Belgian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Wins As Lewis Hamilton Retires

Max Verstappen is the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix for the second season in a row as Red Bull made a one-two podium finish during a race that saw former world champion Lewis Hamilton retired following a crash. 

Red Bull is seemingly off the reach of rivals in the championship race as Verstappen extended leading F1 standings by 93 points having won his ninth race. Sergio Perez, who finished second, got a leap over Charles Leclerc with five points lead to be second. 

The dramatic moments during the race saw Hamilton colliding with Alpine's Fernando Alonso and was ordered to retire. He later admitted to being in the wrong. Another was Valterri Bottas crashing into spinning William's Nicholas Latiffi, The Finn driver also retired. 

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz gave his all and the provisional pole repeatedly interchanged between him and Verstappen until he dropped behind as the defending champion crushed on and was later passed by Perez to finish in third position. 

Leclerc might just have to let go of any hope of contending for the F1 title this season as Verstappen continues to dominate with nine race remaining this season. His expectations of making the most of the race got dashed when he suffered some sort of engine problems and had to pit as a result. That left him with the fate of starting from the back and he did really well in spite of that and finished in sixth just behind Alpine's  Alonso.