By Mark Gero
After having to wait under an hour and a half for the rain to stop, Oscar Piastri took the lead from the opening lap and held on to win the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Franchorchamps Sunday by just over three seconds from McLaren teammate Lando Norris, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc just holding off the Red Bull of Max Verstappen for third.
Piastri’s victory now gives him a 16-point lead over Norris in the world championship with 11 rounds remaining.
“I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race.” Piastri said.
“I got a good exit out of Turn One and then lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that.
I was a bit disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that would take away some opportunity but when I was that close, I knew I was going to lift a little bit less than Lando did. A bit lively over the hill but then the slipstream helped me out.”
It took four laps behind the safety car before the grid had to stop for eighty minutes due to the poor visibility on the circuit. But once the heavy rain subsided, the race began on a rolling start, in which Piastri wasted no time passing Norris right after Eau Rouge and assumed the lead for the rest of the race.
On lap 12, many drivers went straight into the pits for slicks after starting the race on intermediates. But Piastri assumed the lead and although Norris had a bad pitstop near the end of the race, the Briton managed to close in on his Australian rival and cut the lead from Piastri down to 3.4 seconds. But time ran out for Norris, and Piastri went on win a race that is one of his favourites.
Behind Verstappen’s fourth place finish, Mercedes George Russell took fifth, followed by Alex Albon in the Williams, who just finished ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton for sixth. Liam Lawson placed his Racing Bull in eighth, with Sauber’s Gabriel Borteleto scoring two points in ninth. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, thanks to a late stop by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, gave his team one point by taking tenth.
In a race where there are many retirements, this event ended having all 20 cars finish.
This race was the start of a two-week race period, which will continue next weekend from the long and sweeping straights of Spa-Franchorchamps to the short twisty circuit of the Hungaroring, which favours high downforce on every driver.
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 