Oscar Piastri extends lead in title race after winning rain-delayed Belgian GP

The National

3 days ago

Oscar Piastri has extended his lead in the Formula One title race after a convincing victory in the rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Australian overtook McLaren teammate and pole position winner Lando Norris on the first racing lap after the safety car pulled into the pits, following a start that was held up for more than an hour.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc came home third ahead of reigning champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull who in turn was one place clear of Mercedes driver George Russell, with Alex Albon an impressive sixth in his Williams.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished seventh following a string of fine moves in the early inclement conditions before losing momentum. Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, with Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto ninth and Pierre Gasly 10th for Alpine.
The race at Spa-Francorchamps had been red-flagged after an initial formation lap and delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to the weather, with standing water and heavy spray affecting visibility.
And once the racing was under way – following four precautionary laps behind the safety car – Norris was found wanting when a sloppy exit at the opening La Source corner provided Piastri with a race-winning opportunity too good to turn down.
Despite being in Norris' spray, Piastri held his nerve and kept his foot on the accelerator at 170mph up through Eau Rouge and into Raidillon before jinking to his left and sailing clear of his McLaren teammate on the Kemmel Straight.
It was brave and superb in equal measure from Piastri but one Norris will be disappointed after seeing the his rival's championship advantage increase from nine points.
'Oscar did a good job, said Norris about his start. 'Nothing more to say. He committed more through Eau Rouge, but nothing to complain of, he had a better start. He deserved it today.
When asked whether mistakes had hampered his chances of winning, the British driver replied: 'Shoulda, would a, coulda. Oscar deserved it. I'm sure he would have made a couple of mistakes too and I'll review my own.
'Great result for the team, our first one-two here in many years and a deserved result for the team and Oscar.'
McLaren would go on to record their sixth one-two of the season on a day when Norris's hopes of a third successive win were ended by his teammate who finished the race at Spa-Francorchamps 3.415 seconds clear.
"It w's very lively, I knew lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race, I got a good exit out of Turn 1 and then lifted as little as I did through Eau Rouge and it was enough," sai' the race winner.
'The rest of the race we managed really well, I was struggling a bit at the end so maybe the medium wasn't the best for the last five or six laps, but we had it mostly under control which is what I want.
'I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday but turns out starting second in Spa isn't too bad after all.'
In Red Bull's first Grand Prix since the sacking of Christian Horner as team principal, Verstappen failed with an attempt to get past Leclerc at the start and spent the rest of the race behind the Ferrari driver.
Leclerc admitted the presence of four-time champion Verstappen meant the pressure was on throughout in the Ardennes.
'Max was behind the whole race within two seconds so it's never easy,' said the Monegasque.
'I knew the first part of the race was trickiest one for us because we maybe didn't have the downforce that the McLaren or that Max had because they compromised a little bit in qualifying to be better in the race today.
'Luckily it dried up pretty quickly which was good but Max was right behind the whole race. I'm pretty happy that we managed to keep that third place.
We need to keep learning on how to maximise this new upgrade, it's still pretty new but it's a good first weekend and I'm happy that we are on the podium.
'We keep pushing and hopefully soon we will put a bit more pressure on the McLarens.'