Belgian Grand Prix 2023

Name: Belgian Grand Prix 2023
Start: 2023-07-28T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2023-07-30T00:00:00+01:00
Location: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

2023 FIA Formula One World Championship

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Belgium

Summary

1
Round Thirteen
2
How The Bulls Performed
3
What The Bulls Said
4
Snaps From Spa

Max Verstappen delivered another Sunday surge at Spa-Francorchamps, powering from sixth on the grid to complete a hat-trick of Belgian Grand Prix wins and to take his eighth consecutive win of 2023. Checo Pérez doubled the celebrations by completing the Team’s fifth 1-2 finish of the year so far.

As with 2022, when Max defied PU-related grid penalties to power to victory from P14 on the grid, the Dutchman this year shrugged off a five-place drop for a new gearbox to rise from P6 to the top of the podium with an imperious drive that, on lap 17, saw him take a lead he held comfortably to the flag.

Round Thirteen

At the start of the race, Checo made a good start from the front row, and after resisting a move from fast-starting Lewis Hamilton, slotted into P2 behind polesitter Charles Leclerc.

Max, meanwhile, made a good start from P6, and taking a wide line into Turn 1, he stayed out of trouble as Carlos Sainz locked up and nudged Oscar Piastri into the wall on the inside. The contact meant that Max was able to tuck into P5 on the run through Eau Rouge.

The Bulls then made a double move on the long Kemmel straight, with Checo powering past Leclerc to take the lead, while Max breezed past the wounded Ferrari of Sainz to take P4 behind Hamilton.

On lap six, Max made his move past Hamilton, closing on the Kemmel straight under DRS and easing past the Briton under braking on the inside into Les Combes. The Champion was now just a second behind Leclerc, while Checo led the Ferrari driver by 2.4 seconds.

And three laps later Max took second place, this time choosing to go round the outside on the approach to Les Combes as he swept past Leclerc. Checo now led his team-mate by 2.8s, with Leclerc in third ahead of Hamilton and Alonso.

Hamilton was the first of the soft tyre front running to pit and the Briton switched to medium tyres at the end of lap 12. Checo made his first stop on lap 12, and he moved to medium tyres. The stop was slightly slow, however, at 3.2 seconds with sparks flying from the left rear but he managed to rejoin in second place ahead of Leclerc. Max then pitted at the end of lap 14 and he took on new medium tyres in a 2.5s second stop that put him back on track 2.2s behind Checo.

On lap 16, Max closed right up to his team-mate, cutting the gap to just half a second, and on the following tour he used DRS on the 1.2km Kemmel straight and shot past Checo to take the lead. Immediately afterwards the Dutchman posted a new fastest lap of 1:50.108 to bolt out of DRS range.

On lap 18, Sainz, struggling with damage in P19 and soon to retire, reported that rain was falling at Turn 15. Over the following three laps it began to get more steady with Max reporting on lap 21 that it was “quite a lot” and on lap 22 the Dutchman had a nervous moment on the way through Eau Rouge claiming he “almost lost it”.

The Dutchman was told the rain wouldn’t last, however, and despite the tricky conditions he and the rest of the field hung on to slick tyres. The forecast proved to be correct and soon after half distance the times began to drop once again, leaving the Bulls to settle in at the front of the pack. On lap 25 Max led Checo by six seconds and with the Mexican seven seconds clear of Leclerc. Hamilton was fourth with Alonso in P5.

Hamilton made his second stop, for Soft tyres, on lap 28 and Ferrari reacted by pitting Leclerc on the following lap, with the Monegasque driver moving to the same compound as their tight battle for P3 continued.

Checo made his second stop at the end of lap 29 and in a smooth 2.2 second halt he also moved to Soft tyres. Max then made his second stop at the end of the following lap, switching to Soft tyres just a tenth of a second slower than his team-mate. And he immediately used the greater grip of the softest compound on offer to blast to the fastest lap of the race with a lap of 1:48.922 on lap 32.

With the bulk of pit stops complete, the order at the top settled with Max a comfortable 17 seconds ahead of Checo who was 4.2s clear of Leclerc. And by the end of lap 44 Max had stretched the advantage to take his eight consecutive victory 22.3 seconds clear of Checo, who scored his seventh podium of the season.

Behind the top two, Leclerc held on to second place ahead of Hamilton, who pitted on the penultimate lap for a new set of Medium tyres to take the fastest lap of the race.

Alonso finished in fifth place ahead of George Russell who worked a one-stop race well to take sixth after starting in eighth, while Lando Norris took the flag in P7. Esteban Ocon finished in eight place ahead of Lance Stroll and the final point on offer was taken by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

How The Bulls Performed

Oracle Red Bull Racing

Ferrari

Mercedes

Aston Martin

Mercedes

McLaren

Alpine

Aston Martin

AlphaTauri

What The Bulls Said

To check out Checo and Max's reaction to the Belgian Grand Prix head over to The Paddock.

Max

GP and I were just having a laugh today, we’re honest with each other and that’s how we operate, there’s no need to worry.
Max Verstappen

"I knew that the car was going to be quick today, and this is one of the best tracks to drive when you have a good car. GP and I were just having a laugh today, we’re honest with each other and that’s how we operate, there’s no need to worry. The first half of the season has been much better than anyone would have ever dreamt of, how we are performing as a Team and winning so many races in a row is incredible. We’re definitely enjoying the moment, but we also want to keep this momentum and level for a long time, so hopefully after the summer break we’re strong again in Zandvoort."

Checo

Two podiums in a row now and our main objective is to continue to stay on the podium.

“Today was a good day for the team. The race started really well and then Max came through strong, especially on the second stint where he pulled away. After he overtook, it was all about bringing it home for the Team and managing the pace until the end, that was the main objective. I ended up slipping on turn 11 due to the tricky conditions so we wanted to then look after the car, manage the tyres and keep the position. Two podiums in a row now and our main objective is to continue to stay on the podium. We have the summer break to make sure we stay on top of things and have some time to reset. Max did a tremendous job and it overall was a great team result. I am looking forward to the summer break and going into the second half of the season to come back even stronger.”

Christian

We could never have dreamt of getting to summer break unbeaten, that’s never been achieved before.

“We could never have dreamt of getting to summer break unbeaten, that’s never been achieved before. It’s all about teamwork and everybody doing their bit and that’s what has happened through the first 12 races of the year. For Max it’s another masterful win. He managed the race after making his way from P6 to take the lead in the second stint. Checo also had a brilliant first lap, taking the lead of the race and in the end bringing home our fifth 1-2 of the season. All credit to everybody back in Milton Keynes, this result is their result and the way they’re applying themselves is the reason that we’re making the history we’re currently making. We need to keep the intensity but for now, everyone deserves the break and then we come back hard in Zandvoort.”

Snaps From Spa

Keeping The Ferrari At Bay
© Getty Images

Taking The Chequered Flag
© Getty Images

Two Happy Bulls

Champagne Time