Max Verstappen recovers from losing the lead at the start to beat Oscar Piastri to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint; Pierre Gasly takes third for Alpine; watch the Belgian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 at 2pm on Sunday, with build-up from 12:30pm
Saturday 29 July 2023 22:04, UK
Max Verstappen won the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint after recovering from losing the lead during a chaotic wet start to beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri at Spa.
After the contest, which was reduced from 15 to 11 laps because of rain delays, eventually began behind the Safety Car, half the field immediately pitted to swap the wet tyres they were obliged to start on.
Piastri, who started second, was one of those to pit immediately and took the lead from Red Bull's Verstappen, who came in to switch to intermediates a lap later.
However, after Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso spun into the gravel trap, another Safety Car interruption provided Verstappen with the opportunity to pass Piastri at the restart.
The world championship leader, who extended his lead at the top of the standings to 118 points with the win, then eased into the distance to win by more than six seconds.
Pierre Gasly took third for Alpine after climbing three places amid the early pit stops, claiming a much needed positive result for the French team on the weekend they announced the sacking of team principal Otmar Szafnauer.
Lewis Hamilton, who followed Gasly forward from seventh at the start, finished behind the Alpine on track but was demoted to seventh after receiving a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Sergio Perez in a battle for fourth, which resulted in damage forcing the Red Bull to retire.
The beneficiaries of Hamilton's penalty were Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who moved up to fourth and fifth respectively, while McLaren's Lando Norris improved to sixth.
George Russell narrowly missed out on taking seventh from his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, but took the final point, having passed AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo to deny the Australian his first points since returning to the sport earlier in July.
Verstappen will be looking to add an eighth successive Grand Prix victory in Sunday's full length contest at Spa, but starts from sixth despite topping Friday's Qualifying after incurring a five-place grid penalty for exceeding his gearbox part allowance for the season.
Saturday's result also ensured that Red Bull, who are chasing a record-extending 13th successive Grand Prix win on Sunday, have also triumphed in the first three of this season's six Sprints, with their constructors' standings lead now at 234 points.
Belgian GP Sprint Result: Top 10
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull (8 points)
2) Oscar Piastri, McLaren (7 points)
3) Pierre Gasly, Alpine (6 points)
4) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (5 points)
5) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (4 points)
6) Lando Norris, McLaren (3 points)
7) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (2 points)
8) George Russell, Mercedes (1 point)
9) Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri
10) Esteban Ocon, Alpine
With F1 visiting Spa just four weeks after racing driver Dilano van 't Hoff died in an accident in the Formula Regional European Championship at the circuit, an understandably cautious approach from the FIA continued on Saturday.
After the Sprint Shootout had been delayed by 35 minutes earlier due to a wet track, there was a further hold up for Saturday's main event as a downpour arrived just minutes before the scheduled start time.
After almost 30 minutes of heavy rain, the sun reappeared and provided much needed assistance to the vehicles that had been sent out to clear the water from the surface.
A new time for the formation lap was provided, and rather than start ticking down the 15 scheduled laps, the race director opted to run several formation laps behind the Safety Car and reduce the race distance to 11 laps.
By the time that process had played out, the drivers had made it clear over radio that the track was ready for intermediate rather than the wet tyres they were forced to start on behind the Safety Car.
It set up a potentially chaotic situation, with cars able to follow the Safety Car into the pit lane as it came in to allow a rolling restart at the front.
Red Bull decided the prospect of Verstappen being held in his pit box as other cars streamed up the pit lane behind him was too greater risk, but Piastri was one of 10 cars behind to pit, as all the teams opted against double stacking and brought in just one car.
When Verstappen - and the other nine cars who hadn't yet pitted - came in a lap later, Piastri was able to take the lead, with Gasly, Perez and Hamilton the other chief beneficiaries.
Piastri was initially able to hold the lead, but the relaxed nature of Verstappen's questioning to his team over the radio regarding how long he had to get past the McLaren was ominous.
Ultimately his cause was aided by a rare Alonso mistake, which saw the Spaniard spin his Aston Martin into the gravel at Pouhon as he chased the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg on Lap 3.
When the race restarted at the end of lap 5, Piastri perhaps showed some inexperience in allowing Verstappen to remain on his tail at the rolling restart, making it all too easy for the Dutchman to trail him through Eau Rouge and pass on the exit of Raidillon.
There was little doubt about who the winner would be after that, as Verstappen maintained his magnificent recent form to open a lead.
"It was a safer call (to stay out for lap one) - I could come in first and then be blocked by other cars, there might be a Safety Car and then you lose out massively," Verstappen said. "I didn't mind to stay out.
"We lost one position and we know we are quick and we could see that when we put the inter tyres on we were flying."
However, as has so often been the case in recent weeks, his team-mate Perez was unable to show the same sort of pace behind.
Under heavy pressure for fourth from Hamilton, the pair made contact as the Brit attempted to pass through the Stavelot corners.
Perez came off the worse and Hamilton, along with Sainz and Leclerc behind him, got through later in the lap.
Perez, who according to Red Bull sustained major damage to his sidepod in the incident, then went off into the gravel at Stavelot a lap later, dropping down to P17 before the team instructed him to retire.
Then came a five-second penalty for Hamilton, who was adjudged to have drifted into Perez and caused the contact.
While that cost Hamilton three places and three points, the Brit may ultimately be relieved that the penalty was given during the Sprint, rather than potentially impacting Sunday's race, in which he is set to start third.
