Five things we learned from the Belgian Grand Prix

Says something that Max Verstappen should win his eighth race in a row, more than a pit stop clear of his teammate and having started sixth on the grid… and literally no one is surprised.

Such is the Dutchman’s grip on F1 right now. That’s 10 victories out of 12 grands prix as we enter the summer break, and with a lead of 125 points over Sergio Perez in the standings it’s entirely feasible he’ll have a third world title wrapped up before the end of September.

The biggest talking point to emerge from the Dutchman’s weekend was - quite literally - him talking. Specifically to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who he bickered with all weekend despite (you’d think) having very little to complain about.

The pair argued over the team’s run plan in qualifying on Friday and then over how hard Verstappen should push his tyres in the second half of the race, much to the amusement of those who’d managed to stay awake that long.

It was all a storm in a teacup though: Verstappen insisted the banter “works very well” for Red Bull, and that 256-point lead in the constructors’ standings suggests he might be right…

Big weekend for the rookie, this. Ever since he arrived in F1 Piastri has quietly been doing a very good job at McLaren, with pace not far off that of teammate Lando Norris in what until only a few races ago was a car sorely lacking speed.

But after Norris finished second in the previous two grands prix, the 22-year-old grabbed the upper hand at Spa with a brilliant P6 in qualifying and then an even better P2 in the Sprint Shootout, just 0.011s off Max Verstappen’s benchmark. And having gambled on intermediate tyres at the earliest opportunity during the Sprint, Piastri led a few laps for the first time in his short F1 career en route to a second-place finish.

The race itself was a bit of a disaster, contact with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in the first corner forcing him out of the race. But he’s showing a lot of promise, that’s for sure.

Imagine if he’d stayed at Alpine…

… which appears to be in crisis right now. The first half of the season has been a disaster for the team, which is sixth in the standings having been leapfrogged in a big way by Aston Martin and McLaren.

Parent company Renault hasn’t taken this well. And having removed CEO Laurent Rossi less than a fortnight ago, it has now turfed out two more big names: team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane, the latter having worked for the team for 34 years. Meanwhile chief technical officer Pat Fry has jumped ship to Williams.

Despite the off-track turmoil, the team left Spa with a couple of positives: Pierre Gasly turned a great Sprint Shootout performance into P3 in the Sprint itself, while Esteban Ocon fought up from 14th to 8th in the main race.

Let’s see if Renault can spend the summer break finding a management structure that actually works. You won’t believe what Alain Prost had to say about the top brass a couple of days ago…

After a couple of pretty dismal weekends Ferrari really needed a strong result at the Belgian GP, and it got one. Sort of. Charles Leclerc was in red hot form in qualifying, surging to P2 (albeit eight-tenths behind Verstappen) which then became pole position when the Dutchman got a penalty for using too many gearbox parts.

Leclerc could do nothing to hold back the Red Bulls during the race itself, but he did have the pace to keep Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at bay and a podium finish was a decent reward for a solid weekend. That said, only one car made it to the finish: Carlos Sainz had a messy start to the grand prix and the damage he picked up after squeezing Oscar Piastri into the wall at turn one proved terminal.

The team is fourth in the standings, just behind Aston Martin but comfortably ahead of Mclaren. For now, at least.

The return of Daniel Ricciardo to F1 has heaped pressure on Yuki Tsunoda, especially after the Japanese driver was beaten by the Aussie in his first race back at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

But the 23-year-old enjoyed the better weekend this time around, qualifying in P11 as Ricciardo failed to escape Q1, and then he converted that performance into points (well, one point) on Sunday with a brilliant, aggressive drive.

At one stage he was sixth on the road, but the likes of George Russell and Lance Stroll had too much pace for the AlphaTauri to live with. Still, not a bad result considering he’s in the slowest car…