F1 Belgium GP Results (2023)

The 2023 Belgium GP was the 12th round of the season, and it delivered one of the best, most thrilling and dramatic races of the 2023 season. Despite Sergio Perez starting in pole and Max Verstappen in 5th the champion soon took the lead. The result was a record eight race wins in a row for Max. Once again, he has extended his lead in the championship with a dominant victory. 

If Max finishes every race in the points, he will win the 2023 driver’s title.

Here are the full 2023 Belgium GP Results.

Index

• Qualifying
• Sprint
• Main race

Belgium GP – Qualifying

Qualifying was held in wet rainy weather conditions which made visibility very difficult.

As is the norm nowadays, Max Verstappen secured pole position in the final qualifying session. Red Bull opted to fit a new gearbox to his car which meant that he suffered a five-place penalty.

This moved Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez to pole and second place respectively.

Lewis Hamilton was in 4th place, but Max’s Penalty moved Lewis the 3rd and Carlos Sainz into 4th alongside him. We show the rest of the gird line up below.

Qualifying Results

Note – Verstappen penalized five grid places for use of an additional gearbox. Magnussen penalized 3 grid places for impeding another driver during qualifying.

Belgium GP – Sprint

The sprint race was shortened to 12 laps due to the weather conditions. With one formation lap teh race was effectively 11 laps.

The event started 35 minutes late, due to the heavy rain.

All 20 cars started on full-wet tires behind the safety car. As the conditions improved the whole grid (all 20 cars) pitted for intermediate tires. After the safety car released the racing cars, Verstappen accelerated into Pouhon.

The Grid Immediately Changed to Intermediates

Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Gasly and Hamilton all dived in immediately for intermediates leaving Verstappen leading Leclerc at the front. Verstappen pitted on the next lap leaving Piastri leading the race. In doing so he made history by being the first rookie to lead a sprint race.

The McLaren had a clear pace advantage in the wet, and Oscar convincingly remained in the lead. 3 laps later Fernando Alonso spun off, which brough out the safety car again.

By the time the safety car was withdrawn, Max was close enough to Piastri.

Max cruised past the temporary race leader – rookie Oscar Piastri and won the race with 5 seconds to spare. Oscar showed a remarkable talent that has the potential of making him one of the future greats.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fourth place but suffered a contentious penalty for hitting Sergio Perez in a corner. Most commentators agree that this was a racing incient.

The result was that he was demoted to 7th place behind Lando Norris, in the second McLaren.

The Sprint Results

Belgium GP – Main Race

Apart from a very brief period, the race was held in dry weather conditions. Max started in 5th but that was no impediment and he quickly powered past all the front runners to take 1st place.

Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz came together in the first corner which forced Oscar to retire immediately and Carlos on lap 23.

Charles Leclerc, who started on pole, was easily overtaken by Sergio Perez in the Red Bull. Charles managed to hold Lewis Hamilton behind him, despite some spirited attempts to get past.

Aston Martin has their recent decline in fortunes arrested by Fernando Alonso finishing in 5th place. George Russel challenged Alonso for 5th but ended up finishing in 6th place.

Lando Norris had a disappointing at, only managing an 7th place position.

Esteban Ocon managed a late overtake on Lance Stroll which got him into 8th place, leaving Lance in 9th.

Yuki Tsunoda took a valuable final point for AlphaTauri in 10th.

Worthy of mention was the Williams of Alex Albon which had great straight-line speed but struggled in the corners. Sadly, this was only good enough for 14th place.

The Race Results

Red Bull Damages F1 Trophy

For the second time in a week, Max Verstappen’s 1st place trophy has been destroyed!

As the Re Bull team (including Max and Christian Horner) moved away so as to not get drenched by the champagne shower, the team’s pit board fell on top of its constructors’ trophy – and completely destroying it!