FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen scored a comfortable victory at the Belgian Grand Prix sprint race ahead of a breakout Oscar Piastri yesterday (July 29) in a superb performance from the McLaren rookie.
Max Verstappen celebrates winning the sprint race at the Belgium yesterday (July 29). Photo: AFP
Earlier yesterday Verstappen had pinched sprint pole by just 0.011 seconds from Piastri, who has been in fine form around the wet Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps all weekend.
Verstappen led the field behind the safety car start after a lengthy rain delay postponed the first lap of the sprint race, but he lost the lead after one lap, with Piastri and several other drivers pre-empting the switch from full wet tyres to the faster intermediate rubber.
The Australian had his stay at the head of the field extended by a safety car caused by a rare Fernando Alonso error, the Spaniard spinning off the track at Pouhon to record his first DNF of the season.
Piastri managed the restart well, but Verstappen’s much-faster Red Bull Racing machine made easy work of the slower McLaren down the long Kemmel Straight immediately.
Piastri was faster in the middle sector but didn’t have the straight-line performance to keep up, and Verstappen cruised to a comfortable 6.677-second victory.
“The car was quick,” Verstappen said. “We knew already over one lap we were anyway not bad, but also in the race it seemed like we were quite good on keeping the tyres alive.”
Verstappen said it boded well for the grand prix, which he will start from sixth after serving a penalty for using new gearbox components.
“Of course I’m starting a bit further back. I need to be careful to not have any damage on the car. And as soon as I have a clean lap one, I think from there onwards we can move forwards.”
Piastri had sounded disappointed to have missed sprint pole by such a slender margin, but he was far more pleased to have maximised his opportunities in the race.
“That was pretty much all we could have achieved today, so I’m very happy,” he said. “I think especially in the conditions we’ve had this weekend, it’s so easy to always want more and more, and then you find yourself in the wall.”
Pierre Gasly completed the top three for a much-needed strong result for Alpine following a pair of double failures to finish in the last two grands prix, dropping the French team more than 40 points behind McLaren.
Alpine also announced on Friday night that it would part way with team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane and chief technical officer Pat Fry at the end of the weekend following the team’s poor start to the year.
“The last few races have been pretty unsuccessful and involved all sorts of incidents,” he said. “So it means quite a lot to be able to just put a strong quali this morning and a strong race this afternoon.
“We know in terms of performance it hasn’t been as good as we would have liked since the start of the year, but in these conditions like today everything can happen and you need to play with the cards that you have.
“I’m really, really pleased to finish in the top three today.”
Gasly had defended expertly ahead of the pursuing Lewis Hamilton to the finish, but the Briton was demoted three places by a five-second penalty for crashing into Sergio Pérez after the safety car restart.
Pérez had pinned Hamilton onto the kerbs at Stavelot as the seven-time champion attempted to barge through for fourth, but the wet rumble strip sent the Mercedes sliding wide into the side of the Red Bull Racing car.
The RB19 suffered a badly damaged sidepod and floor that eventually forced him into retirement, while Hamilton continued undamaged before the penalty.
Ferrari teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris were promoted to fourth, fifth and sixth, with Hamilton dropping to seventh.
George Russell scored the final point of the race in eighth place.
