The Latest Breaking News from Gianpiero Lambiase

The championship leader set a first lap in the final stage of qualifying that was more than good enough for pole, but proved his quality further by beating his own benchmark by over a tenth to beat second-placed Oscar Piastri by 0.581s.

From the start of this season Verstappen has worked with Richard Cooke, who joined Red Bull from university in 2017 and was moved across from the simulator group to fill the race team role on a temporary basis.

This year's edition of the Belgian Grand Prix yielded yet another Max Verstappen masterclass as the Dutchman waltzes away with the Formula 1 title.

After their high-profile disagreement in qualifying at Spa, the pair again attracted attention with their discussions at various points of the Dutchman's dominant win on Sunday.

After their high-profile disagreement in qualifying at Spa, plus interest in Verstappen’s relationship with Lambiase growing in 2023 with an absence of a victory battle against Red Bull’s rivals, the pair again attracted attention with their discussions at various points of the Dutchman’s dominant win on Sunday.

Verstappen’s triumph was his eighth in a row and 10th from the 12 rounds so far.

Double-world champion only one behind Sebastian Vettel’s record ahead of summer break

The reigning world champion launched from sixth due to a gearbox penalty, but surged into the lead on lap 15 and ran unchallenged to the chequered flag to score Red Bull's 12th-consecutive win of the season.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, his eighth successive victory, to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship

Runaway F1 championship leader Max Verstappen had the fastest time in qualifying for the rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix on Friday, but Charles Leclerc will start the race from pole position because of Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

The pair had a tetchy exchange at the end of the middle segment of qualifying that Verstappen would go on to top on Friday at Spa, which featured an expletive-laden rant from the driver.