Belgian GP Sprint result: Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen duel decided by key decision
McLaren have had the best race car all season, and it looked to be so again during the twistier sections of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. But this track also has long straights and that the the opportunity that Red Bull saw.
They gave Verstappen a smaller rear wing which reduced his grip in corners but made him lightning quick on the straights, which helped him to take the lead early on. And he had the straight-line speed to keep Piastri behind for the rest of the 15-lap dash and prove he is still determined to succeed with Red Bull.
Lando Norris spent most of the race watching team-mate and title rival Piastri try but fail to stop Verstappen. He had been briefly passed by Charles Leclerc, but made light work of getting back ahead of the Ferrari to make it two McLarens in the top three.
One of those in contention for points had his chances scuppered before the Sprint even started. Pierre Gasly suffered a water leak on his reconnaissance laps to the grid and that led to his Alpine being wheeled back to the garage so his mechanics could get to work fixing it.
It meant the Frenchman missed the start of the race, but he was at least able to head out on lap three. Two laps down, he had no chance of challenging for the top eight, but he was able to at least gather some useful race data which could prove invaluable for Sunday's main event.
The 19 cars that did start the Sprint did so safely, no-one willing to risk a big crash at the first corner just a few hours before qualifying for the Grand Prix. Pole-sitter Piastri kept hold of the lead in the opening exchanges, but soon lost it to Verstappen and his high-speed car set-up.
Red Bull's decision to use a smaller rear wing to reduce downforce on the Dutchman's car proved to be an inspired decision as, on the long straights at Spa-Francorchamps, he had an obvious pace advantage over the McLarens and used it early on to wrestle control of the Sprint from the Australian.
Norris, who started third, also lost a place to Leclerc at the same corner after some hesitant braking. It didn't take the Brit long to get back ahead of the Ferrari, but it was tougher for Piastri who was quicker in the tighter, twistier middle sector struggling to keep up on the straights.
He kept Verstappen honest, but was unable to stop the Dutchman from getting back onto the top step of the podium in new boss Laurent Mekies' first race in charge, following Christian Horner's exit. But it was a race to forget for the likes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who were well out of points contention after their respective terrible qualifying results.
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Telegraph
33 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton frustrated by ‘extreme' Spa rain call
On Thursday evening in the Ardennes hundreds of team members from various series, drivers, journalists and assorted others gathered on the track at Spa-Francorchamps to 'Run for Anthoine'. The annual event is organised by the Alpine driver Pierre Gasly in memory of his close friend Anthoine Hubert, who died in 2019, at the age of just 22, after a multi-car collision in a wet feature Formula 2 race at Spa. Hubert is far from the only driver to lose his life at the notoriously fast circuit, which is frequently subject to torrential rain. Just four years after his death, Dutch teenager Dilano van 't Hoff was also killed in similar wet conditions. In total there have been 53 fatalities, including the deaths of four marshals, since Spa's opening in 1924. All of which goes a long way to explaining why race control erred on the side of caution when weighing up when to pull the trigger on Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, which was immediately preceded by torrential rain. To call that caution excessive, however, would be an understatement. For the thousands of bedraggled fans watching from the grandstands, most of whom camp close by in the days leading up to the race, the delay was hugely frustrating. Earlier, they had watched a very entertaining F2 race in similarly damp conditions. Everyone was excited by the prospect of witnessing the world's best drivers try to negotiate the treacherous Spa circuit in the wet. Millions more watching on television probably gave up and went and did something else. The Fagnes chicane proved to be a challenge in our Feature Race at Spa! 👀 #F2 #BelgianGP — Formula 2 (@Formula2) July 27, 2025 It was not a bad call. In the end, what we got was a pretty dull affair. By the time the race finally got under way, behind a safety car, 1hr 20min after the official start time, the track was rapidly drying. Race control still left the safety car out for four laps to clear more of the standing water, with the result that there was a dry line already visible. Race-winner Oscar Piastri needed just four race laps to consider switching to dry tyres and within eight laps of actual racing all the drivers were on slicks, and from then on it was processional. What did the drivers think? Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who have 11 F1 world titles between them, were firmly of the opinion that the race could have started on time at 3pm. 