Max Verstappen and Red Bull played it safe to win Saturday’s Belgian Grand Prix F1 Sprint Race, hardly troubled the soon-to-be triple Formula 1 World Champion.
He briefly lost the lead in the process but had it all covered in his “quick” RB19, and now focuses on the real deal namely winning Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix
While Verstappen operates in another dimension to his rivals, F1 fans can only marvel at how the Dutch ace is swatting away everything that is being thrown at him, with ease and little concern. Again he bagged the maximum points available on the day and is almost sure to do the same tomorrow as he cruises to the 2023 F1 title.
After the delays, the race for underway under the safety car, at which point Verstappen leading from pole, decided to do an extra lap on the largely ineffective (in those conditions) Pirelli Extreme Wet Tyres, while most dived into the pits for Intermediates. Following the safety Car into the pits, rather than Max out on track.
When the #1 RBR emerged it was behind a precocious Oscar PIastri trying to make life difficult for the World Champ. Gut that did not last long before Verstappen blasted past, waving ‘tot ziens’ and bagging Sprint victory.
Verstappen: It was a safer call not to pit behind the Safety Car
Afterwards, Verstappen explained the strategy to stay out: “It was a safer call. I could come in first and then be blocked by other cars, there might be a Safety Car and then you lose out massively. I didn’t mind to stay out.
“We lost one position and we know we are quick and we could see that when we put the inter tyres on we were flying. The car was quick, tyres were holding on, just tiny little issues (with the brakes).”
Verstappen would’ve started from pole had the team not opted to take the five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change on Verstappen’s RB19. He starts from P6 on the grid. But this should not hamper him as he won last year from P14.
“I need to pass a few cars. The biggest risk is just lap one, turn one, it’s always very tricky there. As long as we stay out of trouble we have a quick car,” reckoned Verstappen.
On the other side of the garage, Sergio Perez was again no match for his teammate. Eight in the Shootout earlier in the day, he got stuck in the midfield wars. Had a coming together with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes which tore a hole in the RB19, forcing the team to retire the car.
From P2, Perez looking for an illusive third win of his season
Hamilton ⚔️ Perez
Both drivers were giving it everything in this mini-battle! ?#BelgianGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/36Gz2VdVlP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 29, 2023
But Perez was struggling with no rear grip just before that, and was gobbled up accordingly. A trip through the sand also did him no favours.
Perez lamented afterwards: “It was a shame that we had to retire from the race today and get no points for the team. The conditions were tricky and Lewis ran out of grip and crashed into the side of me. I had massive damage to the sidepods and floor and once we realised the extent of this, we had to retire.
“It is unfortunate, as today we had some good opportunities and had a great strategy. The race pace was good and I think we could have caught Pierre Gasly.
“All in all, I think everything was managed well today by race control and we have been really strong the whole weekend and had the pace to fight for pole today. Ultimately, we lost a few points today but we look forward to tomorrow,” added the Mexican.
Perez can and should make amends on Sunday. Starting P2 he will take the fight to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who inherited pole position for the race at Spa, due to Verstappen’s penalty. Checo is looking to add to his two victories so far this season, in Baku and Jeddah.