Max fourth in Belgian GP: 'This was the maximum possible today'

Published on 28 July 2024 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Belgian Grand Prix. After having to start eleventh after a grid penalty for changing his engine, Verstappen managed to fight his way up to fifth place. The race turned into a strategic battle between the teams, with an interesting turn of events at the end of the race. After a one-stop-strategy, George Russell crossed the finish line first, but was disqualified after the race because his car was under the weight limit. This means that Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton takes victory, ahead of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3. 

“I think this was the maximum possible today. We were fast, but not faster than the cars around us,” says the Oracle Red Bull racing driver. “If you start from eleventh you can get stuck in traffic, which did not help. If you start from P1, you would have been fighting for the win. But starting P11, I knew that it was going to be a damage limitation race. I think we did the best we could. George was on a one-stopper, but we did not have the tyre wear to do that. We were also more aggressive with the strategy, which helped to get ahead of some cars, but we could not do a one-stopper.”

In the final phase of the race, Lando Norris was closely behind Verstappen. Max was on a set of mediums, whereas Lando had the hard compound. Verstappen says: “It showed that we had difficulties with that medium tyre. You could see with Checo in the middle stint that his tyres wore fast. I knew that fourteen laps would be very long. Everyone around me was pushing a lot and I could of course do that a little less on the mediums. So, we really maximised. I personally did not expect that I could keep Lando behind me. Still positively surprised.”

By finishing ahead of Norris, Max increases his lead in the drivers’ championship by two points. The reigning World Champion now has a 79-point lead in the championship over number two Lando Norris. Nevertheless, Max is cautious when asked about the championship. “It is never comfortable, there are always things that could go wrong, or DNF a race and everything is close together. Every weekend you have to be in top form.” He continues: “There is work to do. We will analyse a lot of things, and that will hopefully give us some answers regarding the car. I hope we will have a normal weekend in Zandvoort.”

When the lights go out, Lewis Hamilton has the best start at the front. He immediately puts his Mercedes in front of Sergio Perez’ car and takes over P2. The man from pole, Charles Leclerc, also has a good start and retains first place. Max has a good opening phase and climbs one position at the start. At the end of the first lap, the Dutchman passes Alexander Albon in the chicane. He then continues for an overtake on Fernando Alonso on the famous Kemmel Straight, taking over P8 from the Spaniard. Max is now behind Lando Norris, who lost three places at the start.

On the third lap, Hamilton is close behind Leclerc. The Brit closes the gap to the Monegasque when going through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, and overtakes the Ferrari on the straight, using DRS. At the back of the field, things go wrong for Zhou Guanyu. His car stops, but he manages to reach the pit lane a little later. The Chinese is the first dropout of the race.

From lap eight, the first pit stops start at the back of the field. Nico Hulkenberg is the first to pit. On lap eleven, Verstappen and Russell are the first from the top ten who start the pit stops. The following laps, Hamilton, Perez, Piastri and Sainz also come in for a tyre change. Everyone opts for the hard tyre, except Checo. He opts for a new set of mediums. When exiting the pit lane, the men at the front are all close together, which creates a DRS train. Nevertheless, Piastri manages to overtake Perez and thus take over fifth place.

On lap 16, it is Norris who pits. Because he stayed out for quite a long time, he comes onto the track behind Max with a six-second deficit. However, he does have a tyre advantage of five laps. At the front, Carlos Sainz is still driving on the hard tyre. He was the only one in the top twelve who started on the hards and can therefore drive a longer first stint. The rest of the top twelve started on the mediums.

Sainz pits on lap 21 for a new set of mediums. He drops back to eighth position. A lap later, Perez makes his second stop. After being overtaken by Russell, the Mexican pits for a new set of hard tyres. He drops back to eighth place. Halfway through the race, Hamilton leads ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. Russell is in P4 ahead of Max, who has Norris right behind him in P6.

Leclerc is driving a completely different strategy than his Ferrari teammate Sainz, because the Monegasque pits on lap 26 for his final stop. He comes out on a new set of hard tyres in P7. He tries to undercut Hamilton, forcing the Brit to pit a lap later. Hamilton switches to a new set of hard tyres and comes out on track ahead of Leclerc.

On lap 29, Max and Sainz pit for their final stop, followed a lap later by Norris. Max is the only one to switch to the mediums. He rejoins the track just behind Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Perez, who lets the Dutchman pass because of the difference in tyres and speed. A lap later, Norris overtakes Perez, who is still close to Max. Piastri also switches to the hard tyre, leaving Russell with only one stop. That seems to be the end of it for the Briton. Over the on-board radio, Russell is talking with his team about a possible one-stopper.

With ten laps to go, Russell is still leading the race with a 4.4-second lead over his Mercedes teammate Hamilton. Leclerc and Piastri fight for P3, with Max in P5 and Norris in P6 behind them. Perez, in P7, sees the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz closing in.

On lap 35, Piastri attacks Leclerc for P3, manages to put his McLaren next to the Ferrari, but not past him. A lap later, Piastri tries again and succeeds. On the Kemmel Straight, he overtakes Leclerc and takes over the last podium place. Thanks to the battle between Leclerc and Piastri, Max manages to close the gap. On lap 38, he is one second behind Leclerc and P4 seems to still be in the cards for the championship leader. For P7, the roles are reversed. There, the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz has closed the gap to Perez’ Red Bull, and Sainz immediately manages to pass Checo with a nice braking move into Les Combes.

With three laps to go, Hamilton is on the rear end of his teammate’s car. Russell's one-stopper has gained him a lot of places, but Hamilton is quickly closing in. Russell defends and keeps Hamilton behind him. The fight brings Piastri close and the top three are within one and a half seconds at the start of the last lap. Despite the small gaps, Russell manages to keep the lead, and crosses the finish line first. However, after the race, Russell is disqualified because his car does not meet the minimum required weight. As a result, Hamilton wins his second race of the season and Piastri and Leclerc complete the top three. Verstappen moves up to P4, ahead of Norris in P5. On the last lap, Sergio Perez sets the fastest lap time, which is good for an extra point for the championship.

Results Grand Prix Belgium: