Max Verstappen led an Oracle Red Bull Racing 1-2 as he clinched a dominant win at the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix. The Dutchman also took the extra point for fastest lap as he won his ninth race of the season.
Sergio Pérez battled back after a bad start to finish in second position. Carlos Sainz finished on the podium after he started from pole position. The Scuderia Ferrari team was no match for the pace of the Red Bull team on this day.
George Russell and Fernando Alonso rounded off the top five positions.
The starting grid was highly mixed after all the penalties were imposed. Sainz and Pérez started on the first row. Alonso and Lewis Hamilton started on the second row. Russell and Alexander Albon started on the third row.
Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel started at the sharp end of the grid. Verstappen and Leclerc started fourteenth and fifteenth on the grid after power unit-related penalties. Yuki Tsunoda started from the pit lane.
The race started under clear skies with air temperatures at 21 degrees C and track temperatures at 34 degrees C at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.
Sainz made a perfect start and led Alonso and Hamilton into Turn 1. Pérez dropped to fifth position behind Russell.
Alonso and Hamilton jostled for positions and tangled. The racing incident ended Hamilton’s race. Valtteri Bottas and Nicholas Latifi tangled at the back and Bottas was beached in the gravel.
The Safety car was deployed on lap 2 to retrieve Hamilton and Bottas’s cars. Leclerc and Latifi pitted under the Safety Car and rejoined in last place.
The race restarted on lap 4 and the order was Sainz, Pérez, Russell, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Albon, Verstappen, Stroll, Kevin Magnussen, Esteban Ocon, Lando Norris.
Verstappen had already gained six positions and had slotted into eighth position. By lap 8, Verstappen was in third position and was flying. Leclerc on the other hand was in sixteenth position, but was starting to move ahead.
At the end of lap 10, the order was Sainz, Pérez, Verstappen, Russell, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo, Stroll, Ocon, Norris, Leclerc, Magnussen. The gap between Sainz and Pérez was 1.2 seconds and Pérez and Verstappen was 0.451 seconds.
By Lap 13, Verstappen had taken the lead of the race. By lap 16, the frontrunners had pitted and Sainz was in the lead ahead of Verstappen.
By lap 18, Verstappen took the lead and he was in a class of his own. At the end of lap 20, the order was Verstappen, Sainz, Pérez, Russell, Leclerc, Alonso, Vettel, Ocon, Albon, Ricciardo, Gasly, Stroll, Norris.
On lap 21, Pérez overtook Sainz for second position and it was clear the Red Bull drivers would easily finish 1-2.
Around Lap 25, the second set of pit stops started with the Ferrari drivers. By lap 30, Verstappen pitted and rejoined in first position. By lap 32, Verstappen’s gap to Pérez was over nine seconds and kept increasing.
The order at the end of lap 35 was Verstappen, Pérez, Sainz, Russell, Leclerc, Alonso, Gasly, Vettel, Ocon, Albon, Stroll, Norris.
On lap 36, Ocon essayed a double-overtake to take seventh position. Russell was cutting the gap to Sainz, but on lap 40 the Briton ran wide and lost his chance to take a podium position.
Ferrari pitted Leclerc on the penultimate lap in a bid to get the point for the fastest lap. The move backfired and Alonso overtook Leclerc who had to retake fifth position on the final lap.
Leclerc did not get the point for the fastest lap and the pit lane speeding penalty dropped him to sixth position.
Verstappen won his third consecutive race and the ninth of the season. It was a dominant win as he finished 17.841 seconds ahead of Pérez after he started in fourteenth position.
Sainz was under pressure from Russell and finished on the podium. Russell finished in fourth position and again showed that the W13 is fast in race trim.
Alonso finished in fifth position after Leclerc’s penalty dropped him to sixth position. Ocon had a fine recovery drive to finish ahead of Vettel in seventh psoition.
Gasly and Albon completed the top ten positions. The first race after the summer break saw Red Bull increasing their advantage over the rest of the field.
2022 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results:
| Pos | No | Driver | Nat. | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | PTS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | NED | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 44 | 1:25:52.894 | 26 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 44 | +17.841s | 18 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari | 44 | +26.886s | 15 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 44 | +29.140s | 12 |
| 5 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 44 | +73.256s | 10 |
| 6 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | MON | Scuderia Ferrari | 44 | +74.936s | 8 |
| 7 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | FRA | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 44 | +75.640s | 6 |
| 8 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | GER | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 44 | +78.107s | 4 |
| 9 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | FRA | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 44 | +92.181s | 2 |
| 10 | 23 | Alexander Albon | THA | Williams Racing | 44 | +101.900s | 1 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | CAN | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 44 | +103.078s | 0 |
| 12 | 4 | Lando Norris | GBR | McLaren F1 Team | 44 | +104.739s | 0 |
| 13 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | JAP | Scuderia AlphaTauri | 44 | +105.217s | 0 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | CHN | Alfa Romeo Racing | 44 | +106.252s | 0 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | McLaren F1 Team | 44 | +107.163s | 0 |
| 16 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | DEN | Haas F1 Team | 43 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 17 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | GER | Haas F1 Team | 43 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | CAN | Williams Racing | 43 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Alfa Romeo Racing | 1 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team | 0 | DNF | 0 |
