Oscar Piastri managed to control his teammate Lando Norris at the rain-lagged Belgian Grand Prix to extend his championship lead.
The lightout at Circuit Death Spa Francole Champ was delayed 80 minutes after heavy rain broke through the circuit, putting vision at risk, and race control ran the first four laps behind the safety car as a precaution when the action finally began.
Despite the rapid dryness, a reboot of the rolling was mandated, with Paul Getter’s Norris taking control of the field at the end of Lap 4.
Norris’s Paul advantage didn’t last long, continuing as the race finally progressed. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Piastri piled up into pressure the moment Norris lowered his foot, and on lap 5 the sister car tailed up straight to the starting finish, which marked the return of the race.
The Australian slipstreamed the British through the Oak Rouge and became strong enough to comfortably take him outside his teammates towards the Kemel straight, before hitting the brakes of the Less comb. It was a decisive move for the drying truck, earning a piercing rippit stop priority over his teammates with an imminent switch to slick tires.
The first driver was led by Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton started in Pit Lane and ran in 14th place. His sector era was immediately impressive, with Piastri leading the majority of the field on his next tour.
Norris got too close to Adrift at 1.5 seconds and was forced to wait for another lap before moving to the slick to double the stack. He finished his out-lap 9.1S from the lead as the slow changes to the front left wheels were not aided.
However, the British had a potential ace on his sleeve. With nothing to lose, he chose hard tires to reach the checkered flag without making a second stop. Norris was told that Piastri had to manage his pace to reach the finish, and he also pressured his teammates to try and get his medium to the end. Pirelli estimated that the performance lifespan of medium tires is 20 laps.
Piastri maintained a lead of about 8 seconds. This was partially supported by Norris’ oversteer snaps via the Pauhon on lap 27.
Another mistake is this time I locked up with LA source, dropping an Adrift of over 8 seconds on lap 34. Norris was coached on the radio to reduce the braking aggression when the hard tires began to wear.
Britton continued to acquire, earning it in five laps where the gap was reduced to five seconds. However, piastry consistency and Norris’ errors caused the lace to run out of laps before the gap was completely closed. The final mistake at LA Source was to put Norris’ accusations on the bed, with Piastri making the checkered flag in 3.4 seconds.
“I knew lap one would probably be the best chance to win the race,” he said. “I got a good exit from Turn 1 and lifted Aulouge a little enough to dare but that was enough.
“I’ve been pretty disappointed in myself since yesterday, but I’ve finally found out that it starts second with a not-so-bad spa.”
The victory extends Piastri’s title lead to 16 points.
Norris praised his teammates for the victory and said he tried everything he could to get the lead back after the first lap.
“Oscar did just the right job,” he said. “He committed a little more through Audreuge and ran with a slipstream. He did a better job at first.
“There was nothing more I could do at that point. I want to be on top, but Oscar deserved it today.”
Charles Leclerc won the starting position, third place and collected the fourth trophy in six races. Leclerc boosted Ferrari’s humid climate reputation to properly hold Max Verstappen in the opening phase of the race, and he gradually opened margins with slicks to secure space.
“We knew the first part of the race was the trickiest thing for us because we didn’t have the downforce that McLaren or Max had, because they compromised qualifying to get better in the rain today.
Verstappen finished fourth ahead of George Russell. He was running another anonymous race at the pace of Mercedes’ cut-cut front running team.
Alex Albon finished sixth. His best result since the Emilia Romana Grand Prix in May was to demotion after Russell’s second racing lap off Lesstream and down to Les’ comb.
Hamilton went 11th and 7th after starting from the pit lane, thanks to an early call inspired to become the first driver at Slick. Britton had already shown a strong pace while rising to 13th at the wettest stage of the race on intermediate tyres, but the early stop drew him deep into the points at six places, but his linear velocity deficit to Albon made him unable to rise any further.
Hamilton rescued him from behind, wet. Ryan Pierce/Getty Images
Liam Lawson finished Sauber’s Gabriel Boltreto in eighth place in the 9th third round with his second point scoring result.
Pierre Guthrie completed the top 10 and led home Oliver Baerman in a close battle of the final points.
Nico Furkenberg finished 12th after he dropped orders from the 10th at the late pit stop, but he couldn’t even recover the place with fresh rubber.
Tsunoda went 13th after starting seventh, but lost while locking out the extra laps before switching to a slick to avoid the double stacking behind Verstappen. A delayed halt abandoned him from a point where he couldn’t recover to the top 10.
Lance Stroll was 14th place after Esteban Ocon, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Franco Colapinto and Isaac Hajar.
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