Oscar Piastri profits to extend title lead as Lando Norris blows pole

Times

6 days ago

Oscar Piastri had watched Max Verstappen breeze past him on the Kemmel Straight in the sprint race and had feared the worst would happen again in the main event on Sunday.
Instead, it was his team-mate who had that same helpless feeling, Lando Norris losing the lead in the first proper racing lap of the grand prix — after an 80-minute rain delay — Piastri nursing his medium tyres to the end of a dull race in a gloomy Spa.
Piastri extended his championship lead to 16 points, so won't mind the lack of activity, barely even given a fright by his team-mate on the harder compound who again made mistakes running wide, in his eagerness to close the gap.
The new normal for Red Bull without Christian Horner, their long-serving former team principal and CEO, was rather similar to the old one; Verstappen did not have the pace to challenge the McLarens and was stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc eventually finishing fourth.
The most notable difference was perhaps on the grid, with Jos Verstappen, who had been openly critical of Horner, relaxed and stood alongside new team principal Laurent Mekies. Horner was watching from home, the first grand prix in 405 events (and Red Bull's entire race history) that he had not attended.
Lewis Hamilton produced an excellent recovery drive to finish seventh, having started in 18th.
Hamilton, Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso started from the pitlane having opted for new power unit elements which were not permitted within their allocation. This meant they were able to make set-up changes with view of the conditions, whereas the rest of the grid were left with the decision they made ahead of qualifying. Carlos Sainz joined them at the back of the field, having also made setup changes.
Yet, as the cars lined up on the grid, teams were erecting gazebos as a sudden shower hit the track. Drivers reported poor visibility on the formation lap behind the safety car, so the race start was delayed. It is the spray from the cars which is the main issue, rather than the standing water or grip itself from the intermediate or wet tyres.
Nonetheless, frustration remains at the idea of wet tyres essentially being made redundant because of the spray. There is hope that next year's new regulations could mean slightly less spray is produced from the back of the cars. It was not an afternoon which produced great interest for the television fan, or those that had braved the weather in Belgium.
Drivers spent an hour and 20 minutes twiddling their thumbs in the garage, as a heavier rain shower on the radar prevented the FIA starting the race in a brief dry period. Eventually it stopped by 4.20pm local time with the race resuming behind the safety car.
On lap five, racing began in earnest with a rolling start after pole sitter Norris was one of those to report on the radio that one side of the grid was drier than the other, suggesting a standing start would not be fair.
It did him little favour though — as having used much of his battery pack on the restart, he was easily passed by his team-mate on the Kemmel Straight.
Hamilton had very little to lose after what he described a 'weekend to forget', after spinning in sprint qualifying, finishing 15th in that short format race, and then exiting in 16th of main qualifying after exceeding track limits at Raidillon. He called it an 'unacceptable' individual error.
He carved through the field to reach 13th by lap ten, and then was the first driver to make the crucial decision to pit for slick tyres on the drying track. That dropped him to 17th, but as soon as he navigated the first corners, it was evident it was the correct decision. He moved up to seventh, while the rest of the grid came into the pits. He still apologised to his team at the end of the race, for his error on Saturday.
The leaders, apart from Norris, pitted for mediums on lap 13. Norris was asked by his engineer Will Joseph whether he would prefer the hard tyre, which could last until the end of the race — and having already lost time to his team-mate, the British driver took the risk.
That began a slow and steady race to close the gap to Piastri, which gave the race a slight sense of jeopardy — in the end, the gap was simply too large to bridge.