'It was not even raining by then,' Verstappen pointed out. 'OK there was quite a bit of [standing] water between Turns 1 and 5, but two laps behind the safety car then it would have been a lot more clear. So it's a bit of a shame. 'We [Red Bull] made a choice with the set-up for wet weather and then they only allowed us to drive in almost slick conditions! We spoke after [the recent wet-weather race at] Silverstone to be a little bit cautious with the decisions but this was at the other extreme for me.' Hamilton agreed the race could have started on time, although he did say the drivers had to take some of the responsibility following those post-Silverstone chats. Race control was listening to the drivers' feedback as they lapped behind the safety car and nearly all of them, especially those at the back, were complaining it was unsafe. 'Lots of drivers in the last race said we shouldn't have restarted, because of a lack of visibility. So as soon as someone said 'visibility is pretty bad'...it wasn't great but it wasn't as bad as the last race… I think they just waited. 'They still did a good job. Of course we did miss some of the extreme wet-weather racing, which would have been nice.' Fans short-changed No one is saying it is an easy call. Spa is a notoriously dangerous circuit, with an extremely dangerous section between T1 (La Source) and T7 (Les Combes). The drivers go through a compression at Eau Rouge and then up a steep incline on the other side, exiting onto a blind crest onto the Kemmel Straight. Although changes were made following Hubert's death, and there is now more run-off on the left-hand side of Eau Rouge and Raidillon in particular, with the barriers moved back quite significantly, it is still possible for cars to go off, hit the barrier and bounce back onto the racing line. George Russell was probably in the majority of drivers who felt race control got it right. The Mercedes driver, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, said it would have been 'stupidity' to begin the race any earlier. 'As a racer, you always want to get going, you love driving in the rain, but the fact is, when you're doing over 200 miles an hour out of Eau Rouge, you literally can't see anything,' Russell said. 'You may as well have a blindfold on. It isn't racing, it's just stupidity. 'So I think, considering it was clearly going to be dry from four o'clock onwards, I think they made the right call.' But an element of danger and risk is also part and parcel of Formula One. Fans were denied what could have been an exciting race on Sunday. If the Spa circuit needs further modifications to make it safer, fine, but they surely ought to be able to race in the wet. Ex-driver Karun Chandhok spoke for millions when he posted on social media a few minutes before the restart: 'Have we just given up on having wet races anymore? They're going to be on slicks in a few minutes!' He was absolutely right.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Oscar Piastri eases away from Norris to win rain-hit Belgian Grand Prix
Calm assurance and closure were once more the hallmarks of victory for Oscar Piastri at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian displayed purpose, conviction and touch behind the wheel to grind out a win in challenging conditions and under no little pressure in seeing off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. The title fight will be decided between the two drivers and, as at Spa, single significant moments may prove decisive. In what was far from a thriller, Piastri won with a dominant drive to beat Norris into second and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc into third. Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull in the team's first race without the recently dismissed team principal Christian Horner in charge, while Lewis Hamilton made the most of the changeable, wet-dry conditions to move from 18th on the grid to finish seventh. After a delayed start of almost an hour and 20 minutes because of heavy rain in the Ardennes mountains, when racing finally began in earnest Piastri pounced to take the lead from Norris with an opportunistic and decisive move. He launched it with almost breathtaking commitment. As the pair plunged down the hill into Eau Rouge on the first racing lap in anger, Piastri scythed into the slot just under Norris's gearbox in an all or nothing, fearless display. They hurtled up through Raidillon and thence with the slipstream on the Kemmel straight it was advantage Piastri as he sped past and into the lead at Les Combes. Norris was powerless to resist and not at fault – as his team principal, Andrea Stella, noted – the driver leading the pack out on the first lap is always vulnerable; indeed a lesson Piastri had learned from the sprint race on Saturday when Verstappen pulled an identical move on him. He was aware of its import. 'I knew that lap one was probably my best chance of winning the race,' he said. 