F1 Belgian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Beats Perez in Spa-Francorchamps, Red Bull Clinches 1-2 Finish

Max Verstappen started sixth on the grid but passed Sergio Perez on the track to win the Belgian Grand Prix. This is his eighth consecutive victory. Despite starting from sixth on the grid due to a penalty, Verstappen quickly moved to second behind teammate Sergio Perez. However, any hope that the Dutchman may provide his teammate with a much-needed win was dashed when, on lap 17, he easily passed Perez on the Kemmel Straight and took the lead. It wasn't a nail-biter up front, but there was plenty of action and passing as he raced to his tenth win of the season and eighth in a row, with Perez P2 ahead of Charles Leclerc. While Carlos Sainz, who had started fourth, locked up and collided with Oscar Piastri, who had started fifth, at La Source, polesitter Leclerc swooped across Perez's bows to keep the lead. Piastri slowed on the descent to Eau Rouge and eventually stopped on the first lap of lap 44 when his McLaren was jammed into the inside wall, causing damage to its suspension and shredding the side of the Ferrari's right-side side pod. 

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F1 Belgian Grand Prix: Race Result

After falling behind in the ranks early on due to steering issues, Norris only managed to claw his way back into the points hunt by switching to soft tyres and driving very fast in the wet circuits. Esteban Ocon passed Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda, and Stroll late in the race to finish ninth for Alpine. Albon had a terrific first stint for Williams and moved up to eighth, but since they were the only team to need three pit stops, he ultimately finished in 14th place.

Before losing momentum, AlphaTauri's first showing was highly promising, with Tsunoda spending some time in sixth place. Similarly, Daniel Ricciardo, Tsunoda's teammate, made significant progress after his 19th-place start, jumping into the midfield with an undercut from a very early first pitstop, but ultimately faded to 16th, 23 seconds behind the Japanese driver.

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The win was Verstappen's tenth of the season and eighth in a row for Red Bull, while Perez recorded the team's first 1-2 finish since the Miami Grand Prix and Leclerc earned just Ferrari's second podium finish of the year. Hamilton finished fourth, ahead of Alonso and Russell, thanks to his late pit stop earning him the fastest lap point. Despite a poor start, Norris finished sixth, earning points with Ocon, Stroll, and Tsunoda.

F1 Belgian Grand Prix: McLaren Worries Come True

Piastri, the runner-up in the Sprint race, was the first driver to pull out from the race due to suspension issues. Alonso easily passed Sainz, who was driving an SF-23 with a hole in the right sidepod, and the AlphaTauri eventually caught up to the Ferrari, driven by Alex Albon. Stroll and Russell passed Norris to move into the scoring positions behind them. After a sluggish pit stop, Norris fell to seventeenth place.

Norris, another McLaren driver having a rough day, switched to hard tyres but still couldn't keep up with Albon and Ocon, who passed him on the right and left, respectively. Norris vented his fury to his crew after losing ground to Daniel Ricciardo through Les Combes.

While Norris crossed the finish line in seventh, Esteban Ocon made several daring late moves to get to eighth, including an impressive pass on AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda, who ended the race in tenth, directly behind Lance Stroll.