the safety car when Ocon -- who finished ninth -- tried to get past on the run down to Eau Rouge and was almost squeezed into the wall.

"I can accept the first one -- perhaps he couldn't see me but the second one was ridiculous. He was risking our lives. He risked my life," said a furious Ocon.

Debris from his car's broken front wing littered the track while Perez's right rear tire was punctured, leaving him limping back to the pits on a rim.

"It looked like Sergio squeezed Esteban into the wall and came out the loser of that scrap," the team's chief operating office Otmar Szafnauer told Sky Sports television, warning that the team would read the riot act.

"We’ve let them race up until now. If they can’t do it in a manner which is good for the team, then they won’t be racing any more," he said.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was also an unhappy man in the McLaren, the double world champion making a storming start but his Honda-powered car's lack of speed leaving him with an impossible task and increasingly frustrated before retiring.

"Embarrassing, embarrassing," he had said earlier.

source: news.abs-cbn.com