Red Bull had to settle for points rather than a podium in the Belgian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen finishing fourth and Yuki Tsunoda coming outside the top ten.

Verstappen spent much of the race at Spa in a tight fight with Charles Leclerc for the final place on the podium alongside the two McLarens, but Leclerc ultimately had enough pace in his Ferrari to swipe third.

Tsunoda meanwhile saw his race come undone in the transition from wet to dry tyres, with the Japanese driver swapping one lap after most of the field, which saw him tumble down the order. A late issue then saw him lose positions, finishing in 13th.

With the Belgian-born Dutch national Verstappen having won the sprint race on Saturday, it means that the Dutchman picked up 20 points for his work.

The points keeps him in position in third in the Driver’s Championship as best of the rest behind the two McLarens. He is now 28 points clear of fourth place George Russell, although he is now 65 behind second placed Lando Norris and 81 behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

Meanwhile, the Belgian Grand Prix was Tsunoda’s 6th race in a row without points, with the Japanese driver 17th in the standings having failed to score points since the round at Imola in May.

In the Constructor’s Championship, Red Bull remain sat 4th in the standings. They are 28 behind 3rd place Mercedes, 56 behind second place Ferrari and 324 behind McLaren. Looking behind, they are 122 points clear of 5th place Williams.

The race weekend had been a big one for Red Bull with it being their first following the ousting of long-term Team Principal Christian Horner, who left a few days after the British Grand Prix earlier this month and with it ended a 20 year run as team boss. New principal Laurent Mekies was overseeing his first race weekend in charge, with victory in the sprint having taken some joy out of it for the Milton Keynes-based team.

Proceedings in the Belgian Grand Prix began late, with rain both before the race’s scheduled start time and during what would’ve been the race time seeing delays of over 1 hour and 20 minutes before the race eventually began, and with it began as a rolling start rather than the usual standing start.

When things eventually got going, nearly all of Verstappen’s day was spent behind Leclerc. The Red Bull driver did get a brief opportunity when the duo were held up by Esteban Ocon’s Haas, who had opted to run longer on wet tyres, which also brought Russell and Alex Albon into proceedings.

As things filtered out, Leclerc and Verstappen got away from Russell and Albon, but Leclerc was able to keep enough of a gap in his Ferrari to keep the Red Bull at bay, and with it deny Verstappen a chance at a podium in the country of his birth.

Tsunoda’s race came undone after a mistimed pit strategy call. The Japanese driver had qualified 7th for his best start since being promoted to Red Bull in March, and was initially running in the top 10 when the time came to move from wet to dry tyres.

However, Red Bull’s call for Tsunoda to come in on the same lap as Verstappen came after Tsunoda had already passed the pit entry, leaving him to do an extra lap on tyres that were no longer suitable.

Tsunoda spent a lot of the race close to the Alpine driven by his friend and former teammate Pierre Gasly, but he was unable to pass the Frenchman before he himself was overtaken in the final laps by Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Nico Hulkenberg in the Sauber, slumping to 13th by the end of the race.

F1 will return next weekend for their final race before the upcoming summer break, with the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest concluding the first part of the season before the sport takes a month off.