LeClerc held the start for the briefest of rides before Perez overtook him after a couple of corners for the lead. Piastri sustained damage, coming in to contact with Sainz, and fell back to last, before stopping at the side of the track. Sainz also accrued serious aero damage, a shredded side, and was a sitting duck and we watched Alonso overtake him (ultimately, it would quietly retire too). By Lap 4 Verstappen was still in P4. The overtakes I wanted to see though, were those by Albon, first Stroll, then Norris, having moved from 15th to 8th. Albon then took poor Sainz.
On Lap 6, Verstappen overtook Hamilton for 3rd and a podium position. Then a few rounds later, he got past LeClerc for second and now only had to overtake his team mate. Meanwhile, further back, some drivers took a pit stop. Norris was struggling with everything and despite some cheery team radio, he just couldn't find a way to make the car work and feel positive about it. He seemed to have a dreadful race.
There were a few more pitstops and some discussion of rain coming, then it was Lap 17 and Verstappen was past his team mate.
Just as the rain came down and the spectators put on their waterproof ponchos, Norris came in for a very slow stop and put on dry tyres. The precipitation never came to much as it was gone as soon as it was talked about and blue skies shone over Spa once again.
Verstappen built up a half a minute lead over Perez and earned himself a free pit stop.
After 44 long laps, Hamilton pitted for fresh tyres to try for Fastest Lap and the accompanying point but Verstappen kept that in his pocket. Norris, amazingly, ended up 7th. The Ferrari of LeClerc claimed the third spot on the podium. And now we go on holiday for three weeks; not me but Formula 1. And when we come back, Verstappen can continue winning.
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