Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen was victorious for the eighth race in a row at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, but it certainly wasn’t a simple race for the Dutchman.
Following his five-place grid penalty, Verstappen started the race in sixth, giving the two-time World Champion a challenge.
In true Verstappen fashion, he was fourth by the end of the first lap, before he later overtook Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen worked towards the front with ease, with him having moved into the lead ahead of Sergio Perez on Lap 17.
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He led the remainder of the race with ease, to claim his 10th win of 2023.
His victory marked 13 consecutive wins for Red Bull, with the Austrians continuing to see a huge benchmark for the most wins in a row.
Verstappen was instructed very precisely during the race, with him and his race engineer having been very blunt with one another.
Gianpiero Lambiase warned Verstappen after his first pit-stop to use his “head a bit more”, to ensure that the Dutchman didn’t destroy his tyres.
“This tyre had reasonable degradation in the first stint,” Verstappen was informed by his race engineer.
“I’d ask you to use your head a bit more.”
In true Verstappen fashion, he set the fastest lap on the following lap.
Verstappen was asked about his conversations with Lambiase after the race, where he admitted that he “did slow down”.
“I did slow down,” Verstappen said in his post-race interview.
“We all look at the numbers, we look at the wear on the tyres and this track is super-hard on the tyres. You don’t want to do any unnecessary things, and that’s what we did until the end.”
Verstappen clearly didn’t slow down much, as the 25-year-old had a huge moment at Eau Rouge.
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The incident occurred when rain started to fall, with him having admitted that it was the “worst corner” to almost lose it at.
“That is probably the worst corner to have a moment,” admitted Verstappen. “It was tricky on those laps when it was raining – you could see it was raining but not how much and I had a little sideways moment.
“Luckily nothing happened but it is definitely a corner where don’t want anything to happen.”