Imperious Verstappen weaves more magic to drive home advantage

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium－Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen quickly carved his way through the field from 14th to win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday and widen his lead in the title race.

Verstappen, who in the final race before F1's summer break drove from 10th to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, produced another imperious drive and moved closer to a second straight world title.

"It's been a weekend I couldn't have imagined before," Verstappen said. "But I think we want more of them and we'll keep working hard."

His lead in the standings is now 93 points－but it is over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez because Charles Leclerc dropped to third in another poor Ferrari showing.

"It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble. So many things were happening in front of me, picked the right places to pass people, looked after our tires," Verstappen said. "Once we were in the lead, it was all about managing everything but this whole weekend has been incredible."

Verstappen was leading the race by lap 12, and he earned a bonus point for fastest lap. His third straight win was his ninth this season and 29th overall.

"Amazing Sunday guys, haha!" Verstappen said on his radio after crossing the line.

"Max, you have been brilliant, class of your own all weekend," team principal Christian Horner replied.

The 24-year-old Verstappen－the youngest driver to win an F1 race when he was 18－said it was probably the most complete drive of his career.

"If you look at the whole weekend, yes," he said. "This track just seemed to be perfect for the car."

Perez finished second to jump ahead of Leclerc in the season standings.

"It's a great team result," Perez said.

Carlos Sainz Jr. started from pole for Ferrari and finished a disappointing third. Leclerc started 15th and finished fifth behind the Mercedes of George Russell, but Leclerc dropped to sixth after he was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

That pushed Alpine driver Fernando Alonso into fifth, and Leclerc, who is now 98 points behind Verstappen in the standings, was shocked by the penalty and appeared defeated in the championship race.

"I didn't even know, no one told me," a surprised Leclerc said of the penalty. "Why did I get the penalty?"