Max Verstappen captures his eighth-straight victory: Live updates on the Belgian Grand Prix

In the final race before the summer shutdown, Max Verstappen is aiming to inch one win closer to Sebastian Vettel’s all-time mark of nine-straight Formula 1 victories.

But to get his eighth-straight win, Verstappen will need to make up some ground on the track.

Despite qualifying for pole position Friday, Verstappen will start the Belgian Grand Prix in sixth position, due to a five-place grid penalty he incurred after the team changed his gearbox ahead of qualifying. That is the fifth gearbox the team has used on Verstappen’s RB19 this season, one more than the four each team is under the rules.

Instead, it will be Charles Leclerc starting up front Sunday, with Sergio Pérez rolling off the line in P2. Behind them will be Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in P3, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. in P4.

Hamilton got hit with a penalty of his own in the Sprint race on Saturday, after it was judged that he caused a collision with Pérez. That dropped Hamilton from a fourth-place finish in the Sprint race to a P7.

Returning to Verstappen, as the driver himself pointed out after qualifying on Friday, starting from sixth might seem easy compared to where he was a year ago. At last season’s Belgian Grand Prix Verstappen also qualified first, but due to similar grid penalties he was dropped to P14 to start the race.

He was back in the points by the end of the opening lap, and in the lead by Lap 12.

It might not take him as long today.

We’ll have live analysis and updates throughout the race on Sunday, getting rolling in the hours leading up to lights out. The 2023 Belgian Grand Prix gets underway at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Sunday, so check back early and often!

Update 10:39: Verstappen has not lost in an F1 event since the end of April, when he finished second in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

For reference, that was the day after the NFL Draft ended.

NFL teams are currently in training camp for the upcoming season.

Update 10:37: “I knew that we had a great car, it’s just about surviving Turn 1,” says Verstappen.

He also talks about his exchanges with GP. “We look at the wear of the tyre, this track is super hard on the tyres.”

Update 10:35: Pérez is up next. “It was a good race for the team ... we had a great start.” He talks about his return to form as well. “I really look forward to not leaving the podium from now to the end of the year.”

“It’s been really intense the past few races.”

Update 10:33: Leclerc trackside with Martin Brundle says “we had a good pace. When you look at the Red Bull we have a lot of work to do ... they are quite far ahead.”

Update 10:31: Verstappen now has eight-straight victories, just one shy of the record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

As luck would have it, F1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, a home race for the driver.

Update 10:30: Here is the finishing order:

Update 10:29: Pérez and Leclerc round out the podium. Hamilton does nip Verstappen for the fastest lap of the day for the bonus point.

Tsunoda rounds out the top ten for his third points finish of the season.

Update 10:27: Verstappen takes the checkered flag for his eighth-straight win.

Update 10:24: Hamilton comes into pit to try and steal the fastest lap here in the closing stages. But he makes the switch to mediums, and not softs.

Update 10:20: In the closing stages of the Belgian Grand Prix and looking at the current intervals, things look fairly settled with this top ten:

Verstappen
Pérez
Leclerc
Hamilton
Alonso
Russell
Norris
Stroll
Ocon
Tsunoda

The closest battle is between Ocon and Stroll, with Ocon just 0.5 seconds or so behind him.

Update 10:09: Hamilton is about 2.5 seconds behind Leclerc, and has a 25-second advantage over Alonso. That could open the door for another stop to try and put pressure on Leclerc, which Jolyon Palmer offers as a strategy on F1TV.

Update 10:08: GP continues to warn Verstappen of tyre degradation.

erstappen radios back that he could continue to push on and make another stop, as a “little bit of pit stop training.”

“No, not this time” is the curt reply from GP.

Update 10:07: Gasly with an incredible overtake of Albon, and then he manages to hold him off at the end of the Kemmel Straight.

Update 10:05: Verstappen and GP have another interesting moment on the radio:

Verstappen responds by posting the fastest lap of the race.

Update 10:02: Verstappen comes in for the switch to softs. 2.3-second stop, back out onto the track in the lead.

Ho-hum.

Update 9:58: Pérez pits as well, as does Alonso. Pérez’s stop is a quick one, just 2.2 seconds on the stop itself.

Update 9:57: Perfect execution from Ferrari, as Leclerc comes in to pit but gets back out in front of Hamilton to keep P3, ahead of the Mercedes.

Both Leclerc and Hamilton are on the softs, Verstappen and Pérez ahead of them are on the mediums. Alonso is on mediums as well, currently running in fifth.

Update 9:56: Hamilton comes in for a stop and switches to softs.

Current top ten:

Verstappen
Pérez
Leclerc
Alonso
Hamilton
Russell
Norris
Stroll
Tsunoda
Albon

Update 9:55: The fastest lap of the day was just set by Hülkenberg, on a relatively fresh set of softs.

Update 9:50: Sainz’s day is over. Ferrari brings him in and his SF-23 is in the garage.

It is his first retirement of the F1 season.

Gasly comes in for his stop and it is a slow one, with some struggles on the right front wheel. Albon, who was making a stop of his own, gets back on the track ahead of him.

Update 9:48: Gasly, who is running in P7 at the moment, is the only driver yet to make his stop.

Update 9:47: Russell makes his stop and switches to softs. Teams that have pitted are sticking with slicks.

We’ll see if that pays off for them.

Update 9:43: “It’s raining quite a lot” reports Verstappen.

