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Max Verstappen emerged as the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix, after starting the race down at P6, making his way up the grid. This is the eighth consecutive Formula 1 victory this season for the reigning champion.
This is the first time that he has won this race from P6, but it didn't come as a huge surprise since he won here in 2022 after starting P14.
When Martin Brundle asked him in his parc ferme interview if he can possibly win from anywhere, Verstappen replied:
"It's a new spot, that's for sure. P6. Yeah, I mean I knew that we had a great car, was just about surviving turn one? They were, it was all getting really tight. I've been in that position before... Like I'm just gonna stay out of that and it worked out."
Max Verstappen had a mega race after winning the Sprint yesterday. He was very much hoping to go for the fastest lap of the race as well, but Lewis Hamilton pitted on the 43rd lap to claim it.
The race could have been quite different, especially after it started raining around Eau Rouge, and the drivers were confused if it was the right time to pit. However, no one put the inters on.
Max Verstappen, though, had a moment going up on the corner, almost losing his car, before gaining control back. He talked about it with Brundle, feeling thankful that nothing happened.
"The worst corner to have a moment, but it was tricky in those laps. So it was raining because you could see that it was raining, but not how much exactly. And I had a little sideways rolling. Luckily, nothing happened.
"But it's definitely a corner where you don't want it to happen."
Max Verstappen admits to slowing down during the race
Leading the race by over 10 seconds on his teammate Sergio Perez, there wasn't much threat to the double world champion about losing the position. Hence, he didn't have to push much hard.
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps is hard on tires, and the teams did not have much data about dry running since there had been rain all weekend long.
However, it was quite apparent that Max Verstappen was comfortable without pushing harder. So, his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, popularly known as GP, asked him to not push to keep the tires intact. But it still didn't look like he had slowed down. However, he admitted that he had, saying:
"I did slow down. Of course, you know, we all look at the numbers. We look at the wear of the tire. And, you know, this track is super hard on the tires. So you don't want to do any unnecessary things. That's what we did till the end."
Verstappen has now won eight consecutive races this season and is nearing the record that was set by a former Red Bull driver, Sebastian Vettel. The latter won nine races in a row during the 2013 season.
There is a very strong possibility that Verstappen can break this record, or equal it in the next race after the summer break in the Netherlands, which will be his home race.
