Max Verstappen won the sprint race for the Belgian Grand Prix, with a commanding run on a treacherous wet track at Spa-Francorchamps.
Once more dominant for Red Bull he won from McLaren’s rookie, Oscar Piastri, whose performance was exceptional to lead a race for the first time and secure his first top three finish in F1. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was third. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth.
With Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez failing to finish, the win has extended Verstappen’s lead over his teammate to 118 points. He has nine wins already this year and two sprint victories in what is an utterly dominant Red Bull car and the team remain unbeaten in the opening 11 meetings.
In what may well serve as a precursor for Sunday’s grand prix, Verstappen’s pace over the 11-lap dash was ominously strong. He had qualified on pole during a wet-dry session earlier in the day but had been pushed hard after a superb lap by Piastri who was only one-hundredth behind the Dutchman. The Australian’s performance in the race afterwards was definitive notice of quite what a talent he is.
Piastri, who had been the subject of a legal wrangle between Alpine and McLaren before he signed with the Woking-based team has more than returned the faith and confidence they showed in him. The 22-year-old has been immense given it is his first season in F1, since McLaren delivered the upgrades to their car that has catapulted it up the grid and where it increasingly appears it is now in contention to be considered the second quickest in the field.
From Melbourne he began his career in karting in 2011, graduating to single seaters in 2016. He went on to win the F3 and F2 championships in consecutive seasons in 2020 and 2021. He was then taken on as the Alpine reserve driver in 2022 but after which he signed with McLaren leading to the dispute only ultimately settled by the FIA’s contract recognitions board.
This year, up against the very experienced Lando Norris, he has demonstrated no fear and stepped up with alacrity on repeated occasions. He took fourth at Silverstone and at the last round in Hungary he made a superb start to take second place. He handled racing at the sharp end with aplomb before ultimately slipping back with tyre degradation issues that reduced him to fifth but he has clearly demonstrated the potential that has made McLaren so optimistic about his future.
After a 30-minute delay to the start because of heavy rain that has plastered the circuit all weekend, the race finally got underway as a rainbow heralded the emergence of the sun but with the track still wet.
The cars began lapping behind the safety car on full wet tyres, which began ticking off the laps but with drivers reporting conditions were suitable for the intermediate rubber. After four laps they were allowed to begin racing with a rolling start, with a swathe of car s including Piastri heading straight the pits to take the inters but Verstappen stayed out.
Verstappen then pitted at the end of the first racing lap as did the rest of the field for new tyres. Piastri however had made the most of the extra lap on inters and shot past into the lead just in front of Verstappen as he emerged from the pits.
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His chase was delayed when Fernando Alonso went off, losing the rear at Pouhon on lap three, prompting the deployment of the safety car. Racing resumed after two laps with six remaining and Piastri held his nerve on leading his first F1 restart superbly.
He held his lead through La Source and through Eau Rouge only for the Dutchman’s pace advantage to prove indomitable. Closing on Piastri through Raidillon, Verstappen blasted past on the Kemmel straight.
Red Bull’s Pérez, struggling for grip, went off, dropping toward the back of the field and then having to retire the car, another disappointment for the Mexican. He had clashed with Lewis Hamilton, when the British driver was trying to pass and they just touched. In a surprising decision, the stewards gave Hamilton a five-second penalty for the incident. It dropped him from fourth place to seventh.
Verstappen in clean air was long gone however, five seconds up on Piastri by lap nine, he was once more untouchable but the Australian behind him had more than made his mark.
McLaren’s Norris was sixth and Mercedes’ George Russell in eighth.