F1 2023, Max Verstappen wins the Belgian GP: Key stats
Defending Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen won the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Verstappen claimed another dominating win as he stayed ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in third. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton claimed fourth place ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso. Notably, Verstappen has now sealed his eighth race in a row. Here are the stats.
89th podium and 45th race win for Verstappen
Verstappen claimed his 89th podium and 12th successive one this season. He also claimed his 45th race win and a 10th this season after the Bahrain GP, Australian GP, Miami GP, Monaco GP, Spanish GP, Canadian GP, Austrian GP, British GP, and Hungarian GP respectively. Verstappen has won his third successive race at the Belgian GP. In 2020, he finished third here.
Key numbers for Perez and Leclerc
Perez claimed his fifth podium finish in 2023. Overall, he has managed 32 podiums in his Formula 1 career. He claimed his second successive podium, having finished third at the Hungarian GP last week. Leclerc claimed just his third podium in 2023. He had earlier finished third at the Azerbaijan GP and second in Austria. Leclerc has now sealed 26 career podiums.
Belgian GP: A look at the top 10 drivers
1) Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2) Sergio Perez (Red Bull) 3) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 4) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 5) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 6) George Russell (Mercedes) 7) Lando Norris (McLaren) 8) Esteban Ocon (Alpine) 9) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 10) Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
Driver and Constructor standings
Verstappen leads the F1 season with 314 points from 12 races. He claimed the fastest lap today. Perez is second with 189 points. Alonso has 149 points and is ahead of Hamilton (148). In terms of the Constructor standings, Red Bull Racing lead the way with 503 points. Mercedes are placed second with 247 points and are above Aston Martin (196).
Verstappen had beaten Piastri to win rain-hit Spa sprint race
On Saturday, Verstappen caught and passed McLaren's Oscar Piastri to win an incident-packed wet sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen claimed the lead back from Piastri after the two drivers opted for different strategies in a captivating wet encounter. Alpine's Pierre Gasly made the most of the conditions and finished third, while Hamilton was demoted from fourth to seventh.
Verstappen bosses the show on race day
Verstappen started cautiously in the early laps before picking his way up from his unusually low grid position. This was caused by a five-place grid penalty for using too many gearbox parts after he had qualified on the pole by 0.8 seconds. He passed Hamilton until lap six and Leclerc until lap nine, both times using the DRS overtaking aid and then dominating proceedings.
