Verstappen races from 14th to win the 2022 Belgian GP — as it happened

Max Verstappen added to the growing sense that nothing will stop the Dutchman winning his second world championship, after he won the Belgian Grand Prix from 14th on the grid.

Devastating pace saw him finish 18 sec ahead of the field, with Charles Leclerc falling even further back in the title race, having started 15th, but having to make an unscheduled pitstop when a tear-off strip became caught in a brake cooling duct.

He became mired in traffic, as Verstappen catapulted into the lead and was on course to finish fifth until another tactical error by Ferrari. A late pitstop, made in an effort to claim the point for fastest lap, dropped him to sixth behind Fernando Alonso.

Carlos Sainz was unable to assist his Ferrari team-mate and hold Verstappen back. He led at the start but struggled with tyre degradation and finished third.

Sergio Perez made it a 1-2 for Red Bull, ahead of George Russell. Alonso’s fifth place was a bonus after he had made a strong start and was running second until Lewis Hamilton drove into the side of him during an aggressive lap 1 overtaking move.

It put the seven-time champion out of the race, and Alonso spent the rest of the race in a battle for the remaining points.

Sebastian Vettel made a long stint on hard tyres work and finished eighth, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon who won a hard-fought point in a battle with the McLarens, Lance Stroll, Zhou Guanyu and Yuki Tsunoda.

2022 Belgian Grand Prix lap by lap

No driver began in their qualifying position after a string of engine penalties pushed Verstappen, Leclerc, Ocon, Norris, Zhou, Schumacher and Tsunoda to the back of the grid.

Sainz started first, ahead of Perez, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell and Albon.

There was no catching Sainz, on soft tyres, at the start. He rocketed away from pole but the same couldn’t be said of Perez who moved right in a vain attempt to block Fernando Alonso, then found himself passed by both Mercedes, as well as the Alpine.

It may have been blessing in disguise, as he dodged the drama in Les Combes at the end of the Kemmel Straight, where Hamilton attempted to pass Alonso on the outside but squeezed him too tightly, launching his Mercedes into the air and sending Alonso off course.

“What an idiot, closing the door from the outside!” Alonso blasted over the radio. “This guy only knows how to drive and start first.”

Both carried on initially, but Hamilton quickly slowed and then pulled to the side of the track at Stavelot after being told to stop by the team.

As lap 2 began, Verstappen (on soft tyres) and Leclerc had already climbed to eighth and tenth place, while Sainz led from Perez by 2sec, followed by Russell, Alonso, Vettel, Ricciardo and Albon.

There was trouble in the midfield, though, as Nicholas Latifi span and forced Valtteri Bottas off after running wide defending against Ocon in Les Combes.

It left a deflated Bottas in the gravel, and with Hamilton’s Mercedes on the side of the track too, the safety car was deployed: a gift for the penalised drivers behind as the pack closed up again.

It could have saved Leclerc’s race too as the unlucky Ferrari driver spotted smoke from his front-right tyre and pitted for new medium tyres at the end of lap 4, still under the safety car.

The team discovered a plastic tear-off inside the brake cooling duct, which was responsible for overheating, but it cost Leclerc dear: he dropped to 17th, the penultimate car still running.

Behind him was Nicholas Latifi, who had recovered from the spin and followed Sainz into the pits for a new front wing.

The track was clear for the restart on lap 5, which Sainz made a meal of, locking up into the final bus stop chicane. That pushed Perez back towards George Russell but he couldn’t capitalise — like everybody else, he was cautious into the Turn 1 hairpin, which has a newly-installed gravel trap on the outside.

That made Russell vulnerable to Alonso, who tried a move at the end of the Kemmel Straight, but without success.

By then, Verstappen had passed Albon for seventh and was just 4.6sec behind the leader.

He passed Ricciardo for sixth at the final chicane, and began lap 6 in sixth place. The McLaren then lost out to Albon’s speedy Williams on the Kemmel Straight, dropping to eighth.

Verstappen passed Vettel for fifth, again at the final chicane, which moved him up to fifth, 6.1sec behind Sainz at the start of lap 7. He breezed past Alonso along the Kemmel Straight for fourth place, and advanced on George Russell.

After catching the back of the pack, Leclerc initially struggled to cut through; stuck behind a train of cars from Kevin Magnussen in 11th to Pierre Gasly in 15th, which all had DRS courtesy of the one in front.

Lap 8 brought a breakthrough, however, as he passed Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in quick succession. By this time, Verstappen was up to third after going past Russell on the Kemmel Straight.

By the end of lap 10, Leclerc was past Zhou Guanyu and Magnussen in 12th — 20sec off Sainz, who was reporting high tyre degradation, as he lapped 2.5sec off his best time.

