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Red Bull returned for the second half of the 2022 F1 season with an absolute bang to take a phenomenal double-podium finish. The Milton Keynes-based team has extended their lead in the championship standings once again, with Max Verstappen securing his ninth race win of the season this afternoon at the Belgian Grand Prix, while Sergio Perez finished where he started: in second place.
Carlos Sainz, who was simply unable to match the pace of the two Red Bulls despite starting the race from pole position, finished the race in third, just ahead of George Russell. The Briton drove a phenomenal race, contributing big points to Mercedes, who continue to inch closer to Ferrari in the constructors' standings.
With a sixth-place finish for Charles Leclerc, who was given a five-second penalty for crossing the pit-lane speed limit despite finishing the race in fifth, 41 points now separate Ferrari and Mercedes. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire from the race early on after making contact with Fernando Alonso on the very first lap and hence failed to score a point this weekend.
Further down, Alpine have extended their lead over McLaren in the F1 constructors' standings. Despite colliding with Hamilton, Alonso managed a fifth-place finish, giving the French outfit yet another double-points finish with Esteban Ocon coming in seventh. Both McLarens, on the other hand, finished the race outside the top 10, leaving the team with no points from this weekend in Spa.
Aston Martin had quite an impressive Sunday in Belgium. Sebastian Vettel, who announced that he will be retiring from F1 at the end of the season at the start of the summer break, finished eighth. His team-mate Lance Stroll, however, just missed out on championship points with an 11th-place result.
Pierre Gasly, too, was the only one to bring in points for AlphaTauri this weekend with an eighth-place finish behind the four-time world champion, while Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th.
Alex Albon, who started the race in sixth after making it to Q3 for the first time this season in Saturday's qualifying session, finished 10th, giving Williams a much-needed championship point this weekend, although his teammate Nicholas Latifi finished last. On the very first lap of the race, the Canadian made contact with the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who was the second driver to retire from the Belgian Grand Prix.
Here are the 2022 F1 Constructors' Standings after the Belgian GP
