As for his fading title chances against Verstappen?

"I'm not focusing so much on the championship now. Red Bull was on another planet today," Leclerc added. "We need to know why we're so far away."

Lewis Hamilton's bid for a sixth straight podium finish ended on the first lap when he clipped Alonso and briefly went airborne.

Sainz started from pole because Verstappen and Leclerc were among several drivers to be hit with grid penalties. Sainz got away at the start and Russell and Hamilton zoomed past Perez and behind Alonso.

Hamilton then overtook Alonso on the outside but clipped the side of his Alpine, sending Hamilton's Mercedes up in the air. Race stewards reviewed and took no action, though Alonso clearly felt Hamilton had not left him enough room as he tried to regain the position.

"What an idiot closing the door from the outside," Alonso ranted. "We had a mega start but this guy only knows how to drive and start in first."

Hamilton later cut off an interviewer who attempted to relay Alonso's comments to him.

"It doesn't matter what he said," said Hamilton, who added he didn't see Alonso "in my blind spot".

But in a separate interview, Hamilton accepted he hadn't left enough room for Alonso.

"It was my fault," Hamilton said. "I paid the price. I was ahead though."

For Hamilton it was the fifth time he's retired on the first lap, with three retirements coming at the seven-kilometer (4.3-mile) Spa-Francorchamps circuit－the longest in Formula 1 and one of the best for overtaking, as Verstappen showed.

Seconds after Hamilton pulled over, Nicholas Latifi slid across the track and nudged the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas into the gravel, bringing out the safety car.

Hamilton stood next to his car as smoke billowed out, then walked slowly back to the team garage. He was later issued a warning for refusing to visit the medical center.

Bottas, his former Mercedes teammate, was also out while Leclerc came in early as his team changed his tires and removed some debris from another car stuck inside Leclerc's front right wing.

Later, Ferrari made yet another bizarre call in this strange season of botched strategy decisions when the team called in Leclerc for new tires with one lap remaining in a futile bid to score the fastest lap. Leclerc was overtaken by Alonso as he came out of the pits, and then had to overtake the Spaniard back, consequently failing to register the fastest lap.

Esteban Ocon of Alpine was seventh and followed by Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin, Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and Alex Albon of Williams.

Next up for Verstappen? His home race in the Netherlands, where he won in style in Zandvoort last year.

"I am going to enjoy today and then next week we'll see what we can do," said Verstappen, who is on pace to beat Vettel's season record of 13 victories set in 2013.

Agencies Via Xinhua