He was leading Perez by just a second, but not for long. The Ferrari driver pitted at the end of lap 11 for new medium tyres, which handed Perez the lead. Unexpectedly, the medium-tyred Mexican remained in front of Verstappen who was impatient to make progress.

“We’re losing a silly amount of time now,” Verstappen complained over the radio., He eventually went past on the Kemmel Straight — from 14th at the start to the lead on lap 12. Sainz rejoined in fifth, 15sec behind the two Red Bulls, with Russell and Vettel in between.

A stop for Alonso dropped the Alpine driver to 14th.

Ricciardo and Ocon stopped at the end of lap 12, dropping to 15th and 16th respectively, while Alonso began recovering the places he lost by stopping, passing Latifi for 11th.

Further ahead, Sainz passed Vettel for fourth and then moved into the podium places as Russell put on a fresh set of medium tyres and emerged seventh.

As Verstappen asked to extend his stint on soft tyres, Red Bull brought Perez, on the harder medium tyres, into the pits for another set at the end of lap 14.

That prevented him from falling behind the fresh-tyred Russell, and he emerged just ahead of the charging Leclerc who was up to fourth thanks to the first set of pitstops — 22sec behind Verstappen.

An aggressive defence kept the Ferrari behind — unfairly so, according to Leclerc.

The end of lap 15 saw Verstappen finally dispense of his soft tyres for a set of mediums, and he emerged second, 8.8sec behind Sainz, who had been told to limit his pace due to higher than expected tyre degradation. The Spaniard was was 6.6sec ahead of Perez.

Charles Leclerc was 3.4sec further down the road, but he was being rapidly caught by George Russell who went past and into fourth place down the Kemmel Straight on lap 16.

Further back, fans were treated to some audacious moves; Ocon passing the squabbling Ricciardo and Gasly into the bus stop chicane, while Schumacher swept ahead of Latifi through Eau Rouge.

Verstappen was on the move too, once again on the Kemmel Straight, where he powered back into the lead on lap 18, passing Sainz.

Ferrari was pessimistic about Leclerc’s chances, telling the fifth-placed Ferrari that he was unlikely to finish higher at the end of the race, with the need to make another stop.

In contrast, Verstappen had pulled out a 5.5sec in the lead, despite Sainz saying that he was finding more performance from his tyres.

Sainz didn’t have the pace to resist Perez, who moved into second on lap 21.

By lap 25, Verstappen had a 10sec lead over Perez, with Sainz 5sec further back, and being caught by Russell.

Leclerc was 15sec behind the Mercedes, with Alonso 8sec further back.

All the lead cars were on medium tyres, with Vettel, in seventh and under 1sec behind Alonso, the first of the hard-tyre runners, followed by Ocon, Albon and Ricciardo who were also on the white-stripe rubber.

Both Ferraris pitted at the end of lap 25, Sainz dropping back to fourth on hard tyres and Leclerc emerging in seventh with a medium set — just ahead of Albon.

Red Bull brought Perez in for hard tyres at the end of lap 27, keeping him ahead of Sainz and 8.6sec behind second-placed Russell.

After his stellar start and a second stop, Alonso was back in tenth place, fighting his way back up past Zhou and Norris.

He continued his progress past the McLaren of Ricciardo and into eighth on the Kemmel Straight on lap 29, just after Leclerc had passed Ocon for sixth at the same spot.

Russell stopped at the end of the same lap, fitting hard tyres and coming out 7.5sec behind Sainz in fourth.

It was Verstappen’s turn at the end of lap 30. He fitted a new set of mediums and — thanks to a 21.5sec gap to Perez — retained the lead.

Sainz was third and 8.2sec behind the Mexican, with Russell another 6sec behind. Leclerc was fifth and 14sec behind the Mercedes, followed by Vettel, who had only made one stop, 2.5sec back.

Ocon pitted from seventh on lap 31, dropping him just ahead of the battle for the final points place, which was being waged between Albon, Stroll, Zhou and both McLarens.

Sainz’s tyre trouble continued and he wanted to know what would happen if he pitted; the team telling him that he would lose his place on the podium to Russell, who was gaining on the Ferrari with a gap of 3sec.

A three-car battle for seventh broke out on lap 35: Vettel, Ocon and Gasly were three abreast on the Kemmel Straight, which ended with Vettel losing out to Ocon and Gasly, dropping to ninth, before gaining one place back from the AlphaTauri.

With a 15sec gap to Alonso, Leclerc made his third stop on lap 43, with one remaining, fitting softs in a bid to claim the fastest lap.

But it was a tight window, and Alonso powered past as Leclerc came back on track. Not only did Leclerc lose the position, he also also failed to claim fastest lap; the accolade going to — who else? — Verstappen.

2022 Belgian Grand Prix race results