Max Verstappen drove a beautiful race to beat Oscar Piastri by three-quarters of a second to win the sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen’s victory marked a winning start for Red Bull under new team principal Laurent Mekies, after Christian Horner was sacked from the role following the British Grand Prix.
The Red Bull diver made a brilliant start from second to shadow Piastri through the first sector after failing to make the move at La Source, he then got a brilliant tow through Eau Rouge and along the Kemmel Straight before outbreaking and passing Piastri into the entry to Les Combes to pass Piastri.
Piastri’s best opportunity to pass came on lap eleven when he still looked to have the faster car and Verstappen reported a brake issue, but he couldn’t get close enough to try and pass, allowing the Dutch-Belgian driver to take another win at Spa. Verstappen did exactly what he needed to do if he was to win this race and the pass at Les Combes gave him control of the rest of the race.
But he was always going to be at risk from an attack by Verstappen, because it is notoriously difficult for a pole winner to hold the lead on the first lap at Spa because of the long run from the La Source hairpin through the fast Eau Rouge swerves to the Les Combes chicane. Sure enough, Verstappen tracked Piastri from the start and passed the McLaren around the outside into Les Combes.
Verstappen said, “It worked out really well, that’s obviously the only opportunity you are going to get against them and we got it. I know it was going to be very tough to keep them behind, we were just playing like cat and mouse, DRS, battery usage and it was a good race within seven-tenths.”
Norris added, “Not a lot going on, obviously a bit of fun at the start with trying to overtake Charles [Leclerc]. I maybe could have positioned myself a little better, but otherwise a bit too difficult to get past Max [Verstappen], he drove a good race.”
Piastri then settled into second with his teammate Lando Norris fighting his way back passed Charles Leclerc, before trying to go after Piastri this ultimately saw him placed in no-mans land as he dropped half a second behind Piastri. The race raises a difficult quandary for McLaren in terms of how to approach the Grand Prix.
The temptation will be to take off a little downforce to allow them to be more competitive on the straights, so that if they end up behind Verstappen again, they have the possibility to pass. But with rain forecast and Silverstone in wet conditions was difficult for Red Bull after going for low downforce.
The Englishman appeared to lose time during the first half of the race after the Monacan got a better start, but then couldn’t make further progress to try and pass his teammate. Piastri extending his championship lead by a point going into Grand Prix qualifying later on Saturday afternoon. Leclerc, meanwhile finished fourth as he dropped eight seconds behind Norris, and three seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon.
Haas appears to be in a mid-season upturn in form with Ollie Bearman also in the points as he finished seventh, three seconds behind Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard delivered one of his strongest performances of the season as he finished half a second ahead of Isack Hadjar, the Racing Bull scoring the final point.
The sprint race, while they have always been close and while Verstappen had a big margin for the format, once again highlighted how competitive and fine the margins are this season across the field. Gabriel Bortoletto was ninth the Sauber driver, missing out on the points finishing three seconds behind Hadjar as he split the Racing Bulls, as Liam Lawson finished three quarters of a second behind.
Yuki Tsunoda brought his Red Bull home eleventh, the Japanese driver over a second and a half outside the top ten as he finished almost a second and a half ahead of George Russell. Lance Stroll was six tenths behind the Mercedes as he finished a second ahead of Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton continued his difficult weekend as he only made up a handful of positions, he passed Kimi Antonelli at half distance, finishing a second ahead. But after passing his Mercedes replacement struggled to make further inroads as he complained about tyre wear as he finished ahead of Alex Albon.
Nico Hulkenberg finished five seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto, with a water leak on his way to grid meaning his teammate Pierre Gasly did not start. However the Frenchman used the second half of the sprint.
