Red Bull driver Max Verstappen added another victory in his dominating season of Formula 1 when he took the chequered flag at the Belgian GP on Sunday, July 30. The two-time defending champion finished 22.3 seconds ahead of teammate and title rival Sergio Perez to bag his eighth consecutive F1 win in 2023. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc took the final podium behind Perez as he bagged only his third top-three finish of the season.
Verstappen started the race on sixth after a gearbox change penalty, costing him five places. Leclerc led the field when the lights went out with Perez on second. However, Verstappen passed the front drivers with ease and then overtook teammate Perez on the 17th lap of the 44-lap race and sailed through to an easy win. The Dutch driver now has 8 successive wins in 2023 and 10th overall in the season. In terms of most consecutive races won in an F1 season, Verstappen now stands just one behind the world record of Sebastian Vettel, who won nine successive races in 2013.
Red Bull creates a record of most successive wins in a season
Red Bull continues to dominate the entire field in the arena. The team has won all the F1 races in 2023. Out of 12 races completed this year, Verstappen has won 10 and Perez has bagged two wins, making them the first team to win 12 consecutive races in a single F1 season. The earlier record belonged to McLaren, which won 11 races in 1988 in their dominating year.
Verstappen has extended his 2023 championship lead further against Sergio Perez as he now leads his teammate by 125 points. Behind the podium achieves in Belgium, Mercedes enjoyed decent finishes with Lewis Hamilton taking fourth and George Russell bagging sixth. Sandwiched between the Mercedes drivers was Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in fifth. McLaren's Lando Norris came home seventh ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon in eighth. Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten of the drivers' standings in Belgium.