Stroll comes in and pits, but it is for a pair of softs. If the rain is harder — or longer — than expected they could be in trouble.

This will be fascinating to watch. They better trust their meteorological skills.

Update 9:39: Umbrellas are up out at Spa. Ferrari tells Leclerc that the rain will last “around ten minutes.”

This will likely shake things up. Who makes the switch to intermediates first? Does anyone try and ride it out on the slicks?

Update 9:38: Excuse the blurry photo, but here is the radar and a look at what is coming, the big blob of rain:

Update 9:35: Verstappen is back in the lead here on Lap 17, rocketing past Pérez through Kemmel Straight.

Update 9:34: Verstappen is right on Pérez’s rear win here on Lap 16. Leclerc is over five seconds behind Verstappen in P3.

Update 9:31: Verstappen pits from the lead as Red Bull is watching some rain on the radar that they expect in about nine minutes.

The bulk of the field is on the medium compound. Gasly is on the softs as is Hülkenberg, and Norris is on the hards. Everyone else is on the mediums.

Update 9:28: Verstappen and his engineer “GP” are exchanging some testy words yet again, with GP reminding him to “just follow my instruction.”

Pérez comes in. Stroll, Russell and Verstappen are the only drivers left to pit. Hülkenberg made his stop and is back on the track in P19.

Update 9:27: Hamilton comes in and makes the switch to mediums. He comes out ahead of Stroll, and manages to keep him behind him and remain in P4.

Update 9:25: Tsunoda gets by Albon for P10, and the commentators call his first quarter of the GP “majestic.” With good reason.

Your current top ten:

Pérez
Verstappen
Leclerc
Hamilton
Stroll
Russell
Gasly
Hülkenberg — who started on pit lane
Alonso
Tsunoda

Update 9:22: Following his stop Albon is back on the track in P11.

All ten drivers ahead of him have yet to pit.

Update 9:21: And just like that, Verstappen is in P2, having caught Leclerc at the end of Kemmel Straight. Only his teammate Pérez remains in front of him, as Verstappen is three seconds behind Pérez.

For now.

(This is where you play the Jaws theme or something.)

Update 9:20: Mercedes tells Hamilton that some potential rain is on the radar, about 20 minutes out. Something to monitor.

Update 9:19: A number of other drivers have come in, including Sainz. But he comes back out so Ferrari is going to keep him out there for now.

Update 9:18: Sargeant is in the points, thanks to a pitstop from Norris as well as an overtake of Sainz.

Update 9:15: Verstappen blows by Hamilton and just like that, he is in podium position.

Stroll gets by Sainz for P8, the Ferrari driver hs now slid back to P9. Norris comes in to pit and comes back out in P17, on the hard compound. McLaren will need some luck to salvage points from this Grand Prix.

Ocon and Bottas are the next drivers to come into the pits.

Update 9:14: Albon gets past Sainz for P7.

Speaking of the FW45 and how strong his Williams looks right now, teammate Logan Sargeant is in P12 and within DRS range of Esteban Ocon for P11. Sargeant could be eying his first F1 points.

Update 9:13: Norris is falling back after starting seventh. Stroll and Russell have both gotten by him and Norris is now in P11.

Another driver on the move? Yuki Tsunoda. He started in P11 and is all the way up to P6 after passing Sainz. Sainz is now in seventh but his SF-23 is clearly laboring.

Update 9:10: Ferrari tells Sainz that he has “5% damage” to his aerodynamic balance, which they are describing as “pretty big.” He is struggling, as Fernando Alonso completes an overtake for fifth place.

Just behind them, Albon completes another overtake of his own and gets past Norris for P8.

Update 9:08: Another driver on the move? Alex Albon. His FW445 is rocketing around the grid and he is up to ninth.

Unfortunately, Piastri’s dream weekend is over. He is off the track on Lap 2, which brings out the yellow flag. F1TV replays the start from Piastri’s viewpoint and you see Sainz lockup outside him and then dive in front of him, which sees Piastri slide inside and perhaps tap the inside wall.

Update 9:06: Charles Leclerc gets off to a good start, but Sergio Pérez blows by him on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead. Verstappen does something similar and is already up to fourth.

Oscar Piastri was involved in an early collision with Carlos Sainz Jr. after the start and looks to have taken some front-wing damage. Sainz is reporting some damage as well.

Update 9:05: Lights out at Spa.

Update 9:01: Formation Lap is underway, so it’s time for our traditional playing of the Opening Titles! Now with 100% more Daniel Ricciardo than we had at the start of the year:

Update 9:00: The majority of the drivers are starting on the C4, which is the soft compound. Oscar Piastri, starting in fifth, is the highest driver on the C3/medium compound:

Update 8:59: The tyre compounds for the race? The C4, the C3, and the C2. Degradation is going to be something to watch today, given the conditions and how different they are from what the teams have dealt with this weekend.

Update 8:54: On the bright side — pun intended — the sun is out at Spa and there does not seem to be any rain in the forecast.

That could make for a little voyage of discovery. After all, rain has been a factor in every other session this weekend, including the single practice session. Could make for some surprises once things get underway.

Update 8:53: “I’m sure he wants to have a great race today,” says Christian Horner about Max Verstappen pre-race.”

Update 8:44: Just about 15 minutes to go until things get underway at Spa, and the main story right now is Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg. The team made a number of changes to his VF-23, which was already set to start in last, that dropped him to a pit-lane start. However, he reported more problems with the car today and is in the garage: