JAKARTA - Red Bull's Max Verstappen won the Sprint at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday after competing fiercely with rookie McLaren Oscar Piastri who finished P2 at 6.677 seconds.
The Sprint race, which was held at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, was postponed for approximately 20 to 40 minutes due to heavy rain. The Sprint session then started with the condition of the wet-dry track, with Verstappen who took the lead because he previously grabbed pole in the shootout or qualifying session. This was confiscated by Antara.
Racing was fierce again, considering that Piastri was also the closest racer behind the Dutchman in the qualifying session. Piastri was even only 0.011 seconds adrift of Verstappen in the shootout round, and their 1-2 position was tight and alternated from start to finish in the Sprint session. The Australian rookie also overtook Verstappen several times until finally the front position was claimed by the Red Bull rider.
The surprise came at P3 where Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was certainly 10.733 seconds adrift of Verstappen. Two Ferrari riders Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had to settle for completing the list of the top five Belgian GP sprint sessions with a time difference of 12.648 seconds and 15.016 seconds, respectively.
Meanwhile, Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, who has collected two consecutive podiums recently, finished in sixth position. Followed by Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), George Russell (Mercedes), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) completing the top 10.
Several incidents also occurred in the challenging Belgian GP Sprint session, especially for Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) on the fourth lap, and the contact between Hamilton and Sergio Perez (Red Bull) on the seventh lap. Because of the incident, Hamilton was awarded a five-second penalty and Perez did not continue the race.
On the other hand, for the main race itself, Max Verstappen initially got a pole for the Belgian GP on Sunday 30 July. However, he was awarded a penalty to withdraw from five grids due to a gearbox change in his car and the pole position was awarded to Leclerc who finished in P2.
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