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A32 sports
Dialuna 29 augustus 2022

F1 champ Max Verstappen surges from 14th to win Belgian GP

S P A - F R A N C O R - started 15th and finished
CHAMPS, Belgium (AP) fifth behind the Mercedes of
— Formula One champi- George Russell, but Leclerc
onship leader Max Ver- dropped to sixth after he was
stappen quickly carved handed a five-second penalty
his way through the field for speeding in the pit lane.
from 14th to win the Bel-
gian Grand Prix on Sun- That pushed Alpine driver
day and widen his lead in Fernando Alonso into fifth,
the title race. and Leclerc, who is now 98
points behind Verstappen in
Verstappen, who in the fi- the standings, was shocked
nal race before F1's summer by the penalty and appeared
break drove from 10th to win defeated in the championship
the Hungarian Grand Prix, race.
produced another imperious
drive and moved closer to a As for his title race with Ver-
second straight world title. stappen?

His lead in the standings is Lewis Hamilton's bid for a
now 93 points — but it is sixth straight podium end-
over Red Bull teammate Ser- ed on the first lap when he
gio Perez because Charles clipped Alonso and briefly
Leclerc dropped to third in went airborne.
another poor Ferrari show-
ing. Sainz started from pole be-
cause Verstappen and Leclerc
Verstappen was leading the were among several drivers
race by Lap 12, and he earned to be hit with grid penalties.
a bonus point for fastest lap. Sainz got away at the start
His third straight win was his and Russell and Hamilton
ninth this season and 29th zoomed past Perez and be-
overall. hind Alonso.

The 24-year-old Verstap- Hamilton then overtook
pen — the youngest driver to Alonso on the outside but
win a race when he was 18 — clipped the side of his Al-
said it was probably the most pine, sending Hamilton's
complete drive of his career. Mercedes up in the air. Race
jump ahead of Leclerc in the pole for Ferrari and finished stewards reviewed and took
Perez finished second to season standings. Carlos Sainz Jr. started from a disappointing third. Leclerc no action, though Alonso
clearly felt Hamilton had not
left him enough room as he
tried to regain the position.

Hamilton later cut off an in-
terviewer who attempted to
relay Alonso's comments to
him.

But in a separate interview,
Hamilton accepted he hadn't
left enough room for Alonso.

For Hamilton it was the fifth
time he's retired on Lap 1,
with three retirements com-
ing at the 7-kilometer (4.3-
mile) Spa-Francorchamps
circuit — the longest in F1
and one of the best for over-
taking, as Verstappen showed.

Next up for Verstappen? His
home race in the Nether-
lands, where he won in style
in Zandvoort last year.