Belgium Grand Prix preview: Verstappen looking to stretch lead

F1 is finally back after summer recess for the much-anticipated Belgium Grand Prix, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc once again set to battle it out at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

We preview the best of the action below.

The Leaders

Red Bull are in full force, with Max Verstappen looking in the form of his career. They are sitting comfortably at the top of the constructors’ table on 431 points, with Verstappen leading the drivers’ rankings on 258 points. With that in mind it’s no surprise that he is the 6/5 favourite to taste victory again this weekend.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will be shooting for pole position after a few errors in recent races led to him throwing winning opportunities away, meaning the Monte Carlo native is now trailing Verstappen by 80 points, a deficit he will need to make up for in rapid time if he wants any shot at the title this season. However, he is only the fourth favourite here at 7/1.

Ferrari trail Red bull by 97 points, having not converted Leclerc’s performances adequately into points, with Leclerc’s seven pole positions only converting to three wins, while Red Bull’s Verstappen has claimed eight wins from just three poles.

Ahead of Leclerc, and second in the betting at 7/2, is seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton who has been racing much better as of late and will be eager to reach his former heights. Unfortunately, the title is probably out of the Mercedes driver’s grasp, but he could still pick up a first win of the season here if he races right.

Despite Mercedes shortcomings this season, they sit third on the leader board with 304 points, only 30 behind Ferrari. They have made significant improvements to their cars in recent weeks and claim they are optimistic that they can turn things around, in what has arguably been their worst season in the past decade.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz is also in the running at 6/1. The Spaniard has racked up 156 points this season, trailing fourth-placed George Russell by two (8/1), who is also not entirely without hope of achieving victory for his team, Mercedes. Russell has shown himself to be an exceptional talent already this season and will have high hopes of another podium finish (11/10) at least, while he looks virtually guaranteed to finish in the points at 1/5. Victory would be huge for either driver, not just for them personally, but also for their teams.

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The rest of the field

Sergio Perez is a relatively close outsider at 14/1. He currently sits 85 points behind his Red Bull teammate but has recently insisted he is not ruling himself out as a contender for the title, having stated that “anything can happen”. He also expressed that as a team they will be fighting to keep Ferrari at bay, especially considering their better performance in the last couple races, and at 11/10 he could be booked for his seventh podium finish of the season.

Much more distant outsiders include Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris, both priced at 150/1. Whereas Alonso may not have a shot this weekend, Norris may offer some value here as he will remain the focus of McLaren, given the imminent departure of teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Ricciardo announced his departure from McLaren earlier this week in what has been described as a mutually agreed departure, despite the early termination of his contract. He will race until the end of the season, but will this impact his performance on the track? He is highly unlikely to win in Belgium at 500/1.

No matter how this race shapes up, racing fans will be thrilled to see their favourite stars back on the track, especially on such an exciting course, let’s just hope the weather doesn’t disappoint!

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