Piastri stretches lead after passing Norris in delayed Belgian GP
Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)
Oscar Piastri reasserted his authority in the Formula One world championship by quickly overtaking polesitter Lando Norris to win the weather-delayed Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The McLaren driver passed his team-mate on the first racing lap after the race began under a safety car and was largely untroubled from there as he extended his lead in the driver's standings to 16 points.
'I knew Lap 1 (after the safety car) would probably be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn 1, lifted as little as I dared and yeah, we had it mostly under control,' Piastri said after his eighth F1 win and sixth of the season.
Briton Norris had won the previous two races to close in on Australian Piastri at the halfway stage of the season. But he now heads to Hungary next Sunday with plenty to ponder after his second place - especially as Piastri won his first race in Budapest last season.
Norris remarked: 'Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Oscar deserved it, I'll review my things but still happy for the team, another 1-2 and our first 1-2 here for many, many years.' Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was a distant third. Team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who won here with Mercedes last year but had a Friday and Saturday to forget this time, roared through to seventh having started from the back with a new power unit.
Titleholder Max Verstappen, in his first full race under a new Red Bull chief, finished fourth.
George Russell of Mercedes, who crossed the line first in Spa last year but was disqualified due to his car being underweight, was fifth on this occasion and Williams' Alex Albon came home sixth.
Heavy rain at Spa The race was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to visibility being affected by heavy rain - a feature of Spa despite its calendar spot in the European high summer.
Four-time world champion Verstappen moaned that officials were being too cautious by postponing the race following the formation lap - but other teams and drivers said a delay made sense.
The weather improved and the race, with a full 44 laps, began behind the safety car for four laps. There was still spray but clear skies as all cars started on intermediate tyres.
Norris kept the lead for just half a lap after the rolling start as team-mate Piastri pounced, with the overtaken Briton complaining of a possible battery issue.
Piastri then sped away and even the switch to dry tyres failed to derail his dominance. Norris went with hard tyres while Piastri took on mediums as McLaren hedged their bets and in the end neither needed to pit again.
Norris was quicker than Piastri after the stop, but ran out of road.
Verstappen had won Saturday's sprint race having quickly overtaken polesitter Piastri.
It was Verstappen's first race since his Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was sacked after 20 years and replaced with Laurent Mekies.
But he could not force glory on Sunday, with the drying track giving the Dutchman no chance of threatening the leaders.
The track in the Ardennes Forest is a favourite of the drivers and a reason it has stayed on the calendar, along with Verstappen fans in Belgium and the neighbouring Netherlands, which is losing its race from 2027.
But most drivers are not a fan of the rain, especially the spray which made it hard to see. But at least it did not turn into the farce of 2021 when three laps were held and only one counted for half points.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
3 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Norris wins Hungary F1 GP in McLaren one-two
Lando Norris has held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian's Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break. Norris completed 39 of the 70 laps on Sunday at the Hungaroring on a single set of hard tyres while Piastri stopped twice and closed a 12-second gap to just 0.6 at the finish with a nail-biting chase to the chequered flag and a near-collision. George Russell took a distant third, 20 seconds down the road, for Mercedes and his fifth podium of the season. 'I'm dead. I'm dead. It was tough,' gasped Norris, who started in third place – with Piastri second – and then went down to fifth after being squeezed at the start. 'We weren't really planning on the one stop, but after the first lap, it was kind of our only option to get back into things. 'I didn't think it would get us the win. I thought it would get us maybe into second.' The win was Norris's fifth of the season and third in the past four races to Piastri's six. It was also McLaren's seventh one-two in 14 races. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was a frustrated fourth after starting on pole position but losing out with a two-stop strategy and a five-second penalty for erratic driving as Russell challenged. Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin ahead of Sauber's sixth-placed Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto. Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson with Red Bull's reigning champion, Max Verstappen, and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completing the top 10 scoring positions. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, an eight-time winner in Hungary, started in 12th place for Ferrari and finished there. The Briton was lapped by the leaders six laps from the chequered flag.
