© Getty ImagesTop Five Moments From SpaWe’ve picked our favourite things from the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix.
Nowthat’showyoudominatearace!The2022BelgianGrandPrixisonethateveryOracleRedBullRacingfanwillremember.Therewereplentyofmomentstochoosefrom,butherearetheTeam’sfavouritethingsfromtheweekend.
Max looked dominant all through the early stages of the race, but when it came to Q3, he dialled it in like nobody else could, roaring to top spot with a lap of 1:43.665, more six tenths of a second ahead of Carlos Sainz. Max was so sure of his time that as soon as he returned to the garage, he got out of his RB18 and opted to sit out the final runs of the session, which was the right choice as he finished 0.632s quicker than anybody else.
POV: You're The Rest Of The Grid© Getty Images
Max made the Belgian Grand Prix look like a computer game on easy mode. Starting down in P14 it would have taken a bold person to predict that he would take the win, but that’s exactly what happened.
Max moved up six places in the first lap, and by lap eight, he was in a podium position. On lap 12, the race leader Carlos Sainz entered the pits and Max moved up to P2, his pace was so strong that he was soon in front of teammate Checo and leading the race. On lap 15, Max pitted for a set of mediums and came out in P2 behind Sainz, it was only three laps until he had reeled in the Ferrari driver for the lead, and then he never looked back, taking the win ahead of Checo in P2.
Pushing Through The Pack© Getty Images
As is often the case, the Oracle Red Bull Racing pit crew are the safest pair of hands on the grid and this race was no different. The crew were busy with four pit stops in total, but they smashed every single one. Max’s first stop was the slowest, well we say ‘slowest’, but it was still only 2.8 seconds. The other three were, 2.4 seconds, 2.3 seconds and a lightning quick 2.2 seconds.
Our Pit Crew Were On Form, As Always© Getty Images
ChecoEnsuringTheOne-TwoFinish
Checo entered the pits for the first time at the end of lap 14, when he re-emerged on his second set of medium tyres, he was down in P3 with Max leading and Sainz in second. Much like his teammate, Checo had amazing pace in his RB18 and within five laps he had caught up with the Ferrari and without a second’s thought had powered past the red car under braking into Les Combes to take P2 where he stayed until his second pitstop, but with Russell pitting a lap later, the Bull was on easy street until the chequered flag.
Celebrating With Checo© Getty Images
1-2InTheRace,Now1-2InTheStandings
With this result the Team couldn’t be in a better position with eight races remaining. With Checo claiming P2 and Charles Leclerc only able to finish P6, the Mexican now reclaims second place in the Drivers’ Championship on 191 points. Max is 93 points ahead of his teammate and 102 ahead of Leclerc in P3. The Team is sitting pretty in the Constructors’ Championship with 475 points, 118 ahead of Ferrari who has 357 points.
On The Top Step Together Again© Getty Images
