Dominant Oscar Piastri wins Belgian GP, extends F1 championship lead

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Oscar Piastri’s decisive early move proved to be sufficient for a significant victory over teammate and title rival Lando Norris on the Belgian Grand Prix.

Piastri turned in a flawless race to win by a cushty 3.41 seconds regardless of Norris having a tire benefit within the closing levels.

The win, the sixth of his season and eighth of his profession, prolonged Piastri’s title result in 16 factors and denied Norris, who had began from pole, a 3rd straight win.

“Let’s go!” Piastri mentioned over his radio postrace. “Nicely done. Nicely f—ing done.”

After the race Piastri mirrored on his robust place beginning on the entrance row.

“I knew Lap 1 would be my best chance of winning the race,” he mentioned. “I got a good exit out of Turn 1, lifted as little as I dared out of Eau Rouge.

“The remainder of the race we managed rather well. I struggled on the finish. Maybe the mediums weren’t the most effective for the final 5 – 6 laps. We had it principally beneath management.

“I was pretty disappointed with myself yesterday but turns out starting P2 was not as bad as I thought.”

Meanwhile, Norris mentioned: “Oscar just did a good job [at the start]. Nothing more to say. I committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run.

“So nothing to complain of. He did a greater job at first, and that was it. Nothing extra I might do after that time. I might like to be up high, however Oscar deserved it right this moment.”

Charles Leclerc took a morale-boosting podium for Ferrari ahead of reigning champion Max Verstappen, albeit in a distant battle behind the dominant McLaren pair.

“Max was behind the entire race inside two seconds, so it is by no means simple,” the Leclerc said. “Luckily it dried up fairly shortly, then the tempo was good. But Max was behind the entire race, so I’m fairly completely satisfied we managed to maintain third place.

“The pressure is high, especially in those conditions. At one point I told [my engineer] Brian to leave me alone! Obviously, he was trying to give me the most information; sometimes I needed it, sometimes I didn’t.”

Heavy rain earlier than the beginning delayed the race formally by one hour and quarter-hour, however the type of wet-weather basic so typically produced in related situations in Belgium by no means materialized, with the monitor prepared for dry tires by the twelfth lap.

One formation lap had taken place forward of the scheduled begin at 3 p.m. native time, however driver suggestions meant the FIA deemed the situations undriveable.

An extended and irritating wait adopted earlier than the automobiles had been again on monitor behind the protection automotive at 4:20 p.m. native time for 4 laps.

Norris had led the pack into Turn 1 after a rolling begin for Lap 5, however his teammate quickly proved why pole place is commonly seen as a poisoned chalice at Spa-Francorchamps.

Piastri stalked Norris via Turn 1 after which used the long term up via the well-known Eau Rouge nook to slingshot himself forward on the Kemmel Straight.

It was a precise reversal to what had occurred to Piastri originally of Saturday’s dash race, when he began on pole however misplaced the result in Max Verstappen on the opening lap.

Verstappen was the final particular person to win the Belgian Grand Prix from pole, doing so in 2021, when simply two laps had been accomplished behind the protection automotive earlier than the rain was referred to as off because of heavy rain.

Norris had appeared to provide himself an opportunity to make one thing occur on the finish, choosing the extra sturdy laborious compound when it got here time to change to dry tires — Piastri had gone onto the medium.

But a grandstand end by no means materialized, with Piastri bringing his automotive house for a cushty win, despite the fact that Norris had at one level began slashing away on the lead out within the entrance.

McLaren had been on a special planet by way of tempo, with Leclerc ending 20 seconds behind in third place.

Verstappen took fourth, forward of Mercedes driver George Russell.

After qualifying an outstanding fifth on Saturday, Alex Albon claimed sixth place for Williams, his finest consequence since Imola.

Lewis Hamilton had minimize a dejected determine after being eradicated from Q1 on Saturday, however he offered leisure early within the contest from the again finish of the grid.

The seven-time world champion used the mixture of his talent within the moist and his faster automotive to carve via the decrease order early on with a collection of fantastically executed strikes.

Hamilton then was the primary to change from the intermediate moist tire to dries on Lap 12, permitting him to emerge seventh as soon as everybody else had achieved the identical, though he couldn’t get previous Albon late on.

Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson took an outstanding eighth forward of Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, who had been allowed previous teammate Nico Hülkenberg when faster at an important a part of the race.

After failing to start out Saturday’s dash from a promising place, Pierre Gasly snatched some extent for Alpine.

Yuki Tsunoda’s finest qualifying efficiency for Red Bull got here to nothing, with the Japanese driver staying out a lap too late because the monitor switched from moist to dry and dropping down the order in consequence.

Formula 1 will race subsequent week at Budapest’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the ultimate occasion earlier than a four-week summer season break.