Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recovered from sixth on the grid to take a dominant victory at 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.
Verstappen quickly leapt from sixth on the grid to fourth and passed Lewis Hamilton then Charles Leclerc on laps six and nine to move up to second, before he passed Sergio Perez on Lap 17 to secure his eighth consecutive victory.
Perez settled for second ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton whilst Fernando Alonso finished fifth in front of George Russell, Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda in a quiet race.
In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen extended his championship lead over Perez to 125 points whilst third-placed Alonso’s gap to Hamilton was reduced to just two points after the Brit took the bonus point for fastest lap.
Red Bull’s title lead over Mercedes in the constructors’ fight extended to 256 points with Aston Martin sat third, albeit with a five-point advantage over Ferrari as McLaren round out the top five.
Amidst a 40% threat of rain, Haas opted to start Hulkenberg from the pit lane following a decision to change various parts under parc ferme conditions.
At lights out, Leclerc made a clean start to lead Perez and Hamilton but he lost the lead to Perez who got traction out of Raidillon onto the Kemmel Straight.
Verstappen meanwhile started sixth due to a five place grid penalty for gearbox change but quickly improved to fourth, courtesy of Sainz locking up and punting Piastri into the inside wall of La Source to ruin their races with race ending damage.
Sainz however attempted to carry on with severe damage but soon lost fifth to Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon, Russell and Stroll, as he fell out of the top ten by the end of Lap 7.
Norris meanwhile struggled with his high-downforce setup in dry conditions and was first to pit at the end of Lap 5, despite having started on the medium tyres which triggered a flurry of pit stops from those around him.
Up front, Perez continued to lead as Verstappen cleared Hamilton and Leclerc on Laps six and nine respectively, with the Mexican and Leclerc pitting at the end Lap 13 to cover off Hamilton’s attempt at the undercut whilst Verstappen pitted on the next lap.
The two-time champion subsequently reeled in Perez at a rapid rate and passed his teammate for the lead onto the Kemmel Straight on Lap 17, just before a brief shower swept across the bottom part of the circuit with little impact upon the order.
Russell meanwhile extended his opening stint on the medium tyre until the end of Lap 22 and quickly made his switch to soft tyres work, as he carved his way through the field to return to the top ten by the start of Lap 25 as he cleared Norris for eighth.
Norris though was the first to pit for the soft tyre at the end of Lap 17 which steadily led to a flurry of pit stops as drivers struggled with their tyre degradation on mediums, during which he managed to recover to the top ten and seventh position once everyone made their second stops.
Up front, Hamilton was the first runner within the top four to make a second stop at the end of Lap 27 for the soft tyre, with Leclerc, Perez and Verstappen following suit in the subsequent laps.
Verstappen eventually cruised to an eighth consecutive Grand Prix victory (10th if include his Sprint wins), as Perez and Leclerc rounded out the podium.
Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Alonso and Russell whilst Norris recovered to seventh as Ocon, Stroll and Tsunoda rounded out the top ten.
F1 now heads off on a summer break before visiting Zandvoort on weekend of 25-27 August for the Dutch GP, where Verstappen will be aiming to win his home race and match the F1 record for most consecutive race victories.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 44 | 1h 22m 30.450 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 44 | + 22.305 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 44 | + 32.259 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 44 | + 49.671 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 44 | + 56.184 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | 44 | + 63.101 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 44 | + 73.719 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 44 | + 74.719 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 44 | + 79.340 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 44 | + 80.221 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 44 | + 83.084 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 44 | + 85.191 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 44 | + 95.441 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | 44 | + 96.184 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 44 | + 101.754 |
| 16 | Daniel Riccoardo | AlphaTauri | 44 | + 103.071 |
| 17 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 44 | + 104.476 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 44 | + 110.450 |
| RET | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 23 | Damage |
| RET | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 0 | Collision |
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