Date: 30/07/2023
Venue: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Despite a five-place grid penalty, Max Verstappen is expected to edge closer to Sebastian Vettel’s record for consecutive Formula One wins in our Belgian Grand Prix predictions.
He is due to take on his fifth gearbox, one more than so far permitted, but the Dutchman started this race from 14th last year owing to engine penalties and still took the win.
Since the start of May, Verstappen has won the Miami, Monaco, Spanish, Canadian, Austrian, British and Hungarian races to equal the second-longest hot streak for an individual driver.
Only Vettel’s record of nine straight wins in 2013 remains for him to chase and the Red Bull ace is still as short as 4/11 in the Belgian Grand Prix odds.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Verstappen’s dominance of the sport is so one-sided that he is making the rest of the grid look like they are racing in a junior category.
The flying Dutchman took his ninth win of the season in Budapest, extending Red Bull’s unbeaten streak to 11 from 11 this year with just one race remaining before the summer break.
Verstappen, now a staggering 110 points clear in the championship, finished more than half a minute ahead of his rivals following another supreme showing at the Hungaroring.
“It was like a bunch of Formula Two cars against a Formula One car,” said Wolff. “In the F2 gang, our car was quick. The F1 car won by 33 seconds.
“We had the second quickest car today, and obviously we can talk it up and say we could have been second, but that’s irrelevant because you have a car that finished over 30 seconds ahead and was probably cruising a lot of the time.
“We are going to fight back and win races and championships but we saw the pace Max had and that’s the bitter reality.
“But it’s a meritocracy and as long as you’re moving within the regulations, then we need to acknowledge Red Bull has just done a better job.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was keen to guard against complacency, stating: “How long can we keep this winning run going? Who knows?
“We’ve got another challenge next weekend, a sprint race, with the variable conditions of Spa. Anything can happen, so we’re really just taking it pretty much one event at a time.”
Verstappen is chasing a hat-trick of victories at this track, while team-mate Sergio Perez can be backed at 14/1 to secure his third success of the season.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was runner-up in Hungary, scoring consecutive podium finishes for the first time in his career.
The 23-year-old Briton said: “I think we’re very happy with the progress we’ve made, to go from where we were four, five races ago, to be fighting for poles, and fighting for podiums, we’ll take it for now.”
Norris is 17/20 to finish in the top three again at Spa-Francorchamps, with team-mate Oscar Piastri 3/1 for the same bet after ending up fifth in Budapest.
Lewis Hamilton had to endure a frustrating race day last weekend, slipping back from pole position to finish fourth after being overtaken by Verstappen at the first bend.
The seven-time world champion commented: “I am not disappointed. It was obvious that we do not have the quickest car. Max got a better start than me, I got a bit of wheelspin and I was a bit compromised after that.
“I am really proud of myself and the job we did to get pole and outperform the world champion and the other two McLaren cars that are quicker than us. But today is just a reality check. The reality is that we are not fast enough.
“I was told in the strategy meeting that I would be five tenths a lap slower than the Red Bull, so the fight is not with Max but hopefully that we would be able to fight the McLarens. But then the McLaren was also too quick for us.”
Hamilton is 6/4 to make the podium in the Belgian Grand Prix odds, with Mercedes team-mate George Russell 5/2 in that market, having started 18th and finished sixth in Hungary.
Daniel Ricciardo was 13th on his return to action for AlphaTauri and can be backed at 5/2 to make the top 10 this time.
Past Belgian GP winners
2022 Verstappen (Red Bull), Perez (Red Bull), Sainz (Ferrari)
2021 Verstappen (Red Bull), Russell (Williams), Hamilton (Mercedes)
2020 Hamilton (Mercedes), Bottas (Mercedes), Verstappen (Red Bull)
2019 Leclerc (Ferrari), Hamilton (Mercedes), Bottas (Mercedes)
2018 Vettel (Ferrari), Hamilton (Mercedes), Verstappen (Red Bull)
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