Yahoo Autos Max Verstappen Beats Oscar Piastri to F1 Sprint Win in Rainy Belgium
Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen continued his imperious run with an emphatic victory in F1’s Sprint Race at a wet Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday.
A delay to the Sprint Shootout session on Saturday lunchtime – due to heavy rain – was followed by another 30-minute delay to the start of F1 Sprint when another deluge rattled through the Belgian countryside.
Drivers then had five laps behind the Safety Car, reducing the distance of the race to just 11 laps, while under F1 regulations drivers had to start on the Full Wet tires. When the race finally began as a rolling start half of the drivers peeled straight into the pit lane to change from the Full Wet tires onto the Intermediates such was the improvement in conditions.
That included second-placed Oscar Piastri and the tire proved to be quicker, as when leader Verstappen came in to change tires one lap later he emerged from the pit lane behind the McLaren driver.
Verstappen faced a deficit for two seconds but quickly latched onto the rear of Piastri’s McLaren though his charge was interrupted when the Safety Car returned after Fernando Alonso spun off. The restart provided the opportune moment for Verstappen and he swiftly snatched the lead along the Kemmel Straight. Verstappen went on to register victory by 6.6 seconds.
“I knew we could pit straight away but it’s risky with having cars behind as you could have to hold your car [in the pit lane],” said Verstappen. “We lost one position, but we knew we were quick, when we put Inters on we were flying.”
Verstappen extended his points advantage to 118 points as teammate Sergio Perez failed to score after clashing with Lewis Hamilton. The pair were dueling for fourth place when they made side-on-side contact, with Perez sustaining a damaged sidepod. Perez was eventually retired by Red Bull while stewards harshly issued Hamilton a five-second time penalty.
Piastri held on to claim an impressive second position as the rookie’s rise in the championship continues.
“I’m very, very happy,” said Piastri. “We tried our best, we boxed when the Safety Car came in, led a few laps, we were no match for Max. It’s nice to be up here in P2 as apart from Max the pace was strong, full credit to the team, the last few weekends have been pretty special compared to where we have been.”
Amid a difficult run of form for Alpine, including off-track changes, Pierre Gasly’s early stop enabled him to leap from sixth place to grab third position.
“I must say it feels amazing, I’m extremely happy to finish in the top three, especially here in Spa, which is some kind of home race for us without the French GP,” said Gasly. “I’m just extremely pleased for the whole team, we managed to put things together here.”
Verstappen was emphatically quickest during Friday qualifying – eight tenths clear of the rest of the pack – but will start Sunday’s race from sixth position due to a gearbox penalty.
That will elevate Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to pole position but the World Champion is confident he can quickly overcome the setback.
“I mean last year, we started 14th and I think this year, the car is better,” said Verstappen, referring to his charge to the victory in 2022. “So I'm still targeting to win the race for sure.”
2023 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Sprint
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
Oscar Piastri McLaren
Pierre Gasly Alpine
Carlos Sainz Ferrari
Charles Leclerc Ferrari
Lando Norris McLaren
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
George Russell Mercedes
Esteban Ocon Alpine
Daniel Ricciardo AlphaTauri
Lance Stroll Aston Martin
Alexander Albon Williams
Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo
Kevin Magnussen Haas
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo
Logan Sargeant Williams
Nico Hülkenberg Haas
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri
Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing(DNF)
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin(DNF)
