Verstappen admits a bit of boredom in Belgium

Max Verstappen admitted his Belgian Grand Prix was a boring affair as he struggled to get close to the Mercedes duo in front.

The Red Bull Racing man, who is half Belgian, took an uneventful third place behind Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but maintains his second spot in the championship standings.

In a race that did not bring much in the way of battling out in front, Verstappen admitted it was pretty boring from his cockpit but was pleased with another podium finish.

“I love this track but the race was not really the most exciting from my side," he said. "It wasn’t really much of a fight and I just tried to do my own race and maximise the result.

"On the medium tyre I didn’t have a lot of grip and then on the hard I was initially trying to put pressure on Valtteri but he was told to speed up and was able to build a good gap, so after that it was a bit lonely.

"There was not much action up front unfortunately and the tyre wear was quite high so we couldn’t really push. I had some vibrations towards the end of the race so I really had to manage my tyres, I took no risks and brought it home.

"Overall, we had a good weekend and the car balance was nice so we can be pleased with that. We are not here to finish third and we want more but it is always good to be on the podium.”

Team-mate Alex Albon was on for a fifth-place finish but was passed on the penultimate lap by Renault's Esteban Ocon, and had to hold off the fast-charging Lando Norris to claim sixth.

He said: "It was a frustrating race and it was pretty tricky to do anything. We knew before the race that the Renaults would be hard to overtake with their low downforce and straightline speed and that proved to be the case.

"I felt pretty good at the start on the soft tyre and then we managed to jump Ocon in the pits when we changed to mediums, thanks to a good stop from the boys in the garage. I don’t think we expected as much degradation as we got on that compound and maybe they weren’t the right choice in the end but I pushed as hard as I could to try and do the overtakes and the tyres just dropped off.

"We’ll have a look at it to see what we can learn before our focus shifts towards Monza in a few days but it’s nice to move up to fourth in the championship which is a sign we’re making progress.”