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Max Verstappen chased Charles Leclerc all the way for the final podium place at Spa-Francorchamps but had to settle for fourth place.
With that, he chalked up his third consecutive grand prix without a podium finish. That hasn’t happened since he became world champion. The 2019 rounds at Sochi, Suzuka and Mexico City were the last three consecutive events at which Verstappen did not reach the rostrum.
It could be worse, of course. Verstappen’s former championship rival Lewis Hamilton finished seventh, extending his longest-ever podium drought to 15 races. And Verstappen did have the consolation of winning the sprint race (not that he cares for those).
Oscar Piastri won the race, chalking up the eighth grand prix victory of his career. Remarkably, that not only tied him with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who joined him on the podium in second and third respectively, but also Jacky Ickx, who handed out the trophies. Daniel Ricciardo and the late Denny Hulme are also members of the eight-time winners’ club.
Piastri also set a new course record for the current iteration of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit when he took pole position for the sprint race with a lap of 1’40.510. No one managed to beat it during qualifying for the grand prix.
Norris picked up the 13th pole position of his career, also tying with Ickx, as well as Mark Webber, who now manages his team mate. Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya also have 13 poles to their names.
The McLaren drivers delivered the team’s 55th one-two finish in the race. It was their third in a row, a feat they last pulled off across the last race of 1997 at Jerez and first two of 1998 at Melbourne and Interlagos. Piastri also delivered the team’s first win at Spa since Jenson Button’s in 2012.
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Verstappen’s fourth place leaves him 81 points off the championship lead but 28 ahead of George Russell. He will therefore go into the summer break in the top three in the championship standings, which is significant as he is widely believed to have an exit clause in his Red Bull contract which would have allowed him to leave had he fallen to fourth or lower.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s tough run of races continued with his sixth no-score in seven rounds. He did manage to set the fastest lap however after making a second pit stop for another set of slicks. This is the second of his career, the other coming at the third round of the season at Suzuka.
Yuki Tsunoda was unable to mark his 100th grand prix start with a return to the points, chalking up his sixth consecutive zero. However there was some encouragement for him in qualifying where a late floor upgrade helped him to seventh on the grid, his best result since joining Red Bull.
Oliver Bearman also finished out of the points, though he had cause to be more frustrated than anyone. This was the fourth grand prix in a row in which he finished 11th. At least he had the consolation of two points for seventh place in the sprint race.
Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Belgian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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