How Red Bull achieved F1 perfection as trailing field squabbled in Belgium
Mark Hughes
Red Bull – a team operating at the peak of its powers in 2023 – took its 13th consecutive victory at the Belgium GP courtesy of Max Verstappen while the ongoing battle for second-best continued
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The Red Bull’s pace advantage at Spa was big even by its own 2023 standards. The circuit – with its long straights but fast corners – demands aero efficiency above all else and that is where the RB19’s really devastating strength lies. The circuit also rewards the sort of driver who can live with a fast corner neutral balance through the middle sector and so be rewarded with a great positive turn in response into the slow Bus Stop and La Source corners. That’s perfect Max Verstappen territory. Just as last year, his advantage was extreme and a five-place gearbox change grid penalty was just the mildest of inconvenience on his way to victory number 10 of 12, Red Bull’s 13th in succession.
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Mark Hughes
His win in the previous days’ sprint event had been over Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. Both McLarens had a far bigger rear wing than was really suitable for Spa simply because the team had not prioritised creating a low-downforce one when it was in the midst of producing the extensive recent bodywork upgrades. But that big wing made it devastatingly good in the wet.
Piastri was almost Verstappen-quick through Sector 2 in qualifying, was just 0.011sec off sprint pole and led an F1 race for the first time in the Saturday sprint. But he was out within a few seconds of the start of the dry Grand Prix proper.
Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and Piastri had approached La Source almost three-abreast. Sainz locked up a front tyre, bringing Piastri almost fully alongside between the Ferrari and the wall and there wasn’t enough of a gap to fit them both through. The McLaren had fatally damaged suspension, the Ferrari a damaged wing and sidepod.
Chaos ensued at the start of the 2023 Belgian GP
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That was two easy places made up by Verstappen from his sixth place grid slot. Leclerc led away from Perez and Hamilton, with Verstappen catching up once past the slowing Sainz. Perez knew he needed to pass Leclerc on the first lap, which he did as they hammered up the Kemmel Straight. From there Checo got himself out of DRS range well before it was enabled after two laps. Verstappen had to be patient in passing Hamilton as the Merc was receiving DRS assistance from Leclerc. He did it by obliging Hamilton to use up his battery defending the position until it was empty of charge – and then flying by on the Kemmel straight on lap six. Three laps later he was past Leclerc and closing down the 3sec gap Perez had pulled out.
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The lead quartet quickly pulled out distance on the Fernando Alonso-led group behind, the Aston still searching for its early season form and delayed getting by the crippled Ferrari of Sainz which was staying out in the hope of a red flag but would eventually retire. Lando Norris in the big-winged McLaren had initially been just behind Alonso but such was the McLaren’s dire lack of straight line speed that he was quickly devoured by several cars on the Kemmel straight and requested an early stop so he could be in clear air. It looked like this had destroyed his race but a later smattering of rain would bring it alive.
Verstappen had got to within 2.5sec of Perez but not pushed on from there, receiving several “use your head” warnings from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. There seemed an awkward team dynamic at play here as enough of a gap had opened up behind that Verstappen could potentially pit to undercut his team mate. They were rescued from that dilemma by Hamilton going for an undercut attempt on Leclerc on the 12th lap, this in turn triggering Leclerc and Perez into responding, with Verstappen coming in on lap 14. Three laps later he was slipstreaming by Perez on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead. Verstappen was on his way.
He almost lost it up the hill after Eau Rouge during a brief rain shower, with Perez having an incident at the Fagnes chicane the following lap. What this rain also did was bring Norris’ McLaren alive. Lapping 3sec or more faster than the cars around him, he made up many places. He was electrifying during the shower, taking out 8sec on Verstappen in three laps! Which was enough to vault him up to an eventual seventh place finish, behind George Russell’s Mercedes which in turn was hassling Alonso for fifth but couldn’t get past. Russell had made it on one-stop by running long on his starting mediums. The Red Bulls, Leclerc and Hamilton had started on softs, switched to mediums and all made second stops to switch back to softs, which turned out to be a much better tyre on the day than the medium.
A small twitch on Eau Rouge was the only real obstacle Verstappen had in Belgium
Red Bull
Verstappen taunted his team by suggesting a third stop in the late stages for a fresh set of tyres with which to ensure fastest lap. But the team didn’t want to be too greedy, didn’t want anything to threaten extending this remarkable victory run. Hamilton stopped instead and duly took the point without losing fourth place but the Mercedes had been half-a-minute behind before he pitted. Perez almost made Red Bull look catchable, Leclerc closing in on second place for a time until having to save fuel. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly brought some cheer for the beleaguered Alpine team with eighth and tenth place points, sandwiching Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
The domination continues. “It’s phenomenal to go into the summer break unbeaten in both grands prix and sprints,” said Christian Horner afterwards. “It is beyond everyone’s wildest imagination to be sitting in this position now…
“Results like today are the combination of team work and that’s why I sent Greg the garage technician who looks after all the tyres in the garage to go and get the constructors’ trophy today because it’s about every member of the team, every department in the factory, doing their job. You don’t get these kinds of results by accident. It is a golden moment for our team, and to absolutely take our hat off to everybody behind the scenes who is working as hard as they are to achieve this kind of performance.”
