STAVELOT: Max Verstappen gave his Formula One Championship campaign a significant boost with an inimitable drive to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday at Spa to secure his ninth win in 14 races.

Red Bull’s Verstappen started from 14th on the grid and made giant strides from lights out. He progressed five positions in the opening alone and after a brief safety car period to clear the damaged vehicles of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, he kept storming through the field.

By lap 18, the Dutchman took the lead and kept the hammer down for the next 26 laps to set the record for the fastest lap of the race and bagged victory by a comprehensive 17.8s. His teammate Sergio Perez finished second to complete a dominant one-two for Red Bull.

“It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble,” said Verstappen. “So many things were happening in front of me. But once we settled in after the Safety Car, the car was really on rails, we picked the right places to pass people and we could look after our tyres and that is how we made our way forward.”

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz held off Mercedes’ George Russell to take third.

Verstappen’s rival Charles Leclerc, a Ferrari driver, finished fifth but was downgraded to sixth behind Fernando Alonso after receiving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

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