BELGIAN GP – Oscar Piastri takes victory ahead of Lando Norris by three and a half seconds in rain affected race
Oscar Piastri drove a brilliant race after overtaking his McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the start of the rain delayed Belgian Grand Prix taking a nearly three and a half second win. The Australian made a brilliant start once the race finally got underway after a ninety-minute delay and four laps behind the safety car.
When the safety car came in at the end of lap four, Norris was immediately under pressure from his teammate, who was glued to his gearbox through La Source and up through Eau Rouge and Raidillon, allowing Piastri to draw alongside Norris along the Kemmel Straight and outbrake him taking the lead into Les Combes.
It has become apparent that Piastri loves committed and decisive overtaking, and it could have been race-ending as it was when under racing conditions, the weather was at its worst. The original start was aborted following heavy rain and poor visibility after the formation lap behind the safety car.
Piastri then took control of the race while his teammate soon reported a battery issue, but Norris looked as if he was able to use the pace advantage to stay with his teammate until a little mistake at his pit stop followed by a small lock up at La Source at seventy-five percent distance all contributed to the Englishman dropping behind his teammate.
The first lock-up was at Pouhon, but the further, more costly lock up at La Source cost him most of the three seconds which Piastri took the win by three and a half seconds. They then diverged on strategy, Norris going to the hard and stopped a lap later, in an attempt to go after Piastri as he went to the mediums, despite initial misgivings about whether his rubber would last, made it to the end without stopping again.
Piastri said: “I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn One and then lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that.”
Norris said “Oscar did a good job, nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run and that was it. Love to be up top but Oscar deserved it today.”
McLaren CEO Zak Brown told Sky Sports, Norris “had a small battery issue” which “didn’t help him” in those early exchanges, although Norris nonetheless admitted: “Oscar just did a good job (at the start). Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run. So nothing to complain of.”
Charles Leclerc joined the two McLaren’s on the podium but despite the improved performances for Ferrari, the Monacan was unable to chase down the McLarens and finished sixteen seconds behind Norris. Leclerc driving a steady race to hold Max Verstappen behind him for much of the race in the changing conditions at Spa.
Despite the challenging conditions and an hour delay due to heavy rain, the race passed without incident with all the drivers reaching the chequered flag despite the race being red-flagged and several laps behind the safety car with the race finally starting eighty minutes after the scheduled start time.
Max Verstappen was fourth as he failed to pass Leclerc despite their early fight as conditions started to ease up, despite going for a lower downforce set-up. The four-time champion finishing a second and a half behind the Ferrari driver as his hopes of a fifth championship, barring a dramatic turn in events were effectively ended.
Verstappen was thirteen seconds ahead of George Russell, the Mercedes driver sealing fifth after pulling off the same move as Piastri to pass Alex Albon a lap later as the two McLaren’s started pulling away at the front. After a disappointing qualifying, Ferrari broke parc ferme, changing Lewis Hamilton’s PU, meaning with the red flag, he started last rather than in the pit lane.
The seven-time champion had qualified sixteenth after a small error saw his lap time deleted and conditions the five-time Spa winner thrives in, put him immediately on the pace as he fought through the field with fastest laps and was challenging the leaders by a quarter distance on pace as he made up five places.
Hamilton then gambled, which was the right call going to dry tyres, resulting in him gaining six more places, but then his progress stalled after being caught in the DRS train of Albon with him ending the race three-quarters of a tenth behind the Williams.
Liam Lawson ended his strong weekend eighth as he finished four seconds ahead of Gabriel Bortoletto, while Pierre Gasly completed the top ten. Bortoletto had earlier been released by his Sauber teammate, Nico Hulkenberg which allowed him to pass Ollie Bearman and Pierre Gasly to take ninth, finishing sixteen seconds ahead of Gasly with the Haas just under half a second outside the points.
Yuki Tsunoda brought his Red Bull home thirteenth as he finished over a second ahead of Lance Stroll, while Esteban Ocon was six seconds further behind. Kimi Antontelli was sixteenth, leading fellow pit lane starters Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto finished three seconds behind the two Spaniards.
Isack Hadjar completed the field, abite a lap down in a race which, despite the conditions once it got going after the hours delay saw no safety cars, virtual safety cars or yellow flags.
Related
· Belgian GP – Qualifying Results
- BELGIAN GP – Lando Norris beats Oscar Piastri to Grand Prix pole by eight and a half hundredths
- Belgian GP – Sprint Results
- BELGIAN GP – Max Verstappen wins Spa sprint by under a second from Oscar Piastri
- Belgian GP – Sprint Qualifying Results
- BELGIAN GP – Oscar Piastri beats Max Verstappen to sprint pole by just under half a second
- Welcome to the Belgian Grand Prix
- PRIXVIEW – Belgian Grand Prix