SPRINT: Verstappen beats the McLarens to take sensational victory in Spa F1 Sprint
Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen beat the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to take a sensational victory in the Spa F1 Sprint. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the short Spa race.
Starting from pole, Oscar Piastri got a great start, but he was unable to break the two, and Max Verstappen overtook the Australian into Les Combes.
Having secured P4 in sprint qualifying, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had an average start, but he was able to make up the order, overtaking McLaren’s Lando Norris on the opening lap.
The DRS was enabled on Lap 2, and Piastri managed to stay within one-second to the race leader. Leclerc held on to third placed, followed by Norris, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz, Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar.
In the meantime, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly joined the sprint after two laps into the race. The Frenchman was due to start from P8 on the grid, but Alpine discovered a water leak issue on his car. However, the team managed to solve the issue and sent Gasly out to collect information about the car’s long-run performance.
On Lap 4, Norris managed to pick off Leclerc to take P3, albeit his team-mate was unable to overtake Verstappen despite his better pace.
Four laps later, Norris managed to reduce the gap between himself and Piastri to just 1.1 seconds which was just over two seconds when he picked off Leclerc.
On Lap 11, Verstappen made a slight mistake, going deep into the last chicane. It allowed Piastri to gain almost two tenths. The Australian got tantalizingly close to the Dutchman on the Kemmel straight, but he was unable to make the move.
Further down the field, Carlos Sainz was attacking the Haas of Esteban Ocon, but the skinny rear wing helped the Frenchman hold onto P5.
Although Piastri managed to stay within a second to Verstappen all race long, the reigning champion took the victory in the Spa F1 Sprint, with the Australian and his team-mate Norris completing the sprint podium.
Leclerc ended up fourth, ahead of Ocon, Sainz, Bearman, whilst Hadjar completed the points-paying position.