Qatar Tribune
21 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Ledecky wins 800m thriller; US also win relay in world record
DPA Singapore American icon Katie Ledecky had to fight like rarely before to secure a seventh 800 metres freestyle world title in a thriller, and the American mixed 4x100m freestyle relay team stormed to gold in world record time on Saturday. Ledecky had to give her all to secure a 23rd career world title as she was pushed to the limit by Australian Lani Pallister and Canadian star Summer McIntosh from the start to finish. Ledecky edged Pallister by a mere .32 of a second as she clocked a championship record 8 minutes 5.62 seconds, missing her world record by just 1.5 seconds. McIntosh, who briefly led with 100m to go, earned bronze in her first major 800m duel with Ledecky, 1.67 seconds back. McIntosh had earlier in Singapore won 400 freestyle, 200m medley and 200m butterfly gold. 'It was incredibly fast, they pushed me all the way,' nine-time Olympic champion Ledecky said. In the concluding relay, Jack Alexy set the Americans on course, and Patrick Sammon, Kate Douglass and Torri Huske kept up the pace for gold in a world record 3:18.48 minutes. The neutral athletes from Russia clocked a European record 3:19.68 for silver and France got the bronze. Elsewhere, American Gretchen Walsh and Maxime Grousset of France completed 50m and 100m butterfly doubles, and Australia's Kaylee McKeown continued her backstroke dominance. Walsh came home in 24.83 seconds over 50m to finish almost half a second ahead of Australian Alexandria Perkins, who trailed by .48. The 100m silver medallist Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium got bronze. 'I am very proud, it was a great swim after such a rocky week,' said Walsh, referring to a virus that had hit the American and some other teams. Grousset completed his double with victory in the 100m in 49.62 seconds. Swiss Noe Ponti was .21 back for silver and the bronze went to Canada's Ilya Kharun. 'I have more strength and power now, and it just flows,' Grousset said, underlining this again a little later as part of the bronze medal winning relay team. Twice Olympic champion McKeown was on fire on the home straight en route to a third 200m backstroke world title in 2 minutes 3.33 seconds, just shy of her world record. Regan Smith of the US trailed by .96 of a second for a fourth silver at the championships, and team-mate Claire Curzan took bronze. Australia's Cameron McEvoy beat Briton Ben Proud for the 50 metres freestyle world title, one-year after also beating him for gold at the Paris Olympics. McEvoy clocked 21.14 seconds in the Singapore pool as he held off Proud by 12 hundredths for a second worlds gold over the distance, the first coming in 2023. American Jack Alexy got bronze. American Gretchen Walsh meanwhile added the 50m butterfly gold to that from the 100m in dominant fashion. Walsh came home in 24.83 seconds to finish almost half a second ahead of Australian Alexandria Perkins, who trailed by .48. The 100m silver medallist Roos Vanotterdijk got bronze. 'I am very proud, it was a great swim after such a rocky week,' said Walsh, referring to a virus that had hit the American and some other teams. Twice Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown was on fire on the home straight as the Australian got a third 200m backstroke world title in 2 minutes 3.33 seconds, just shy of her world record. Regan Smith of the US trailed by .96 of a second for a fourth silver at the championships, and team-mate Claire Curzan took bronze.
Qatar Tribune
21 hours ago
- Qatar Tribune
Ferrari's Leclerc beats McLarens for surprise maiden Hungary GP pole
DPA Budapest Charles Leclerc stunned the favoured McLarens when he claimed a first Formula One Grand Prix pole position of the season for Ferrari on Saturday in Hungary. Leclerc clocked 1 minute 15.372 seconds on the 4.381 kilometres Hungaroring for his 27th career pole in a tight session in which the top four were separated by just over five-hundredths of a second. Championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren was .026 of a second adrift in second, his team-mate Lando Norris was third with a deficit of .041, and Mercedes driver George Russell in fourth was .053 off the pace. The McLarens had dominated all three practice sessions in Budapest and were also the big favourites in qualifying where however a few rain drops early on, changed wind conditions and lower track temperature may have helped Leclerc. 'Honestly, I have no words. It's probably one of the best pole positions I've ever had. It's the most unexpected, for sure,' the driver from Monaco said. 'The whole qualifying has been extremely difficult. When I say extremely difficult, it's not exaggerating. It was difficult for us to get to Q2, it was difficult for us to get to Q3. 'In Q3, the conditions changed a little bit. Everything became a lot trickier, and I knew I just had to do a clean lap to target third. At the end of the day, it's pole position. I definitely did not expect that.' Piastri admitted 'I wasn't expecting to be second to a Ferrari this weekend. 'I think the wind changed a lot. It always sounds so pathetic blaming things on the wind. It did a 180 from Q2 to Q3 and meant a lot of the corners felt completely different. 'It was difficult to judge in those conditions and maybe not the best execution. I was surprised we couldn't go quicker than that. 'Second is still a decent spot to start so we'll see what we can do tomorrow.' Norris struck a similar note and remained upbeat for Sunday's race where hopes to cut the gap of 16 points on Piastri before a four-week summer break. 'I want to go forwards, I want to win. And if I can do that, then I'll get points. I think it's going to be an exciting race. I would expect us to have a bit more pace than Charles, so I'm looking forward to it,' Norris said. Leclerc said that 'the start and turn 1 will be key. 'I have no idea how it will go, but one thing for sure is that I'll do absolutely everything in order to keep that first place. IF we manage to do that, that should make our life easier for the rest of the race,' he said. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull was eighth while his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg were prominent drivers not to make it past Q1 in 16th and 19th place, respectively.
