Max Verstappen and race engineer bicker like 'old married couple' in Belgium

Max Verstappen goaded his forlorn Formula 1 rivals by challenging Red Bull to pointless "pitstop training" during his exhibition win in Belgium on Sunday.

Verstappen started sixth by virtue of a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he assumed the lead on Lap 17 of 44 before taking the chequered flag 22.3 seconds clear of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton started third and crossed the line in fourth.

Verstappen's triumph was his eighth in a row - leaving him just one short of Sebastian Vettel's record.

It also marked his 10th victory from 12 rounds this season, his 19th from his last 23 outings and Red Bull's 22nd in that period. The Milton Keynes team head into F1's summer break unbeaten this season.

'Pitstop training?'

Verstappen is riding a wave of invincibility - he is a staggering 125 points clear in the championship - and with nine laps remaining here, his supreme confidence was expressed in a message to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.

"I could also push on, and we do another stop?" he said. "A little bit of pitstop training?"

READ | Max Verstappen yet to peak as Red Bull ace signs off on another consecutive win

"Not this time," replied Lambiase.

"He has reason to be cheeky because he is just driving circles round everybody else on merit," was the verdict of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff following another so-so afternoon for the Silver Arrows.

"The stopwatch never lies, and there is one guy in one car above everyone else."

From sixth to fourth at the end of the first lap, Verstappen dispatched Hamilton at 338km/h on the Kemmel Straight on Lap 6, and then Leclerc three laps later following a fine move round the outside of the Ferrari pole-sitter