Max cruises in Spa to take yet another victory
Max Verstappen was once again in a world of his own as he came across the line to win the Belgian Grand Prix by over 22 seconds to Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the Podium.
The Biggest Talking Points
Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri collided into Turn 1 which ruined both drivers’ races whilst Sergio Perez cleared Charles Leclerc down the Kemmel Straight. Lando Norris was falling down the field in his McLaren whilst Alex Albon flew up from 15th to 7th after just a few laps. A bunch of drivers were then flying past Carlos Sainz who had a whole in his car which eventually resulted in the Spaniard retiring from the race and quickly after the first round of pitstops, Max Verstappen overtook his teammate Sergio Perez to take the lead of the Belgian Grand Prix and nobody saw him again. Not much else happened in this race other than Lando Norris climbed back into the points, a poor pitstop hurt Pierre Gasly’s chances at points and Esteban Ocon pulled off a brilliant move to overtake Yuki Tsunoda. Lewis Hamilton also set the Fastest Lap at the end with a ridiculously quick lap time.
The Standout Drives in the Race
I’ve only given out one 10 this race and it’s obviously for Max Verstappen. Max is literally unbeatable right now and I’m really looking forward to seeing what his average rating is on my Mid-Season Driver Rankings. I also thought Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso had great races to finish 3rd and 5th respectively whilst Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, and Yuki Tsunoda all had pretty positive days.
Drivers who had a Shocker
In total, I’ve given out two 1’s for this race, and the first one is for Logan Sargeant. Logan’s really struggling to have good pace for consistent chunks and it’s resulting in him finishing right at the back nearly every race. The other driver I’ve given a 1 to is Nico Hulkenberg whose race today summed up his entire weekend; terrible. I’m intrigued to see how much this weekend hurts him in my rankings. I also thought that Daniel Ricciardo was quite slow, Carlos Sainz had a horrible day, and Kevin Magnussen didn’t seem particularly quick.
Overall Race Results and My Ratings
Max Verstappen: 10
Sergio Perez: 8
Charles Leclerc: 9
Lewis Hamilton: 8 (FL)
Fernando Alonso: 9
George Russell: 6
Lando Norris: 6
Esteban Ocon: 8
Lance Stroll: 5
Yuki Tsunoda: 8
Pierre Gasly: 5
Valtteri Bottas: 6
Zhou Guanyu: 5
Alex Albon: 4
Kevin Magnussen: 3
Daniel Ricciardo: 2
Logan Sargeant: 1
Nico Hulkenberg: 1
Carlos Sainz: 2 (DNF)
Oscar Piastri: - (DNF)
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