Max Verstappen produced an inspired drive on Sunday to win the Belgian Grand Prix despite starting from P14 on the grid.

Verstappen shared the podium with fellow Red Bull driver Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who started the race on pole.

The defending champion had a flying first lap, jumping all the way to P8 on his soft compounds.

A collision Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso forced the Mercedes driver out of the race. A safety car was called in on Lap 2 as Valtteri Bottas spun out in avoidance of an out-of-control Nicholas Latifi.

At the restart, Verstappen continued his charge, going up into P3 by Lap 8, behind Perez and Sainz.

Sainz pitted from softs to mediums on Lap 12, and Perez soon after allowed Verstappen to overtake him into the lead.

From then on, the race seemed to fall into the hands of Verstappen, who seemed not to have any competition from Lap 19.

The Dutch driver crossed the finish line 18 seconds ahead of Perez, and with a Fastest Lap to boo.

"It was quite a hectic first lap to try and stay out of trouble," said Verstappen. "So many things were happening in front of me. But once we settled in after the Safety Car, the car was really on rails, we picked the right places to pass people and we could look after our tyres and that is how we made our way forward.

"After that, once we were in the lead it was all about managing everything – but this whole weekend has been incredible. It's been a weekend I couldn't imagine before, but I think we want more of them, so keep working hard."

Mercedes' George Russell took fourth place ahead of Fernando Alonso, who managed to defend against the second Ferrari car of Charles Leclerc to take fifth.

Leclerc settled for sixth ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon, with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel taking eighth place.

Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly took ninth place ahead of Williams' Alexander Albon who rounded off the points positions.

Sunday's result means the Red Bull pair are currently on first and second place on the Driver's standings.

Verstappen is now on 284 points, 93 points ahead of Perez.

The team also leads the Constructor's charge with 475 points, with Ferrari's 357 putting them in second.

Next up for the drivers is the Dutch Grand Prix on September 4.