Verstappen got another win of the season despite the controversy over the Ardennes weather
The Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won this Sunday the rainy and grotesque Belgian Grand Prix, the twelfth of the Formula 1 World Championship and the shortest in history; that, after several interruptions and postponements, it was disputed to only two returns – instead of to the 44 anticipated ones, behind the security car, valuing only half of the points.
Instead of 25, Verstappen added twelve and a half points to win ahead of Englishman George Russell (Williams, who took nine units) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), a seven-time world champion, who was third and continues to lead the World Cup, After adding seven and a half points: with 202.5, three points more than the Dutchman from Red Bull.
The race, the start was scheduled for three in the afternoon (13:00 GMT), was delayed by three times until, at three and 25 (13:25 GMT), the cars began to roll behind the safety car, Without knowing yet if the exit would be given from the grill or behind the ‘safety car’. After completing a lap on the longest circuit of the World Championship (7,004 meters) and in the face of evidence of danger due to track conditions and lack of visibility, a red flag was decreed and all cars returned to garages.
After several announcements regarding new information and more than three hours after the scheduled time, they all went out on the track to take two laps behind the safety car before enacting a new red flag; in order that there was at least one classification and that the test scored half.
The possibility of the race being postponed until Monday was logistically, unfeasible, Because next weekend is running again, in Holland.
The Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) was fourth in a race that the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) finished tenth and added, therefore, half a point. The Madrid man is still sixth in the World Cup, now with 38 and a half points. His compatriot Fernando Alonso (Alpine) finished eleventh and the Mexican Sergio Checo Pérez (Red Bull), twentieth.
‘Czech’, who had come out seventh, collided on the installation lap and at first it looked like he would miss the race by damaging the front suspension. With the postponements and interruptions, Red Bull fixed his car and allowed him to leave from the ‘pit lane’, only to end up in the place where he left: the twentieth.
German Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) and Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri) were fifth and sixth, In a race that the Frenchman Esteban Ocon, Alonso’s teammate in Alpine, finished seventh.
They also scored Charles Leclerc -Sainz’s teammate in Ferrari-, who finished eighth; and Canadian Nicholas Latifi (Williams), ninth.
The next race, the Dutch Grand Prix, will be held next weekend in Zandvoort.