Reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen appears to be becoming something of an unbeatable phenomenon after two historic performances in which he climbed to the top of the podium after starting from a deep position on Sunday.
In the Hungarian Grand Prix, the last one before the summer holidays and in which Ferrari showed a performance capable of leaving Red Bull without options, the Dutchman managed to, after a problem with his power unit in qualifying, come back from 10th place to get what would be his 28th victory to break the tie with Jackie Stewart in the all-time table and be the eighth most successful driver of all time.
With the world environment already decided after his achievement, the Dutchman faced the Belgian Grand Prix with more calm, and a penalty for changes in the engine elements of his greatest rival, Charles Leclerc, allowed him to mount new parts as well, since he would lose the same number of seats on the grid as the Monegasque. With a single incredible attempt in Q3 at Spa-Francorchamps, Verstappen led everyone by more than six tenths to take the pole position inherited by Carlos Sainz, moving up to 14th after all penalties had been applied.
However, the two AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly facilitated his comeback to the top of the podium after both cars were forced to start from the pitlane, and in doing so he emulated a Formula 1 myth, Bruce McLaren .
The New Zealander was the previous driver to win two consecutive wins from beyond 10th position on the grid, as the founder of the Woking team won the victories at the 1959 United States Grand Prix and in Argentina at the 1960 season opener, both in a Cooper Climax T51.
At the meeting in Sebring, McLaren started 10th , and it was not until the last lap that he took the lead to dethrone Maurice Trintignant , who was only six tenths behind in second place for a double for Cooper, with the Ferrari of Tony Brooks completing the podium, although more than three minutes away.
In the Argentine capital, the New Zealander did not go further than 13th place , as he fell almost five seconds behind pole position driver Stirling Moss . However, his courage to come back was made clear in the 80 laps that only three single-seaters finished, one of them Moss’s own after sharing it with Trintignant in 46 laps, which gave them a divided spoil of the podium, but no points.
McLaren thus added what would be the second of his four victories, which would come in the legendary Monaco in 1962 and in Belgium in 1968 , the latter already with a car belonging to the team that has given so many good moments in the history of Formula 1 .
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