Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the 68th running of the Belgian Grand Prix in such dominating fashion that the two time World Champion was already out of his RB19 before the tail end of the field had crossed the finish line.

The win was the eighth in a row for the Dutch-Belgian driver and the 13th in a row for Red Bull. Red Bull is in the envious position of breaking their own 'consecutive win' record with every win going forward until the historic run stops.

"The first half of the season has been much better than anyone would have ever dreamt of, how we are performing as a Team and winning so many races in a row is incredible," said Verstappen. "We're definitely enjoying the moment but we also want to keep this momentum and level for a long time, so hopefully after the summer break we're strong again in Zandvoort."

Verstappen crossed the finish line a full 22 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, his teammate, Sergio Perez. Red Bull has had seven dual podium appearances in 2023.

Verstappen won the pole on Friday at Spa-Francorchamps but was relegated to starting sixth on the grid after a penalty for a gear box change. He made relatively quick work of the field, passing Lewis Hamilton on Lap 5, Charles Leclerc on Lap 9 and his teammate on Lap 17.

"Two podiums in a row now and our main objective is to continue to stay on the podium," said Perez.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who started on the pole, shared the podium with the two Red Bull drivers at race end. It was the third podium appearance of the season for the Monegasque driver.

"We knew that the Red Bulls would be quicker than us, so our target was to maximise points with the package we have, and we did that," said Leclerc. "We had to base our strategy on Lewis' (Hamilton). He had a good pace and we had to make sure we kept him behind us."

Hamilton finished fourth with two time World Champion Fernando Alonzo rounding out the top 10. Hamilton put on a new set of medium tires at race end and secured himself a point for running the fastest lap.

"At the end, I was keeping the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc within a few seconds, but I couldn't get any closer," said Hamilton. "It was nice to have the gap to the car behind and to attempt to go for the fastest lap."

"It was gusty out there today and difficult to keep it on the track, but my lap was decent," added the seven-time World Champion.

Hamilton's Mercedes teammate, George Russell, finished sixth followed by McLaren's Lando Norris.

McLaren had a difficult Grand Prix with their recently upgraded MCL60. The car, which has been lights out fast since Austria, struggled on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps.

McLaren's rookie driver, Oscar Piastri, who has been as red hot as the MCL60, had a disappointing Sunday after a stellar Friday and Saturday.

After qualifying sixth on Friday and placing second in Saturday's shootout, the young Australian had his hopes of a top Belgian GP finish dashed on the start of the race as he was pinched in the first corner by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and suffered race ending damage.

"A disappointing end to the weekend," said Piastri, "I had my nose in there at Turn One and got a bit caught out with Carlos darting to the inside. My nose was in there, I couldn't get out of that one, so a shame to have my race over so early."

Sainz retired on Lap 23 with damage from the Turn One incident at race start.

"Hamilton stayed behind Perez and I attacked him on the inside," said Sainz. "Then came the contact with Oscar and that was it, a racing incident, but in my opinion Oscar was way too optimistic as he was never side by side with me and making that move from behind has never really worked here in Spa."

After a massive shakeup this weekend at Alpine that saw Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane exit the team, driver Esteban Ocon gave the team a small ray of hope with an eighth place finish. Ocon started P14 on the grid.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll finished ninth with AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top 10.

Going into the summer break, one point separates Alonzo (3rd) and Hamilton (4th) in the Driver's Standings. Five points separates Aston Martin (3rd) and Ferrari (4th) in the Constructor Standings.

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	44	1h 22:30.450
2	Perez		Red Bull	44	+ 0:22.305
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		44	+ 0:32.259
4	Hamilton	Mercedes	44	+ 0:49.671
5	Alonso		Aston Martin	44	+ 0:56.184
6	Russell		Mercedes	44	+ 1:03.101
7	Norris		McLaren		44	+ 1:13.719
8	Ocon		Alpine		44	+ 1:14.719
9	Stroll		Aston Martin	44	+ 1:19.340
10	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	44	+ 1:20.221
11	Gasly		Alpine		44	+ 1:23.084
12	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	44	+ 1:25.191
13	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	44	+ 1:35.441
14	Albon		Williams	44	+ 1:36.184
15	Magnussen	Haas		44	+ 1:41.754
16	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	44	+ 1:43.071
17	Sargeant	Williams	44	+ 1:44.476
18	Hulkenberg	Haas		44	+ 1:50.450
	Sainz		Ferrari		23	Accident Damage
	Piastri	McLaren			0	Accident Damage


Fastest Lap: Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:47.305 (Lap 44)

(image provided by Alfa Romeo F1 Team KICK)