Max Verstappen wins Belgian sprint in first race since Horner's Red Bull exit

The Guardian

2 days ago

Max Verstappen won the sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix with a steely and opportunistic drive for Red Bull against the odds.
Having taken the lead on the opening lap he beat the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris into second and third, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in fourth. His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished 15th having started in 18th.
It was something of another processional sprint over the 15 laps but Piastri's second-placefinish extends his championship lead over Norris from eight to nine points.
Verstappen said: 'It worked out really well, that's obviously the only opportunity you are going to get against them and we got it.
'I knew it was going to be very tough to keep them behind, we were just playing like cat and mouse, DRS, battery usage and it was a good race within seven-tenths.
'I couldn't afford to make big mistakes, I had one tiny lock up in the last corner but apart from that it was a great result to keep them behind and to have a win here in Spa. To have a win in Spa it still counts, I'm very happy with what we did out there.'
It was the start Red Bull needed in their first race without the recently dismissed team principal Christian Horner and the opening meeting with Laurent Mekies in charge.
They brought upgrades to this race, including a revised front wing and took a chance on their setup to maximise top speed, in an effort to overcome McLaren's pace advantage, but it had not paid off in qualifying where Verstappen was half a second off Piastri.
However in the race, the Dutch driver was decisive and audacious, taking his one chance with clinical authority. With the McLaren taking time to come up to speed, he pounced and while Piastri was quicker through the bends of the second sector, he did not have enough to overcome Verstappen.
Verstappen's 12th sprint win and his second in Belgium means he remains by some distance the most successful driver in the short format.
Piastri held his led on the short dash into La Source but Verstappen took a slipstream behind the McLaren on the Kemmel straight and grabbed the lead into Les Combes, the Red Bull running a skinny wing for straight-line speed and making the most of it in the quick first sector.
Piastri harried Verstappen, looking for a way through, but the Dutchman used his speed advantage to stay just out of reach in the opening part of the lap and the Australian could not quite bridge the gap.
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
The pair circled nose to tail for lap after lap, as Piastri looked for any slight opening but Verstappen was, as ever, almost inch-perfect.
Norris caught the pair with 10 laps gone yet he too could do nothing but on lap 11 Verstappen went wide at the Bus Stop and Piastri closed. The Red Bull driver told his team he was having problems with his brakes but just clung on to the front and it was enough to see him through.
Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were fifth and seventh for Haas, Carlos Sainz sixth for Williams and Isack Hadjar eighth for Racing Bulls.
Verstappen said: 'You are trying to keep faster cars behind so you're having to drive over the limit to what you think is possible.
'Tyre management is out of the window so that is what is making it really difficult, I'm just doing 15 qualifying laps to try and keep them behind on a track where tyre management is important. It wasn't easy but we managed to do it and I'm very happy with that.
'Do I feel pole is possible? I'm not sure but we will try our best and we will have a few ideas of what we want to do and try to be as close as possible to them.'