Max Verstappen pinched the lead on the first lap before holding back the faster Oscar Piastri to take on the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint victory.
The Piastri got off to a good start, launched cleanly enough from the LA source, passing through Aulouge and straight down Kemmel to open a long flat-out explosion, but Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing Car was trimmed for top speed and past McLaren to reach the brake zone for res.
The piastry covered the inner line, but Verstappen was too fast, easily sweeping outside Australia to take the lead.
The title leader stuck to the Dutch gearbox for the rest of the lap, down Kemer on lap 2 to make the DR available, but even with the drag dump device, his car didn’t match the slippery Red Bull racing machine.
Verstappen first made good use of his straight line advantage. Ryan Pierce/Getty Images
It’s an annoying tale of Piastri’s race, and Verstappen had to nail only the exit from LA sources to prevent Australians from pose a threat to Les Combes, the best overtaking spot on the circuit. Dutchman was officially distributed over all 15 laps, claiming a defensive victory of 0.753 seconds.
“It really worked,” he said. “It was the only real opportunity for you to oppose them, and we got it. And of course, I knew it would be very difficult to delay them, so it’s just playing cats and mice – Doctor, using the battery. Basically the entire race was under 0.7 seconds.
“For us, delaying them and winning the spa for me was a great result. Of course, it’s a sprint victory, but it’s still important.
Piastri lamented the lack of speed in his straight line, but was satisfied with his performance.
“I went through the straight and tried my best not to give me too much towing, but I didn’t have enough linear speed. I didn’t have enough linear speed on the next 14 laps,” he said. “It’s still a good result, it’s still a good point. It’s just the sprint. The main point is tomorrow.
Rand Norris finished in third place for Piastri in just 0.661 seconds despite passing away on the first lap to Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc pulled the same move Verstappen pulled Norris to Norris, demoting the British to fourth, but McLaren was a much better match for Ferrari than the Red Bull racing car.
After refilling the battery for five laps and cooling the power unit, Norris closed his teammate and accessed the DRS on lap 9, but Piastri took the same benefit from Verstappen, meaning that the effect was neutralised.
He still held the flag behind the top two, sacrificing one point to Piastri, extending the championship deficit to nine points.
“We haven’t made much progress,” Norris said. “Obviously, trying to pass Charles is a bit fun at first. Maybe I could have made myself a little better, but otherwise it was a bit too hard to pass Max.
“Unless Oscars were passing Max, I wasn’t past everyone. They drove a good race. There wasn’t much we could do in a day like today, so I look forward to tomorrow.”
Leclerc finished 8.762 seconds in fourth place in the leader, but finished comfortably ahead of Haas driver Esteban Ocon in fifth place.
Carlos Signe scored three points for Williams ahead of Oliver Baerman on the second Haas machine.
Isack Hadjar scored the final point for Sprint in Racing Bulls.
Gabriel Boltreto came in ninth place ahead of Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, George Russell and Lance Stroll. Stroll was one of the four drivers who made up the location in the race. Others are Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Alonso finished 14th, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Nico Halkenberg was demoted to 18th by both Hamilton and Antonelli.
Franco Colapinto finished in 19th place after Alpine began the race from Pit Lane after beating the state of Parc Ferme.
Pierre Guthrie retired from the race 12 laps after a difficult start to the Frenchman until Saturday, and was pulled off the grid by a leak, and called for a day two laps into the race.
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