'I lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and then it was enough.' Having got to the front he was relentless in grinding out a victory and even a counter-tyre strategy from Norris could not bring him quite back into contention. Yet it required a steely resolve and, with the decision to make his medium tyres last to the finish, no little finesse, as Norris chased him down on the more durable hard rubber. For all that the McLaren is easy on its rubber, Piastri eased it on with a gentle mastery. It was, then, another combative statement of intent from the Australian, demonstrating that even when he is on the back foot he retains a fierce determination. Once he had retaken the lead from second on the grid he was in assured control from the front, with the same measured, calm confidence that is almost disarming as it becomes ominously clear to his rivals that he has all the traits of a world champion in waiting. It was his sixth win from 13 races this season and for all that Norris took the previous two on the trot, really no other driver has matched the Australian's consistency. What had begun in Melbourne with a win for Norris has since become very much bossed by Piastri, who has laid down another marker that it will be remarkably hard to beat him this season, but it will be a hard-fought show. He now leads Norris by 16 points with 11 meetings remaining in a contest that increasingly looks like it will go down to the wire. Certainly Stella believed that there was little to choose between his drivers and noted that it would likely come down to the minutiae of execution that would tell for the title. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion Norris might consider that on his chase he dropped a little time, two lock-ups at La Source and going wide once at Pouhon but they were not enough to be truly decisive. He had closed to within 3.4sec by the end but for the final laps Piastri still had enough in the locker to hold his lead. Norris, too, conceded that he had been well beaten and that he did not believe his minor errors had made the difference. 'Oscar just did a good job [at the start], nothing more to say, committed a bit more through Eau Rouge,' he said. 'That was it, Oscar deserved it today. It's shoulda‑woulda‑coulda. Oscar deserved it and I'm sure he made a couple of mistakes, too. I couldn't have won today.' With rain having swept across the circuit on and off all day, another deluge began just before the start and the race was delayed after a single formation lap, because of the poor visibility caused by the spray. The cars returned to the pit lane for more an hour and 20 minutes until the FIA deemed it could begin behind the safety car and with a rolling start. The long delay was questioned by some with the track drying – notably Red Bull and Verstappen, who had their car set up for a wet race – but the consensus was the governing body had made the right call to err on the side of caution on a circuit that is a high-speed challenge in perfect conditions. An earlier opening in more difficult conditions would maybe have made for a more interesting race, but it is hard not to imagine that Piastri would not have exhibited similarly iron control even then as – rain or shine – the Australian very much had the measure of Spa.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Different horsepower for Horner as Red Bull enter new era
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, July 27 (Reuters) - Former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner posted a video on social media of himself riding on horseback in the English countryside on the day of the Belgian Grand Prix. "Different horse power this Sunday," read the simple caption. Spa-Francorchamps marked the start of a new era for the former Formula One champions, the first race without Horner -- dismissed two weeks ago -- at the helm since Red Bull entered the sport in 2005. New boss Laurent Mekies started with a win, with Max Verstappen taking the Saturday sprint, and then a frustrating fourth place for the Dutch four-times world champion in the main Sunday grand prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda failed to score for the sixth race in a row. Apart from expressing surprise at the long delay in getting the race started, due to heavy rain, Mekies avoided any polemic. He blamed the team for Tsunoda's blank, saying the Japanese had done a great job in qualifying but was called in too late for his pitstop in a mistake that cost him three or four positions. "After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to also meet the race team," said the Frenchman when asked to assess the weekend. "To also enter into the race dynamics and see how the flows and the processes and preparation are. That was super-good in terms of getting to know the team. As you would imagine, it's a team where everything is done at the mega level." Horner's absence was the talk of the paddock but by the time the circus regroups in Budapest next week, the conversation is likely to have moved on. "I think Laurent is very good. The sport moves on quickly, so it probably won't be something that we're talking about come Monday," McLaren boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television. "He (Horner) had fantastic results. It's a shame to kind of go out the way he did." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the weekend that he would miss his old sparring partner and Netflix 'Drive to Survive' protagonist -- in a way -- and expected him to return sooner or later. "I don't think he's gone forever. I think he's going to pop up in some kind of other function," said the Austrian.
